2012 NaNoWriMo: EPOCH

All About Plot

Plot is what characters do to deal with the situation they are in.

Plot is a logical sequence of events that grow from an initial incident that alters the status quo of the characters.

Note:
Some changes in what the character's know and how they are originally housed when they arrive at the "remote resort."

1) The "tourists are immediately placed into lodgings within the Mountain Complex--explained as, this is the 'tourist gimmick' for this resort vacation. The Building outside the entry of the Mountain Complex is actually a series of "souvenir shops" for the guests to purchase mementos of their stay. There are conducted daily tours through the complex explaining the concept of Bio-diversity and theoretical ability for this facility to be self sustaining ecologically much like the Arizona Bio-Dome experiment; however, this facility was never closed from the outside environment as it's creators ran out of funds for the project and private developers purchased the facility and created this unique vacation resort.

This will reduce some of the unbelievability that such a place would be equipped with housing complete with furnishings, plumbing and electrical for long term occupancy. I mean, tourist hotels, even large ones, don't supply family housing with private laundry rooms. Or at least, not in my experience. Also, I must reconcile that "fertile" pets were allowed to be brought along on the vacation--cats, dogs, gerbils, birds, turtles, etc.; while neutered pets, tho some were brought along, were recommended to be placed in kennels or with friends or other reliable pet sitting facilities--again included in the all expenses paid package. This will also add to those who fall into the suspicion that everything was just too good to be true--too much coincidence--for their being enclosed inside the mountain as a lifepod at a time of Armaggeddon.

One thing that the each of the 'second chance humans" have in common is a description of 'meek', if not personality wise then as a 'salt of the Earth' career mindset, or 'green ecology' mindset; or financial status as meek (no overt greed in personality); Thus giving the rise of someone quoting the phrase--"The meek shall inherit the Earth." Sometime in the story, just after the first inside mountain crisis, this biblical verse will appear on a placard over the entry of every level within the mountain installation. Or this appearance may actually, be the ending of my book. I haven't decided, yet.

The situation:

Literally trapped under a mountain with over thirteen hundred other people for probably the rest of their lives. Can't go to the surface because of Nuclear holocaust.

Bill--has to resolve his personal secret one way or the other as well as deal with survival under the mountain.

Darren--will discover that courage is more than a front/facade one places over fear and that love can't fix everything.


What the reader knows:

         over 1300 people are gathered together under the pretense of an all expenses paid vacation to an out of the way Australian mountain resort.

         After a nuclear/bio-war holocaust 50 diverse family groups are interred into a mountain shelter complex.

         A few days after the last groups arrive, news over the tele-, internet, cell phone networks and personal cerebral-com systems declare the annihilation of population centers in the northern hemisphere and specific targets on the Australian continent by Global Nuclear and biological war--WW V is said to have lasted less than 24 hours.

         Firestorms rage over the North American continent, as well as all over the Eurasian continent. Smoke from the fires, pulverized dust from missle impacts, and radiation from the multi-explosions reaches as high as the stratosphere and tempuratures worldwide begin to fall; precursor of a century long nuclear winter. Reports of devastating secondary biological attacks and high death tolls from disease come from news casts from Argentina and South Africa broadcast stations as well as New Zealand and parts of Indonesia report all life on the world is dying. Reports of massive whale beachings and floating dead sea-life indicate the oceans are also dying.

         After a few hours of the initial newscasts a communication blackout--fuzz-out--from targetted satellite destruction by nuclear powers effecting the disruption of worldwide communication capabilities. All attempts for outside communication by the 'tourists' is cut off redirected and limited because of satellite destruction.

         Given the information and urgency of the spreading contamination carried on the trade winds, the guests willingly seal themselves inside the mountain installation...at first, no one seems to notice that prominent resort personnel don't stay within the shelter with them.

         There are computer, radio, and television techs within the tourist population and they discover that they can monitor conditions outside the mountain which seem connected to equipment in the souvenir shopping complex--they receive data showing steadily increasing radiation levels, drops in temperature and after a month, all outside audio and visual contact seems to be lost with the exception of a single monitoring camera that show dark skies and falling snow--it is assumed this camera is on battery back-up and the other equipment failed with the loss of outside power sources. Eventually, this camera also fails and all audio-visual contact outside the mountain is cut off. Remaining tie to the outside world is reduced to tempurature and radiation indicators powered from within the facility connected to passive sensors outside.

         In the meantime, the tourists discover that there are mechanics, engineers, electricians, professional craftsmen, educators, a variety of medical personnel and people from all walks of life within their group. Even though the tourists come from all around the world, everyone can speak some English and there are those of each language group who can speak well enough to interpret so language isn't an impossible barrier at the start. Everyone present are reasonably healthy, but it is agreed that everyone succumb to a medical check-up and provide a community health baseline for future medical care in the mountain.

Unknown to the tourists but known to the reader:

         There exists an unknown level within the mountain installation where a group exists as a fail-safe control group who's mission it is to ensure the 'second chance for man' project succeeds. Some of the resort staff reappears within this group giving the reader assurance that the resort staff, or at least some of them, also reached safety. They consist of maintenance personnel, sociologists, genetic scientists, behaviorial scientists, Military personnel in a policing capacity, and medical staff with specialization in communicable disease.


How to pull this off in the form of reader believability:

Why does this facility exist in the first place? Introduce as a discontinued Queensland Facility project equivalent to the Arizona Bio-Dome environmental experiment turned into a tourist attraction.

Make all the reactions by resort staff members and guests to the news casts believable. Anxiety for friends and family members not present. Anxiety for pets left behind. Anxiety that life savings and financial resources are suddenly unavailable or inaccessible. Reserve some doubt--suspician of the 'too good to be true' variety--within the tourist group that it is 'too convenient' that a perfect shelter exists for them to use as the world comes to an end and they happen to all have their immediate family with them. (Bill, Jr. for one)

         Be accurate and consistant in the delivery of the details as well as the fading out of exterior information which helps convince the group to commit entering the mountain shelter.

         Over time, show the onset of emotional and psychological trauma with the onset of the realization that this group may be the last humans on Earth and the plant and animal life present inside the mountain before the tourist's arrival may be the last terrestrial life on Earth...Will Bill eventually accept his presence within the mountain with all his immediate family as a God send and not suspect?

         Have some speculation that all the major world governments have their own WW V shelters and that military and government personel in each country have also survived. But since there is no way of confirming such information, it is agreed as a possibility and not a reality.

         Make all controller group action mission oriented and details of their operation believable with consistant detail. These guys won't necessarily have their families with them and their mental and emotional welfare will undoubedly be more intense than the 'tourist group.' Maybe confirm or not confirm other shelters in use.

         In the event of their disclosure to the tourists due to unavoidable necessity, make the appearance of the smaller control group consistant to their mission of fail-safe and survival of the group as a whole.