Hi there, I've started to get back into writing and I've had a brainwave for a short story where for some reason plants have started growing at an accelrated rate and within five years mankind has been reduced to a few small isolated communities but that's as far as i've got. Does anybody have any ideas of where to go next? Thanks Jim
You only have a setting for now. I assume you intend to write about the people living in the small isolated communities. Try to consider which hardships they have to face and how they do so. You'll need a theme: survival, ecology, man vs nature?
This is an idea I'm really fond of, and I think it could work for your story; what if the weird plant behaviour is due to some anomaly with the sun? Perhaps the sun is producing more radiation than normal, or the atmosphere is no longer reflecting as much of it, or whatever. If you choose to go with a hard (pseudo)science reason like that, then you would do well to look up Micheal Chrichton's work. He made a fortune doing similar stuff and personally I'd rank him as perhaps the best author of the modern age. As for the theme, I think one concerning survivalism would work best. You could detail how mankind has adapted, or failed to adapt, to this sudden change. You could have various different factions preying on each other, due to the collapse of government. This stuff really appeals to me, haha, now I want to write this story too
Are the plants incredibly hostile, like in the Deathworld series, or is it just like a really bad infestation of kudzu? Either way, as junesummers said, you just have a setting. You could have it be about them surviving, or as Corazon Santiagio said, it could be about the groups fighting against each other(Odd, a person named Santiago wants to have factions fighting on an alien world...typical Spartan.) Or you could do my favorite thing and write any old story that just happens to be based in that setting. Personally, I think you should just go with a romantic comedy, ala How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. But have them surrounded by plants!
My suggestion is to let the story simmer in your imagination until you have filled in some of the empty space in the idea. After all, it should be YOUR story. Exercise your imagination, and it will grow strong and nimble.
The first thing that popped up in my head when I saw plants growing at an accelerated rate was experiment gone wrong. A possible plot could be that a scientist from one of the communities finds a potential solution to the problem, but just needs to gain access to the original experiment data. Problem is that the original lab is in a hostile area. Another could be that the plant growing stuff is irreversible and a family or a couple try to reach one of the few safe havens left. An remote island unaffected, an isolated dome community etc. The idea for the setting is very good, by the way and is a hook in itself.
thanks for that, I like the 1st idea about the scientist trying to find a cure in a hostile area and because its site zero its had much longer to grow making a lot harder to get to.
Reminds me a little of Naussica: Valley of the Wind. It's set in the future after WWIII where there're toxic jungles everywhere and the insects are gigantic - as big as a house - and humankind has been reduced to isolated communities and safe areas that are not affected by the toxic fumes are few and far between. Hence the protag Naussica lives in the Valley of the Wind, because the wind keeps the toxic fumes away. The insects are also seen as a huge threat to mankind and people are terrified of them. It is later revealed that actually, the insects protect the toxic jungles, and the jungles are actually recycling the earth and water and removing its toxins. Turns out it was mankind who poisoned the whole earth because of WWIII. Watch it, it's really lovely and a Japanese family classic, originally a series of manga.
