"Zombified" by Lyra McKen

Cassie is a typical teenager.  She’s crushing on a boy and trying to make it through high school. It’s a typical day of classes when all hell breaks loose. Forced to run and hide the situation just keeps getting worse. She makes a mistake and soon becomes infected. She meets others like her and together they sent out to find a cure. Is their fate already sealed? Can they find a cure before it’s too late? See what happens through the eyes of the infected when Cassie tells you how Zombies are people too.

HOW “ZOMBIFIED” WAS BORN!

BY LYRA MCKEN

When asked to discuss how I came up with the concept and story line for my novel Zombified, I had to think back. I had to think of where I was mentally when the idea formed. I had been annoying my family and boyfriend for weeks talking about the Zombie Apocalypse. My Dad would say something about, "If the economy doesn't do something then we are in for it." That isn't exactly what he said, my father doesn't speak like that, but for the sake of this article that is what he said. I would respond with, "The Zombies will take over!"

As annoyed as my family was, I was fascinated with Zombies and why they enthralled our culture so. I begin to think how would you feel if you knew you were going to start eating people and rotting away? Cassie started to form in my mind. She was a young girl with a bright future, derailed by a disease and the end of life as she knew it. I then started thinking, what if Zombies actually could communicate and had a purpose with their constant wondering around. Slopar was born, my idea of the Zombie language. I pictured Cassie talking to someone about her life as she snacked on him and wrote the beginning.

After this I started thinking, what if you bit your crush? I had to give Cassie a gorgeous guy, figure out how to get them alone, and let her ruin it with her soon-to-be-dead tendencies. I really enjoyed writing the novel. I wanted to explore the thoughts of the partially infected, and what would happen when they met up and tried to fight the desire to feed as the infection spread. I hope people enjoy reading Zombified as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for taking a trip into my mind.

xx Lyra Mcken

Lyra McKen (aka, Emily Walker) resides in the mountains of North Carolina. She lives on top of a mountain quite literally with her other half of nine years and her fur baby, Rebel. After a couple of jobs ghost writing for other successful authors she embarked on her own journey to write a novel.

 

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What is Symbolism?

...and how can it be used to strengthen a novel’s mood?

I could spend several paragraphs singing the praises of M.H. Abrams and his famed Glossary of Literary Terms, but I won’t. Simply put, a symbol is a word or object that represents the idea of something else.

For all the years I spent teaching English, I found that using poetry to illustrate a point or element within literature is most effective.


To illustrate the use of symbolism, I’d like to focus on “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe. I have been thinking of this fabulous writer of suspense and horror lately because of the new movie, The Raven. I have not yet seen it--too busy writing!

The stanza I think of most when I envision how powerful symbolism can be is after the persona of the poem is awakened, opens the door, and lets in a bird.


Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Poe, E. A. (2012). Poets.org. Retrieved from http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15638

There are two specific elements of symbolism that are particularly powerful within this stanza.

• The bird, The Raven is black which in itself symbolizes or represents evil, the underworld, death, mystery and secrecy.
• The “bust of Pallas” upon which the bird perches. Pallas is truly Pallas Athena the Goddess of Wisdom in Greek mythology. This bust represents or symbolizes truth and knowledge.

The bird Poe chose to use instills a sense of dread and death in the reader. The location Poe placed the bird within the poem--on the bust of a statue that represents wisdom--solidifies to the reader that whatever the dark, evil bird says will be true because it has a knowledge others do not.

In the span of six short lines Poe uses many literary devices: rhythm, rhyme, repetition, alliteration, allusion, but it is the power of his symbolism that creates a mood of dreary, hopelessness.

To fellow writers: so when we return to our writing, and we’re trying to convey a certain sense of mood for our readers, perhaps we can take a page or rather a line from Poe’s poetry.

To fellow readers: when we again open the pages of our favorite novel or even click open the new book on our e-readers, we can look for the subtle, yet powerful ways the writer conveys a mood for us to appreciate and thrill in.

We, The Chanting of Muses, are always interested in what you’ve found as readers and writers that has been powerful to you. Please share your findings on symbolism.





Rionna Morgan holds a bachelors in English Literature as well as a masters. She spent a decade teaching English and theatre in the public schools of Colorado, Oregon and Montana. She also briefly taught English at the university level. Rionna writes romantic suspense and her book, The Wanting Heart, is set to be released July 9, 2012.