if every other living thing is dead, how can the doorbell ring? What is a good start to a story like this?
2006-09-12 11:00:36 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
That's a good start. It's a little trite, but could lead to something interesting. Now, what happens next is what 'sells' the story.
What is the genre? Mystery, Horror, Science Fiction, Romance, Dream?
2006-09-12 11:25:26 · answer #1 · answered by SPLATT 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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First, you should know that it's a variation of a story by Frederic Brown called "Knock" from back in the 1940s or 1950s. The entire story is:
"The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door. . . . "
Over the years people have played with the idea, changing "knock" to "lock," for example, or adding a new last line, "It was the last woman."
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You've already got the start. What you need is the finish. You could make it Frederic Brown wanting to know how his story works with a female lead. Or, since this is the last woman on Earth, take a solipsist approach, and make her the person at the door. Is it really her come to visit herself, or is there another explanation? Maybe it's Jesus coming back for the second time, wanting to know where the hell everyone went. Aliens wanting to know if they can rent the planet, since nobody's using it. Or maybe every time the doorbell rings, there's no one there. Is she stuck with a prankster? Can she trap him, or her, somehow? Is it the last man on Earth, and he's a real loser? (That's a variation on a Ray Bradbury story.)
Or maybe it's you on the other side of the door....
JMB
2006-09-12 12:30:58 · answer #2 · answered by levyrat 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
She wakes up and its a dream of some creepy foretelling dream or she is wrong and is shocked and overwhelmed. OR nothing is there. Or everything that matters is dead you know like caring people or happiness.
2006-09-12 11:03:41 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe a ghost is trying to get her attention.
Or her doorbell malfunctioned.
2006-09-12 11:07:46 · answer #4 · answered by stuckinamoment 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A ghost of an Jehovah's Witness?
2006-09-12 12:21:26 · answer #5 · answered by Ahmad H 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it doesn't have to mean that everything is dead, just the things that mattered to her, maybe a relationship or a dream,
2006-09-12 11:03:02 · answer #6 · answered by loca420 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's called a short circuit
2006-09-12 12:04:35 · answer #7 · answered by colleenjohn_vano 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well what about animals/ is a dog shoving against it? otherwise this makes no sense at all.
2006-09-12 11:04:16 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
she is dead too
2006-09-12 11:22:56 · answer #9 · answered by darmax 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋