The Zombie 5,000 has a somewhat unusual
beginning. It actually started around 2009 before I even started
pursuing writing as a serious venture. A podcast I was listening to
at the time was holding a flash fiction contest. It asked that we
write a five hundred word zombie story. I thought it would be an
interesting challenge so I submitted it. Nothing ever came from it
but I enjoyed writing it and often thought about returning to the
zombie tale. The first chapter of The Zombie 5,000 is called Zombie
Day At The Ballpark and that is what I submitted to the contest.
I wanted to release it but being five hundred words its kind of hard for that to be something people could sink their teeth into. So I thought about turning it into a short story but I wanted Zombie Day At The Ballpark to remain the first chapter. Thats when it clicked. I would write ten chapters at five hundred words each to total 5,000 words which would make a good size short story.
To me, each chapter is sort of its own
story which made it fun for me to write . I hoped that would
translate to being fun to read as well. To be honest, I'm a bit
burned out on anything zombie these days and never intended on
writing a zombie story but the characters in this story really spoke
to me. The format really helped in getting me excited about my
journey into writing a zombie story.
One amazing thing came from The Zombie
5,000. Mustard. I had a blast writing that character. I have gotten
good feedback from people about him as well. There is little chance
that he will show up in something else I write but I'll never say
never. He may pop up again whether I want him to or not.
So when I was planning the release of
this book, it was going to go on Amazon with my other stories. Then
something happened. It felt like it needed to be something a bit more
special so a few days before the first of October, I had an idea. The
31 Days Of Halloween is a really cool thing here on Needless Things
and I wanted to add to it with this zombie story. When I pitched the
idea to Phantom Troublemaker, he was excited about it so we put it
together in time for the first weekend. It has been fun to see the
story coming together week after week. I wanted it to feel like a
Saturday cartoon if that makes any sense. Something to get excited
about for the weekend, just like when I was a kid.
Due to certain rules on certain ebook
form sites, this story may never be released ebook wise. However, I
am toying with the idea to put this story in paperback form. If that
ever happens, it will be announced here on Needless Things first!
I do have plans to write another
“5,000” story for 2015. I will give you the subject matter as a
bit of a tease. This time around I covered zombies so the next one
will feature another favorite of mine. A haunted house. I am looking
forward to writing this story as its stuck in my noggin just begging
to get out.
So this is it. It's been a fun month
posting my story here on Needless Things. I have to thank Phantom
Troublemaker for allowing me to post the story on the site. His
excitement for the story was awesome and it was my pleasure sharing
my work with everyone via this little Saturday morning experiment.
Thank you to everyone for reading The Zombie 5,000. Share the links
with your friends if they like zombies to spread the word. The story
will remain on the website so enjoy it over and over again.
If you haven't read The Zombie 5,000 here are the links to each installment:
And finally, in the words of Mustard:
“Thanks for reading f*ckers!”
-R.T.
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