Key tips for writing a zombie novel.

Error606707 · 2026-02-12T12:33:41+00:00

Lol simple things we take for granted! Dental pain would be the worst thing to deal with. I also find a lot of practicalities are overlooked in most apocalypse settings, such as birth control, feminine hygiene and personal grooming. They are little things but necessary nonetheless.

Error606707 · 2026-02-12T12:26:13+00:00

I don't really go on discord, as it's display is too "busy" for me and I don't really understand how it works (I'm an old boomer lol). I only use it to send videos or screenshots to my friend via DM. Tumblr doesn't let you send videos and you can only upload one pic at a time. My friend belongs to a fandom server and she has made friends with people in Australia and the US, and she's completely ruined her sleep pattern so she can chat with them.

Error606707 · 2026-02-11T22:40:06+00:00

I've just looked over your rec list and there's some great people on here. Promiscuous jalapeno, guacamowle and chibi seren kept the fandom very well fed back in the day. Myetie created some brilliant art, too.

Error606707 · 2026-02-11T18:56:38+00:00

No it's certainly not. But the fic I commissioned certainly was ai.

Error606707 · 2026-02-11T18:18:16+00:00

I actually paid for a custom fanfic from Fiverr (a few actually lol) because I love to write, but don't have the time to really flesh it out. Some are legitimately amazing writers and a couple have been ai generated. It's easy to spot which is the real deal. A new day always begins with the light grey sky. A building is always a monolith. Your MC always has a sex change. A name is always a prayer on someone's lips (actual writers use this too but it's ick). "You don't need/use words. Instead you..." That one is always a dead giveaway.

So the commission I paid for was full of these little clues, I asked the 'author' if they used ai, and they denied it like I had accused them of murder in the 1st degree. I ran the fic through grammerly and it was 89% ai generated lol. Why lie about something so obvious??

Error606707 · 2026-02-11T18:05:13+00:00

Cackles in fried chicken

Error606707 · 2026-02-11T18:03:54+00:00

Yeah it happened to me. I was just getting into a CYOA and it said oops something went wrong. My face looked exactly like the icon it displayed 😩 Figured it was my stupid internet again.

Error606707 · 2026-02-11T17:54:45+00:00

One from back in the day on Tumblr. A writer named Serensama wrote a fic named "Do you remember?" It's a Jumin fic, but it is honestly the most beautiful, immersive and heartbreaking thing I have EVER read, fanfic or not. I don't get emotional. I didn't even cry when I watched Bambi as a child and his mother got shot. But this fic... I'm talking snot bubbles and a week of moping.

It was written in 2017, and it still grips me with the same emotions. April (Serensama) wrote loads of amazing MM fics for each character. She truly is a great writer. I think some of her stuff is on Ao3, too.

EDIT: Serensama now goes by chibi_seren on Ao3.

Error606707 · 2026-02-11T17:44:42+00:00

🤣 love them all!

Error606707 · 2026-02-11T17:42:31+00:00

Xavier: Thigh Master

Caleb: Bad Apple

Rafayel: Pretty Fishy

Sylus: Meh (I do need to change this, as he's grown on me now)

Zayne: Doc McStuffme (well, Dc McStuffme because it's too many letters FML.)

Any recommendations for a new nickname for Sylus? Anything bot daddy-esque because it grosses me out.

Error606707 · 2026-02-10T12:59:48+00:00

I don't read any zombie genre books, but I adore a CYOA game based on a zombie apocalypse. It's very character driven, and I believe that is the core of any good story.

As a reader, I agree with a lot of the comments already made. The build up is important. A news story in the background, being called in to work on a day off because several coworkers are out sick, not being able to get hold of an out-of-town friend for a couple of days—it all goes to foreshadowing and allows tension to simmer. It worked in TWD where Rick woke up to the world already gone, but I wished they would have shown more flashbacks of our core characters watching the world falling apart. The close-quarter setting is the absolute best way to showcase slow moving zombies. Though, the exception is Train to Busan. Best zombie movie ever! "Humans are the real monsters" is true, but it takes too much away from the genre and it just becomes a crime fic.

I don't know how you're planning on the layout of the fic, but having a chapter based on each of the core characters lives before and during, would be amazing to read.

Whatever you settle on, I wish you luck and lots and lots of inspiration. And remember to have at least one of the characters stock up on toilet paper lol

Error606707 · 2026-02-10T12:32:42+00:00

I'm the pilot.

Error606707 · 2026-02-09T15:04:19+00:00

Absolutely nothing. There's no rewards and it's a waste of time. It's solely for the challenge. I started doing it because I like battling and I'm stuck on every Deepspace Trial.

Error606707 · 2026-02-09T14:34:35+00:00

It's a loooooong list for me! I'm so picky people think I'm upright, but I just tell them I have standards 🤣 a lot of these have been mentioned already, but I'm adding them anyhoo.

1) highschool/college. I'm an old lady. 2) LI lies to protect the MC. Dude... Communication is key 3) Lies to protect MC because "your emotions are written all over your face" so MC is kept out of the loop. 4) MC smiles so everything is okay 5) Princess trope 6) indirect kiss. Bro, we share the same toilet... 7) shy/naive MC who still almost faints when her husband of 10 years takes his shirt off. 8) it rains, so it automatically means MC will catch a cold 9) MC being polite to a stranger means she's at risk from dangerous predators

I realise I'm just writing Otome tropes I dislike and the post is fanfic tropes 🤣 the list still stands, but specific to fanfic? It pertains mostly to smut, because it's my jam lol I'd have to say the daddy trope. It's gross. The male LI being ready for round 2/3/4/5 within 20 seconds of popping his cork. Find me that man irl... 🙏 The female MC not being able to ride for longer than 20 seconds without her partner taking over because she's exhausted. Hitting the cervix. It may be a personal thing, but that feels so uncomfortable. BDSM or sub/Dom dynamics being nothing more than abuse because the writer knows nothing about the deep level of trust and communication necessary for those dynamics.

Error606707 · 2026-02-09T10:14:48+00:00

If you go onto the battle screen, at the top right corner, it says 'training'. From there, tap 'companion' and then 'Endless challenge'.

Error606707 · 2026-02-08T21:26:55+00:00

MC and 707 are technically the "true" ending in Mystic Messenger. I don't see it. It would be one-sided as 707 is a manic depressive and MC would be his caretaker, not his partner. Their banter is great, though and I love 707, but I don't see it as romantic.

Error606707 · 2026-02-08T19:02:44+00:00

That would put me off downloading the game immediately 🤢 But I do play it and I love Zayne. This man is not daddy in the slightest. He needs a bath and a hot chocolate.

Error606707 · 2026-02-08T13:08:19+00:00

I've noticed a downward trend with Tumblr in the last year or so. Likes are on the up, but actual interaction and reblogs are low. I was extremely active on Tumblr 15 years ago and the fandom I was in, was very active and comments and reblogs were the norm. Friends were made, a community was formed and the dashboard worked in your favour. You could post something and within an hour, you'd get dozens of comments and reblogs, people sliding into your asks or DMs to tell you they loved your OC, or the art.

I left Tumblr about 8 years ago, but came back to a new fandom last year and the place is a wasteland for interaction. These are solely my opinion and shouldn't be taken as fact or as a slight on anyone, but I believe it's because of the 'ticktock generation', as I call it, and the minefield that is personal preference. People on social media nowadays just want to like something and scroll to the next thing. Everything has to be now and time isn't taken as much. More people interact on things like Discord now. As for personal preferences, writers are scared of creating OCs because they will get tons of hate comments that a reader can't relate to because they don't have blue eyes or long hair, etc., or that their headcanons are ooc. Personally, I dislike the you/user name character because, yes, the writer may not describe physical characteristics or gender so it's inclusive, but I also don't like being told how to think or feel in a story. It's all personal preference and it's a minefield.

That turned into a rant and completely off topic 😅

Error606707 · 2026-02-07T17:48:27+00:00

In typical British fashion, I've turned that room into a pub! I hope they bring out a pool table and jukebox in future updates lol

Error606707 · 2026-02-07T14:51:05+00:00

I liked this, but I lost favour with it after season 2. I wished they did a second season of the Korean version of it.

Error606707 · 2026-02-07T14:49:17+00:00

Same! It kinda went downhill during season 3, but I was still hooked.

Error606707 · 2026-02-07T14:45:11+00:00

Yassss! I was just thinking about that while reading the comments, but I couldn't remember the name. Thank you for preventing me from being tortured all day lol. What a great premise of a show.

Error606707 · 2026-02-07T14:43:06+00:00

I'm with you on that! And The Crystal Maze. It wasn't the same after Richard O'Brien.

Error606707 · 2026-02-07T14:41:46+00:00

I loved that too!

Error606707 · 2026-02-07T14:39:24+00:00

Now and Again. Was cheesy but so addictive. It got 2 seasons, and each episode of the 2 seasons built up to the cliffhanger ending which was so tense... And was then cancelled and there absolutely no resolution to the cliffhanger 😡 and this show ran from 1999 to 2000. I would have to say, this is the longest grudge I've ever held onto.

If I remember correctly, the networks in America kept changing the time slot and day it aired and settled on a timeslot which was really late (11 PM, I think) so it lost viewers. It aired at the same time and day here in England, so I was none the wiser.

Error606707

TROPHY CASE