What are common types of characters that reoccur in zombie media? What might drive these characters actions? Which are most likely to survive and why? An example might be the driven father figure such as in The Walking Dead and World War Z.
I think that creating interesting and "new" character action/motivation is challenging in this genre as survivalism is the main motive and focus and the interest comes in how the writer can comes up with inventive ways for characters to survive and kill zombies. Perhaps a way to combat stereotype in central characters is to create a more complex conflict with zombies than just kill or be killed. What else does the central character want, and how do the zombies become a new kind of conflict in preventing the character from getting what he/or she wants? Perhaps in a way that causes the main character multiple conflicts: inner and outer. – RJWolfe10 years ago
I recently finished a novel (publishing in May) that uses a failure of computer chips in human brains to create a zombie apocalypse. If someone wants to write an article on this that cites my book (good or bad), I'll send you a free copy. You can find me at www.orenhammerquist.com – orenhammerquist10 years ago
With this the line between good/evil characters gets blurred because of what each character has to do to survive. You could look at this as an interesting factor that almost always appears in zombie media. – Tyler McPherson10 years ago