Zombie Story Idea
 

Well, I had an idea for a story, and I wanted to see what you guys thought of the idea. The story would be about a man who comes back to life as a rotted corpse, while still retaining his memories and his sanity. However, due to how much he has decomposed, he can't speak and has poor coordination. The story would be about him going in search of his past while roaming the city, while being chased by a self-proclaimed zombie hunter. Rather than saying right out what he is thinking, I would show how he reacts to the world around him, and have flashbacks of his life before his demise. The story would start off comedic and humorous, but as the story progresses, showing how alone he is in the world and how everything has changed without him, the story would take on a much sadder tone.

What do you guys think of the idea, and how could I improve it.

You sure seem to have lots of ideas but not really spend much time working on them. I think if you really want to get all this stuff written out you should jot down the concepts into a notebook for later and try and get something finished first. Multiple projects is tricky.

As for the concept, it seems a bit strange to have a zombie on the run from a zombie hunter and not have that pretty much be the end of the book. I mean if the guy hunts zombies chances are there's not alot the protagonist can do about it before he gets shot in the head.

The storyline sounds like you're merging two completely unrelated concepts - Zombies and Amnesia. Usually amnesia has investigation and interaction with lots of characters to give the protagonist some life and slowly piece together what he lost. If he's missing a chunk of his jaw and going "Uuuuuurrnnngghhhh..." it kind of kills the "engaging dialog." Zombies are awful at talking after all.

So unless this is a really short story I don't know what to make of it so far.

Didn't C&H do something like this a while back before they got their servers wiped?

Also, I think the idea of making too big a change in the book's theme partway through might be a bad idea. If someone starts a book and its funny, they'll expect it to stay funny. If it turns into a teen drama halfway through, people will likely quit reading it.

I don't quite see how this could take off. Hover, at most, but I don't know about flying.

How long has the guy been dead? If it's been for awhile (years), then I could see the amnesia fitting in. However, if he's recently died, then I can't see amnesia coming into play if he's still keeping his higher brain functions.

Also, I have to second the sentiments regarding the zombie hunter coming after him. Shambling corpses don't stand much of a chance against shotgun-wielding warriors. Also, I'm assuming this takes place in a post-apoc world, since I doubt any living persons would take too kindly to a rotting man walking down the street.

If I may suggest, perhaps the protagonist, as he discovers more about his past life, slowly regains more of his humanity? That is to say, he stops decomposing and starts growing again, regaining the ability to speak, more fluid movement, that kind of stuff. And also, if you're gonna do humour, keep it light and infrequent. I'd say borderline sarcasm, at most.

Given what you've posted, I'd say this would rely heavily on internal monologuing. Overall, it's not a bad idea, but it could definitely use work.

Even if he wasn't a shambling mound I fail to see how someone whom is any kind of hunter not killing his prey outright.

One way to do it is have the protagonist be some sort of game hunter in his previous life, so he knows about hunters and prey and outsmarts the guy, cause that could link to more memories about himself.

See you can do it, but the details right now are scarce and not really complimenting each other in any way.

I think 'Zombie' might be the wrong genre for the story you are trying to tell. It will just take you in the wrong direction for the main thrust of what you are trying to accomplish. Kind of like how Marvel Zombies was awful for no reason other than to be really freaking awful :(, but they tried to make it deep with Peter going "Oh nos I ate my wife whats wrong with me nom nom nom".

I'm with Nique on this one - you might just say he died and now he's alive again, but there's things wrong with him like amnesia and he doesn't need to eat or breathe, and his body feels almost no pain, oh yeah and there's some crazy bible-thumped psychopath with a gun who's trying to kill him, thinking he's an abomination and he needs to be cleansed from the earth.

See now that sounds pretty awesome.

If you wrote the story with the specific intent of removing the word "Zombie" you probably have something going here. Because that word alone carries alot of setups of what people are going to expect, and you should probably remove those expectations.

Oh! You should watch 'Phenomenon' - The basic idea here might lend to your setting. A small town, this guy comes back, is shunned a bit, etc...

DAMN IT NIQUE STOP OFFERING BETTER WRITING TIPS THAN ME IT HURTS MY AUTHOR EGO

I dunno if that's your same kind of feel, NC, since it sounds like your story takes place long after he's been dead, but yeah it might be a good watch.

Yeah, I get a lot of random ideas, and I really should write them down and just save them till I finish what I'm working on or something... Oh, well...

It wasn't really gonna be that he has amnesia, mostly just that so much has changed since his death. He looks for his family, but his children are grown up, his parents dead... Stuff like that. I've also been thinking rather than a gradual shift from funny to sad, I would just balance them both out throughout the story.