Monday, October 19, 2009

Why Writers Should Be Like Zombies




If you want to read a great October article for writers that will make you laugh out loud several times check out Why Good Writers Are Kinda like Zombies by Gabriel Gadfly

Being October, I had to check out this post - I couldn't resist such a great title. Plus one of my favorite movies is "Night of the Comet" which hinges on lots of scary zombies.


Also, I heard somewhere that zombies may be the in-thing this year - for romance writers? Vampires are passe. Werewolves are getting old. It's time for new trend. What's left?


Hey, zombies worked in "Night of the Comet". At least it worked for me as long as the zombies were the bad guys and there was a cute, sexy hero like Hector (Robert Beltran aka Chakotay from Voyager).


But I digress.


Zombies are tenacious creatures. They single-mindedly go after what they want. Even though we might find it yucky, you have to admire their determination, in a gruesome sort of way.


Writers need to be tenacious, too. Even if you've written the best story in the world, it won't get published unless you send it to agents and publishers. After that you must promote the hell out of it.


Zombies don't care if you like them. They don't get put off because you run from them. They're going to do their best to get you. They don't give up. They'll claw their way through a wall to get what they want.



Writers need to be more like zombies. They need to grow a thick skin and not take it personally when an editor rejects their work. They need to get over poor reviews. They need to keep writing, keep submitting, keep promoting even if their last book had poor sales, even if they're wracking up rejections.


I never thought I'd say I want to be a zombie - or even like a zombie - but I could use some of these traits.


Recent posts you might like to read:

How to Make the Most of Twitter By A Regular Person

Take A Break From Writing To Write Better Stories

Ghost Hunting at a Haunted Hotel

Welcome to the Spookiest Month of the Year (+ don't burn your Ouija Board!)

Must Write Must Write Must Write!!!


You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook,
Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch,
Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape
are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Ah, that explains a lot - I'm a zombie

Linda Kage said...

Now I see what I've been doing wrong. I haven't taken the Zombie route on submissions. Thanks, Ashley!

Stephanie said...

LOL! Great advice!!

And yes, I've heard Zombies are the in thing this year. I went to see Zombieland at the theater (had to see it...I was in LA when they were filming it and got to watch one of the scenes being filmed...very cool!) So anyway.....very interesting to compare writers to Zombies!

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