An experience I had in my childhood, where I came up with a brilliant idea. People had retreated into the earth, living underground, civilised and human. Millions of years later, another human race evolved on the surface and began to attack the civilised ones, forcing them to return to the surface and relearn the art of war.
The next day I read the Time Traveller and decided that maybe I needed to ground myself in the classics before I do any original SF writing.
IDK though, looking back my idea may still be workable, if I make it a virus rather than a race of savages that forces the metaphorical descision to face the real world (i.e. the surface) rather than withdrawing into a fantasy world (i.e. the perfect, controlled, below ground environment. ) What do you think, guys? Would this work as something that didn't rip off The Time Traveller?
Or, worse still, does this rip off any other book/movie/tv plot that you know about that I should be aware of?
Basically, is this a workable idea?