If you’re thinking about writing a post-apocalyptic short story or novel but don’t know where to begin, you’ve come to the right place. Welcome, doomsday scribe.
In this guide, we’ll explore some of the most important elements found within post-apocalyptic fiction—and why they matter.
Definition of Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
Let’s cover the “what” before we get to the “how.” After all, you can’t write post-apocalyptic fiction until you know what it is and what it involves.
Definition: The post-apocalyptic fiction genre includes stories that take place after some kind of catastrophic event. These stories depict characters struggling to survive in a dangerous new world without electricity, running water, law and order, or societal structure.
Related: the post-apocalyptic genre explained
Think about the “post” part of that label for a moment. This prefix means that most of the main events in the story take place after some kind of catastrophic event.
The story might start before the apocalyptic event. Or it might revisit the good old days through character flashback and other forms of hindsight. But it mainly takes place in the after.
The Five Elements Covered in This Guide
Here are the five elements of post-apocalyptic fiction we’ll cover in this guide:
- The catalyst or cause of the apocalypse
- The survivors who struggle in its wake
- The ruined world that they inhabit
- The mission or goal your character pursues
- The challenges they face along the way
These elements can involve everything from world building to character development to plotting. And if you color them in one by one—before you start the first chapter—you’ll have a much easier time completing your work.
1. The catalyst or cause of the apocalypse
In post-apocalyptic fiction, a major disaster or catastrophic event destroys civilization, leaving a small number of survivors to struggle in its wake.
The event itself can take many forms, including these common examples:
- A natural disaster, such as an asteroid impact or global warming
- A human-caused catastrophe, like nuclear war or a biological weapon
- A fantastical occurrence, such as a zombie apocalypse or alien invasion
In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, a mysterious, global firestorm has scorched the planet into an ashy, post-apocalyptic version of its former self.
In Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and in Stephen King’s The Stand, an incurable virus kills off much of the planet’s population.
When writing post-apocalyptic fiction, you have to consider the triggering event from all angles.
How did it happen? What’s the backstory that led up to it? How widespread is the damage? How has the event changed the way people live, interact, and govern themselves?
You might not share all of this information in your story. You might withhold some of it from the reader, to create an element of mystery.
But you, as the author, have to know all of these things. You need to have it straight in your own mind, so you can write from a place of knowledge, with consistency and accuracy.
The apocalyptic event will help you hook readers and bring them into your story. But it’s the human element that will keep readers engaged. So let’s talk about the next important element of post-apocalyptic fiction—the survivors.
2. The survivors who struggle in its wake
Zombies and plagues and rogue asteroids are fun to write about. But it’s the human element that will engage your reader over the long term and keep the story moving forward.
Post-apocalyptic stories might have a diverse cast of characters, as in the newer Mad Max movies, or a smaller and more intimate character focus, as in The Road. It varies a lot, depending on the kind of story the creator wants to tell.
But you have to give your readers someone to root for. Otherwise, you have no story.
When characters in a post-apocalyptic story struggle to overcome obstacles and challenges, it can help the story in several ways:
- It introduces characters and shows us what they’re made of.
- It builds tension and suspense, which in turn create drama.
- It creates opportunities for character growth and change.
- It makes your fictional world feel more realistic and visceral.
- It deepens the emotional connection with the reader.
- It introduces conflict, both external and internal.
- It allows for creative problem-solving and cooperation.
- It could lead to unexpected plot twists.
3. The ruined world your characters inhabit
World building is another important element in post-apocalyptic fiction. It can make your story more interesting, more unique, and more believable—all at once.
But what is world building, exactly?
Definition: In post-apocalyptic fiction, world building is the process of creating a detailed and believable world that has been devastated by a catastrophic event. It might involve developing new societal structures, technologies, geography, history, and other elements.
Post-apocalyptic fiction allows authors to create a world that challenges their characters at every turn. The characters could face a variety of threats, including mutated creatures, hostile factions, limited resources, or extreme weather conditions.
Here’s an A-to-Z list of world-building considerations for post-apocalyptic fiction:
- Communication: How do survivors communicate? Do they use radios, runners, or messenger birds? Do they live in isolation with no communication methods?
- Economy: What is used for trade or currency? Do the characters rely on barter systems, rare resources like fuel or food, or scavenged goods?
- Environment: How has the landscape changed? Are there deserts, flooded cities, radiation zones, or urban ruins?
- Flora and Fauna: Are there mutated species, new ecosystems, or potential dangers posed by altered biology?
- Geography: This might include altered landscapes, ruined cities, new geographical formations (e.g., radioactive zones, collapsed bridges, flooded areas).
- Government: Are there any remnants of authority? Warlords, isolated communities, or total anarchy and lawlessness?
- History: Think about the backstory of the apocalyptic event, including its cause, timeline, and impact on the world.
- Resources: Consider the availability of food, water, medicine, and how people acquire or fight over them.
- Social Order: How do people organize? Are there new tribal groups, scattered families, warring factions, or authoritarian regimes?
- Survival: What skills or tactics are necessary to stay alive? Do they scavenge or build farms? Do they have to defend against threats?
- Technology: What remains of the old technology? Is there functioning electricity, broken-down machines, or a reliance on primitive tools?
- Threats: What threats do your characters face on a regular basis? Harsh weather, lawless bandits, food shortages, diseases, mutated creatures, etc.
4. The mission or goal your character pursues
Characters in fiction need goals or objectives. They need something to strive for and pursue. Otherwise, what’s the point of telling their story?
This is true for all genres of fiction, but especially the post-apocalyptic genre.
By their nature, post-apocalyptic stories paint a bleak picture of the future. So the reader needs something to hope for, someone to root for. And that requires a mission.
Think about what your protagonist wants, more than anything else. Sure, they want to survive. But that’s not enough. There has to be more.
Maybe they’re attempting to rescue a loved one, or find a refuge for their family, or pursue a cure to a viral outbreak. But they have to want something.
Once you know what drives your characters, you’ll have an easier time steering your story toward some kind of climax and resolution.
5. The challenges they face along the way
The protagonist pursues a goal, but a series of obstacles block them. When you think of it, most fictional stories come down to this simple premise.
- The Lord of the Rings: Frodo Baggins wants to destroy the ring and defeat Sauron.
- Titanic: Jack and Rose want to escape their social classes and find love together.
- Pride and Prejudice: Elizabeth Bennet seeks to find love and happiness.
- Star Wars: Luke Skywalker wants to become a Jedi and defeat the Empire.
In all of these works, the main character pursues an objective and encounters a slew of obstacles along the way. Each obstacle is worse than the one before it, building up to the climax.
Challenges force characters to change and adapt, to rise to the occasion. Challenges create conflict, drama, and tension. This is what keeps readers turning the pages.
Think of it this way: If the characters are having a good time, the reader is not.
So there you have them, five of the most important elements in post-apocalyptic fiction, and why they matter.
