no, but seriously, wouldn't that be neat?

[schmerica]

Actual thought that went through my head tonight:

"You know what fandom really needs? Stories about everybody dying in five or ten years of an influenza pandemic!!!"*

It's amazing, really. As much time as lalejandra spends convincing people she isn't squishy, I seem to spend even more time trying to convince people that, no, I really am a fluffy schmoopy marshmallow girl!

(Actually, you know, it might even be an interesting challenge -- assuming you're working with non-futuristic fandoms, I mean. But saying something like "In 2010, the world gets struck with influenza on the scale of 1918 or so" and then people all writing that story in their own fandoms? That would be AWESOME. It works for everybody -- due South, Buffy/Angel, SGA, etc, etc, etc. Man, this concept is going to intrigue me for DAYS.)

*Yes, I do indeed have punctuation like this in my thoughts. Sometimes I even have ALL CAPS.

Comments

[calendae.livejournal.com]

Hee. Awesome.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Heeee. I never really stopped to think about it before, but between the Black Death and the Spanish Flu, there are SO FEW historical events more fascinating to me than large amounts of people just dying!

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

That is an interesting challenge!

And sometimes my thoughts are a sort of running commentary on my day. In the third person. And the past tense.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

That's not actually that weird, I don't think. When I was younger I used to have a voice in the back of my head narrating my life as if I were in a young adult book.

[the-star-fish.livejournal.com]

Mine has an English accent ...

[timian.livejournal.com]

Oh! My god! I've been kicking around a similar thought. Fraser and Ray K, traipsing about in the frozen north when BLAMMO! the Avian Flu strikes nearly everyone dead, and they're left to really rough it. But then I love disaster end of the world type stuff, so.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

What I was actually thinking about that set off this line of thought was the fact that the 1918 flu was actually especially lethal in a lot of Inuit communities -- like, 'wiping out whole communities' lethal instead of '5% of the population' lethal. So, uh, I was picturing Ray and Fraser totally dying, because I am a horrible person that way.

[timian.livejournal.com]

I read about that! In fact, didn't something like only 15% of their population survive to repopulate? Eesh. Brutal. And sure! Kill them off. That's good too. Monster. ::shakes tiny fist::

[lalejandra.livejournal.com]

I have all caps in my thoughts a lot of times.

I think that would be a great challenge. It would be like the first few chapters of The Stand, over and over and over again -- or the last few! Woo!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

I have all caps in my thoughts a lot of times.

Can I say, that surprises me NOT AT ALL?

Also, I have totally never read The Stand, even though it has been on my reading list since I posted my apocalypse fic and Ces was shocked and appalled in my comments to find out I didn't know it.

[brooklinegirl.livejournal.com]

so you're squishy and fluffy in the "let's kill the boys we love best!" kind of way?

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

SHUT UP.

[the-star-fish.livejournal.com]

I adore post-apocalyptic fiction, ever since I read Alas Babylon for a history project in high school ... or did I read The Stand first? Anyways, yes. That would be AWESOME.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Hee. This isn't quite apocalypse, though! This is just really sucky.

[riverlight.livejournal.com]

"You know what fandom really needs? Stories about everybody dying in five or ten years of an influenza pandemic!!!"

Actually, I TOTALLY agree with you. In fact, #4 on my current WIP list is: "A story in which Ray goes off to play with Fraser in Canada. And then the world ends. (Um, have I told you all about my obsession with natural disasters and apocalyptic scenarios?)" So if you make a challenge like this, I will write with utter glee. Utter glee.

And my thoughts are often caps'd and italic'd. Sometimes I thnk 'o-m-g'. ::laugh::

Actually, the story I always tell is that when I was five, I ran in to my mom's room, and said to her in total amazement, "Mom!" I can talk in my head!!" ::grin::

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*giggles* I wrote a story just like that! I think everyone has one in them, really.

Like I said to Starfish above, though, I wasn't thinking quite apocalypse level pandemic. (I think the 1918 flu was something like 5% global mortality rate, with up to 15 or 20 percent in some countries? Even the bubonic plague is still like 1/3.)

[riverlight.livejournal.com]

Still, we should do it. All of use crazy writers in our own fandoms... It'd be great!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Hee, I totally agree!

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

I think you should write LOTS of influenza pandemic fics.

Not just in due South, though. Can you imagine it in Josie? Ooh, or Mean Girls?

*waits*

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes, I CAN imagine that, and IT WOULD BE AWESOME.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Actually, I love this idea. Should we do a flashfic Apocalypse challenge?

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Dude, that's a wonderful idea!