The Writer's Brain
Mar. 12th, 2011 10:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wyld_dandelyonWith the rest of the world, I've been watching footage of Japan's earthquakes and tsunamis, sympathy and horror in my heart, and awe at the sheer power of simple things like rock and wind and water in my soul.
But even while I watch, praying for the people there, I'm also thinking, taking notes--look, see the things that people in an earthquake and tsunami-prone place in our world do to prepare. See what the waves look like. Remember the flow and the spray, the burning building sailing by, the mud. Remember the terracing, and how it guides the waters. Remember the airplanes and trucks and smashed cars scattered like children's toys by the water. Remember stories of tall buildings built to sway rather than crash, and historic buildings retrofitted with "seismic isolation".
And parallel to that, remember Torn World, whose temporal disaster caused not only massive earthquakes, storms, and tsunamis at the time of the Upheaval, but which is still suffering what might be termed aftershocks of that event as the broken shards of the world have started to heal together again.
And in particular, remember the Duurludirj, who have faced storms, earthquakes, and tsunamis so often that the core traditional building is a houseboat, anchored to the ground with a ship's anchor or two rather than with mortar or cement.
How do they tow their homes out to sea before a storm, if they know it's coming? Do they have winches or draft animals? Do they collect rainwater in high cisterns, and pour it out creating a planned flood to float their homes to safety? Do they simply gather all the neighbors into work gangs and drag their homes past the high tide line?
For the homes built too high (or stranded too high by a previous storm) to run, do they have something to act as bumpers, perhaps wooden porches designed as crush zones if a big enough tsunami does lift them from their mooring spots? Or do they surround their homes with something like our inner tubes, providing air-and-rubber armor to keep the home itself, and the people and resources in it, safe?
And what of the insides of their homes? Do they have railings on their bookshelves? Pictures on their walls? How do they store things? Chests? Cabinets? Bags tied to the walls? How much of their furniture is bolted down permanently--or designed to be bolted down when needed? How much of their furniture is reminiscent of Japanese paper wall-screens--deliberately fragile and replaceable?
Oh--hey--what about commercial buildings? Might they (or at least the ones near the sea) be designed in a modular fashion so that in the event of a tsunami, each section could become, in essence, a separate boat?
I can tell that there will be stories.
My mind is too occupied with the enormity of real world events right now to know what those stories will be. But the writing part of my brain is busy in the background.
What things have you seen in the news footage that I might have missed?
But even while I watch, praying for the people there, I'm also thinking, taking notes--look, see the things that people in an earthquake and tsunami-prone place in our world do to prepare. See what the waves look like. Remember the flow and the spray, the burning building sailing by, the mud. Remember the terracing, and how it guides the waters. Remember the airplanes and trucks and smashed cars scattered like children's toys by the water. Remember stories of tall buildings built to sway rather than crash, and historic buildings retrofitted with "seismic isolation".
And parallel to that, remember Torn World, whose temporal disaster caused not only massive earthquakes, storms, and tsunamis at the time of the Upheaval, but which is still suffering what might be termed aftershocks of that event as the broken shards of the world have started to heal together again.
And in particular, remember the Duurludirj, who have faced storms, earthquakes, and tsunamis so often that the core traditional building is a houseboat, anchored to the ground with a ship's anchor or two rather than with mortar or cement.
How do they tow their homes out to sea before a storm, if they know it's coming? Do they have winches or draft animals? Do they collect rainwater in high cisterns, and pour it out creating a planned flood to float their homes to safety? Do they simply gather all the neighbors into work gangs and drag their homes past the high tide line?
For the homes built too high (or stranded too high by a previous storm) to run, do they have something to act as bumpers, perhaps wooden porches designed as crush zones if a big enough tsunami does lift them from their mooring spots? Or do they surround their homes with something like our inner tubes, providing air-and-rubber armor to keep the home itself, and the people and resources in it, safe?
And what of the insides of their homes? Do they have railings on their bookshelves? Pictures on their walls? How do they store things? Chests? Cabinets? Bags tied to the walls? How much of their furniture is bolted down permanently--or designed to be bolted down when needed? How much of their furniture is reminiscent of Japanese paper wall-screens--deliberately fragile and replaceable?
Oh--hey--what about commercial buildings? Might they (or at least the ones near the sea) be designed in a modular fashion so that in the event of a tsunami, each section could become, in essence, a separate boat?
I can tell that there will be stories.
My mind is too occupied with the enormity of real world events right now to know what those stories will be. But the writing part of my brain is busy in the background.
What things have you seen in the news footage that I might have missed?
