[Luya Sevrein]

I am writing a post-apocalyptic novel for a short time, as a side-project to my fantasy.

I was wondering if anyone had any documents or knew any books that outlined possibilities for the apocalypse?

I am working on a combination, at the moment, of a magnetic shift, violent solar flare and a relatively-contained nuclear war/widespread chaos.

Unfortunetly, I don't know how much of the communications would work, what the climate would likely be like, etc, in detail. I know my vague research, my guesses, but that's not really good enough. =)

[Fung Koo]

The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman:

http://www.worldwithoutus.com/

This is a pretty good summation of how fast the things we have created would fall apart if humanity disappeared. If only a portion of humanity disappeared, these are still the processes of decay that would happen -- but I would say that they decay would be somewhat increased due to pillaging, looting, conflict, etc. Some would be muted due to repairs, but the lack of primary materials would mean extensive salvaging, making everything piecemeal.

Obviously there would also be changes depending on the nature of the apocalypse. Widespread radiation would increase the rate of decay by making most things more brittle. Atmospheric changes could result in either decreased or increased protection from solar radiation, or just certain types of it. The world could either heat up or cool down -- but in either case, the effects would be pronounced.

A massive drop in population would, first and foremost, scatter humanity into smaller population clusters -- more of a return to tribal cultures. Depending on how the flora and fauna are affected, this would either lead to conflict or not. If the flora and fauna escaped the apocalypse relatively unscathed, humanity would have ample food available, so resource competition would be decreased. The opposite, obviously, could also occur.

If this is for your nanowrimo, as indicated in another thread, and you're starting with the question "Is survival living?" -- I'd suggest beginning the story with your people largely unaware of what exactly caused the apocalypse -- this is a common approach in some of the very best post-apoc SF, like A Canticle for Leibowitz or The Chrysalids. In a human story with good characters, in many ways the cause is less important than the effects.

Then, as elements of the apocalypse become apparent in the story, add the details you need to make the story work. Otherwise, the focus often ends up being the WOW! factor of the apocalypse itself, and turns it into hollywood shlock like 2012, Independence Day, etc. (i.e. movies by Roland Emmerich -- blech!) :rolleyes:

FYI, a magnetic shift isn't really apocalypse-worthy: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/earth_poles_040407.html

I think you should first decide the severity of the apocalypse (independent of what causes it), then we can help with the actual consequences of certain levels of apocalypse-inducing events.

[Luya Sevrein]

Thank you for helping. I'll give that a look, I think It'll be of great use!

I was thinking of the idea of not making most of the characters (and the reader) aware at first, but I didn't want to do that simply because 'I haven't picked what disaster fits best yet.' xD It seems a cop-out, all though it could work really well.

The radiation I think shall be contained, mostly to inner cities which have become either deserted or death traps, and to wider areas which have completely died out. Any kind of war I have I'm going to make pretty small-scale but enough to wipe out anywhere of inportance.

[aiasminor]

I agree with the above comment but if your writing a post apoc story think of something that would happen afterward that people have not thought about yet. Agreed that complete originality is hard but you can put your own spin on things. As long as you give things a good explanation then something can fit. You just have to make sure your reasoning is solid (at least in the world of the story). Like if John McCain won the presidency and then died of old age and then Sarah Palin became presiden when the **** hit the fan. Things would fall apart alot faster with her around. LOL. Anyway just give it good reasoning and give me something i havent thought about yet. Also as a supplement you could watch alot of the History Channel stuff about the universe. They talk alot about different ways the world can end. Use that as an inspiration and create your own idea for the ending of the world.