Genre Guides

This subgenre is, more or less, the inversion of the alien invasion genre. Or, to quote the old saw, the other side of literature, because “A man goes on a journey…” and “A stranger comes to town…” are the same story from flipped POV.

Depending on your theme and story, your exploration can be quiet and gentle, or it can be loud. Star Trek: The Next Generation (far more than the original show) emphasized the Prime Directive in ways that explorers and sociologists slipped in quietly to learn about any given culture, hopefully without revealing themselves and

If you want to write dystopian books, you must read them. Experts in the industry are consistent with their advice that you must be an avid reader of a genre to write well in it. The books listed below will teach you about the genre and help you get a feel for all the different things you can do with it. 

We can’t really do it today, but every morning the technology gets a little closer to reality. And generally, such things will likely need to be done in vitro, anyway, rather than being a treatment that could be applied to an adult. Reality, however, should never get in the way of a cracking good story idea. (Daniel Keys Moran used transform viruses in his work, starting with Emerald Eyes. Plus designing better humans and dealing with the problems when you actually succeed.)

The world has ended (apocalypse thriller is for when the world is ending); this is the world that comes after. This is often similar to the dystopian theme, but pushed forward in time and involving a world that has fallen by whatever caused it, but so long ago that everything has finally stabilized. Imploded. Turned into a junkyard.

Maybe the zombie apocalypse hit, and these are your survivors

The future that appears to be coming instead, after we have thrown away all of those fantastic possibilities that the 1970s promised. The corporations are in control of your life. Of everything. If you don’t have (Lots and Lots of) money, you are little people. A victim of circumstances. Think Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for the sorts of world where the rich have won and everyone else has lost and must often dance for their supper. Or otherwise overcome a deck that has been stacked against them. Where life is cheap and ugly, except for the pretty people with a lot of money.

It might not look like it is true hard science (see below), but it is closer to that intellectual space. We live today (2020s) in a world where climate change is having a significant, measurable impact on our world and our lives. Where the high-water mark of the 1970s, in terms of rights for minorities and women in the United States has been slowly driven backwards. Where billionaires

Back to apocalypse thriller Please note that not all apocalypse thrillers follow this blueprint exactly, and most don’t follow it perfectly. If your book will still be thrilling and interest readers without one of these pieces, or with some of them done differently or in a different order, feel free to do your own thing. This blueprint is just so that you can understand a basic format that your readers might expect from the genre. Three Act Apocalypse Thriller Act 1 Act 1 is shorter than the other acts, as the action is contained mostly in Acts 2 and 3....

This is the moment when all hell breaks loose, and the heroes must find a way to survive those first few hours or days when everything is falling to pieces around them. Later, after things stabilize, you might have some sort of “Return to Normalcy” moment. Or you evolve forward into post-apocalyptic storytelling as things will never be the same and folks must make do.

What is ’Punk?

A new technology that has overturned the expected traditions of the past, thereby changing the world. Heroes in punk stories tend to be people interested in and exploiting this new tech before it becomes mainstream. Inventors. Adventurers. Occasionally criminals using their new knowledge to right some wrong that the system is perpetrating.

Related to Alternate History, this sort of story started with the characters traveling (presumably backwards) through time, either to make some change, witness some important event, or discover that time itself is unchangeable.

To write in this subgenre