If someone tells you a genre, subgenre, or story trope is dead, they’re probably wrong. Like a good old rancid zombie, stories never die.
Speaking of zombies, consider zombie stories. They’ve made regular appearances in American cinema (both big screens and small) for decades. Some zombie stories work, some don’t, but one thing remains the same: they just keep on coming back. Kind of like, well, zombies.
Take, for example, the latest star-studded zombie movie. It’s called The Dead Don’t Die. It’s written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and it stars Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Chloë Sevigny, Selena Gomez, and Steve Buscemi. (Also, for some reason Tilda Swinton plays what appears to be an albino mortician wielding a samurai sword.)
You’d think stories about local law enforcement battling zombies with makeshift weapons would’ve fallen out of favor. I’d guess if you wrote this screenplay, some might say something to the effect of, “The world doesn’t need another zombie movie.” And yet here it is. Another one.
No matter how many times a story’s been told, it can always be told again. In today’s blog post, I’ll do my best to convince you.
Consider Station Eleven
In 2014, you’d probably guess readers had had their fill of post-apocalyptic fiction. Within ten years of its release, we had The Road (and a film adaptation), World War Z (with a film adaptation), The Left Behind series (plus many adaptations), The Host (adapted), The Passage (adapted), and The Water Knife (no adaptation yet). And if we expand this list to include original films, consider After Earth, WALL-E, The Book of Eli, This Is the End, and my personal favorite of the bunch, The Happening. Oh, and let’s not forget one of the most popular shows of all time: The Walking Dead.
So, as you can see, there was no shortage of post-apocalyptic fiction around the time the book was published. Some, in fact, complained there was too much of it. Yet that year Emily St. John Mandel released a novel called Station Eleven. It received all kinds of acclaim, such as nominations for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, and the National Book Award. In 2015, the novel won the Arthur C. Clarke Award.
(By the way, if you haven’t read Station Eleven, you really should. It’s an amazing novel with an unusual narrative style, interesting characters, and a rich story.)
So why did this work? Why did Station Eleven succeed when it seemed we’d hit a saturation point on post-apocalyptic fiction?
Nobody Cares About Subgenre as Long as It’s Good
Station Eleven works because it’s an excellent book. It’s that simple.
Of course, for writers, it’s not really that simple. Writing greats stories takes years, even decades of dedication and practice. And even books of great quality aren’t always commercially successful.
Yet I feel many writers (and for that matter, publishers) get too concerned about what’s been overdone. The truth is, you really can’t overdo any subject. We saw this with Station Eleven, and who knows? We may see it with The Dead Don’t Die, too.
Look to vampire fiction for another example. I’ve submitted my short fiction to many online publications, and there’s one guideline I notice over and over: they don’t want vampire fiction! We all know who’s to blame for that. But I think it’s a mistake to proclaim vampire fiction off limits. After all, vampires are cool (so long as they don’t sparkle). They’re embedded in folklore across centuries and cultures, so clearly we have a fascination with them. All we need is a great vampire book or movie, sort of like the Station Eleven of vampires, to reignite our interest in the subgenre.
What Does This Mean for Writers?
I’m a writer, so I like writing about whatever I want. I’m also a reader, so I like reading good books. It would sadden me if I or anyone else abandoned a book they were passionate about simply because they thought their subject matter was “dead” to audiences.
Well guess what, friends. The dead don’t die. No genre, subgenre, or subject is dead. As long as we write good stories that mean something to us and our readers, our work will have a pulse.
So go read Station Eleven. If you see The Dead Don’t Die, let me know what you think of it. And, if you have a story you want to write, write it. I can’t wait to read it.
Kyle A. Massa is a speculative fiction author living somewhere in upstate New York with his wife and their two cats. His stories have appeared in numerous online magazines, including Allegory, Chantwood, and Dark Fire Fiction. His debut novel, Gerald Barkley Rocks, is available now.