what should I do to avoid my zombie story becoming repretatve to what already exists?
I have my first chapter wrote, it’s about 1,100 words, but just starting my second on how to escape now (it’s a country wide infection set in the uk with slow moving zombies).
I’ve established two characters, the main lead and main companion, but I wan’t to write this story so its not as repetative to other zombie stories.
For example, I live near a Caravan and motorhome storage and thinking of using a motorhome as a way to escape, (both characters know how to drive) but then I think of the walking dead and would motorhomes be a good mode of transport on uk roads where pile up is to be expected.
If you have tips on what to avoid, any help would be great.
My zombies are slow moving, can’t see but can smell within 5-10feet and can hear noises for quite a distance and can lock onto it.
I’m not going to do a romance between the two characters, I might make it so one gets drunk and tries it on but that’s as far as it goes.
Thanks 
Oh yeah, I’m not going to be stuck in a mall or anything like that.
Most zombie stories are “run then kill” stories, so if you follow this formula, it will probably be a little cliche. Maybe try to break from the obvious by making one of the zombies good or at least give one a personality, not just a mindless body.
Zombie story cliches to avoid:
- The gun-toting badass who at some point dies
- The main character always knows what to do to escape a seemingly dire situation
- The quiet, weak characters somehow survive until the end
- Arrogant characters always die first
- The ‘mad’ survivor who wants to kill the hero for no apparent reason
- There is randomly a character who does not really know martial arts, but kills a zombie with a karate chop or kick of some kind
- A character gets bitten but keeps it until themselves until the minute before they become a zombie. This character is generally someone who means a great deal to the MC (i.e. lover, mother, child)
- An unarmed character suddenly becomes armed with a good weapon (i.e. finding a fully functional, loaded gun in an abandoned house)
- The main character is the last to notice the zombies
- Everyone always drinks alcohol instead of water
- Someone gets pregnant, usually with the MC’s child if they are male
- The MC’s group of survivors think they are/just are the only people left
- Religious people claiming it is the Apocalypse
- Lots and lots of running
- When the zombies are shown as brainless, but can break into any hideout the MC finds
- The suggestion is made – usually by ‘bad’ characters – that all of the female survivors need to be impregnated to continue the human race
- The ‘idiot’ who always gives their position away to the zombies
I love zombies, I’m writing a zombie book myself
To not be repetitive, I think you ought to know whats already been established. I’ve read a lot of zombie books (I would suggest reading Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, it helped me.) and seen enough movies to understand the genre well enough. I’ve also Googled zombie cliches to help with my story, which you may like to do. Fast zombies and thinking zombies have been done, I’m doing the slow and stupid ones myself.
Some cliches I’ve avoided:
Someone is secretly bitten and doesn’t tell the others in the group.
Everyone knows how to shoot guns after shooting them a few times.
The ‘I’m Just An Ordinary Guy’ character finds his calling as a badass zombie killer who suddenly knows how to fight.
Someone always does something stupid to get the rest of the group in trouble (ie, opening a door after being told not to, drawing attention by shouting, turning on lights etc)
The sexist, homophobic, racist character dies a particularly bad death, or finds himself at the mercy of a woman, gay guy, or black guy.
There’s always a biker gang having a whale of a time shooting zombies in there somewhere
No one ever calls them zombies, or knows what they are.
The women either go to pieces and drag the rest of the group down with them or starts off weak them becomes a badass as well.
There’s always some arrogant idiot who opposes just about every idea the MC suggests. Their own ideas usually fail, leaving the MC to say ‘Told you so’.
The army fails epically as do the police force.
There’s always a soldier or policeman who survives. They are usually used so the survivors can get a gun.
Someone always has a deep, dark secret.
There’s always a crazy religious person.
Someone always gets their intestines ripped out.
Someone always walks somewhere (ie a forrest) without the rest of the group with little to no fear or paranoia.
Survivors manage to find a supermarket that has food, even though logically their best bet is raiding other houses.
There doesn’t really seem to be any zombie children. If there is, the characters will have a hard time killing it.
Zombies are always given a nick name (Stenches, Zeds, The Infected etc)
Unlimited ammo, or if your character have some sort of stick/pole, it never breaks, the MC never drops it etc
Characters always aim for the head and have relative ease in killing a zombie (gun or no gun) despite the fact it’s not exactly easy to pulverize a human head.
There’s always a sexy girl in there who everyone fancies.
There’s always some big debate on what to do with an infected friend.
There’s usually an heroic/symbolic gesture in the MC killing the friend.
There’s always some sort of turf war between two groups of survivors.
No one ever seems appropriately scared. Sometimes they will wander around like there’s no threat at all. Even going to sleep everyone goes off like a light.
Zombies are dead and decomposing, yet completely able to rip a grown man limb from limb.
I don’t plan on having guns in my story, no romance, no damsel in distress, no heroics. My MC is sneaky and uses stealth, not ammo and martial arts. If you still aren’t sure, go through zombie books and write down what you like and what you don’t. It’s what I’m doing now.
That’s all I have, hope I helped!
My advice is to read as many zombie books and watch as many zombie movies as you can. Then avoid everything you read about. You cannot be a good writer unless you are first a good reader.
Have a good handle on your plot and character arcs, and do your research.
Keep your first draft fun; don’t slave over it. It might have been Ray Bradbury who said that in Zen and the Art of Writing. He also warned to make it fun because the 2nd and 3rd drafts will be less invention, more craft work. Love the writing. As you get to know your characters, they will say and do things that surprise you and, quite possibly, take the story in a direction. Stay open to that, even if it means going back and rewriting whole sections. Everything is fixable.
Also, do some research on survival. The SAS Survival Handbooks by John Wiseman and Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life by Neil Strauss are two fine examples that will lead you to other useful texts.
Good luck!
Brad Weber
http://www.FearAndLoathingOfTheUndead.com