Apocalypse Panel: Defining the Apocalypse

It's time for the Apocalypse Panel again! This month's question:

What defines an apocalyptic story?

The easy answer for me is

The End of the World as We Know It



I think it's the "as we know it" part that is most important. Apocalyptic stories start from a point of the world that we know, that we are familiar with. I think it would be pretty hard to appreciate an apocalypse in a world utterly unfamiliar to us, since we'd have no "before" to compare to.

Also, the apocalyptic event affects the whole of society. After all, we all go through experiences that change our personal world as we know it. Marriage, children, school, jobs, divorce, death, etc. But those don't make an apocalyptic story. Still, as I think about it, maybe it is our own personal apocalypses that make world-changing apocalyptic stories so appealing to us.

Be sure to check out the responses from the other panelists!

Apocalypse Panel: The Most Important Element

Oh, hello there. It's been a while, hasn't it? The end of the school year, followed by two weeks of being sick in bed sort of derailed blogging for a while. But I am back! With another question for the Apocalypse Panel. This month's question is:

What is the most important element in an apocalyptic story?

I could talk about important elements of story all day, but they would apply to any story, not just an apocalyptic one. So, I'm going to throw out what I think is at the heart of apocalypse fiction.

Hope.

I think at their heart, apocalyptic stories are stories of hope. No matter what the universe dishes out, we can overcome. We will survive. That to me is the truly essential element for writing about the apocalypse.

What do you think?

Be sure to check out the responses of the other panelists.

Apocalypse Panel: The best apocalyptic books and movies

It's time to start thinking about the end of the world again! This month's apocalypse panel question is:

Other than the stories you have written which is the best apocalypse movie or novel?

I don't know about the best, but I can tell you which are my favorites.

My favorite apocalyptic book is one Randy mentioned in his original post. Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card. It's not a novel, really, but a collection of short stories. Stories that moved me in a profound way. Here were my own people dealing with a world-ending situation. I had never seen anything like that before, and obviously, it had a huge influence on my own writing. If you've never read Folk of the Fringe, I highly recommend it!

As far as movies go, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it, but I really liked 2012. Despite it's cheesiness and obvious flaws, I really cared about those characters and what happened to them. Somebody did something right in the writing there. Still, I'm glad I didn't fork over money to see it in the theater.

(Please do not confuse this film with 2012: Ice Age. That is another matter entirely!)

If you need a good laugh...

 
Don't forget to check out the answers from the other panelists. Maybe you'll discover some new books to read!

Apocalypse Panel Question #2: Why draws me to write apocalyptic stories?

It's time for the Apocalypse Panel again! This month's question is a little less nightmare inducing. :)

What draws you to write apocalyptic stories?

To be completely honest, I'm not sure I am drawn to write apocalyptic stories. But I can tell you why I felt drawn to write Defenders of the Covenant, which features apocalypse-by-alien-invasion. This is from my website:

I first came up with the idea for Defenders of the Covenant while pondering the question of how far I would go to keep the covenants I have made. I take those covenants very seriously. What might I be asked to sacrifice? My life? Something harder? My mind churned up a worst case scenario of an alien invasion and a mother asked to give up her child to save the human race. That led to the short story which eventually became the novella, Consecrated.

I was fascinated with the "what if" behind that story. What if aliens invaded Earth? How would my church react? That was the basic grain of the novel.

For me, I wasn't thinking so much about the end of the world as I was about faith. Writing about the end of the world is an excellent way to delve into concepts of faith and loyalty and all sorts of things. Will I write any more apocalyptic stories? Hard to say. I don't have any in the works right now, but I never what sort of ideas are going to rear up and take hold of me.

What do you feel drawn to write?

Be sure to check out the responses of the other panelists!

The Apocalypse Panel

So, here's a new thing I'm doing. The Apocalypse Panel. I and six other authors who like to write about end of the world type stuff (alien invasions totally count!), are getting together once a month to answer a question related to the apocalypse.You can meet the rest of the panel here. Links to all of our responses will be posted on Randy Lindsay's blog each month, so we can all discuss ideas together.

This months question is:

Which situation or event that is currently happening do you think most easily could result in the apocalypse?

Alien invasion, of course!

Not really. Despite what I like to write, I believe there is a 0% chance of alien's actually invading earth. There are plenty of ways to end the world that are more realistic (and keep me up at night if I think too hard about them). I'm going to go with an oldie but goodie (or baddie):

Global Thermonuclear Warfare.

Did you know there are more than 17,000 nuclear weapons on the planet right now? That's just insane. And it's not like world governments are all that stable. *shudder* I'm sure I don't have to outline all the effects a nuclear war would have on the planet. We've seen enough movies, TV shows, etc. to already know.

I don't really think nuclear war is imminent or anything, but I do think it is the most likely way to trigger the apocalypse.

Go check out the rest of the apocalypse authors answers over on Randy's blog!