# HELP NEEDED: Seeking Prepper Advice for Zombie Novel



## Pinky (Jul 18, 2014)

Hello Preppers!

I am a young man from the city of Guelph, Ontario, Canada and am in the process of writing a novel. While I am still in the planning stage at the moment, this novel will tell the story of a couple of homeless youth/young adults from Toronto who are faced with the outbreak of a deadly virus and the social collapse that it is causing. The planning of this novel has led me to do a fair bit of research on prepping, especially since one of the main antagonists is a wealthy prepper who has built a fortified community/village in Ontario. While as of right now I am not a prepper myself, I have to admit that I am becoming more and more convinced of it's usefulness as I research further! As I continue to plan this antagonist and his community I have found myself in a bit of a dilemma as to where to place his fortified village.

*My underlying question is this:* _If money were not an issue, what would the ideal location(s) in Ontario be for a fortified prepper-village?_

*Here are some things to keep in mind:*
- This village will mostly be constructed out of shipping containers, including the surrounding walls, main fortress, minor structures/living quarters, ect. 
- Ideally this village would be on some sort of waterfront, as to provide the community with water.
- The village will need some farmable land.
- This part might make it a little more tricky, but it would be ideal if it was not way up in northern Ontario. The ideal location would be somewhere within a few hours driving distance from Toronto, or if not that then southern/central Ontario. I am hoping to reserve a large part of northern Ontario for a different faction.
- Suggestions are more than welcome for any aspect of this! This novel is still in it's early stages, which means nothing is final yet and pretty much everything is flexible.
- BONUS: If there happened to be a railway, or even train station nearby, that would be awesome. Although this is not necessary.

If I think of anything else to keep in mind I'll edit it in. I have been all over the internet trying to find a suitable location for this--Private islands, residential waterfront property, agricultural waterfront property, vacant lot waterfront property--and have turned up very little. Any help/suggestions is very much appreciated!


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## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

Pinky said:


> ..one of the main antagonists is a wealthy prepper who has built a fortified community/village in Ontario..


Hi, antagonist means 'enemy' doesn't it?
Is he setting himself up as a Warlord with a small private army to go around dominating the whole area?
And where do zombies come into it, is he one of them?

PS- good idea about the shipping container walls but remind him to fill them with soil (preferably sand) to stop bullets


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

Sounds like a plot similar to The Zombie Crusade series by J. Vogh. 
If Oscar were around he could help you out with some pointers on building shipping container castles.
Where is Oscar btw? Have not see a post by him in a while.


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## Tachammer73 (Jul 12, 2014)

Is there anyplace that has waterfalls? That would be cool for a secret back door entrance to the compound and maybe some type of generator for power


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## Pinky (Jul 18, 2014)

Lucky Jim said:


> Hi, antagonist means 'enemy' doesn't it?
> Is he setting himself up as a Warlord with a small private army to go around dominating the whole area?
> And where do zombies come into it, is he one of them?
> 
> PS- good idea about the shipping container walls but remind him to fill them with soil (preferably sand) to stop bullets


Yup, the antagonist is the enemy. And yeah thats pretty close to what he will be. Domination will definitely be a main objective. The zombies are sort of an always present threat in the novel, and I guess that much of the focus lies more on the man vs man conflict. However, I have been flip-flopping back and forth between a few different ways that the zombies will come into play. Nothing final yet.

EDIT: Thanks for the shipping container tip as well! I didn't consider that. I'll be sure to remind him ;P.



Tachammer73 said:


> Is there anyplace that has waterfalls? That would be cool for a secret back door entrance to the compound and maybe some type of generator for power


Hmm, that's not a bad idea actually. Especially the aspect of it providing power! I'll look into some waterfalls in Ontario.



Seneca said:


> Sounds like a plot similar to The Zombie Crusade series by J. Vogh...


Damn, if there is one thing I'm hoping to avoid with this novel it's being unoriginal. Glad you mentioned that though, I'll do a bit of research on the series and see if there are any similarities I can avoid.


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## Mish (Nov 5, 2013)

Your walls won't hold them...just sayin


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

If money were not an issue, what would the ideal location(s) in Ontario be for a fortified prepper-village?

Being 99.999% of us don't know anything about how Ontario is laid you are asking the wrong people.


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## Pinky (Jul 18, 2014)

HuntingHawk said:


> If money were not an issue, what would the ideal location(s) in Ontario be for a fortified prepper-village?
> 
> Being 99.999% of us don't know anything about how Ontario is laid you are asking the wrong people.


Yeah it seems that there are not many Canadians on here. Or maybe there is, they're just too polite to offer any criticism .


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## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

We don't have to be canucks to be able to use Google Earth, Ontario is full of rivers and lakes so just zoom in and pick your spot to set up a fortress, there are a thousand good locations..


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## alterego (Jan 27, 2013)

Tachammer73 said:


> Is there anyplace that has waterfalls? That would be cool for a secret back door entrance to the compound and maybe some type of generator for power


I Think Their Should Be A Strawberry Blonde With AnIrish Accent That Guards The Back Door. The Pass Word Could Be. There Is Only One Way In And One Way Out.


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## SAR-1L (Mar 13, 2013)

Shipping containers? Did someone say shipping containers!!!!?

_OSCARSSSSSS BACK! OSCARRRRRRRRSSSSS BACK!!!!!! OSCARSSSSSSSSSSS BBBAAAAAAAACCCKKK!_

Sorry, I seem to still be affected by that thread, lol.


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## Innkeeper (Jun 18, 2014)

Oscar/Pinky same number of letters to the name, coincidence? Can you prove your not Oscar?


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

The setting could be a small water front town on the Canadian side of the great lakes, which would explain an abundance of shipping containers (lending plausibility) and when the shipping container fortress fails (they always do) to keep the Zombies at bay, the hero and heroine and their band of trusty warrior friends could escape by boat to a remote island and start over, that way you smoothly Segway into the sequel. 

When it comes to Zombie fiction, and having read quite a bit of it myself, I can say, there really isn't much ground that hasn't already been plowed, so to speak.


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## pheniox17 (Dec 12, 2013)

SAR-1L said:


> Shipping containers? Did someone say shipping containers!!!!?
> 
> _OSCARSSSSSS BACK! OSCARRRRRRRRSSSSS BACK!!!!!! OSCARSSSSSSSSSSS BBBAAAAAAAACCCKKK!_
> 
> Sorry, I seem to still be affected by that thread, lol.


that's what I was thinking 

op hunt down john Oscars posts in here, it will give you a lot of details on a facility, there is a patent on the design tho (don't know what parts) and attack plans to blow it to hell 

location, cant help you, my guess would be mild climate, fertile land


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

Arklatex said:


> is there no end to these shipping container wackos???


Haven't you heard? Shipping containers are now considered one of the primary building blocks of life, the universe and everything.

Edit: As a note to the OP, do not forget to research shitting in buckets inside a shipping container fortress.


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## pheniox17 (Dec 12, 2013)

Inor said:


> Haven't you heard? Shipping containers are now considered one of the primary building blocks of life, the universe and everything.
> 
> Edit: As a note to the OP, do not forget to research shitting in buckets inside a shipping container fortress.


and make your slaves burn it off


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

What is your definition of a zombie?


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## SAR-1L (Mar 13, 2013)

paraquack said:


> What is your definition of a zombie?


People blocking isles in Walmart.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I still subscribe to the two Zombie or zombie theory. First, zombies (note lower case z) are what I fear most: the mindless hoards of non-preppers who when the SHTF will kill you without mercy to take what you have so they can live. Secondly, Zombies (note upper case Z) are the undead creatures of literature who crave human flesh, for some reason I still don't fully understand except to scare the bejeebers out of your girl friend/wife. While some pundits say a massive "rabies" outbreak among humans could present itself in way resembling an attack by Zombies, I fear the *zombie* most.


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## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

Hey Pinky a word of warning- I never watch a film or TV show that's about zombies, so if you use the word 'zombies' in your book blurb you're going to put off a lot of adults (including me) from buying your book because we'll assume it's just a kids book.
(By 'zombies', I mean them ridiculous half-dead walking corpse things that frighten kiddies)

Best post-apoc production I ever saw was the classic 'Survivors' TV series which was a smash hit in the 1970's and ran to 38 episodes with not a stupid zomb or mutant in sight, it was simply a tale of ordinary people trying to survive as best they could.
The moral?- you don't need no steenkin zombies to write a best-seller!


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## Pinky (Jul 18, 2014)

SAR-1L said:


> Shipping containers? Did someone say shipping containers!!!!?
> 
> _OSCARSSSSSS BACK! OSCARRRRRRRRSSSSS BACK!!!!!! OSCARSSSSSSSSSSS BBBAAAAAAAACCCKKK!_
> 
> Sorry, I seem to still be affected by that thread, lol.


Oh how I feel like that guy who walks into a group of people in high school who are laughing away at an inside joke that he has absolutely no context to XD.



Innkeeper said:


> Oscar/Pinky same number of letters to the name, coincidence? Can you prove your not Oscar?


Would it help if I 'Pinky' promised?



Seneca said:


> The setting could be a small water front town on the Canadian side of the great lakes, which would explain an abundance of shipping containers (lending plausibility) and when the shipping container fortress fails (they always do) to keep the Zombies at bay, the hero and heroine and their band of trusty warrior friends could escape by boat to a remote island and start over, that way you smoothly Segway into the sequel.
> 
> When it comes to Zombie fiction, and having read quite a bit of it myself, I can say, there really isn't much ground that hasn't already been plowed, so to speak.


Love the way you think . Plausability is definitely one of the most important aspects for me here (which is partially why I enjoy using real locations, versus fictional ones, as much as I can). I do find that encouraging though, because it's hard to keep in mind that there is going to be some not completely original ideas with this as our society is kind of in a zombie-obsessed state.



paraquack said:


> What is your definition of a zombie?


See quote below. Describes a realistic zombie perfectly.



SAR-1L said:


> People blocking isles in Walmart.





Lucky Jim said:


> Hey Pinky a word of warning- I never watch a film or TV show that's about zombies, so if you use the word 'zombies' in your book blurb you're going to put off a lot of adults (including me) from buying your book because we'll assume it's just a kids book.
> (By 'zombies', I mean them ridiculous half-dead walking corpse things that frighten kiddies)
> 
> Best post-apoc production I ever saw was the classic 'Survivors' TV series which was a smash hit in the 1970's and ran to 38 episodes with not a stupid zomb or mutant in sight, it was simply a tale of ordinary people trying to survive as best they could.
> The moral?- you don't need no steenkin zombies to write a best-seller!


I am SO glad that you mentioned that! I was planning on avoiding the word 'zombie' in the novel all together because it's kind of overdone. To be honest I only used it in this post so that people could easily understand what I meant. I appreciate the input though, because this book will likely be anything but a kids book.

EDIT: Also, I have to say, you guys are being an enormous help so far.  This is definitely a better reaction than I received when I posted the same thing on a different prepping forum. The only response I have received so far from them is one guy who seemed a little off-put/grumpy by the fact that the antagonist was the "wealthy prepper who has worked his ass off to create a fortified prepper village or MAG group" and the protagonist was the "squeegee kids from Toronto." So, I really appreciate all of this positive input and constructive criticism .

EDIT: EDIT: Can anybody enlighten me as to who this Oscar guy is and what posts of his you are referring to? You have definitely peaked my curiosity .


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

John Oscar? you may be able to do a bit of research and find the thread he started on these boards about building a for real castle (fortified compound) out of shipping containers. He drew quite a bit of derision from some members in the community, quite frankly some of that derision he brought on himself and some of it was not deserved. 

From a fictional stand point there might be some good ideas in that thread as to how a wealthy land owner might go about setting up such a compound, and how it might be attacked and brought down.

Good luck with your project.


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## Pinky (Jul 18, 2014)

Seneca said:


> John Oscar? you may be able to do a bit of research and find the thread he started on these boards about building a for real castle (fortified compound) out of shipping containers. He drew quite a bit of derision from some members in the community, quite frankly some of that derision he brought on himself and some of it was not deserved.
> 
> From a fictional stand point there might be some good ideas in that thread as to how a wealthy land owner might go about setting up such a compound, and how it might be attacked and brought down.
> 
> Good luck with your project.


Sounds like my antagonist may already exist somewhere . Thanks though, I'll definitely take a look for those as it sounds extremely helpful and pretty much exactly what I had in mind for the novel. I'm assuming 'John Oscar' was his username? I'll try to search through the forum and see if I can't find anything, but if somebody reading this thread happens to have a link to these posts (or his profile) I would really appreciate them posting it here .

EDIT: I think I found his posts, so no need to send me a link guys.


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