My two cousins and I grew up watching horror movies. In particular, ones about zombies. We’d have sleepovers and although we received very few channels on cable, we’d search desperately for any movie in that genre. We fantasized about being in a zombie movie.
My passion for writing has been with me for fifty years. In my teen years, I wrote nothing but horror, probably inspired by my love of those movies. When I reached my mid-20’s, I started writing about other genres.
My writing focused mainly on short stories and on January 30, 2012, I wrote my first zombie story entitled Bad Meat. I included characters based upon my cousins and me. On December 13, 2014, I wrote my second zombie story, Blank of the Dead, and on March 7, 2023, my third, Dead Cells.
In early 2017, I entered Bad Meat in a short story contest for Red Tuque Books, Inc. I was excited to learn that I received an Honourable Mention for the story. It was published in a magazine and I received $25. Sadly, to this day, it’s the only compensation I have gotten for one of my stories. Still…
A year ago, I had the inspiration to write not just one story about zombies, but an entire novel. I am still in the midst of writing this novel but I have incorporated the plot and characters of the three stories mentioned above.
I suspect that the novel will be finished by next week. It needs a lot of tweaking so I will start the next draft after finishing the first.
As we know, we’ve been beaten to death by zombie movies. Different characteristics have been given to the zombies by the directors (e.g., their speed, their spread of contamination). In some degree, I have followed past descriptions of other zombies and the insecurities of living characters. Having watched the original Walking Dead series, I wish to make my living characters people that the reader cares about. Characters whose deaths will make people cry.
And so what makes me think that my book will stand out in a forest of other zombie or zombie-like novels?
I have taken a new stance on how the zombies can be stopped. I won’t give any spoilers but I will say that it’s not without its controversy.
After I complete the second draft of the novel, I hope to look for an agent who will represent me.
