The Apocalypse Panel Q2 - What draws me to write apocalyptic stories?

So the Apocalypse Panel has taken off rather well - kudo's to Randy for the initiative, I'm sure it will continue to spark a lot of interesting debate and scenario building ideas!  If you're unfamiliar with the whole concept, check it out at THIS LINK.

Basically, I am part of a group of 6 other authors who debate a monthly question, posed by Randy on his website.  Each author answers the question how they see fit, and then Randy posts links back to each of our responses!  It's quite clever.  :)

This month's question is:  What draws you to write apocalyptic stories?

That's an interesting and very open-ended question.  I guess, for me personally, it's all about the core of the human soul:  Imagination!  I was raised by storytellers.  My mother, my father, my older brothers and sisters, my Grade 4 class teacher, my high school English teacher, my favorite authors (Stephen King and Dean R. Koontz) and even my own child is teaching me a thing or two these days!  Living and experiencing fantasy worlds, events and situations through books and stories all these years has really been a blessing!  We humans crave a break from reality, we desire the unbelievable, we desperately reach for the fantastic tale when the world becomes a drag, a bore, a pain. 

It's a way to ignore our everyday problems - bills, kids, school, work, women...  the list is endless.  Screw all that crap and focus on somebody else's problem instead!  The fact that my car needs new tyres is nothing compared to what Amanda Hoyer and her son have to go through in my own pre-apocalyptic tale, "December Dead".  Now there's a person with REAL problems - even if they are imaginary - but that's the whole point, isn't it?  Escapism! And the list of apocalyptic scenario's and the challenges our favorite heroes could endure is truly endless.  (Did I mention that December Dead is currently available for FREE?) :)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that these tales of an apocalyptic nature require the MOST imagination of all!  To write of something that no living human being has yet experienced has to be an author's greatest test!  The limitless possibilities of the imagination!  It's the perfect canvas.  The perfect blank page.  The perfect stroke of keys on the keyboard of the reader's mind! 

The question should rather have been:  Why would you NOT want to write them?  :) 

Until next time, doomsday fans!