Miguel is writing a book and I wish him all the best.
I’ve had a idea for a story I want to tell for a little while now. I’ve thought more about it as a screen play than a book, but I’m not sure where to take it. Which is why I am posting here, I want to get some feelers. I told the idea to my wife, she sort of likes it but warned me that the premise, as well as a few of the characters will invite upon me the wrath of the SJWs.
Either as a book or a screen play, I want to do a zombie story. I know, I know, that’s all played out, but I have a different angle I want to take it. Part of the story is inspired by the book Dracula. I know, I’m making it so much worse, but bare with me.
I want to have it set in Louisiana between 1862 and 1863. The main villain will be a runaway slave who is a Bokor, a Voodoo priest. He is bringing soldiers who died on the battlefield back to life to enact revenge on the families of the plantation owners. His actions go, at least for a while, unnoticed because of the war, but eventually a small group of people catch on and have to stop him.
I want one of the good guys to be a house slave, who is also (unbeknownst to his master) a houngan, a good Voodoo priest. He is my Abraham Van Helsing character, a wise, older character steeped in knowledge of Voodoo. I want at least one Union officer and one Confederate officer as part of the Bokor hunting party. I like the idea of that internal conflict, that has to be overcome. The rest of the party needs more fleshing out. And I want there to be at least one battle with a Rougarou, a sort of Louisiana Voodoo were-alligator, that the Bokor is using as a bodyguard.
Part of why I want to do this, is I like the idea of Voodoo zombies instead of disease zombies. There is a little bit more I can play around with – like Voodoo zombies and their aversion to salt. I also like the idea of zombies vs. civil war era weaponry. Fighting zombies in the Bayou is going to quickly turn into a saber and knife fight. You can bet my Confederate officer will be dispatching zombies with a D-guard bowie. Modern zombie movies and shows have a lot of rapid fire and accurate head shots. Early Civil War battles were still fought with Napoleonic volley fire tactics and bayonet charges. I imagine that not being particularity effective against a horde of the undead.
Some of it, like the locations, Civil War weapons and tactics I will try to be as accurate as possible. Other things, like Voodoo, I will have to take some liberties.
What do you all think? Zombies played out? Is this something you might like?
Sounds doable. Try to be as realistic as possible in the areas where realism will count, such as cultural and historical issues, and step across every other line without fear or apologies. Oh, be as accurate as possible in your weapons too.
Well, since you did ask. Honestly? Yawn.
I like the idea. I don’t know if you already have it in the story, but Necromancers are assholes that need to be put down. You are placing it in Louisiana which can be tied to Haiti because of the french stuff. Hell, make it a chase from Louisiana to Haiti via Alabama and Florida tracking the necromancer and killing the undead he leaves behind. Make the soldier calvary offices and think a brace of revolvers :Colt Army and LeMats besides the sables and bowies.
OK, I’ll shut up now, I already have an outline in my head…LOL
1 – turn off auto-correct 2 – get a proofreader 3 – get an editor 4 – do not use the run-of-the-mill manga illustrators for this comic book — the old fashioned flat, almost no perspective style of the 1950s would probably be your best bet.
Alternatively, you could do a heck of a lot of character development and sub-plot inter-twining and stand a good chance of giving some of today’s best-selling but non-award winning authors a good run for their money. Just don’t copy their characters.
And consider me for one of your beta readers.
stay safe.
Oh yeah, DIBS on a beta reader job too! Lol
Every time I think the zombie thing is played out, I find a new story/movie that catches my fancy. Personally, I find the Night of the Living Dead/ Dawn of Dead/horror zombie movies dull. They are mindless horror stories all built for suspense, and catching the next “gotcha” moment. Guy goes into house to escape zombies, and every time he turns around/the camera pans, there’s a zombie. Repeat until movie ends.
I prefer things like Zombieland, Exit Humanity, and even the Walking Dead. The stories about the survivors matter far more than the fact that there are zombies. The zombies are merely a conflict vehicle.
So, in short, do your story. Sounds interesting to me, I’d read it.
Best zombie movie: Shaun of the Dead
I thoroughly enjoyed Shaun of the Dead. It was a great movie. I enjoyed Exit Humanity, too, which some people found slow (it was) but I liked the interaction of the main character with the living he found along the way, and the Civil War era gave it a different twist. J’s idea actually reminded me of it, merely because of the CW connection.
‘On stranger tides’. The title of a Tim Powers’ novel that seems similar to what you are proposing.
The story was set in the Caribbean in the Golden Age of Piracy and featured Black Beard, Ponce de Leon, and other historical figures as well as voodo, zombies, etc.
One of my favorite books of all time.
Will you idea sell? Who the eff knows.
I have a dear friend who broke into the literary scene by introducing a ditzy, clutzy, redhead who works as a social worker for an agency that serves the needs of mythical creatures that walk among the denizens of San Francisco.
Really, really concentrate on making your central characters into human beings with weaknesses, doubts, and let them fail enough to allow some sort of empathy your reader will feel for them.
Seriously, good luck. Writer’s are in a damned tough business and it’s rarely good for the ego.
Have you read any of Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International series? It sounds like a similar vein, except that MHI is set in the present day and includes ALL kinds of monsters.
Keep the combat and weapon use/manipulation realistic. Keep the mannerisms, speech, and dress historically accurate. Do your research (especially on the history stuff), but be prepared to fudge on some of the details (read: make s#!t up) where the history is vague or undocumented (especially on the voodoo stuff).
If done well, it could be a heck of a read. 🙂
Do it
I’ll echo comments made already:
1. Beta Readers (I volunteer!!!).
2. Competent editor (nothing worse that reading along and hitting a “their/they’re/there” error or some other grammatical speedbump that yanks me out of a book. I’ve deleted books for too many of those)
3. Make your characters human. Nobody in the real world are perfect, and if even the protagonists’ flaws are shiny, it takes the realism element right out. Especially in scifi/fantasy/urban fiction. There’s enough make-believe without having perfect characters that go through a hundred minions without mussing up their hair or angsting over their “character flaws”.
4. Timelines and tense: figure them out, and stick with them. Don’t jump around unless the story calls for it (ie, character has to travel, in that day and age, Louisiana to Atlanta would take a week or more), and make sure your verb tenses line up.
That being said…when/where do I buy this?!?
Incidentally, this would make such an epic d20 Modern campaign.