Yeah, that got your attention - didn't it? Hopefully. You are looking at this thread after all. Anyway, I've got an idea for a novel where all the adults over a certain age suddenly vanish from existance, and are gone - leaving the kids to fend for themselves, and was wondering if you guys could reccommend any novels where this sort of thing happens - or is it just restricted to these two? Lord of the Flies The Gone Series Thanks, and any advice would be helpful. ~Merlin
Many of Enid Blyton's books focus on children being resourceful and fending for themselves, although I don't recall any of them being in an "adult free" world. It's been many years so I've read them, so whilst I remember them as being fantasic books, they may be a touch dated these days.
In Garth Nix's Shade's Children, when a child reaches fourteen his body is broken down and used to construct cybernetic organisms. Aside from that, you said they disappear over a certain age. Does that mean there are still adults around?
Who cares if it's all been done before? There's always a way to make things your own and put your own interesting spin on it. For example, look at dystopias: 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World. All variations on a theme. Or better yet, specifically post-apocalyptic movies: 12 Monkeys, Mad Max, Book of Eli, I Am Legend, The Omega Man, Wall-E, Children of Men to name a few. Again, all variations on a theme. Just because a premise has been done before doesn't mean you can't put your original spin. A book I'm writing is about a school for the gifted. Let's see, Harry Potter, X-Men, and H.I.V.E. all come to mind. But I put my own spin on it and I guarantee you haven't read anything like it before. What you need are compelling characters, a dramatic conflict, and a well-structured plot-line. This is what makes stories with similar premises different and unique. As far as what books where all the adults disappear, I don't have any suggestions. But I would say that it would resemble a lot of the post-apocalyptic movies I mentioned. I would also suggest to watch a few episodes of "Sliders" since it was entirely a "what if" show, and this is kind of like a "what if" premise. Just to get a feel for world-building in this kind of situation.
Um...cleary the original poster. And if you've read Cogito's general response to those types of questions you would understand where mine came from. Moving on.
Um... if you read Merlin's post you'd see he's asking for recommendations on books that have a similar concept, most likely for research purposes. The guy even listed two examples of when it's been done before. I don't think Cogito's post is going to make an appearance here. Sorry.
Thanks for the quick responses - I'll have to look into Shade's Children then. Also, everybody over a certain age vanishes from thin air basically, leaving all the kids behind for an unknown reason. Also, I've read Enid Blyton's books to, a very long time ago as well.
That's not what I meant to say, so let me rephrase. It doesn't matter if it's all been done before, because you can always put your own spin on it and make it original.
It's not a novel, but the original Star Trek episode Miri. But. What if it were a concept no one had written about before? How would you write it? Sometimes it's best to go ahead without over-researching it. Would they revert to savagery like Golding's schoolboys? Or would they create a new society on a foundation of a child's imagination? It isn't a matter where there's a great deal of fact to fall back on. This is speculative fiction, and a statement about human nature. Just play with it. Have fun with it.
Novels with this concept are the following (I think... haven't really read them, but have heard about them having a similar idea): -400 Boys by Marc Laidlaw -The Girl Who Owned A City by O.T. Nelson -Countdown by Daniel Ehrenhaft -The Marks of Painted Teeth by Jack Dann -The Fire-Us Trilogy by Jennifer Armstrong I would have put in Gone, Shade's Children, or Lord of the Flies but those have already been mentioned.
There was some kind of show on the Discovery or History channel or something about what happens to the world when all the humans would disappear. It brought up a lot of good points about the infrastructure of cities and things such as people that operate the pump systems in the NYC subways to keep them from flooding. Since children wouldn't know anything about tending to these pumps, you have for example flooded subways in your world.
Hi, There are at least two tv series that have followed this exact scenario. One was an Australian production which I can't remember the name of, but the other was Jeremiah, two seasons of fairly good viewing with Luke Perry and Malcolm Jamal Walker? as the main characters. I'd recommend taking a looksee if its available in your local library / video store. Also, as for the deterioration of buildings and the gradual return of nature as it retakes the world the series Life After People was excellent. Again it should be on dvd. Cheers.
I would recommend reading the manga Cage of Eden. I don't think it's available domestically yet, so you would have to read it on mangafox or something. Anyway, the story goes a bunch of kids are returning from a school trip when their plane crashes on a mysterious island filled with prehistoric monsters that should all be long extinct. Most of the adults are dead so the kids have to fend for themselves. A few groups devolve into savage tribalistic groups while others try to preserve society as they know it and overcome the challenges of surviving on the island.
