YA & Dystopian, anybody?

dani_writer — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:19:37 -0700

Anybody else out there writing YA Dystopian? I am and I am shocked. I usually stick with straight realism/fantasy. Never sci-fi. This year comes along and a dystopian idea comes to mind. I'm floored. I've read maybe four dystopian novels, and I'm writing in this genre? It should certainly be an adventure. Anybody else? ~Danica Page http://danicapage.blogspot.com/

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im_a_riting_rebel — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:31:27 -0700

I LOVE dystopian. I'm not writing one, but I love it. I've read 1984 (which is, admittedly, not really YA, but fantastic), Little Brother (which is basically a YA, modernized, computer age version of 1984), Fahrenheit 451, Hunger Games, Survivor Antarctica (not many have heard of that one)... Oh dear, I can't even remember the rest. One of my favorite subgenres. Brave New World is on my To Read list, too. Interestingly enough, it seems the term is unique to our generation. Nobody from my parents' generation or older know "dystopian novels" when I mention them. Once I explain, they know what I'm talking about, but they had never known there was a name for it.

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myyearinlists — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:52:07 -0700

Me! Me! The funny thing is, I don't even like dystopian novels. On the whole, I find them heavy-handed and simplistic (with certain exceptions - obviously, 1984 and Animal Farm are great, though the latter is more of just a political allegory). But since YA dystopian is all the rage with publishers right now, I figured I'd take a swing at the trend this year. Anyway, I've posted the synopsis elsewhere before, but my novel basically concerns a not-so-distant future where human cloning is commonplace in Eastern Europe (due to a viral STD that has rendered much of the populations of Russia and its surrounding countries infertile), but considered barbaric by the US, which has by this point taken a swing to the far right and has become incredibly anti-science and anti-intellectual. My character Hannah, 16, discovers that when she was an infant, her parents sold her DNA to a Russian cloning syndicate, and now there are thousands of copies of her in Europe. The US government is planning to invade Russia in order to "liberate" - i.e. euthanize - its clone population, under the pretense of putting an end to what they consider grave human rights violations (though it's really just so that American defense contractors can profit). The military sequesters Hannah, along with three other people whose DNA has been used for mass quantities of clones, in Washington in order to run tests on them and compare their minds, reflexes, etc. to those of their clones, and in the process, Hannah develops a dark and unlikely friendship with her very first clone, 15-year-old Kira, who was raised in a laboratory in Moscow. And then some other stuff happens. It's a big downer ending, just FYI. Much like Animal Farm, it's a quasi-dystopian political allegory (spoiler (?) alert: Hannah's character is VERY loosely based on that of Dr. David Kelly, who was murdered - oh, I'm sorry, "committed suicide" - by the British Ministry of Defense), but it also has certain aspects to it that I'm personally really interested in - questions of bioethics and what it means to be human, science vs. ignorance, that sort of thing. And clones.

Re: YA & Dystopian, anybody?

Agent Pendergast — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:55:52 -0700

I love, love looooove YA dystopian novels and will be stalking this thread.

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Enna-Isilee — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:58:53 -0700

Me! I'm writing a dystopian romance. *rolls eyes* I know, I know. But it was like a lightning bolt of genius from the muse gods, and how can I ignore that??

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rebel_cheese — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 22:02:18 -0700

One of the novels I'm considering has a dystopic theme to it, involving a girl sniper in the ruins of Chicago. World War II has NOT turned out very well for the United States, let's put it that way . . . Most of the soldiers she has to kill are Chinese but the ultimate bad guy is Russian. It's probably too controversial to sell which is why I'm entertaining a different, less ambitious, idea.

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rebel_cheese — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 22:03:11 -0700

World War III, I meant. III! I can't edit my posts anymore? Damn.

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littlelummox — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 06:20:19 -0700

My non nano novel is a dystopian. I am normally straight contemporary YA. It's such a change, I have never enjoyed writing so much. The freedom and challenges it gives is fantastic.

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S.R Deen — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:44:16 -0700

Iam writing a dystopian, because i love the genre, its so great! and Iam loving writing it :D

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stephandrea_ — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:25:59 -0700

I've never written dystopian, although I've read a lot of it - usually I write fantasy. But I figured I might as well try something new =)

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THE MORNING AFTER — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:15:13 -0700

Wow I absolutely love dystopian. My non-NaNo novel that I just finished writing last month was a YA Dystopian piece. Actually, it's one of my "pet" genres. I work in a bookstore and did up a whole display of purely YA Dystopian books, so if anyone needs any ideas on which ones to read to get the muses going and to get a feel for the genre, send me a message! (I just finished reading "Eve" by Anna Carey and it was quite good. I'm also very partial to "Divergent" by Veronica Roth!) I will be stalking this thread, most definitely!

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kayceecarly — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:17:54 -0700

I absolutely love dystopian novels. I had no idea I was even going to be writing a dystopian until I had a dream that inspired this story plot to be fixated into my brain. To be honest, I'm not really into how the dystopian YA novels out on the market right now are so...redundant. Is it just me? I don't know - I just hope that I'll be able to write a much more different dystopian novel than most that are out right now.

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THE MORNING AFTER — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:43:22 -0700

The biggest problem is, everyone wants to write another The Hunger Games, or another Divergent or Matched. So they're all pretty much the same, you're right. >.< Best of luck to you as you strive for originality!

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AdrienEtienne — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 12:06:09 -0700

I might be. I was sort of thinking over the Dystopian/Post-apocalyptic science fantasy novel that has whammied me and told me that it is getting written this year, and I realized that it might actually be a YA novel. I'm not sure yet. We'll see as it develops. The central characters are definitely going to be in the right age range, and some of the issues that it deals with are going to be ones that will fit the YA genre, but I don't really know if it will turn out in such a way that I would feel comfortable labeling it YA. I'm definitely going to be checking in with this part of the forum as it develops though... Adrien Etienne

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JGHarris — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:24:50 -0700

I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for close to two years now, and I'm thinking its time has come this year... it's set roughly five years after World War III has, mainly through devastating biological warfare, made the world almost unrecognizable - there are no countries, few freedoms, and people are identified by number instead of by name. The new government runs quite a tight ship, and in order to treat the surviving victims of the biological attacks (at least, those who can afford it), they begin a system of human testing and arranged mating between those who have the desired genetics to ward off the diseases. The story centers around a network of resistance operations located in what used to be Europe, and their attempts to make the world into what it used to be, which obviously comes with a huge set of problems. As you may be able to tell, there are lots of kinks to be worked out, but I'm quite in love with my characters so far so I think I'm going to run with it :)

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superstarlala — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:49:16 -0700

My book is set in a place between future and present. Sara (name will change) lives in a society where everything is decided for her, what she does, what she wears, who she'll marry. One summer, her parents send her off to camp, in a world like ours, where you have freedom to do what you choose. Sara realizes that the world she's been living in isn't all she thought and when she meets a guy who she's not supposed to marry, she has to leave her world to defeat the society she's living in.

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savvythewritergirl — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:13:45 -0700

Last year I attempted a Dystopia, because I LOVE reading dystopias, but I cannot write them to save my life... Regardless, I may or may not be taking another stab at my FAVORITE genre for NaNo this year. :)

Re: YA & Dystopian, anybody?

dani_writer — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:33:04 -0700

I agree with a lot of you guys. I was hesitant to try to write a dystopian novel, because a) I've never really read dystopian novels b) because I'm usually a straight-fantasy/realistic writer, and c) because they are so popular right now. I think I have an original idea for my novel, but I'm afraid my novel may be too similar to other dystopian novels. But at any rate it will be fun to write dystopian either way, and it is what I want to write, so I'm going to. ~Danica Page http://danicapage.blogspot.com/

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MorganNatalia — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:29:52 -0700

@ JGHarris -- it looks like our plot "babies" are quite similar lol. I've only read one dystopian book before, Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never Let me Go" (after seeing the film) and it's been a huge influence on my plot as I've got it going thus far. It is also a bit inspired by the recent film "Contagion", too; i.e. a virus will be the cause of everything. I've never written dystopian fiction, nor have much of a background reading it, so I'm excited to see if it pans out! My big concern is that it not be a YA piece though, in spite of the age of my protagonist, who is going to be 19/20. I think 22 will be the cutoff age for her and her friends (incidentally, I notice a lot of us are planning female protagonists on this thread). "Never Let me Go" was not YA, even though a large part of it dealt with the main character's childhood and early twenties. If any of you have suggestions, I'm all ears as I plan. Thanks!

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GoIndi — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:33:06 -0700

I am! It's not too technical, more of a social dystopian than anything totally apocalyptic. Although I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. Mine may be middle-grade, may be YA, not sure. May be the third book in a series, may be the third act of a very long book. Structure is not my strong suit. Fun to read. Fun to write. Good luck to all you YA dystopian writers out there, whether you're riding the wave or happen to love what happens to be popular. Wish I could write Steampunk middle-grade fiction, as that's my 2nd grade son's favorite genre. He eats the Leviathan series for breakfast. Sigh. So not qualified ...

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Ayako — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:08:07 -0700

Don't worry. Writing something is about writing what you love, not writing something that isn't out there. Every idea we have has been done at some point, in some way, shape, or form in the past. And that's okay. What makes writing good and original is using those ideas in different combinations with each other, with different outcomes, etc. There is a lot of good dystopia fiction out there, both YA and otherwise. But there's also a lot of crap that's sprouted up just because it's popular now. Don't worry. Just write something you love. And, what's great about there being a lot, is it's fairly easy to find a good dystopia to read when you need inspiration (given, you may need to hunt around a bit to find a /good/ one but...) But basically, don't worry about if your idea has been done before. It's your story. Your ideas, what you think of, it doesn't matter if it was done before. It doesn't matter if you thought of the idea on your own or were inspired by something else. What matters is that you're writing it without purposefully copying another book. And as long as you don't do that, you'll have a story worth reading, different from the others in it's nuances and combinations of scenarios.

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Ayako — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:09:01 -0700

I'm doing a distopyan apocalyptic, potentially with some horror twists, because as far as I'm concerned, dystopia and apocalypse go hand in hand (well, can anyways...) I'm so excited!

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jazzi-bear — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:07:37 -0700

My novel is sort of a large, dark, amorphous space in my subconscious at the moment. It is definitely dystopian. Beyond that, it is either YA or literary fiction, depending on the direction I decide to take it. I'm not sure if I want to go the "slice of life for an ordinary 16-year-old girl in a dystopian republic" route or the "ordinary sixteen-year-old girl in a dystopian republic who happens to alter the world in a totally earth-shattering but also relatively believable sort of way" route. The first would be more "serious" literature, and I could do a lot with symbolism and really avoid the cliches of the genre; I would focus more on individual characters and lives than government atrocities. The second would be more fun, but it might also wind up being necessarily more cliched. Sigh. It'll come out in the writing, I suppose.

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Mystic Dragon — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:15:21 -0700

*raises hand* Me, too! I'm typically in the YA lounge in NaNo, but this is the first time I'm doing a sci-fi at all. I didn't even know about the sci-fi sub-genres until I went into the sci-fi lounge on these NaNo forums. XD Nice to see a thread on it! I thought I was gonna get lost this year since I'm trying something new, but it's a relief to know that I'm not the only one writing a YA dystopia story.

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mariah125 — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:01:29 -0700

My favorite genre to read is Dystopians - I adore The Hunger Games, Divergent, Delirium... but I never thought I'd write one myself. I've always stuck to historical fiction, since I can't stand YA set in the modern world, involving mundane or issue-related subjects. But then I had a stroke of inspiration. I think I've genuinely come up with an original dystopian idea! *gasp* It has a lot to do with autism - something I have a fair amount of experience with - as well as genetic engineering, infatuation, and sociology. The "apocalypse" in my story's history was a nuclear war. The remaining humans live entirely underground, in a society that runs as smoothly as an anthill. The autistic people do a variety of high-tech/high-intelligence jobs, while the neurotypical people raise the children. Everything is very ordered and controlled, but the government is not cruel and the people are content - and this is where its ethics starts to differ from the typical dystopian. Ettie, the main character, has been in love with Jone, a neurotypical boy, since she was a little girl. The government notices this and marks Ettie as the perfect subject for an experiment - she's willing to join the neurotypicals, and they want to see how well she can control her autistic tendencies. Of course, they don't tell Ettie all this - they even convince Jone to pretend to love her. Eventually she finds out and decides to enter Phase 2 of the experiment - attempted assimilation after neurosurgery. But that's where the sequel starts... Anyway, after that brief (not) and incendiary (possibly) summary, tell me - is my idea original?

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Mystic Dragon — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:36:53 -0700

I actually have Asperger's, too (I took a peek at your profile)...so, your idea greatly intrigues me. It's definitely refreshing...I think it's original. Most stories out there, fictional and non-fictional, are written by folks that know ASD people or psychologists that have only dealt with them as patients of theirs. There's certainly a lack of books out there that are actually written by people on the spectrum; let alone books on the subject written by people on the spectrum. It sounds interesting to me; I'm doing a more generalized "people vs the unknown", where the "unknown" are those that are different from them/don't fit into a society they picture as "normal".

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chel.c.cam — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:21:55 -0700

Me too! I love reading dystopian, but this is my first crack at writing it. I'm not really worried my story is going to sound like someon else's, since I've read so much of the genre that one particular book doesn't stick in my mind. Basically my story is a mash-up of two of my favorite movies, Pleasantville and The Village. Looking at my outline, it's also got a bit of The Forest of Hands and Teeth, minus the zombies. I'm really looking forward to writing something fast-paced where bad things keep happening to my poor characters. I feel like things are so much more intense in dystopian. We'll see how things go. *fingers crossed*

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mariah125 — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:14:54 -0700

Thanks! I'm glad to hear there's another Aspie here. :) I did a lot of research on autistic fiction, and the majority of it seems to tell the real-life story of a kid with autism from the POV of their sister or something. Not what I'd be interested in reading! And even though I'm on the spectrum, I'll be talking to people that aren't as high-functioning (my MC is much more affected than I am). But I do know how autistic people think, how they'd react to the situations in the story, and how they would narrate a book. Of course, I'm also making sure to give my autistic characters personalities beyond their disability and their obsessions. Your book sound interesting... but I've never seen Naruto, so I can't really comment.

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writerchic50 — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:23:14 -0700

i'm doing a dystopian slant on contemporary by setting my novel in a sort of dingy modern london setting.

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merrier_blue — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:37:17 -0700

I am! Non-Romance sibling/friendship focused dystopian novel right here. And so excited. They were my favorite of the assigned reading from high school, so many years ago, and I have a battered copy of 1984 lurking on my bookshelf somewhere. This will be fun.

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dragonfang77 — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:18:24 -0700

I do believe I have found the perfect forum place :-) I'm considering a YA dystopian/post apocalyptic novel as well. I'm currently working on developing the characters and trying to figure out the direction I want it to take. But I have a love of fantasy and paranormal so I'll probably have some paranormal elements involved.

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JorunnH-H — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:42:04 -0700

Oh dear, I'm seeing a lot of my own ideas floating around in other people's plots here! ;) But no wonder, because readers and writers ( I assume, though I'm not one - yet ) go through waves of interests and fascinations and by sharing them, we catch on. The post-WW3-scenario is understandable, seeing as it's the "next" war, and biological warfare seems like the "next" type of warfare ... however, even if some of the same elements are present in many different plotlines, the books will nonetheless be completely different because of the MCs, their driving forces, the antagonist(s) and their driving forces and so on and so on. The plotline, after all, is merely a protoskeleton, it's the story itself that is the flesh and life of the book. Yeah, I'm thinking YA dystopian, as if you couldn't guess. :) It's my first attempt at NaNo and also my first novel ever (apart from a short but riveting book I wrote when I was 11 about two young girls who found a key and were thrown into a whirlwind adventure including friendship, catching a thief, and kittens) I'm also humbled by people's willingness to share their plotlines and ideas for everyone to see. Maybe I've become cynical with age (I'm nearly THIRTY, good lord), but I'm a little apprehensive about that ... what if someone steals your idea, you know? How do I get past that? And am I silly for thinking my plot is so good that anyone would steal it?

Re: YA & Dystopian, anybody?

GoIndi — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:35:02 -0700

No, you're not silly. At least I don't think so. But then again, I am older than you, and therefore even more cynical? You know what they say, there's nothing new under the sun. And when you think about it, so much depends on the execution; doesn't it?

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KBelle — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:56:32 -0700

The setting for my story is a dystopia (following a miniature apocalypse), but it's more of a backdrop rather than the acutally story itself. Nobody's "fighting the power" or discovering deep, dark secrets about the government. It's just the world that my characters happen to live in. Still, I'm worried about cliches, since dystopians have been getting really popular in YA lit lately. Any thoughts?

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JorunnH-H — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:22:07 -0700

You're absolutely right. I'm just worried someone with more skill than me would pick up my idea and write something wonderful before I get the chance to try.

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Fleeples — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:55:39 -0700

*raises hand* That's me! Glad to see there are others.

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timestep — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:14:59 -0700

This is amazing. Make it happen.

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anotheragenda — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:36:00 -0700

... The unofficial tagline for this novel is "Zombie apocalypse for everyone! :D" so... I would say this is dystopian. It definitely has flavors of unlikely survivors, and of humans preying on one another even as they should be banding together. Society's pretty much fallen apart. Though I still need to get around how, exactly, no other countries have thought to help in the slightest to alleviate the North American pandemic.

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jen_lies — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:06:50 -0700

I'm going a scifi dystopian with zombies and dimensional travel. Although I'm not too sure if it would be classified as scifi but there's going to be a lot of futuristic scientific technology involved

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aaalllyyysssaaaaa — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:49:57 -0700

Favourite. Genre. Ever. I just finished Mockingjay, Uglies, and Unwind... sooo good. Mine is a YA Dystopia which involves timetravel.

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srmaid — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:04:40 -0700

LOVE dystopias. Mine is post-apocalyptic world. My main character has grown up under the tyrant of the new world order. When her world is turned upside down when her twin brother is sent off to another army and she is being married off. After meeting a rebel she has to decide what to do and where her loyalties lie. Here is a general question... Is it bad that my reader has no idea what my main character's (and narrator) name is until word 4000ish? I didn't mean to do it. It just kind of happened. Any thoughts.

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lvngbooks — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:05:39 -0700

This sounds fantastic - if I saw this in a bookstore I would buy it!

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lvngbooks — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:14:46 -0700

*raises hand* My story is a YA Dystopian thriller! I *love* to read dystopian books (I'm actually reading three atm, purely coincidentally - I just realized it!) but I never thought I would have an idea for a book in this genre. It popped in my mind around two months ago and I've been researching, plotting, outlining and looking for names ever since. I even wrote little bits, but had to re-write everything in order to make it work. If I had to pick one favorite genre, I'd pick dystopian, but I also really like (post-)apocalyptic YA. I'm fascinated by the idea of different setup for society with rules that we would find ridiculous in current times would work in the future (or not, as it's dystopia and not utopia that we're reading ;)). And re: sharing your synopsis; I'm not sharing my synopsis either. When I shared it last year, I saw various plots/ideas/summaries coming along that had (parts) of my story in it, and don't want to go there again. And, indeed, I don't want a better writer to run off with my idea!

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-amanda-b- — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 22:51:40 -0700

so awesome.

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-amanda-b- — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 22:56:06 -0700

I'm trying! I am a little concerned about the fact that it will be too similar to other books in the genre. It deals with the increasing obsession with technology and the downfall of art/literature which means it kinda feels like "what if Montag from Fahrenheit 451 was a teenage girl?" but I'm having fun with it :)

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Alciona — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 01:59:10 -0700

Ooh, am I glad this topic exists! I'm doing a dystopian story with sentient androids running amok. Think Blade Runner meets The Matrix. Actually, don't. My ego would thank you not to compare the crud I've written to either movie. I do have a question though. I've pegged my novel as YA simply because the characters are physically children. I don't remember my reading tastes being all that different when I was a teen, but are there any differences between writing for an adult audience and writing for adolescents?

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LuLiLa — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 05:35:10 -0800

I absolutely LOVE reading dystopian but I don't write it too often. I love hearing about other people's dystopian stories as the only type of books I read are pretty much dystopian and ghost stories... My story this year is a sci-fi ghost story that may be slightly distopian-ish but not too much so.

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theplotbunny — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 05:49:49 -0800

I am working on a series that I started here on nano in 2009, centered around the Navajo Prophecy of 21 DEC 2012, it has the elements of a dystopian landscape, and post dystopian in the third of the series, 'Horizons Unbound' my current novel in progress. I am enjoying the journey and finding elements of faery Tale creeping in without me realizing until I've written them out: Alice in Wonderland and now, Briar Rose. I love the axis of forces and how new things keep surprising me, the author and my muses are so generous with plotbunnies, so I wish you all the luck in your worlds with your endeavors! ^_^

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UCF612 — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 07:00:44 -0800

My non-Nano is a YA Dystopian. I've never written anything before so I just wrote what I like. I actually didn't even realize dystopian was "big" until I had already started. It's probably be awful though since I'm a total newbie and not likely to be a first novel wonder.

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purpleshrub — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:20:45 -0800

I feel like I'm kind of in a similar boat, because you could argue my story is set in a dystopian future, but the characters, being part of that society, don't really recognize it as such. I think readers may be more aware of the implications of what the characters say/think than the characters are. As for cliches, my own opinion is that the first draft is not the place to worry about them too much. Once you have a draft down you'll probably have a better perspective/sense of what works and what's tired.

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lvngbooks — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:18:49 -0800

It all depends on the themes and the tone of the book. I'm not able to give you a list and say 'this is YA' or 'this is not YA'. Some books are really intense, harsh, violent but still obviously young adult novels. If you brand it a YA, it probably is :)

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qwsedcrfvt — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:25:27 -0800

I am! My novel came to me in a dream last year in the last week of November and I almost switched novels last minute but wised up and saved the idea for this year.

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Alciona — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:32:19 -0800

Thanks, lvngbooks! I'll keep that in mind. :D

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cgoodwin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:44:17 -0800

I am also writing a dystopian novel for NaNo! Seems like there's a fair few of us. :) I really, really hope it comes out original. It is in my head. Very focused on the society; an attempt at change, followed by the realisation that the change wasn't what they wanted/needed, followed by the struggle of changing things back (but different, of course). The one thing I like about it right now - there are loads and loads of historical references/easter eggs referring to early 20th century Europe. From a character being called Leon (as in Trotsky), to the revolutionary army being called the 'Black Army' (play on Lenin's Red Army and Mussolini's Black Shirts), there's a lot of stuff for historical nutbars like myself to pick up on, hehe.

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kaya.esi — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:54:25 -0800

I feel like mine falls into this category.. But my problem was that it wasn't meant to!! It was supposed to be a weird dystopian love story that followed this coupld through out a few years.. It really wasn't supposed to be geared towards YA.. but now it's turning out that way.. I don't know if I should succumb to it or just edit out all the teen-y vibes in december..

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WriterGirl_16 — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:47:12 -0800

I have decided to write a YA dystopian novel. I'm new to this genre but I had an idea I couldn't refuse but use. I'm kind of struggling with the genre though. I've read very few dystopian novels as well... Do you guys have any hints for writing this genre? I've tried looking up elements that need to be included in this genre but came up dry. Fantasy as a billion websites with elements that need to be included in writing fantasy (my usual genre) but nothing on this subject! Haha! I've gotten advice from friends who read a lot of dystopian novels but they aren't really writers so I need someone with writing experience that can help. Thanks!!

Re: YA & Dystopian, anybody?

Dennis Dunjinman — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:20:39 -0800

I don't know much about dystopian novels. I don't read them because I have the unfair judgement in my head that a dystopia is a place where not only all the characters are unsympathetic jerks, but the setting is the biggest unsympathetic jerk of them all. And I'm the type that prefers reading fun, colorful novels that don't taste like dirt. But when I describe what I was writing this year, people kept calling it "dystopian". It wasn't supposed to be. It was intended as a look at the everyday lives of people in a comic-book fantasy setting, and many were miserable, but it wasn't supposed to be totally horrible. The original novel I based the story in ("Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation") took place twelve years after an alien invasion and mentioned that the security measures put up in the years since then weren't fun at all, but they were all after-the-fact glances. I went and set my story five years before the book to show the things they glossed over first hand. The worst thing they showed was the ludicrous amount of flying cameras and the sensational news stories, and the second novel had a secret prison that was long abandoned since the old security measures were outlawed. So, to write the story, I said that the main character's job was downsized because there was less demand in guiding new citizens to the nation, and efforts to find a new job were tough (this was mentioned in the book, but now it actually happened to someone). I had my character's best friend arrested by mercenaries and sent to jail for being an alien sympathizer (she wasn't, but in their defense she did assault a robot news reporter because she was upset about what he was reporting about her that wasn't her fault. In the book, they put a small boy on a watchlist for saying "hello" to an infectee). I wrote that the major politician and business leader had put high price controls on paper to increase market share on his company's holographic paper, so the hero's friend was asked to help smuggle it to sell it at a fair price instead of forcing it to glut the warehouse and in the background, many angry women were boycotting hard-light paper in the background because they wanted their sanitary supplies and didn't want to write on toilet paper. It would be months before the guy caved and let paper be cheap again (he was in the book, and this would be right up his alley). Since the occupation of his home town was driving his friends to extremes, he eventually made a deal with an old lady to create a new identity and run off to become a forest ranger, only to find that the real aliens were hiding there. except unlike most alien soldiers they've encountered so far, these people weren't single-minded conquerors furthering the advance of their planet-consuming empire (like they were in the books); these scouts were people too! They were drafted a while ago and had been abandoned for years just trying to survive, and since then they've been having doubts about their empire's glorious "endless war". Yep, I created hippies from the irredeemably evil planet-destroying alien empire. I was just as surprised as you are. All I wanted to write was a story where a superhero comic-book fantasy would be told from the point-of-view from people who weren't in such lofty, powerful positions and see how that would affect them. It's probably one of the biggest clichés in the book to say "these people are The Real Heroes". And outside of the parts that do make the characters miserable, the place is actually one of the best places on Earth. It is regularly praised by the people who live there as a paradise. But I ask, would you call it a dystopia? Because the original novel wasn't marketed that way, and I don't intend for my story to be labelled similarly.

Re: YA & Dystopian, anybody?

theplotbunny — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:59:21 -0800

Hi, I am writing in both dystopian and post-dystopian, I think the general concept revolves around a world that has faced a civilisation melt-down, due to natural or man-made disasters and the subsequent worlds that are pretty dog-eat-dog, some examples are: Rise of the Apes, a recent remake of Planet of the Apes, where humanity through tampering with nature brings the dominance of humankind down and we are knocked off the top of the tree, so to speak. Another recent one is The Hunger Games, novel, a society that emerges into a new cultural domain that is dangerous, and far from a paradise is the core. A lot of dystopian stories have built in MCs that struggle to survive, form alliances, and quest for a better world, seeking a breakthrough into a 'post dystopian' alternative where a better world rises from a dictatorship or hostile worlld by any number of definitions. A good friend of mine, an author who published her first novel yesterday, Marissa Meyer has explored the genre in her own unique way in the novel: Cinder, part of her upcoming Lunar Chronicles, Another writer Lori Pescatore's Earthblend and Humanblend published on smashwords, is also worth a look, and Katherine Velthuyzen's Neverend is excellent and part of a dystopian series,Kath is on Amazon and Lulu, these are all fantastic and I think you'll definitely get a good idea of the feel of the genre. My WiP The Chronicles of change deal with the 2012 paradox, world ending, or changing? the Navajo only knows... three in the series upcoming, not published as yet unfortunately, but another version of the genre, the post dystopian aspects are explored in the novel I've written during last nano... For more tips: http://www.aliciablade.com/. Marissa wrote under this pen-name in the fandom of Sailor Moon before turning to novel writing, she is also on facebook. Good luck with the writing process and do read those novel titles if you get the chance, best of luck!

Re: YA & Dystopian, anybody?

theplotbunny — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:23:22 -0800

Dystopain is a broad label, personally, I owuldn't worry too much, as a realistic appraisal of the genre gives us a bigger picture than what many stories focus on. One, the setting, it would not necessarilly be 'dystopian' if outside the country it is set, there are many sub-cultures and some socities that ovrcame the old world and bettered it, others moving into a retrograde social evolution, such as the 'bleak city states' that probably are too narrow, and truth is, there are going to be places untouched by the changes with nothing changing at all but for the fact they avoid certain locations. What is to say that space planes and satellites don't scan the surface and observe, and keep an eye on dangerous empire builders, readying themselves to intervene, or go silent, isolating their continent, nation or township from a mosaic of cultural diversity, Marissa Meyer makes the same point on this when she is talking about dystopia in relation to her series The Lunar Chronicles, diversity is a natural form the 'dirty state' is the getho, the nightmare place where in this pin-point setting so much depends. In Logun's Run, (three novels in the series), the outside unknown lures the rebel Sandmand and his lover to these unknown realms and they are pursued by another Sandman sent to kill them... The Matrix is a film, but it is another example of this insular paradigm although, it does offer some deeper layers than say, A Clockwork Orange, that deals more with a dystopian social experiment that goes wrong, I think you're right, and I write that way too, dystopian is only the backdrop, the worlds must have light and shade to be realistic, although in the old Nuclear Winter scenarios,m they are rather depressing and I tend to shy away from those as a reader. Hope this helps a bit. ^__^

Re: YA & Dystopian, anybody?

Caroline11278 — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:15:14 -0800

I'm not writing it for NaNo, but I'm trying to do one just for fun. I've only read three dystopian before (and those were in the same series, so I count it as one story), so it probably won't be so great. Oh, well, it'll be fun!

Re: YA & Dystopian, anybody?

Addy Silver — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:26:32 -0800

You are GENIUS.