Calling all WriterBerries!
Hello everyone! It’s been a hot minute since I have been on Nameberry. I have been gearing up and preparing for university again which today was my first day back. But I digress. I’m back to ask for help from my fellow writerberries! I have a new idea for a novel called The Ultraviolet Universe. I’m probably going to change the title as I’m not entirely on board with the name yet, so for now its title is a placeholder.
Regardless, I was coming on here to ask for help on the idea. So, as you can probably tell, the name Ultraviolet is supposed to be relating to the scientific definition of the word. Ultraviolet radiation, in science, also known as UV, is known for being a type of electromagnetic energy that is invisible to the human eyes and has a shorter wavelength than visible light. UV rays are known to come from the sun and it provides different uses like Vitamin D production and other things. But for this story, I wanted to use the term “Ultraviolet” in a similar way. I want to use it as a way of describing an apocalypse that happened as a result of an experiment gone wrong.
The problem I’m having is trying to figure out how it could work. The way I visualize it in my head is that some scientists decided to experiment on what they thought was a different kind of radiation but ended up being ultraviolet radiation. I wanted to make it apparent that these scientists somehow and some way managed to poison themselves as well as the civilians they used in this experiment. Like I said, I do not know how I would even begin to make this work or anything like that. I do not know if an Ultraviolet Apocalypse could even be possible. But then, I guess anything could be possible in a fictional story.
This is why I need help. I need ideas on how to make this work. Maybe you all could throw out ideas on how to make “Ultraviolet” somehow describe a different kind of apocalypse that happened instead of making it an actual UV radiation apocalypse. I’m not sure but that’s why I’m asking for you guys help. Any ideas on how to make this idea work and any ideas that are completely different are welcome and appreciated! Maybe you guys could also help on the name for the novel by giving other name suggestions for it? I really would appreciate all the feedback and help!
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Is it even possible? Probably not. But as you say, anything is in a story…
I think a good starting question is what kind of apocalypse you want. “Just” the downfall of human civilization or should the infrastructure also be destroyed? Is the environment still intact or is there some kind of nuclear winter maybe? Is the thing that caused it (the disease for example) still around and actively causing trouble or is the main problem the absence of society?
How exactly this UV radiation works is up to your artistic freedom, so you can really go in a number of directions. If it just makes people go mad you could have a kind of Zombie scenario. If it kills everyone above a certain age you could have a Teenage Wasteland. It could make everyone go blind (although I’m not sure if that would end civilization) or kill anyone who isn’t blind anyway (that could be a very interesting scenario, although it would require a lot of research on the everyday lives of people with this disability). It could cause a worldwide power outage. It could destroy the atmosphere, making the only survivors people who happened to be in underground bunkers, submarines or outer space.
It doesn’t even have to be about radiation. If “Project Ultraviolet” was just a codename, the experiment could have been about anything from increasing mental abilities to biological warfare.
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] I could give you some ideas 
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This book sounds like it would be super cool!
Another idea that I have is that there’s a sort of light in the sky (you could make it purple to go with the whole “UltraVIOLET” idea) one random night (or day, you choose). The people who look at it could die, or go blind, (which would ultimately lead to death if the great majority of the population couldn’t see) or whichever it is that you choose. The survivors, who may or may not know the cause of everyone going blind or dying, could do whatever survivors to an apocalypse would do.
If you like the idea that @Wandarine gave you with the “project Ultraviolet”, you could make this bright light the consequence of an experiment gone wrong. You could also make it a natural disaster, or just some psycho who wants to wipe out the whole entire human species except for a select few.
It would be interesting to see who the survivors were and how they survived, and what their thoughts were on this strange new world. You could make the survivors a specific group of people who had an inkling on what was about to happen. There could also be some side stories (romance, side quests etc) involved in this story to spice it up.
Let us know if you do end up writing this book, as I’m sure we would all love to read it!
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] I could help!!
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