Writers' Discussion and Questions Thread

[Mr._Blinky]

So this is actually an idea I've had bouncing around in my head for a while, and only now got a real reason/motivation to do it. Mostly an experiment to see if this will actually work like I hope.

This is just a general thread for writers who have either an idea they want to float past people, or else a question on a subject they aren't really knowledgeable of. The idea is that these are for those questions you'd want to ask others, but don't feel like taking up a whole thread to do it. For example, if you really wanted to discuss a plot twist or else need some basic knowledge of medieval agrarian economics, this would be the place to come for answers.

My personal first question, and the reason I'm starting this thread now: I have a TV script I'm writing, wherein the central location is a city where it has been raining constantly for the past several years. I'm wondering how long people would think it would take for that to significantly change the city's living dynamic without totally depopulating it? The concept I'm going for is that most of the city's people have left, but there's still a small population, based around a water-processing plant that provides for the surrounding areas that are undergoing a drought because of this city's rain.

Problem is, I have no idea how long such a plant would take to build, and I can't really decide how long it would take for people to decide it was a necessary option. Hopefully I want all of this to happen within an eight year time-frame due to the back story, but I'm not sure if that's actually a practical idea to consider. I was hoping some of you Playgrounders might have some thoughts for me?

[Savannah]

I would guess it would take much less time than eight years.

[Mr._Blinky]

I would guess it would take much less time than eight years.

That's what I'm hoping, but I'm not so sure. I figure it would take people 1-2 years to finally decide that it wasn't going to stop raining, maybe a bit longer to decide that a plant was the right choice, and then I imagine it's another 2-3 years at least to build a dam/treatment plant, though I haven't been able to find any solid figures for that kind of construction time online. I'm just hoping I'm not setting an unreasonably short amount of time for this change to happen in.

[Savannah]

I dunno. This is the modern world, right? I'd imagine the weather forecasters would have a fit, then figure out it wasn't changing much faster than that. And if there was a major need for the plant, I'd think they could build it pretty fast, even with the rain.

Honestly, if you said the plant had been around for anywhere from 2 to 5 years, with the rain starting 8 years ago, I would accept it and move on to the rest of the story without even thinking about it.