World Building: Air

The air we
breathe is not something we think a lot about until something goes wrong. Gas,
dust, particulates, and the balance of gases all affect both our breathing – or
lack thereof! – and also play a big factor in visibility and personal safety.
The quality and composition of the air affects us on a personal – lung size –
scale, but also on a world wide scale as we feel the effects of climate change
and atmospheric pollution.

With the fires in Australia, and as of writing a volcanic eruption in the Philippines and industrial pollution, it is getting harder to ignore the air around us. You can see the effects in my photo – of the sun through smoke in the morning. Even rays of sunshine through the window feel wrong, shedding a ghastly orange apocalyptic hue rather than cheer. How do authors incorporate the air into a novel?

Gas

We have evolved
along with the planet to be most comfortable with the air composition to be 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon,
0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. That’s not to say we
can’t adapt– people that live in Nepal and the Andes have a larger lung capacity
and a slightly different blood system to cope with the altitude. The book “Surviving
the Extremes” by Kenneth Kamler is a fascinating read for those interested in
human survival in extreme conditions.

But scifi characters can explore the differences every time
they open the air lock. From vacuum, to fetid oxygen rich jungles, and then
play with the effects of trace elements and oxygen saturation on the away team.
How long can they survive – and what tech do they use to detect it and protect
themselves? Tricorders? Nanotech? Androids? Inoculations? Space suits?

In an underground situation the air can go bad very quickly.
Ventilation is the key – a good, continued flushing of fresh air. Wiki article
here. But people have know this for a long time – the practice of lighting
a small brand and sending it down a well was a safety precaution in Little
House on the Prairie – with almost fatal consequences when ignored. This has
evolved into the use of Drager tubes – glass tubes that colour change in
different atmospheres, as well as complex ventilation computer programs for
large mines.

Particular gases underground can have various dangerous
properties, toxic , asphyxiative or explosive. Most are colourless, and many
have no smell either. Methane in coal mines is explosive – and also found in
swamps where it can sometimes spontaneously igniting to give the ghostly dead
man candles of legend. Carbon monoxide is lethal at low concentrations. Sulphur
dioxide with its rotten egg smell. But its not only the immediate toxic
effects, some can affect your lungs and health later on. Chlorine gas in WW1
was notorious for destroying lung capacity, even if you survived initially.

Dust and particulates

Dust and sand storms are shorter term events that present as
an emergency. Protection of the skin, face etc is vital and often appears on
movies set in the desert such as ‘The Scorpion King’. I have a dust storm in my
upcoming novel ‘Rocky Road to Love’ where the heroine has to rescue the hero,
using her past experience and practical skills in the desert.

But particulates – fine dust, ash, tobacco smoke, biological
ones such as viruses and allergens such as pollen – these have some interesting
effects on people and the environment. For more in depth info on particulates
please check out the Wikipedia
article.

Visually, pollution can colour the air – grey- brown-
orange- unnatural hues that give an unsettling feeling. Urban fantasy and near
future apocalyptic books often mention the air, with tech developed to filter
it, or the high price of bottled clean air. The appearance of a plume of smoke
in the distance can be an omen of worse to come – volcano- forest fire – death is
coming. Auel used this several times very effectively, with Ayla using a forest
fire to hunt, and becoming upset by the carnage, and also a volcanic eruption of
ash which fell, providing a scene of monochrome. Grey ash settling and
obliterating people’s differences was a powerful image at the funeral of Rydag,
a boy of mixed species.

With a close fire front, burnt leaves flutter down, and
later embers start new fire fronts. The dust and gases from a volcano can kill
long before there is any lava. Pompeii and Mt St Helens are examples of this. The
distance for observation seems fine – until it isn’t.

Lots of interesting things fall from the sky. There is a world of myth in rains of frogs, blood, fish and manna. Most of the rains of creatures can be explained (storm fronts, bacteria, acts of divine revulsion etc). Strange things falling from the sky take on the aspect of myth and become omens, portents of future disaster. Fear of the unknown or the invisible is fairly well hard wired into the human condition. Humans love seeing patterns where none exist. Or do they? An ancient story or myth can be the only way history is remembered.

Enjoy this
blog? Have a think about signing up via my website or catch
them as they fly around the ether on twitter or facebook . They will
stay where they are pinned on pinterest .

For those that have not read Druid’s Portal yet, here is a link to the first chapter of   DruidsPortal and to the second in the series Druid’s Portal: The Second Journey , and you can read a preview here .

Scifi more your thing? Try my short stories in the anthologies Quantum Soul and
Tales from Alternate Earths 2.  Or what about horror? Try Haunted, a free
new horror anthology.

If you are
keen to chat with other scifi peeps, then check out the Knights of the Scifi
Roundtable facebook group and subscribe to their newsletter https://mailchi.mp/29fb30bca8e4/update-subscription

Short stories
and poetry? Try the Rhetoric Askew anthologies: Mixed genre, Adventure or Romance 

Tired from
all that thinking? Try a 5 Minute Vacation! 5 Minute Vacation  Now
available on Story Origin as a free review copy: https://tinyurl.com/5MVReview

I also have a newsletter for Multi Genre Readers, with a
bunch of other talented authors contributing articles. Sign up here .

And my own author newsletter, for book news, odd facts,
recipes and random freebies. Sign
up here.

The post World Building: Air appeared first on Cindy Tomamichel.