Part 1 – Definition and Examination
When I first began writing, I was preoccupied with defining my genre. I never reached a definitive conclusion, but the process led me to study genre conventions more deeply—especially post-apocalyptic (PA) fiction, with its thematic clarity and recognizable structural patterns.
PA narratives often follow a familiar framework. There are foundational expectations, and beyond those, a set of recurring tropes that many stories employ—whether out of tradition or narrative necessity. Below is an examination of these patterns through a small, modern selection of works from both literature and film. This is not a “best of” list, but rather a personal frame of reference. With the exception of The Last of Us, these stories avoid zombies—an adjacent subgenre with its own distinct conventions.
Works considered:
The Road
Station Eleven
The Way
The Ancients
Children of Men
The Last of Us
(Note: I refer only to the film/TV adaptations of The Last of Us and Children of Men, not their original source material.)
Baseline Expectations
Every PA narrative begins after an identifiable collapse. This event—whether political, biological, environmental, or technological—marks a distinct rupture between past and present. In some stories, the collapse is explained in detail (The Way, The Last of Us); in others, it remains vague or entirely unspoken (The Road). Regardless, the precipitating event is the foundation upon which the genre is built.
A second baseline is the persistent presence of the old world—its remnants and ruins. Crumbling infrastructure, obsolete technology, scavenged literature, and decaying cities appear across nearly all PA stories. These elements serve as more than setting; they allow the narrative to reflect on the excesses, values, and failures of our current world. The contrast between what was and what remains creates a kind of cultural estrangement, often evoking both nostalgia and critique.
Together, these two components—collapse and relics—form the minimum narrative architecture of PA fiction.
Common Tropes
The Traveling Band
A commonly used device in the genre is the journey: a group of characters traveling through a devastated landscape toward a defined destination. This structure serves several purposes. It provides narrative momentum and allows characters to encounter the full range of post-collapse society—its dangers, its ruins, and its rare moments of order. It also echoes older narrative traditions: pilgrimages, wartime marches, and epic quests.
In most cases, the journey becomes a test of character and endurance. Through this movement, the story explores survival, morality, and shifting interpersonal dynamics.
Examples:
The Road, Station Eleven, The Way, The Last of Us, Children of Men
The Safe House
Closely linked to the journey is the Safe House: a temporary refuge offering physical safety and mental reprieve. These moments often mark a turning point in the story. They allow for recovery, reflection, and sometimes revelation. The characters regroup, reassess, and prepare to continue. Dramatically, these spaces slow the pace and offer interior depth. The bunker in The Road, for instance, represents a brief return to comfort—highlighting how rare such moments have become.
Examples:
The Road, The Way, Children of Men
The Cure
The Cure appears where the apocalypse is tied to disease or biological transformation. It is often literal—a vial, a person, or a set of instructions that must be protected or delivered. It serves as both a plot device and an ethical question: What does it mean to save a world that no longer resembles the one that was lost?
This trope frequently intersects with both the traveling band and the safe house, adding layers of urgency and reinforcing themes of sacrifice, hope, and preservation.
Examples:
The Way, The Last of Us, Children of Men
Part 2 (coming soon)
