Writing: Researching the Setting and Beyond

Tara and I watched one of our Netflix selections last night. It was a History Channel documentary entitled: Life After People. I added it to our queue because I thought the science of how structures would decay and how the landscapes would change seemed interesting -- at the least it would be a good information source to refer to if (more like 'when' for me) the urge to write post-apocalyptic subject-matter ever popped up.

While I did have some problems with the way the documentary was put together, and didn't fully agree with everything that was proposed, I must say that I did gain some insight that could prove a valuable asset in my future writing endeavors if my characters ever find themselves in such a changed world. My first complaint with the movie was the way civilization, or lack thereof, was depicted from the very start. The premise of "this could someday happen" is greatly tainted by the lack of human remains. There are very few possible futures that would include the complete removal of the human species from the face of the Earth. It is, therefore, highly unlikely that we would all just vanish.

A more suitable explanation of our disappearance from the food chain might include germ warfare going wrong, deforestation and climate change that renders food sources incapable of supporting vast human populations with disease and illness picking off the those who survive the resulting famine, and any number of other man-made catastrophes. Other plausible scenarios might include meteor impacts or super-radiation from solar flares that create unlivable conditions on planet Earth. All of these explanations for our disappearance would leave the planet in a state that would be significantly altered from the portrayal of the first few years depicted in the documentary.

If illness were to kill off the population, is it not reasonable to believe that while most major metropolitan areas would be leveled, certain remote parts of the world would be safe from the spread of contaminates? There are still a few indigenous peoples of the third worlds who refuse to interact with others, staying to the deepest of rain forest jungles. And what about the emergency survival plans that many major governments have in place? Surely some humans somewhere would survive. A good fictitious example of this is in the movie 12 Monkeys - it's an excellent movie that I highly recommend.

If man's fate is sealed by his propensity for war, the largest known threat of which is of course nuclear, then the landscape would be forever scarred by nuclear detonations, major cities would be leveled, and the radiation levels it would take worldwide to completely kill off our entire species would wipe out most of the plants and animals we haven't already driven to extinction.

I enjoyed the documentary for its sound scientific principles of oxidization, decay, and the workings of large cities and the little known services that would fail without proper care -- thus altering the way the cityscape exists and speeding up building and infrastructure failures. But when it comes to the story side of why the world would be in such a condition, without man to govern his creations, I found it lacking. As a writer I can envision a plethora of specific scenarios that would cause man to vanish from the face of the planet, but to make a better documentary I believe it would have been better to show some of these scenarios while maintaining the scientific breakdown of how the world would recover in each one.  Would it be a lush world overgrown with trees and shrubs? Would it be a barren, red planet devoid of water, a twin to her sister Mars?

As a writer, I can imagine a handful of people waking from some sort of time-release resurrection chamber, the result of a last ditch effort to save mankind. The world has changed around these people and though their memories are fragmented shadows of past lives, they can sense that this world, hundreds or thousands of years after the fall of man, is a very dangerous place. I can see them vividly in my mind wandering through the wastelands of dilapidated skyscrapers and sunken roadways, with wolves constantly on the edge of view; waiting patiently for the right moment to strike. Or maybe they awake to a blistering sandstorm and immediately find themselves at the brink of death as they desperately search out a source of water.

Disney Cruise! And Thoughts of the Future

We just got back from a wonderful Disney cruise! While I didn't get any writing done, it was an excellent opportunity to relax and shrug off some stress. We had excellent servers and our room host was also very nice. We've truly found that these interactions can make or break your cruise experience. I won't go too far into it here as Tara and I are going to blog about our Disney experiences elsewhere, but I just wanted to let you know where I've been.

Another bit of good news is that I finally went to the Doc to see about my tension headaches. In the weeks preceding our travel plans, the tension in my neck approached unbearable levels. After over five years of dealing with these headaches, I finally gave in and had Tara set me up an appointment the day before we flew out. I wasn't about to allow a tension headache to ruin such an amazing vacation!

It turns out that the appointment was just what I needed. I got a few scripts to help ease the tension and head off the headaches at the first warning signs. Now I actually feel normal again and normal is definitely an improvement! I can think a bit more clearly and this can only mean good things for my time spent writing. It's hard to work through a cloud and for the first time in a long time the skies are finally clear.

Another thing coming up is the registration of HuntingtheMuse.com. I need to decide whether or not to renew the domain name. I probably will as I have established a web presence, albeit a small one, though I'm still not sure yet.

Also, with my new job I need to look at more certifications in order to stay competitive. The unfortunate part of that process is the time required to study for each test. We're talking about significant time investments, which conflicts with the time I would like to spend reading and writing. I recently picked up a collection of classics that are beckoning for my attention. Balancing these two desires will be a struggle for sure. On one hand I feel compelled to succeed in my professional career, so that I can take care of my family and attempt to establish some kind of employment security. On the other, I want to pursue my writing and dream about someday writing full time.

The good news is that I'm still young. I turn 30 in April and I am already far more successful than I could have imagined even ten years ago Barring any unforeseen disasters, I've got a long life ahead of me yet. That doesn't equate to an excuse that I can always write later in my life, but it is refreshing to realize that while I still have to pay the bills, I do have time on my side. With focus and determination, I can continue to write while working on my professional career and over time I will improve my skills and obtain more notches in my writing belt.