Getting it all to work

I've been working on this science fiction piece and I keep running into believability problems. It comparable to a deadly virus sort of outbreak and the undead sort of thing. Yes, I know this has been done a bunch of times in a bunch of ways. I think it's okay to give these things a shot. It's actually forcing me to dig deep and really make it my own. But I can't get everything to add up. Like how it started and how it becomes so widespread and just a lot of details I'm not sure I have the answer to and even if and how I need them in this story. Have you had believability issues with your science fiction? How did you get it all to work?

 

Is there someone who knows your book you could discuss this with? I found a kind soul on WF who's looking through my unfinished first draft in order to help me bring the plot together. Maybe you could try the collab subforum and see?

 

I have sort of talked out my basic plot so far with some people. That's when it was pointed out to me that things aren't adding up. I guess this sub forum is pretty quiet. Probably should have posted it somewhere else. Oh, well. Thanks for the response.

 

Perhaps your plot outline could be critiqued in either the Plot subforum or the workshop? Then people can make some suggestions. If things aren't adding up - well, which things are these? Can any of them be altered, expanded, or deleted altogether? Esp if it's a believability issue (you know, making the science make sense), there simply might be details and reasons you have to change altogether. If there's one particular scientific issue you really want to try and make it work, then perhaps post in the Research subforum with a specific question of WHAT it is that isn't adding up and some work around or possibilities the more science-y folks can help you with?

 

The only thing I can think is to make sure you are satisfied with the building blocks of the story before you build the plot, rather than build the plot and shoehorn in pieces that fit.

For zombie plague, I might look up some articles on how other airborne disease spreads, flu maps, things like that. Then research what social norms and government controls slow its spread.

Then give the virus some characteristics that make it more insidious (10 day incubation, gives you the impulse to cough on salad bars).

Finally, make up some plot points that inhibit a government response.

Once you have the crime laid out, put the characters in and see what they do.

 

Yeah, I'm not really comfortable putting all my ideas out there before the story is done, and I'm not working off an outline. I make up the story and everything as I go, but I've hit pause. I'm not sure how quickly this outbreak takes to spread, but it takes hold of almost everyone. I think I'm having a problem with how it happens. I want it to be quick so everyone is a little confused about what is going on, probably because I am. That's very helpful the way you said we are trying to make science make sense. I think that is probably my biggest problem. I don't know much science, but I've never questioned the things I am questioning now in zombie-type stories. Perhaps, those writers are all secret scientists.

Do you have any thoughts on how an outbreak like this starts and takes over? Do I need those details in my story? My story starts after every is infected. And then how do people find out? Surely, some people would have heard and knew this was coming, right?

 

I suck at plotting and it's just never worked for me. I just have to write. Sometimes I stop to think about things like what I'm doing now. But I will look up some of the things you mentioned. I think that will help. Thanks.

 

I am a firm believer in the idea that 'thinking time' is also 'writing time.' You don't have to be pounding the keys every second in order to be constructing a story. I also would be wary of getting other people involved in constructing your plot as well ...that old committee raises its head, doesn't it? Just give yourself some time to think things through ...with a notebook to hand, of course, to record the lightbulb moments. But play 'what if.' What if the virus got started by.... Try out all sorts of possiblities, even if they're a bit insane. Sooner or later, the story will start to fall into place.

Are you interested in making the science believable? (Zombies don't exist, do they?) Is it important to figure out how it all started, or can you just drop your characters in the middle of it and make up the 'rules' as you go along? As long as you've got a major problem for the characters to deal with, you're probably on the right track. What is the main problem for your characters? Try to make that as unusual as you can. Have fun with this! But don't be afraid to think AWAY from the computer. As long as you are thinking, you are writing.

 

In Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mendel (I have no idea how to parse that name), a SARS like virus wipes out pretty nearly the entire global population in a few days. It goes from "sitting next to the wrong person" to "cough cough" to "cooling on a slab" in less than twenty-four hours, but the corpses don't present any (IIRC) risk after a short while. As a result, the news media doesn't have enough time to catch up with the information before going off the air because everyone who has been in contact with anyone recently is dead. Think a fatal (or zomborific) version of "six degrees of separation" with a short survival rate for the disease. If you catch it, you're (un)dead, but if you don't pass it on quickly, it dies off. Kind of fucks with the traditional zombie model, but it could work.

 

Maybe the characters never figure out how it all started?

 

Oh, you do know me. And I bet you can pretty much guess how I will end this even if I'm not there yet.

 

Well, if nobody ever figures it out, then the science doesn't have to 'work.' Does it? You never have to explain anything ...only what's happening to your characters and how they're coping. Sneaky ...but why not?

 

I think Janet's idea could work. I think Day of the Triffids was the same, right? Flashing green light and the next day everyone's gone blind - no explanation is ever given that I remember. If you think about Handmaid's Tale (which is dystopian rather than sci-fi, but it's still set in the future which sorta resembles sci-fi), how the US falls and how Gilead comes to power is never explained I think. World War Z was an awful movie but it also didn't have any explanation for the zombie outbreak. If you think about the modern day problem of the disappearing honey bees, only recently we've come to recognise it's pesticides that's causing their population to dwindle and I'm not even sure if that's the full explanation, if anyone really knows in full what's happened. For the longest time there was no explanation. And actually, the film The Happening also didn't have an explanation for the sickness that was causing everyone to kill themselves till right at the end.

So... esp if your character isn't a scientist, yeah, maybe your character doesn't know. Maybe there are theories but nothing's certain or proven.

But if you really want an explanation - well, I'm gonna assume modern day technology. Remember the SARS outbreak? I think it started because one person from China took a flight somewhere and that was that. With planes and people travelling all the time, it's not so unbelievable that disease could spread very quickly. Easiest might be if something starts at school, if the kids get it first - as a mother to a little toddler, I can confirm sicknesses spread super quickly through kids. They all congregate in small spaces, touching everything and putting everything in their mouths, wiping their noses on their sleeves. It's pretty conceivable some kids could be ill and spread the virus or whatever to their friends, and then from the kids, it gets to their parents. The parents then go to work and spread it to their colleagues. And there you have it If the people's conditions don't worsen and if the first few days their only symptoms might be a headache and a sore throat, then most of them wouldn't even know they've caught "it" until it's too late.

 

I pumped to finish writing it now. Thanks, guys. It's a short story. I'm trying to stay under 5,000 words. I'll probably finish it quickly, but then it will need a little time to sit so I can make it not suck. If anyone on this thread is willing to beta read and tell me if it it will pass as genre enough and if the story is affected by what's left out, that would be cool. I'm willing to return the favor. Message me if there is any interest. @jannert -- You've got to take a look, right? I'm still trying to figure out if I can even write genre. This is a best and early attempt. Please.

 

Story is finally done. Did a complete rewrite from scratch, and it just might work now.

 

I am glad it had a happy ending.
Good luck.

 

Happy for me that I finished it. My poor characters... They never even saw it coming.