First-time writers entering the zombie genre sometimes focus on the zombies themselves while neglecting their human characters. This can result in flat or uninteresting characters that fail to engage the reader.
But you can avoid this problem by using some time-tested character development strategies.
In this article, I’ll explain some of the ways you can create original and interesting characters for a zombie apocalypse novel or short story.
Creating Interesting Characters in Zombie Fiction
When you think about it, zombie novels and stories are only partly about the walking dead. From a storytelling standpoint, the main focus is aimed at the human characters who struggle to survive in this post-apocalyptic world. And this makes a lot of sense. All the zombies in the world can’t save a story that lacks interesting characters.
Characters from The Walking Dead. AMC Networks.
But how do you go about this? How can you, as an author, create original and interesting characters for your zombie apocalypse novel or story? Here are some tips, ideas and strategies to get you started.
1. Make sure we know what your characters want and feel.
As readers, we naturally want to root for the protagonist or main character in a story. But we can’t root for characters unless we understand them. We have to know what’s important to them. We have to understand their fears, desires and motivations.
In other words, we need to know what’s going on inside their heads.
If you give readers some insight into what your main characters are thinking and feeling, you’ll end up with a more engaging zombie novel or short story.
This can also help you create obstacles and conflict within your story, which in turn creates drama and tension. Conflict leads to drama, which keeps readers turning the pages. But in order to generate conflict, you have to understand what your character wants.
There are basically three ways to show what your characters are thinking and feeling:
- Action — You can reveal a character’s thoughts, feelings and emotions through action. For instance, if the protagonist in your zombie novel kicks a trashcan over after receiving some news, we know right away the news is upsetting to her.
- Dialogue — You can also reveal a character’s inner thoughts and feelings through dialogue. Instead of kicking a trashcan, maybe your protagonist says to another character: “This is terrible! I can’t even begin to tell you how much this upsets me.”
- Interiority — In fiction writing, interiority refers to the inner thoughts and emotions of a certain character. This is a great way to show readers what your character is thinking or feeling at key moments during your zombie story. Interiority gives the reader direct access to your protagonist’s inner thoughts and emotions. It brings us into their headspace.
Action and dialogue are straightforward. Interiority is a bit more subtle, so let’s drill down on that. Here’s an example of interiority, where we “see inside” a character’s mind:
Jane couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She heard the words and understood what they meant. But her natural instinct was to consider them false. How could it be true that Riley had failed? That she wasn’t coming back? The whole idea was too awful to accept.
If you want to create original and interesting characters for a zombie apocalypse novel or story, you have to give readers access to their mindset. We have to know what they are feeling and thinking at key moments within the story.
2. Create a ‘character diary’ to uncover hidden depth.
I wrote about character diaries in a previous blog post. This is a technique I use to create deeper and more realistic characters in my novels.
How it works: You use a notebook (or a document on your computer) to create a character diary / journal. Then you channel your protagonist to create diary entries in their voice and POV. In other words, you pretend it’s their diary — not yours.
This character-development strategy allows you to write things in privacy, just like a real diary. No one will see these words but you. So turn off your internal editor and just let the ideas flow.
But remember, this is your character writing. You’re just the channel through which the thoughts and emotions flow. You’re the hand that writes the words, recording your character’s innermost thoughts, fears and desires.
When using this strategy, you might be surprised to discover a new level of depth and complexity within your characters. And that’s the whole point. By letting the words and ideas flow like a stream of consciousness, you’re bringing spontaneity and creativity into the picture.
3. Incorporate flaws and imperfections for added realism.
Beginning writers might try to make their characters perfect, so people can “root for them.” But all this does is make the character less believable and less authentic.
We all have our little flaws and imperfections. They’re part of being human. So why should fictional characters in a zombie apocalypse novel be any different?
Giving your character flaws does several things:
- It makes your characters more believable, which in turn makes the whole zombie apocalypse story more believable.
- It allows you to create internal struggles and dilemmas (i.e., more drama).
- It makes characters more relatable, so readers have an easier time rooting for them.
When it comes to characters in a zombie apocalypse novel or short story, flaws come in all shapes and sizes. Maybe your protagonist made some big mistakes in the past, mistakes that haunt them to this day. Maybe they hurt someone they care about, intentionally or unintentionally.
Think about yourself and the people you know. Think about the little flaws and imperfections we all have. Find ways to weave those into your characters, when writing a zombie apocalypse story or novel. You’ll bring more realism into the story.
4. Use interpersonal conflict on top of the zombie conflict.
Even in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested setting, humans can be the scariest monsters.
You can increase the tension and drama in your zombie novel by creating villainous characters who challenge your protagonist. So consider “layering” some interpersonal conflict on top of the zombie conflict.
- In some stories, the zombies are the primary antagonist against which the main character struggles.
- In other stories, zombies serve more of a background role, as the humans struggle against themselves.
- Other novels combine these two types of conflict, in order to heighten the tension and drama.
There are different ways to play it. At the very least, consider what kinds of interpersonal conflict you might weave into your story, to challenge your characters and elevate the tension.
Where to Go from Here
This isn’t a writing class and there aren’t any hard-and-fast rules. These are just some of the considerations you want to make when creating original characters for a zombie apocalypse novel or story.
The goal is to develop multidimensional characters who have the same depth and complexity as real people. So think about what your characters want and what they fear. Think about the obstacles they will encounter during their journey, and how those challenges might reveal even more of their character.
And make sure readers know what’s going on in your characters’ heads during key moments in the story.
