Does anyone write something other than zombies?

I am seriously plot-deprived. Always. But I can usually find a few suggestions each year in the "Adopt a Plot" thread. This year I find mostly zombies, alien worlds, romance between aliens and zombies and teenage angst between zombies and, you guessed it, aliens. Does anyone here write something else and have some unloved plot bunnies hanging about that you might be willing to share?

I don't always write about zombies. This is the first year that I'm trying a zombie novel. Last year was steampunk. The year before was urban fantasy.

Don't have any plot bunnies at the moment. Did you know the genre you wanted to write in? Fantasy, romance, paranormal, litfic?

Im not into Zombies but I fear I may become one by the end of November!

I'm unspeakably bored by zombies, vampires, werewolves, et al. The only thing that consistently tempts me is the post-apocalyptic novel--I suppose that's my fallback or default choice.

Zombies are kind of the flavour-of-the-month. :)

I decided on steampunk basically because I am re-writing a very old story that my father used to read to me as a child. I wanted to really twist it in a new direction, and at first thought about setting it in a present-day, urban environment and then decided that an alternate-world/steampunk treatment would be a lot more fun.

Also, I'd always intended this to be a fully illustrated novel, and steampunk suits my artwork.

I agree that zombies are a flavor of the month. I will be so glad when things move on to something else!

For plot ideas, I recommend the website Serendipity: http://nine.frenchboys.net/index.php

Generate names, places, plots, plot twists, even Chinese restaurants! (This morning I got The Szechuan Dragon.)

I Thought I would try a "Who Done It".
This year for fun, I have set it in the just post world war two era to pick up on the restlessness of the returning soldiers to create the mild chaos I needed.
Very mainstream this time.

For you try being random:

Take a world history book and think of a number, open to that page, there is your era!

Roll the dice, the number on top is your number of Main Characters.

Get out the Thesaurus choose seven interesting words and start writing to include them in a story...a plot will grow.
Good Luck!

Well, I did have an idea for a zombie short-short story, but I can't imagine doing a whole novel about them. Hard to come up with anything new, zombies traditionally not having much personality and absolutely no social skills. Maybe a charm school or dating club for zombies??

I would love to help you out, but I have a hard enough time finding ideas for myself. I'm with you about the zombie, vampire thing. Not my genre. Don't read it, don't care.

You might try going to the library and reading newspaper headlines. That might spark something. Go to a bar or coffee shop and eavesdrop. Or, there are a lot of books about generating ideas. I know my library has one called "The Writer's Idea Book".

Good luck!

I have never written about zombies or vampires or even werewolves. Real people seem odd enough to me.

My main characters usually show up in my dreams, that's where I find them. Also other people's overheard cell phone conversations always contain juicy bits of dialgue prompts.

Take a good look at what you read most. Which genre? That might be a good jumping off place to start.

I'm with RutaBaker. Real people are odd enough for me, especially the ones in my stories.

When my children were small, my husband and I tag team parented rather than use daycare or after school care. This meant that I'd arrive home after a work shift to being essentially a single mom to two small girls. By the time they were ready for bedtime stories, I was tired.

I'd lie on the floor of their room with the lights out and tell them to give me three things. They could be objects, characters, locations. It didn't matter what. Then I'd spin them into a story.

The advantage? I could do it with my eyes closed.

You might want to try a variation on this. Far more interesting than beings that can't even manage to die properly.

I'm not into vampires, zombies, aliens, etc. either. My novel will be very firmly grounded in this world--more specifically, in the world I know-- as are the short stories I've written. I draw on my own experiences, get inspiration from my work, people I've known, my own life. If you're interested in doing mainstream or realistic fiction, there are plenty of potential stories all around you. Everyday, even seemingly humdrum life has dramatic potential.

I also find Zombies to be somewhat repetitive in that they are always pretty much the same monster. Unlike Vampires, which have been re-invented as sexy immortals with that one annoying flaw (you know that whole 'people are their food' thing).
I have been reading some indie fiction about Zombies and, although well written from a technical standpoint, the subject matter is still repetitive. Just kill off the last of these SOB's please.

Science fiction - and now Steampunk fiction, have an attraction since the author decides what is real within the confines of the plot.

Good Luck

Oh, and my plot involves the return of the Gods of ancient mythology to the modern world.

Core idea for my novel came from pulling out and looking at my (now) old copy of the Parinoia XP game. The proposal for the new complex for Apple that looked like a mother ship was most inspiration as I took the idea in a diferent direction with an "eye" phone and an "eye" pad (the eye represents the computer). Added a few characters and hopefully I have a novel.

I'm not doing a zombie novel. However, the idea of perhaps a ninja zombie intrigues me. Not as a novel . . . but heck! Ninja! And Zombie! Now that would be cool. Would it be a fast-moving, flesh eating, killing machine? Or a slow moving, highly ineffectual assassin?

Uhhh, as for plot stories . . . hope you find something that excites you. :-)

Now I feel like apologizing for writing a zombie novel. :-(

Guess I won't get Beta readers for this one.

I think it's original. It's actually told from the point of view of the ghost, who has found out information about how the zombie apocalypse started and how they could deal with it. If only he could find a way to tell someone.

And thanks. I'll keep you in mind when I get the complete first draft finished.

I've been away for a few days and am really happy to come back and see all these responses! I just figured the whole world had gone '"twilight" on me or something. I'm sure vampires and zombies and changelings and stuff are fine, but I was dumbfounded to find so many people are writing that genre. Guess there are mostly young writers here...maybe I'm just older than I think (HA). I will take some of your suggestions (most especially the idea to stock up on chocolate and caffeine!) and keep looking. Always open to new suggestions. Thanks. Happy writing! See you at the finish line and in the coffee line between now and then.

Thank you for thinking that I'm a "young writer" at 57. ;-)

I write thrillers/mysteries. They are character driven. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading a good zombie book, maybe even a movie or two.