# Yet another new idea



## Destroyer (Aug 21, 2010)

Hey guys. Came up with a new one the other day. I'm still thinking it over so I don't have a complete outline yet, but I figured I'd share and see what you all think.

It's set in a world caught in the grip of an ice age. All the older, more advanced civilisations have been wiped out so humanity is living in small settlements here and there (small villages, underground caves, etc). Past technology is very highly prized and so some people have dedicated themselves to hunting for this 'ancient treasure'.

At the same time humankind has started to evolve, to better survive the harsh environment. (Still need to decide how they've changed though). These newer humans are seen as aberrations by normal humans and hunted. (major cliche, but I couldn't see anyway around it)

The story will revolve around two of the evolved humans: Kiriki, an apprentice hunter cast out of her village for being an 'altered', and Brek, who went into self-imposed exile from the same village years earlier after discovering his own powers and joined forces with a group of treasure hunters. The two of them will inevitably meet up and work together. (though I need to figure out what their goal will be)

I know I'm leaving a lot of gaps here, but it's a recent idea. Knock it all you want; I want to hear opinions so I know whether to bother writing it. My biggest concern here is that it sounds a little too much like Waterworld.


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## Waste. (Aug 21, 2010)

I like it =] I've never heard of Waterworld so to me its very interesting and imaginative. Even if it does sound like this Waterworld I bet you could put your own stamp on it.


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## mandax (Aug 21, 2010)

It sounds interesting to me, but what actually came to my mind was X-Men, because of the similarities between the "mutants" being exiled and banning together.  (I'm also a nerd.)


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## Destroyer (Aug 22, 2010)

Yeah, I know how you mean, Mandax. But I was thinking more in terms of the post-apocalyptic aspect (Ice age and all). It won't have lots of people all with different powers. My mutations will be the same for everyone.


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## funnygirl (Aug 23, 2010)

I like it.  I'd be interested in reading about a modern ice-age even withour the mutants and treasure hunting. When I read your post I started thinking about questions straight away such as How do they get food? How do newborns survive? Have any animals survived? Can they grow anything? (btw I'm not looking for you to answer these!) Just the fact I was asking myself questions is a good sign! Generaly when I pick up a book and care enough to ask questions I generaly buy it to find the answers! Good Luck


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## seigfried007 (Aug 23, 2010)

Humanity wouldn't have to 'evolve' to suit an ice age. Ice ages have never been so bad that the equator was too cold (or even cold). People would just relocate, at worst, or learn to cope with extended winters. Humanity can surivive another ice age unless it destroys itself before then. Ice ages don't happen overnight. 

Now humanity might kill itself, or at least severely hamper itself because of 'movements' like the Green thing, end-o-the-world cults, etc. Nuclear issues might exacerbate stuff too (but that requires a lot of research). 

But a regular old ice age? No, that won't kill us. The reason creatures die in ice ages is because they evolve into niches--eating only specific things, needing specific habitats. But humans are the least picky creature. We just adapt--not only physically but technologically--to fit the circumstance.


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## TheGreySentinel (Aug 23, 2010)

The initial questions I would ask would be: 

1) What caused this ice age? Was it war? Was it climate change (there's potential for some political commentary there)? Was it an asteroid hit? Was it aliens? 

2) Evolution tends to be rather slow over a long period of time. Mutations are entirely possible but I am not certain that evolution causing those mutations would be a cause for exile. They tend to be subtle (kind of like how we are, as a species, losing our wisdom teeth because we no longer have use for them and our jaws are too small to accommodate them), as far as evolution goes. If you were to use mutation as a plot device, I would be careful about the cause - if it's because of nuclear this or that I'd be cautious of sounding too much like Fallout 3 or Waterworld. 

3) This said, I think the concept is interesting and could well be workable, you would just need to take care in the execution to not end up mirroring every other post-apocalyptic wasteland story out there. The setting of an ice age makes it somewhat unique, so you're ahead of the game there. But just be cautious that you don't fall into the same patterns that most others do - find something to really make it stand out and be unique.


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## Olly Buckle (Aug 23, 2010)

A way around that would be to forget the whole intro thing (except in your head) and plough straight into the story. I did this once with a world that was off planet and alien in my head and found people using phrases like "post apocalyptic" about it because that was how *they* saw it. It leaves you free to do as you want and because people provide their own explanations they accept them that much more readily.


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## Chris Miller (Aug 23, 2010)

"If you want to keep a man from doing something, get him to talk about it"--not me, someone famous.

That's the danger of premature idea sharing, for me anyway. I'm pretty sure this could be a great story, or a terrible story. All depends on the telling, the amount of work, research, effort and study that goes into it. I'm not sure how humans would evolve in a cold climate. More likely they'd just adapt as our Inuit do. More body fat, higher metabolisms, etc. Too harsh climates tend to be more survival oriented. Too easy, makes for laziness. It's the temperate zones where humanity tends to thrive.


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## Bruno Spatola (Aug 23, 2010)

Post-apocalyptic has been done a million times. The Road, I Am Legend, Children of Men (Kinda), The Postman, Planet of the Apes, Fallout 3, Borderlands. The day after tomorrow dabbled with an ice-age, so why don't you try and set yours apart from all the others? how about:

1.Have a female main character, probably quite young. Maybe she could have been a real selfish piece of work before the _big event_, but as the story unfolds and her circumstances become more dire, she meets other people trying to survive etc and turns into a realistic surviver, and realizes how lucky she was to have had an easy life or something. Maybe before her death, her mother gave her a compass on a chain when she was a kid, that was stuck facing a particular direction...

Maybe she gets stabbed and ends up in a coma, and she sees herself in this post-apocalyptic place. It could represent herself fighting to _survive _in the real world, in her head, by surviving in this messed up one...or maybe she died and was in hell the whole time lol.

I'm just saying you will inevitably fall into territory that's been covered extensively with the plot you have, so make it a bit fresh and unique. Mutants and ice-ages are a bit stale now.


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## Destroyer (Aug 24, 2010)

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Gives me lot to think about in my planning. I'll post back with the results.


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