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!

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!