3 Things I'd love to see next in The Walking Dead

Maggie kills Nicholas after finding out that he shot Glenn and tried to get him killed by walkers. 

Why is Nicholas still alive?

Let's face it, since selfish, cowardly Nicholas got Noah killed, then tried to kill Glenn (twice) he's been crushing for a bruising and deserves a bullet in the brain just as much as any walker. 

This is what happens when you trust Nicholas.

Failing that, Carol will do it. 

It'd be better if it was Maggie though to show she hasn't lost her killer instinct. 

Here actor Steven Yeun explains why Glen didn't kill Nicholas in The Walking Dead. 

Father Gabriel gets killed by someone - walkers or people. 

I know the portrayal of a man guilt stricken by what he's had to do to survive (letting his whole congregations die as he cowered inside a church, hoarding the food) is probably an accurate one of what would happen in a ZA, but screw realistic. 

In a real zombie -geddon, everybody would have died because you'd be like "Zombies, yet right. You're having a laugh," as one of them started gnawing on your arm.

Sasha should have ended Father Gabriel.

The guy is also so far down the sea of crazy he came back to Alexandria and left the gates open! 

And, he told the leader of Alexandria that Rick & Co were dangerous.

If Gabriel wanted God to judge him, that's fair enough but he shouldn't have deliberately left those gates open.

Time to end him, Rick or Carol, or Michonne (he almost got her and Carl killed back at the church too). Anybody really. Seth Gilliam, The Wire star who plays him has been underused. 

Morgan says to Rick, "So, you're crazy, now man. What a role reversal, huh!"

Last time Morgan & Rick met, Morgan was the crazy one.

Now look at Rick. Bloody after shooting someone and manic looking.

What would you like to see next in The Walking Dead? I'd love to know.

Write your own version of The Walking Dead

Get your teeth into writing a zombie novel

I never expected to be able to write a zombie novel. I thought horror was best left to three of my favourite authors – Shaun Hutson, James Herbert and Graeme Masterton.

Then this image came into my head of a couple lying in bed when there’s a knock at the door. One of them pads down the hall, opens the door and finds his friend Archie standing there. Archie looks like he’s been mugged. Then they notice that his insides are dripping out…

And so Dead Bastards was born. It's now available worldwide:)

Along the way I’ve learnt a few things -

1. Don’t concentrate on too many people’s stories.
This is a big mistake. Too many characters and too many stories distance the reader from the story you are trying to tell. You want to being everybody into the world you've created. 

2. Respect the genre. 
When it’s a genre that people are well acquainted with like zombies, you need to stick to the rules. By all means push the limits. I recently read a book by a well known author who gave one of his zombies the gift of thought. Bad enough, but he also gave them the cloak of invisibility. I threw that book across the room in a hissy fit. 

3. Make your characters distinctive.
People should know who’s speaking even without speech tags. This is tricky to do. 

4. Every step of the way, your characters must have a goal.
Simply surviving isn't enough. Just look at The Walking Dead. They always have a goal, whether it's to get revenge, find the rest of the group or help take Eugene to Washington because he says he has a cure.

For instance, in Dead Bastards they had to go to a shopping mall for supplies. There was no way out of it. Having goals creates conflict and brings your characters to life. Put your characters into a situation and see how they get out of it. 

5. Don’t do what writers of The Walking Dead’s did and get too bogged down with one aspect of your plot.
In the case of the hit show, they focussed too much on the Lori, Shane and Rick love triangle. In the end, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who got bored with it. If I wanted that kind of storyline, I'd watch a soap opera. 

In a zombie novel, the zombies must be king. 

Now for the zombies

Now yo've got the book sorted, it's time to think about what kind of zombies you'll have? 
Will it be the shufflers or the runners?

Will they be smarter zombies or the standard slow kind? 

Choose wisely, then run (or shuffle) with it.

Remember, it's your story and nobody can tell it like you can:) 

Why not check out my zombie novel? 

Check out the cover. It's pretty cool and is actually a scene from the book.

Dead Bastards is available in paperback and Kindle (although a book's probably better as a Kindle isn't much use against a zombie - trust me, I've tried). 

The new threat in The Walking Dead - two headed walkers

The new threat in The Walking Dead next season - two headed walkers.

Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon say, "Bring it on!"