Frustrated for new ideas

[Jonnymoon]

I'm fairly new to the zombie novel genre but I've grown to love it over the past year or so. So much so that I've decided to try my hand at writing one. After getting 25k words in (as well as continuing to devour zombie fiction) I've realized that my idea isn't at all original. At least two other novels/series that I've read have both shambling as well as running zombies, and the vehicle by which the infection began was as a result of a Super Soldier serum gone awry. My question is: Once a reader realizes that MY story is just a rehash of other zombie concepts, will they simply put it down and move on to something else? My girlfriend assures me that if I simply 'build a better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to my door'. In essence, just try and write a better story than the other 'similar' storylines. What is the general consensus among die hard zombie afficienados?

[Neil]

I'm fairly new to the zombie novel genre but I've grown to love it over the past year or so. So much so that I've decided to try my hand at writing one. After getting 25k words in (as well as continuing to devour zombie fiction) I've realized that my idea isn't at all original. At least two other novels/series that I've read have both shambling as well as running zombies, and the vehicle by which the infection began was as a result of a Super Soldier serum gone awry. My question is: Once a reader realizes that MY story is just a rehash of other zombie concepts, will they simply put it down and move on to something else? My girlfriend assures me that if I simply 'build a better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to my door'. In essence, just try and write a better story than the other 'similar' storylines. What is the general consensus among die hard zombie afficienados? I'd say it's very hard to come up with much originality in the background and mechanics of this genre TBH. So I'd sugget the worth of any story comes from the story set within it. The people, the place and the events etc. So to answer your question... Yes

[MinionZombie]

Perhaps try and think of all the things you've seen in the genre enough already, the things you've seen too much of, and the things you don't want to see any more. Then try to think of the things you haven't seen yet (a tough task for such a well-worn genre, to be fair), or try to think of things that you so rarely seen tackled in the genre, and then as Neil says, make sure you write a great story around that with characters that feel real, characters that the reader wants to be around.

[Neil]

And then, you don't need huge new epic elements of originality as such. I'd suggest just one or two little things can give a story a new angle maybe? eg: My little story "The Midas Touch" I'd say at least had a bit of originality in the sense it included someone who was seemingly "immune" and was ignored by the dead... That was only a little thing but allowed a few significant story elements.

[Jonnymoon]

I appreciate the comment and the time you took to reply. It seems the more zombie fiction I read, the more repetion I find. I think I'll just effort to build a better mouse trap. Thanks so much