Pls Help with Global Pandemic

[timo2]

My current scenario:



Also, I'd like to have it be transmitted in the wind. Possible?

I appreciate the help!

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I don't know about the wind. usually it is some from of biological contact, including birds. If every bird in the world had something, that would be creepy.
BTW, there is currently an outbreak of 'Virulent Newcastle disease' in California. That spreads easily between birds, but in humans is ends up being pink-eye or something similar. https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2019...ase-spreads-to-californias-commercial-flocks/

[edit: when the article talks about 'backyard show birds', I believe that is a euphemism for fighting birds for illegal cock fighting, which is legal in Mexico. The birds often go back and forth across the border]

 

[sengsational]

Also, the bodies will result in huge swings in animal populations (rats and vultures, then things that prey on those, etc.).

Wasn't there a biome simulator one time. Was it "Sim Earth" or something, where you could kill-off portions of different species and then see how that played out? That would make it realistic.


The Omega man came to mind to me early in the thread, then 6miths came up with it.

I am thinking the hero has natural immunity and is also a scientist. He makes a vaccine based upon his own immunity and carries that with him to administer to any surviving humans.

Charlton Heston is 'The Omega Man'.

If you make your book anything like "The Road" it won't appeal to me; I didn't get past the first 10,000 references to how miserable walking through the ash and cold rain was. And that was in the first 20 pages! And another book not to emulate is "Something in the Water", which explored the inner stupidity of the narrator, not to mention tons of unrealistic and inaccurate details. I never got close to finishing either of these books.

 

[Sunset]

.....

*I'll bet most of us have had the measles. I remember mine because I had a temp of 105º and I was watching a Loretta Young Show episode in which someone had a fever of 104º and then died.

I recall when the neighbor boy got German measles, my mom sent me over to play everyday. It was before vaccinations.

Why not have your chickens get human flu, or some pigs get both human and bird flu, then the birds get it.
Nobody notices chickens with bird flu, as they are killed and eaten anyways. So it can spread in the chicken population.
Then of course it jumps back to humans in various places.

 

[TromboneAl]

I recall when the neighbor boy got German measles, my mom sent me over to play everyday. It was before vaccinations.

People do that today for chickenpox (more benign, but still has risks):

https://www.drweil.com/health-wellness/body-mind-spirit/disease-disorders/chickenpox-parties/

Plus (gross and not recommended): " ... some parents have mail-ordered lollipops allegedly sucked by infected children, as well as saliva, towels, clothes, and rags used by kids who have chickenpox."

 

[TromboneAl]

If you make your book anything like "The Road" it won't appeal to me.

My concern is that in the first part of the book, he will be alone. No human interactions, no conflict with people. I'll have him find people pretty quickly, if need be.

I just finished reading The Road, and I know what you mean. It gets better, though, and I ended up liking it.

 

[timo2]

People do that today for chickenpox (more benign, but still has risks):

https://www.drweil.com/health-wellness/body-mind-spirit/disease-disorders/chickenpox-parties/

Plus (gross and not recommended): " ... some parents have mail-ordered lollipops allegedly sucked by infected children, as well as saliva, towels, clothes, and rags used by kids who have chickenpox."

And then hopefully the parents will be deceased when the child gets shingles in old age, and wonders 'wait...wasn't there a vaccine for chickenpox?"

 

[Winemaker]

I don't think we have much to worry about viruses, disease or digital. I read an article this morning saying that the world's insect population is decreasing 3.5% each year. Since they are on the lower end of the food chain, all the fish, birds, animals, and people are gonna die of starvation within 40 years. Time to re-evaluate when to take my my SS again.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I don't think we have much to worry about viruses, disease or digital. I read an article this morning saying that the world's insect population is decreasing 3.5% each year. Since they are on the lower end of the food chain, all the fish, birds, animals, and people are gonna die of starvation within 40 years. Time to re-evaluate when to take my my SS again.

I don’t think the world’s inset population is decreasing by 3.5% each year. It’s just that 3.5% of the world’s insect population is moving to my back yard each year. [emoji23]

 

[EastWest Gal]

I need a high stakes goal, and my thinking is that it will be to find other people and then to repopulate the species. Seems trite, though.

Other things that may happen:

He finds a baby and raises her. Yucky moral dilemma: when she's grown, and they think they're the only two humans left, does he ... do they ... you know. She's like a daughter to him, yet the future of the human race hangs in the balance. Hmm.

He adds interesting characters on his journey.

He falls in with a group of humans who have no knowledge of past civilization—man in his elemental state. They've developed a religion.

I'll probably use this structure:

Thanks for the brainstorming help.

There is a book published in 1949 by George R. Stewart called Earth Abides, set in Berkeley, CA.

The plot is very similar. The protagonist gets bitten by a rattlesnake while camping and is very sick. When he recovers and returns home, he finds the vast of the population has died from a viral pandemic. Much of the book centers on exploring the empty Bay Area and finding others who survived, rebuilding a society.

 

[TromboneAl]

There is a book published in 1949 by George R. Stewart called Earth Abides, set in Berkeley, CA.

The plot is very similar. The protagonist gets bitten by a rattlesnake while camping and is very sick. When he recovers and returns home, he finds the vast of the population has died from a viral pandemic. Much of the book centers on exploring the empty Bay Area and finding others who survived, rebuilding a society.

Ye, I read that 40 yrs ago and just finished reading it again. Good book.

 

[TromboneAl]

The thing that will make this book unique is that the main character doesn't age, so we can see what happens 100 or more years after the virus hits.

The problem is that the plot I've come up with would happen in less than a year.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Scientists are here to help -

The bird flu is a deadly virus with the potential to spark a global pandemic. Now, thanks to the US government, two lab experiments trying to find ways to make it more dangerous will resume their work after years on hold.
It’s a troubling development, and one that highlights the risks of something called “gain-of-function” research. That’s research in which pathogens are manipulated to change their capabilities — usually to make them deadlier.

https://www.vox.com/2019/2/17/18225...-to-make-bird-flu-easier-to-spread-can-we-not

 

[TromboneAl]

Well, I got it all plotted out but decided it really wouldn't work. It took too long to get to the main story, and the goal was too longterm.

Maybe I'll figure out a way to make it work some day. It's good to plot things out before you start writing so that there's less to throw away.

 

[Helios]

Main character searches and searches for the one group resistant to the virus, so that he can get a bone marrow transplant to survive and procreate.

 

[Oz investor]

Well, I got it all plotted out but decided it really wouldn't work. It took too long to get to the main story, and the goal was too longterm.

Maybe I'll figure out a way to make it work some day. It's good to plot things out before you start writing so that there's less to throw away.

Catch 22 was a very long novel , would interlacing it with some humor help ( break up the tension but not destroy the interest ?? ) .. a real pandemic has periods of chaos , gaps in linear plot can be tolerated provided it all makes sense in the end ( or provokes important questions , the reader must ask themselves )

i also guess the publisher ( if you have one ) will want a short popular novel rather than a pivotal piece of literature .

cheers and good luck .

 

[Helios]

You could ratchet up the tension and timeframes by having bone marrow transplants being sold on black market for various valued items or experiences.

 

[Oz investor]

You could ratchet up the tension and timeframes by having bone marrow transplants being sold on black market for various valued items or experiences.

STOP GIVING MY MEDICAL TEAMS NEW IDEAS they have enough conflicts in making a decision .

and suddenly Al would seem to be a clairvoyant ( or manifesto writer ) rather than a novelist