Opposites in Creative Writing
The mothership in the 1996 film, Independence Day, had a diameter of over 550 kilometers (342 miles) and a mass that was about a quarter of the moon's mass. It released thirty-six smaller ships, called city destroyers, that were 24 kilometers (15 miles) in diameter.
I took an opposite approach.
In my novella, Stardust Zombies, I imagined space ships or autonomous alien weapons to be roughly the size of a grain of table salt at 0.3 millimeters (0.012 inches). These would be released in vast celestial clouds targeting an enemy planet, harmless while in the vacuum of space, activated by atmospheric pressure, and triggered by the proximity to certain biological targets. Earth accidentally passes through a cosmic mine field of these abandoned alien weapons from some ancient interplanetary war.
My first article for this amazing wiki, Level 365, was haunted by entities called Sightless Seers (an opposite) that were delicate flying jellyfish that hated liquids (an opposite), and measured up to 8 centimeters (3 inches). While Seers appeared as diminutive and gossamer creatures, they were both relentless and invulnerable to physical attacks. Seers fed on the etheric bodies of humans, in other words, they ate your soul.
Phenomenon 7 - "Liminal Echo" and Phenomenon 33 - "Autocorrect" are opposites.
In Level 710 - "Ring and Ruins," the technologically advanced ring in the sky is the opposite of those ancient ruins and Harbinger Arch that wait below. While the beautifully empathetic intelligence that rules the ring is not physically described in the level article, it is later revealed (spoiler alert) in the Anne Dunne trilogy that our benefactor, the true friend of humanity, is an enormous maggot.
Phenomenon 3 - "Happy Dance" is another glorious example of opposite heaven. Also known as Exploding Wanderer Syndrome, it begins with the onset of an intense euphoria of mysterious origin. The victim is not psychologically elated. Their brain appears to be purposefully awash in a tsunami of natural chemicals and hormones, while their body undergoes horrific changes. Tissues in the fingers and toes, hands and feet, succumb almost immediately to aggressive gangrene and turn purplish-blue to black. In a state of perpetual bliss, the infected person taps their remaining toes and fingers while humming a happy tune, which accounts for the generic name of this malady.
The introductory teaser is, well… you be the judge:
“Our M.E.G. chaperone ordered everyone to evacuate exactly when the wanderer in bed 13 burst like a giant water balloon. The smell was bad, but the taste in my mouth was worse. Somebody threw up, and "sympathy vomiting" hit the place. Up until I noticed the tentacles, I was fine.” — Allan Jenkins, moments after the incident at the LVL-4 Sleep Shelter
Surprising the reader never hurts, either. Tentacles?
In Entity 67 - "Partygoers =)," the entities are thought, by some, to be human cannibals, disguising themselves as entities to camouflage unique culinary desires. It is only after authorities witness humans transforming into Partygoers and by examining Partygoer “corpses” that the truth is realized.
Come at things from different angles. Change your middle name to “What If.”
Your friend and colleague,
[http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/goerman]
Your friend and colleague,
Goerman
http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/goerman