This actually suggests that zombies are eusocial, which I genuinely haven't seen before.
For reasons that can’t possibly have anything to do with current events, a lot of people are concerned about pandemics these days. And, like any time pandemics are in the headlines, zombie discussions are close behind. In the last few weeks, I’ve seen more social media posts about The Walking Dead, Night of the Living Dead, and World War Z than I know what to do with. Many people seem ready to declare Max Brooks their lord and savior for his divine prophecy about what happens when the dead rise.
This is hardly a surprise. Much of modern zombie fiction deliberately uses the shambling dead as a parallel for the spread of disease. Each zombie creates other zombies, leading to a chain reaction that overwhelms population centers. Many zombie stories also include disaster movie tropes, such as the scientist who tries to warn us and the politician who downplays the problem to avoid hurting their reelection chances.
We’ve discussed choosing the right perspective and narration style for your story, but for many stories, this is not uniform. Instead, the narration changes with the story’s content. One of the biggest factors in whether these changes are smooth or jarring for readers is your … read more »
Hey guys, so in my story I have several main characters, the problem being that one of them doesn’t do much until later on but I still want them to be involved. She is the heir of her father’s kingdom, but not really because, haha, … read more »
One of them is evocative language, and the other is an animal or inanimate object with googly eyes. But which is which? And how are you supposed to use them once you figure out the answer? That’s what we’re talking about this week. We’ll discuss … read more »
Conflict is, as we never get tired of saying, critical to stories. It’s what creates stakes, tension, and satisfaction, what keeps us turning the page to see what happens next. But have you ever felt like you were reading the same conflict over and over … read more »
With the booming popularity of podcasts and other audio content, self-published writers can benefit from having audio versions of their books. But because voice narration is a time-consuming specialty, it can be difficult to decide whether to shell out and hire someone or work on … read more »
I think I have some pretty positive disability portrayals in the story. I have an old mage based on a wonderful person I used to know, who (just like his real-life inspiration) has a hunchback and a pronounced limp. He’s also missing much of one … read more »
Sometimes in writing you just know what to do, even if you can’t say why you know. That’s your gut in action, your writerly instincts making themselves known. But how does writing with your gut actually work? What are its strengths, what are its weaknesses, … read more »
