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Tips & Ideas On How To Produce Good Horror And Science Fiction Stories

I would like to discuss and share ideas on how to write Horror and Science Fiction stories using creative writing. Therefore, the invitation here can be considered from the perspective of two aspects that are related to each other: the discussion on the short story genre and interesting tips on the use of creative writing.

There is a lot of talk in creative writing about content and form. The content, referring to fiction writing, has more to do with the main theme of the story. So, when you use a cliche theme like, for example, zombies, I think that, of course, we should invest in the form. How to work on an already beaten topic from a new perspective? Bring in new elements to break the tradition of the theme’s characteristics, or write differently as an unusual narrative voice?

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You gave a great example, honestly. The theme of zombies has become a huge cliche, but I think that if someone manages to combine new and brain-teasingly unique elements that don't necessarily break the tradition of the theme's characteristics, that could make the story very fun to dive into for the readers.

Of course, that's really not an easy thing to do, so it's rare that anything new/not worn out has really captured the attention of a large flock of readers. Since the realm of creative writing is also pretty limited unless you know how to utilize it right, there's also the fact that some other tools, such as rendering the story into a video game (Which might allow more mechanic potential and the like), are much more preferred? But I might be wrong.

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I'm new to this board, so be gentle.

To answer the OP's concluding question, I'd venture that, since you framed this as an exercise in creative short story writing, then IMO developing a unique voice is definitely something worth working on, zombies or no zombies.

I've never tried to write a zombie story, but if I wanted to generate one without already having a definite concept of where I wanted to go with it, I might start by taking a conventional writing prompt (Like, "Write a description of a Venetian piazza from the perspective of someone whose spouse just left them, who is drinking tea at a cafe overlooking that piazza" and then drop one or more zombies into the scenario to explore how the zombies' appearance impacts things. What does it mean for our protagonist's life to suddenly have zombies in it?

For a short story I wouldn't worry too much about whether your zombies are too tropey or conventional. No need to make them OC zombies just for the sake of being different. What matters is how they affect the story. Think about what you might want to challenge your protagonists with, and let that be an influence on how you flesh out (So to speak) your zombies.

Edited: Drearash on 28th Jan, 2024 - 1:54am