IWSG Summer and Sean MacLachlan's 5 Reasons to Write Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

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"Summer turns me upside down.
Oh, summer, summer, summer - it's like a merry go round."
-The Cars, "Magic"

It's summer. Everything is upside down. Schedules change. The weather is amazing. And, my main jobs are: yardwork and writing - with a little tutoring thrown in to keep me honest.

My happiness is also my insecurity: summer is so awesome that I want to wake with the dawn and sleep only when it's dark. I want to live every moment to the fullest. And, I want to write - somehow.

This summer, I'm hoping to write something so different than "normal" for me that it fits into the upside-down-ness of my schedule. Maybe, I'll even try something Post-Apocalyptic? Sean MacLachlan gives five good reasons to write it.

Five Reasons to Write Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

By Sean McLachlan

Hi! I’m Sean McLachlan, author of the Toxic World series of post-apocalyptic books. I’m here to tell my fellow writers why writing about miserable people in a radioactive, poisonous wasteland can be uplifting and fun. Here are five reasons to destroy the world in your novels and dance upon the ruins.

Destroying Civilization Makes You Feel Good!

Had a bad day? Get caught in a traffic jam while hurrying to a meeting? Did your boss scream at you in front of your coworkers? Get food poisoning at your local fast food restaurant? Did your upstairs neighbor let her dog poop in the foyer and then leave for work without cleaning it up?

Well, now you can have your revenge. Why settle for wiping these people out when you can wipe out the entire society that spawned them? You’ll never have to deal with them again!

And yeah, my upstairs neighbor actually did that. She was evicted.

You Don’t Have to Write About Zombies!

I’m sick of the zombie thing. Like really, really sick. Sicker than when I saw what my upstairs neighbor did. Luckily not all post-apocalyptic novels need to have zombies. Mine don’t. Well, they do have the tweakers, who are crazy, violent addicts who sniff chemicals from the Old Times. They’re kinda close to zombies, being mindless cannibals, but they’re not dead yet. Sad to say, I based the tweakers on the glue sniffers in Tangier, where I regularly go for writing retreats. Other than the cannibalism, I didn’t have to exaggerate them much.

You Get to Tackle Real-World Issues!

War, greed, overpopulation, nuclear holocaust, climate change, you name it! All those hot button issues that trouble us in the real world can make your writing more relevant. My books focus a lot on environmental degradation. In the United States, it’s become trendy to argue about whether humanity is affecting the environment or not. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything to argue about, but I think we can all agree that pumping toxins into our air and water supply at an ever-increasing rate is a really, really bad idea.

You Can Really Get Your Readers Angry!

In my books, one stop on the road to ruin was the Biowars. When the various factions found they couldn’t destroy each other with conventional weapons and the occasional nuke, they turned to biological weapons. Some of these manmade diseases targeted farm animals, but they mutated to affect other animals too. I’ve had readers send me angry emails about the fact that I made horses and dogs go extinct. I’ve never had a reader complain that I killed off 90% of the human population. Not sure what that says about my readers.

Bounce the Rubble!

Why stop with only one apocalypse? Heck, humans are dumb and we’ll make the same mistakes over and over again! Probably the best rubble-bouncing book I’ve ever read is the overlooked classic Out of the Mouth of the Dragon by Mark Geston. Massive armies clash to bring on Armageddon, but a few people survive, only to build up their populations and armaments to try again. If at first you don’t succeed…

Sean McLachlan hasn’t quite figured out how to destroy the Internet yet, but he’s working on it. Feel free to visit him at his blog, Goodreads, and Amazon.

In a world shattered by war, pollution and disease. . . 
A gunslinging mother longs to find a safe refuge for her son. 
A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to villagers living on a toxic waste dump. 
The assistant mayor of humanity's last city hopes he will never have to take command. 
One thing gives them the promise of a better future--Radio Hope, a mysterious station that broadcasts vital information about surviving in a blighted world. But when a mad prophet and his army of fanatics march out of the wildlands on a crusade to purify the land with blood and fire, all three will find their lives intertwining, and changing forever.


Amazon


Are you ready for summer? Do you have any "ironic" stories from your past involving summer?
And, have you written or read any post-apocalyptic fiction?

I highly recommend Sean's Radio Hope! I read it and loved it! It's gritty good. :) The loveable characters (can I say that about  post-apocalyptic fiction characters who shoot, fight, and bargain?), and the action-packed plot make it a great read. And, after I originally wrote this post, I went on to read more Toxic World books: Refuge from the Righteous Horde, Scavenger, and We had Flags. All continued to be fast-paced, exciting, and excellently written!




Last note (really): I've been adding some lists to listopia on goodreads, and I would love to see these lists added to by others, or get more votes for the books already listed. BTW, I didn't create lists for my own books, just other awesome authors' books. I would like some entries and votes for Urban Fairy Tales, and Best Future Noir Reads.