For this week, I found myself looking over more ideas for the completion of the map for my story. This time around, I came up with some ideas for my resolution and conclusion, which I was satisfied with. Because in the I have worked on many projects that always end in a similar way, and because I have been so used to reading works where the main character always has a happy ending that focuses on them, I worked around that idea this time. The result was that the protagonist for my story will not be having a happy ending, but his death will result in a probable salvation for the rest of the world. In a sense, his tragic death will trigger and heroic effect.
In addition to working on the completion for the map of my story, I spend some time looking up interesting stories that serve as references to the work I am crafting. And because I had a large of to pick from, I focused on finding similar stories that I would really be interesting on reading, not just skimming though. Allowing myself to read some of these additional similar works with interest will allow me to learn more how those works were crafted and the many components that came together to from them. This in return will also help me on the crafting of my project because I will have more understanding on the choices I must take for my work to be just as good. So far, from my list, I am most interested on the stories of I Am Legend (Matheson), and The Stand (King).
(1) Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro
A dystopian science-fiction and coming-of-age story with a cast fated since birth to never see an advanced age, and its dystopia is one all-too-familiar: a world in which certain classes live well, and others are effectively doomed.
(2) Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell
The NSA, the War on Terror, the rise of Fake News as a capital-letter concept; the world is seemingly more Orwellian by the day, more horrifying than any alien invasion, nuclear wasteland or supernatural-disaster.
(3) Earth Abides, By George R. Steward
begins with a rampant disease killing off most people in America. A young grad student, the wonderfully named Isherwood Williams, has managed to survive in the mountains — but after he emerges from his “temporary” sabbatical, he finds civilization entirely collapsed. After a mostly fruitless cross-country road trip searching for fellow human life, Ish agrees to have children with another survivor, Emma. They form a new society of sorts, but without electricity or other modern advantages, they must revert to a semi-primitive lifestyle: hunting and gathering for food and eschewing literacy in favor of survival skills.
(4) I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
Like Earth Abides, it also begins with a pandemic. But there’s a twist: the disease doesn’t just decimate the population, it also turns them into vampire-like mutants who want to infect all other humans. The only remaining hope for civilization appears to be Robert Neville, a lone man driven to discover the scientific cause of the disease and find a cure, before he himself is affected. His wife and daughter have already perished from the disease; even the dog he takes in as a last-ditch companion ends up becoming infected. Neville finds hope in the existence of another survivor, Ruth… but she seems to have her own agenda that doesn’t necessarily align with his.
(5) The Stand, by Stephen King
The Stand is a post-apocalyptic tale that stems from a deadly virus, but King’s development of it is singular. He terrifyingly describes the initial outbreak of “Project Blue” and the military’s failure to contain it. The deadly sweep of influenza extinguishes 99% of the world’s population, leaving society in tatters.
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