1. The hero has an inability to smell or notice symptoms. Corpses stink, and yet, the hero can't smell them even when they're downwind. The heroes are also terribly unobservant, and can't tell they've got a member of the living dead right in front of them. 

2. Easy-peasy body part replacements. Apparently, artificial limbs are easily orderable and a snap to attach in a zombie apocalypse. What with the neolithic medical technology we have today that makes grafting a new limb — or an automatic weapon — onto a body a highly risky bit of surgery, it's super easy when the undead arrive! *phew*

3. There's nothing like a zombie attack to spark romance. Biologically speaking, when humans are surrounded by death, they have an urge to produce young to replace their numbers. Not so in zombie fic! They have the urge to find their one true love and spend more time talking about the relationship and their developing feelings for each other than saving their lives or civilisation.

4. Zombies only attack white people. Self-explanatory. Ever seen a zombie outbreak in a black or Latino community? What about a gay community? A China Town? No? Even in cities with large ethnic or gay communities, the zombies steer clear and go right for middle-class whitey. They must taste better. . .or run slower.

5. Superman — The Deceased. Zombies seem to always have superhuman strength, which is odd, because they often lack muscles and anything that would physically allow them to rip people's limbs off, no matter how hungry they are. Same goes for speed. Zombies are depicted at Olympic speed sprinters running on mere bones. Somebody get these guys into track and field training!

6. Never fired a gun before? Then you're the perfect candidate for a zombie hunter! Hitting a moving target in a specific place is horribly difficult, even for people with gun experience. For newbies who don't even know where the bullets go in the gun, firing and actually hitting a skinny, barely-there target would be damn near impossible.

7. Zombies love malls. If there is somewhere a zombie's going to go shopping for a dinner of human brain, it'll be the local mall. Lots of space to run around in, lots of human to choose from, and the sales are nice, too....

8. The army is a bad, bad man. When the army (or a police force) shows up to deal with the zombies, they aren't really there to protect people, but to further the evil, evil ends of their evil, evil task masters.. The army is just as much something to run and hide from as the undead. 

If that's not the case, then the army (or police) are full of the stupid and incompetent. This is very strange, especially if the attack is happening in the US, which is known to have some incredible psycho training and weaponry for their elite soldiers, who are anything but incompetent. 

Got any fave zombie fiction tropes of your own? Tell us below!