Do Your Zombie Survivors Previously Know of Zombies? http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871 Asheka Been toying with more ways to describe my zombies without calling them undead, zombies, etc. I was thinking, as it's a very modern day setting (MC had a 2010 Jetta) zombie movies have been being made long before I was even born (I'm 26 so no comments there LOL) so wouldn't it make some sense for the characters to have seen them? I have yet to see a serious zombie movie/show that puts that in...Is it better to act as though the idea of zombies doesn't exist and this is something completely new, or add it in in a lesser degree for a comparison comment? I plan on coming up with something like Walking Dead ("Walkers" and "Geeks") but just haven't thought of a good one yet, but this though has been bugging me as I have more and more scenes with zombies in them as I move forwards. Thanks! Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:06:19 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_473731 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_473731 ilcristallo Well seeing as my novel is set in modern day setting, of course they are going to know about it. They'll freak out and think it's some sick joke until it hits them it is real. I mean, my MC even uses facebook because they are on a college campus when it breaks out. One of my characters are going to try to use previous zombie books though as a guide to find that none of it helps seeing as I'm tweaking the type of zombies I have. Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:04:25 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_475044 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_475044 Asheka haha Very cool! I haven't bothered much with facebook and things, but decided they know from movies but use the term zombie as they haven't figured another out yet. My MC doesn't really believe they are your typical movie zombies but is using it to term them anyway. Thinking my other MC, once they meet up, will have this other name for them when they meet...Just gotta find one that isn't really used...Which sucks cuz Walkers is so perfect LOL Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:16:08 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_475381 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_475381 Childofthelist Actually, in my book I decided to go with straight-up zombies. I always thought it was kind of corny when people would rise from the grave and people would call them these weird names--like no one's ever heard of a zombie before. I don't know. My story has more comedic elements, so it doesn't have the drama associated with "walkers" or such. Do what you want. Just depends on what your writing. Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:44:33 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_477171 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_477171 sikbblgum My MC is basically the type of person that all of her favorite movies are the zombies, so she finds it strange and still overly frightening that her reality has almost become a movie. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:50:25 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_483973 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_483973 stillalive the geekier members of my story call them zombies but the less dorky characters aren't sure what to call them. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:49:15 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_485769 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_485769 Vikingessa The year is 2301...sooo uh...things are a little different there. My mmc knows of zombies, old zombie films fascinate him. Things my zombies have been called: - the resurrected - the infected - the reanimated - zombies (only once) In the words on my mmc... “Zombies, the reanimated, the walking dead. Call them whatever the hell you want, but they're f*#@*ing dead. There's no humanity left in their corpses. Dead as a doornail and still moving.” Sat, 05 Nov 2011 05:32:35 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_487126 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_487126 Kirstey Avery My Character knows that they are Zombies and she has an extensive knowledge of them, but it all depends on how YOU want to write it. Take the comic book series the Walking Dead for instance, they did have Romero movies in that world. There were no such things as zombies. and that's how the creator wanted it. You do what you think it best for the novel:) Sat, 05 Nov 2011 06:27:17 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_487627 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_487627 Dragonn Right now, I'm just using "zombies." I want some of my characters to call them different things, due to mental barriers and things. But I figure I'll either figure out a good name for them at that moment or can brainstorm more names when I edit. The time setting is pretty familiar with zombie stories, so it's not unreasonable. I just think that it would make sense for groups of people to come up with different names for the zombies as new definitions are brought in. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:37:37 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_492540 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_492540 FrankyBeverly My characters have the sense to call them zombies, trying to call them anything else would just feel sorta' weird for me. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 14:36:36 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_496998 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_496998 divaskychick Since nobody has turned to my MC's knowledge, they're calling them maniacs, crazies and freaks. One old man calls them "wretched" ie wretched freaks or wretched crazies. Only the eight year old boy has said anything about zombies and that was just in response to a nutcase on the internet. Of course, he will be the first to understand... Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:17:30 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_503209 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_503209 kayl. Being in a modern setting I assume my MCs would know about zombies. Due to the compelete nuttiness of the situation though, I'm sticking with them not actually calling them "zombies" yet. I think few people would actually think "oh hey, it's the zombie apocolypse" if it really happened, at least to begin with. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:41:45 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_503912 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_503912 CadaeicCicada Yes, zombies in fiction exist in my story-world. My FMC yells at someone for doing something that all the books warn against at one point. :D Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:54:20 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_564780 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_564780 Eris87 Yes, my survivors know of zombies. I have my main character call her mom asking about zombies and how to kill them since her mom loves zombie movies. And my story is set in modern times so to me it would be weird for them not to know about zombies. Mon, 07 Nov 2011 22:14:52 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_566900 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_566900 Maxwell Frankton-Lowe I have the impression from the reading I've done that in most zombie fiction the word is unknown and there's no history of zombies associated with the mainstream media. If it is known it's usually in the sense of the Hatian zombies created through voodoo or voodun. (There are other stories where zombies are known however) When your characters live in a world where the lore of zombies exist you have the problem that the bulk of the population knows, because of mainstream media, exactly how to dispatch them - through some form of severe trauma to the brain. I would speculate that if you went outside and asked a hundred people how to dispatch a zombie, I would expect that about 90% of people could tell you. That would have been different pre-George Romero though. If you're going to work with that idea them you'll need to come up with some device that works as an equalizer. This could include a reason why blunt force trauma or destruction of the brain doesn't work or a reason why people can't do it. There's the moral question - is a zombie actually alive? Is it some new form of life in a manner we don't understand? Does a zombie still have a soul? Is it murder to kill a zombie? The word zombie carries with it a lot of weight. We believe we know what a zombie is, but do we? What if a zombie behaves or functions differently than we expect them to? In the Warhammer 40,000 universe for instance, zombies exist but they are infected by a virus that causes them to decay, to be infectious, and to sustain huge amounts of damage and not die, but they are fully functioning, capable of thought, handling weapons and using tools in service to Nurgle, the Chaos God of Disease and Corruption. What if the zombie is controlled not by the brain but is a collective of cognizant cells, such that if the brain is destroyed the zombie continues to function as though it had one? What if the zombie can evolve? What if the zombie meets the normall criteria associated with a zombie, but is only drawn to eat only specific things, such as only cancerous tissue? What if the zombie is a living breathing human but is driven to behave like a stereotypical zombie because of a parasite but this was only discovered after thousands of zombies were killed? Therein lies a lot of conflict - emotional, spiritual, moral, physical - that would need to be worked through! All food for thought! Max Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:57:48 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_719806 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_719806 S O L A R O S E Mine are just like, "Okay, let's agree to call them zombies, since we think they're technically undead, and we know they want to eat us." Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:35:30 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_721010 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_721010 Lozza16 I'm also using 'Walkers' in mine. Walking Dead, Resident Evil and every zombie alt-history/myth book I could find are being used as inspiration. My zombie novel has the zombies being called Betes Noires and Morts-Vivants. Which is french for Black Beasts and The living dead. I have 2 main characters with French backgrounds and the other two Australian, so it works. I'm using the different cultures mentioned in my novel and their own version or language-translated of the words zombie, undead and walking undead. I wrote a fanfic AGES ago where I had creatures who had no name (because of all the different version out there). They were just called 'them'/'they'/'it'. I couldn't think of a name before I had to publish it online, and turns out the no-name thing worked really well. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:41:01 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_721508 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_721508 ParticleMan Mine exist in the real world, and while my zombies certainly are NOT walking dead, they call them zombies because of zombie movies. It's impossible in today's society to not have some vague notion of what a zombie is. This book is the extension of a video I started to make, and everyone on my cast and crew, one of whom is not a movie fan at ALL, knew what zombies were. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:19:11 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_725814 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_725814 Asheka I've decided to mention it early on and for lack of a better word they have been called Zombies up until now. I may edit that later on, but as of now my MCs are going to start calling them "Rotties" as a sort of nick name. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:37:24 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_732096 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_732096 Burnt Sushi Those are good points and questions, Max. Unfortunately, knowledge alone of how to stop the dead isn't enough. Unless your zombie story has every grave-dead person rising up, chances are that the newly turned are still going to be quite fresh, and the human body is a lot tougher to deal with. And chances are hat it will be seen, if it's in a modern setting, as a marketing gimmick, or a film shoot, or just a practical joke...until it's too late. Add to that, the average person doesn't realistically have access to a shotgun or a handgun, unless they have a profession that calls for them to be around them. Gunsmith, hunter, police, military, etc. So that limits most people, your average Joe and Jill Everyperson, to a melee weapon, bringing back the fact the freshness of the walking dead into play. And the fact that when you start swinging a nail-studded bad, you're not automatically Tallahassee or Alice. It does take some skill. As for the other questions you raise, it's all a matter of personal taste. There may be an established template for what traditional zombies are like and what they do, but as a writer, you are totally free to reinvent them. Just please, for the love of all that is undead and unholy, if you make them sparkle I hope you come back to as a tube of glitter. Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:30:29 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_753342 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_753342 mixolydian320 Mine do know of zombies, and they even mention zombie movies at times. They do call them zombies, too, for the most part, but they also call them "the infected." Some of them have also taken to calling them "Subs," short for sub-humans. Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:17:02 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_823100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_823100 Birdy Edwards Mine takes place in 2007. They call them overall "zeds" and "Shamblers" for slow zombies and "Runners" for fast zombies. Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:48:06 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1082603 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1082603 Itzika The zombies in last year's NaNo were a little different from traditional zombies--they had a hive mind with the "queen" being intelligent, and could move fast for a few seconds at a time--but the characters just called them zombies. I didn't pretend there wasn't such a thing as a zombie movie or anything; my characters took one look at the walking dead and called it the zombie apocalypse. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:09:15 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1105251 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1105251 awesomeo Are they corpses reanimated by a virus/radiation/magic/whatever...Then they are ZOMBIES. You could go with ghoul as the original Night of the Living Dead did, but most people know them as zombies. The only reason to call them something else is if another form of undead exists and needs to be classified (I did an urban fantasy with a ghoul character, who most certainly is NOT a zombie). I for one look forward to a zombie flick where the cast is discussing the 'walkers' and one kid blurts out: "What are you high? They're freaking zombies man. You gotta shoot em in the head!" Then some British chap chimes in: "Five rounds rapid." Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:33:44 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=2#forum_thread_comment_1111676 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=2#forum_thread_comment_1111676 WriterWithFire If it doesn't eat brains it's not a zombie That's the only way a zombie will be fed If it doesn't eat brains it's not a zombie If it doesn't eat brains it's not a zombie just undead lol That of course is not accurate but I wanted to share it. In mine the zombies aren't actually zombies but more like genetic experiments gone wrong. They have increased strength, speed, and healing and my MC makes reference to them not being like Hollywood's version. Also I have a group of young adults that make video game references while fighting these things. I saw an interview one time with a soldier who was in Iraq, I think he was an army sniper, and he was talking about how he actually loved the experience of war at first. In a strange way he found it felt like playing the most realistic video games ever and he loved it, until of course one of his close friends died next to him. You might approach it like that, where the characters are almost having fun going through a zombie apocalypse right out of the movies, until one of them gets viciously slaughtered by the zombies. I would also have fun with the different rules of zombie movies, kind of like scream did with horror movie cliches. hope that helps, and good luck -Thomas Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:37:42 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=2#forum_thread_comment_1124584 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=2#forum_thread_comment_1124584 Fraust In my setting, there are a number of different types of undead, and different characters react to them in different ways, and call them different things. In traditional terms, there are zombies (fairly mindless, slow moving), ghouls (cunning, though not very smart, potentially as fast as a skilled athlete), and vampires (think alpha ghoul). Nothing in there is dropped with a head shot by the way. I've always disliked that idea. In mine, zombies are probably the toughest, and would need to be rendered physically incapable of combat....bones broken, tendons cut, tissue burned. Luckily their about as smart as your average walmart customer, and even luckilyer don't talk as much. Ghouls and vampires are just about as "tough" but feel pain, so where as if you light a zombie on fire, until that meat burns away he still wants to hug and kiss you, but if you light a ghoul/vampire on fire, he screams a lot, pees himself, and is generally more concerned with putting himself out than eating you. My setting is modern, and there are zombie movies/books/games galore. Most people are familiar with the "shoot it in the head!" tactic, and this leads to lots of dead people when the fit hits the shan. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:15:20 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=2#forum_thread_comment_1125804 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/horror-supernatural/threads/24871?page=2#forum_thread_comment_1125804