******Afterthoughts Part Three******

12/19/24

Guess I needed the sleep because I am up way later than yesterday and I’m still a bit dazed.

Well, lets see how many chapters I can proofread through today. Onward to chapter 11 . . .

Yeah, the same fire—I mean motivation that was in me yesterday has simmered down. Although, I did approach chapter 11 with a great deal of focus. And I think its because I wrote this draft in a creative frenzy and needed to carefully read each and every little bit.

I noticed some sentences were missing words and I used some words that were out of place. Writing while the creative juices are burning—I mean flowing, it really forces me to slow my pace down and proofread the chapters carefully.

Anyway, this is a chapter with more character development and the trio of Xapper, Broadway and Little Defiant are finally a team. I love team dynamics and this chapter mostly focuses on Broadway and Xapper developing their partnership as survivors of the zombie outbreak. They bond just right in my opinion, enough to find mutual ground but still have some animosity and drama between them.

The twist with Pyre being a lover of Wilma’s was something that developed in this chapter and was not planned. And Pyre being the one to put Xeak in Xapper’s hut was something I wrote in chapter 11 then went back to chapter 1 to retcon. Actually, is it a retcon if the story is still in development? Anyway, I like to tie things up in a neat little bow and since Pyre was outside of Xapper’s hut during the zombie attack, Pyre being Xeak into the hut makes sense.

Wilma’s whole thing with her uniform fetish seems pretty specific. She could date anyone and buy a cheap halloween costume for them to wear. But no, she specifically likes people who are in active duty or have been in active duty and still have their uniform. I will admit, a lot of Wilma’s development was on the fly and since we did not have a lot of humor in the last couple of chapters, having the Witch-Anarchist Wilma be into people in uniform gave me a chuckle. And with how serious Zombie Xapper became, any chuckles were welcomed.

Broadway’s theory of people being exposed to magic effects how much of their personality remains when they become zombies makes sense to me. Magic is a versatile plot device. You can have it do anything. Even write yourself out of plot holes. I don’t notice any plot holes so far with this proofread but that does not mean they don’t exist. If any time you have a question about a plot hole, the answer is Wilma did it. 🪄

The radios being out his hand waved by using magic as a reason. Though, when I developed the piece of god (we later learn the name being Zholl'xess) that controls the zombies, I imagine it as a blob of electric jelly and its presence messes with electronics and radio waves.

And that name, Zholl'xess. I might as well talk about this next quick before entering chapter 12. Zholl'xess is a name I had randomly generated. And here is the website I used:

https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/

This site has been around for a while and it has a section for Lovecraftian names. And man, the beautiful and messed up treasures it creates. I generated a lot of really cool names I hope to use for the future. And since most of the time, even Lovcraft admitted that the names he invented were supposed to be hard to pronounce. I got the pronunciation of Zholl'xess from Google Translate and hearing the robot lady try to pronounce these crazy names is a treat. Seriously, get some friends together, generate some Lovecraftian names and use Google Translate. It’s amazing how much fun you can have with generated names.

Anyway, I would like to get chapter 12 done before the day is done, so . . .

“That’s Right, Xander. Dig Her Up! Bet She’ll Taste Like Kimchi!”

Wow, I love Xeak quotes at the beginning. I laughed. It's always so hard to find the right Xeak quote for a chapter title but that is a winner right there.

And we get some good interactions with the team in this chapter. Xapper and Broadway have some moments where they debate on their next move and do it in a civilized way, like two companions should. We have a few good moments with Broadway and Defiant bonding and learn a little bit more about Defiant. Her parents are just awful people but wow, there is Wilma.

Writing dialogue I would never say in real life is interesting. A lot of what Wilma said is anti-trans rhetoric that makes even me as a cis person uncomfortable. But that is the kind of person she is and writing her dialogue was a challenge. And I could not help but make her out to be an evil mastermind with plans of world domination, just to add some over the top humor in there.

Now, I originally was going to do that thing that Broadway suggested to Xapper: I was going to have the gang take Wilma all the way to Arkham and have Valiant and Waxington find out that the piece of Zholl'xess is in Wilma’s head. See, the logic behind this idea was that Xapper had Xeak, Defiant had Plasmee, and Broadway would have Wilma’s head. Each member of the gang had a “monster” companion. And since Zholl'xess is in Wilma’s head, while on a road trip to Arkham, zombies could still happen and attack the gang.

But as I thought about it, I kind of wanted to write Wilma off and give Broadway some peace. And I started to hate on Wilma and after all she did, she deserved to get melted. And I know some people like characters that are “you love to hate them” but Wilma’s addition to the gang would have been too much, IMO. I get that whole “you love to hate them” thing, I watch plenty of anime and movies and have my favorite villains that are like that too. But Wilma was not that for me and as the writer, if I feel like it's time to write a character off, I’m writing them off.

Write them off like a Marvel Cinematic Universe villain of the week. Seriously, the villains in that franchise seem to die off at the third act of every movie. So, my apologies to those of you who enjoyed hating on Wilma. I had some dark laughs with her too. But now she is goo and may she rest in slime.

And after defeating one villain, the gang faces another, Zholl'xess. I say villain but to me it's like Cthulhu and the other Lovecraftian gods. Zholl'xess exists and has no real goals or purpose, it just feels the brains and nervous system of dead things and makes them move. To me, it's a neutral entity, like Nar-Goathgeir. These gods are a part of a cosmic ecosystem and mankind could never really understand.

And like I said before, I imagine Zholl'xess as a blue blob made of electricity. I think there exists Legend of Zelda bosses that fit that description. I’m not surprised another video game reference crept its way into this story. But I have yet to fully describe Zholl'xess and I don’t think I do in this story. So, this is purely a paratext reading and I could change my mind in the future. Though, a giant electric jelly that makes zombies is kind of boss and I totally want to write that as Zholl'xess.

So, yeah, I managed to do only two chapters today but I got plenty of time to work on the coming chapters. With only three to go too, woot! We are at the home stretch and I recall only a little bit of the last three chapters. I’m looking forward to seeing how those play out . . .

12/20/24

Getting to chapter 13 pretty late today so here we go . . .

Well, I like to mix things up, don’t I? First we have a hysterical scene with Xapper shoving a whole squirrel in his mouth. That imagery with the tail hanging out of his mouth is priceless. But then, after that barrel of laughs, we get a touching scene with Xapper and Valiant’s pre-transition self, back then known as Lee.

I originally wrote the whole scene with Xapper and Lee for an earlier chapter. I’m talking back when moose were first attacking, that early on. But it felt out of place to be in the story that early. I wanted to only hint to Valiant’s transition until later chapters which I’m not sure if I pulled that off. The whole shaving thing and mentioning of hormones in previous chapters could be a little hamfisted.

This scene though I like and really don’t want to ruin it with my ramblings here. I tried to imagine what it would be like to be a father whose child is changing genders. And the awkward but necessary conversations that would have to happen. Not being a father at all, this scene was a bit of a challenge but I let the words fall where they may and I do hope this is a respectful and believable scene.

And Plasmee’s addition was not in the original draft to the scene. I wanted Plasmee speaking somewhere in the story and having a chat directly with Xapper and developing their own comradery a little. It is funny how sentimental Plasmee is in this scene when she’s only learned about humanity through second hand information.

And even with second hand information, she can recognize good people from jerks. And lucky for Xapper, she does see him as a good person.

Now the squirrel glowing blue is obviously because Zholl'xess is doing . . . something? My assumption is that Zholl'xess is taking the squirrel over since its mind was so much more feeble then Wilma’s. That or the thought of a naked squirrel glowing blue is just too funny to me.

Yeah, that one, the funny option. That sounds like my choice right there.

Okay, on to the next chapter . . .

Finally got chapter 14 done! And it’s late and before dinner so I’ll try to make this quick . . .

Originally Nar-Goathgeir and Xapper had a direct one and one with Xapper actually talking to the bug goddess. I have been rolling the conversation in my head for days because I didn’t like it. Seriously, when a human being talking to a god, it should be grander and more epic. At least it should be more terrifying then just shooting the shit.

So, I took the time to add the little bit where Xapper ends up in a brain cell of Nar-Goathgeir because all her power is too much for a simple little human being to understand. I also added the development that Xeak is a tiny piece of a small cell and has independence. Xeak is technically still Nar-Goathgeir but he's like a single person in a city wide crowd.

And the development that Valiant is “The-Witch-in-Red-and-Black” and “The Sorceress of Earth” was something I had in mind for a while. Making Valiant a human so notorious that she is recognized by the Great Old Ones is a bit of a stretch, I will admit. I try to avoid the whole Mary Sue trope but sometimes a writer cannot help but create a character that is epic and an all powerful badass.

I imagine Valiant is ascending to the likes of Nyarlathotep and the King in Yellow. And it will be up to Xapper to keep her humanity in check or at the very least, keep Valiant from losing who she is and becoming a cosmic entity that threatens all of existence.

No pressure, Sarge.

But as I read the second half of chapter 14, I cannot help but notice a change come over Xapper. He seems gleefully into the whole necrophage role now. It is as if his chat with Nar-Goathgeir has changed him. He’s not even questioning the fact that Xeak is a small piece of the goddess’s psyche. And I’m not sure if I did that on purpose or I was just rushing to finish the chapter.

Either way, I like this development of Xapper. There is only so long a man can face madness before he gives into it. And I look forward to seeing how much more crazy Xapper become. Hell, what is his Sanity stat like by now? He’s learned more about the cosmos than most sane people do and his Cthulhu Mythos skill points have got to be at least near fifty.

And there I go rambling because of hunger. I hunger for dinner. So, chapter 15 will have to be finished another day. And I promise I haven’t been eating any zombies.

Itchy, tasty.

12/21/24

Well, that ends Zombie Xapper. And boy what an ending. I originally had Broadway succeed in getting rid of Zholl’xess but on second reading, things wrap up too nicely for the first season of this story. And Broadway is not magically adapt in my mind so doing any kind of magic on a god is pretty advanced stuff. She rolled with a penalty dice and rolled way too high (in CoC terms)

I felt bad having her fail but now the gang has a very good reason to get to Arkham. And their supply of liquid nitrogen is limited so they don’t have long before Zholl’xess starts to tinker with more zombies. Yes, zombie road trip!

Which I don’t think Xapper would mind, because he seems pretty into his new necrophage life. He and Xeak had a friendly moment at the end there. I have to believe that Xapper is losing his sanity and interacting with Nar-Goathgeir only made his psyche more frail. He was being way too buddy-buddy with Xeak at the end there.

But he’s still a beast to Doctor Waxington.

I was shocked that Xapper was still bitter and snippy with Doctor Waxington. I wrote that and his outburst still shocked me. But credit where credit is due, Xapper did apologize and wants to get along with his daughter’s girlfriend. We can leave further drama between them for a future story.

Speaking for the future, depending how I feel or the reception of Zombie Xapper, I do have more story arcs in mind. “Road to Arkham” seems like an obvious arc for season 2 with Xapper and company fighting off more zombies (because reasons) and maybe even have them fight some urban legend monsters while on their road trip.

But for now, season 2 of Zombie Xapper will not be in the works. I have other stories I wish to write and I’d like to see what the readership thinks of this story. I would love to return to Xapper and Company and the weird horror setting that I have created here. So, if reception of Zombie Xapper is good then maybe I can put season 2 further up on the list.

Anyway, my laptop’s battery is super low and its yelling at me, I’ve been writing on my feet for three hours, and its time to call this writing project done for now.

And I have to spit this Author’s Afterthoughts into parts. Its so long, it’s like a short story.

Good Luck and You Need To Eat, Reader,

—Buck