How I Was Influenced by UGLIES

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And now onto our regularly scheduled topic week: Influences!

When I first started writing, I wrote an urban fantasy. That's the kind of whack stuff I used to like to read. I started devouring more than just Harry Potter, and I came across Scott Westerfeld's UGLIES series in about 2008.

It was new for me. Something different I'd never read before. As I was reading it, I thought to myself, "I want to write a book like that." But I had no idea what that was. So I turned to my good pal, the Internet. After some searching and researching and more reading, I realized that there was this whole genre out there called dystopia. The future as we don't know it. Warped. Different. Weird.

I liked it.

I wanted to write in it. Not only that, but I wanted there to be cool gadgets and technological advancements, and anything else that sounded cool and could explode or transform someone into something they're not.

Yeah, those kinds of stories.

So I did. I wrote my first dystopic novel, POSSESSION. Since then, I've dabbled in dystopian fantasy, and more hard science fiction, like time travel. I love making and exploring new worlds outside the realm of existence.

I've moved on to reading more of this kind of fiction too. THE GIVER, INSIGNIA, MONUMENT 14, LIFE AS WE KNEW IT, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, WARM BODIES. They're all completely different, yet awesomely the same.

They create a world beyond what I already know. I can't seem to get enough of this kind of story for some reason. It all started with UGLIES.

Have you ever read a book that expanded your horizons? What was it?

Behemoth

Scott Westerfeld’s BEHEMOTH saved my sanity a few weekends ago. I was stuck in traffic on I-66. Need I say more? Listening to Alan Cumming narrate a great book can make inching forward at a mile an hour almost bearable.

Even if I’d been listening to the book in my normal reading venue—the gym—I would loved BEHEMOTH as much as I did LEVIATHAN. The latter is the first book in Westerfeld’s Steampunk series. I won’t give any plot spoilers, but the setting for both books should intrigue you enough to run out and get them.

It’s the outbreak of World War I. The world, however, is alternate one. Technology and genetic engineering developed early in the Victorian era. The British and other Darwinists have based their technology (and society) on biological “machines” (aka, fabricated beasties). The Germans and the other Clankers base their technology on steam power and mechanical creatures.

This fabulous trailer for LEVIATHAN should give you a good taste for the novels:





Westerfeld alternates between the viewpoints of Dylan / Deryn —a British girl masquerading as boy so she can serve in the navy/air service—and Alec, the son of the assassinated Archduke. The pace is fast. The worlds of both Darwinist and Clanker are fascinating to say the least. And the voice—particularly of Dylan—is fresh and engaging.

I think LEVIATHAN and BEHEMOTH would appeal to both boys and girls. And adults. Barking spiders! It’s a genuinely fun series to read and/or listen to. (Did I mention the great use of language? Westerfeld invented a clean vernacular for the airmen to use.) I can’t wait for the next one.

So do you oil your war machines? Or do you feed them? (If you didn't get this, you didn't watch the trailer, did you?) What other middle grade or young adult Steampunk (or sci fi / adventure stories) have you read and loved? Do they have both strong female and male characters?

btw, have you taken a peak at the Class of 2K11's brand spanking new website? Fellow Leaguer Julia Karr and I are members, and we are kicking off our year with a big thank you to the Class of 2K10.  Drop by and enter to win a whole slew of books.

The Westerfeld Report

Okay, so I don't think it's a secret that I adore like Scott Westerfeld. He only wrote the dystopian novel that inspired me to write one. And the best YA contemporary I've read, well, probably ever.

So when I found out he was coming to my neck of the woods, I jumped on that airship pretty darn fast. He spoke for an hour, and said some really cool stuff about writing and just life.

At the end, he took questions. One teen asked him why his books (and Stephenie Meyers'--ha!) were so popular while some don't get that attention.

I looked at my writing pal, and could tell that we were both thinking the same thing: Riddle me that, Westerfeld.

Because it's such a great question. Why do some books get the buzz and others don't?

Westerfeld's answer (this isn't word for word): If a book can get people talking about it, then it will be more successful. Because when we like a book, we tell all our friends to read it so we can then talk about it.

I thought that was a great answer. There's nothing I love more than to talk about books. So I ask you: Why do some books get more buzz than others? And what books have you read lately that are worth talking about?

I Think, Therefore I Read and Write (Dystopia)

There's been some discussion (here and elsewhere in the blogosphere) about why dystopian literature is becoming so popular. I could link you to a bunch of places and we could probably theorize on it forever.

But for me, I think it comes down to this: Dystopian novels make you think.

Let's explore.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. I'm not going to ruin it for you, but this is what the School Library Journal had to say about the book.

"Pearson has constructed a gripping, believable vision of a future dystopia. She explores issues surrounding scientific ethics, the power of science, and the nature of the soul with grace, poetry, and an apt sense of drama and suspense."

I adored this book, not only for the great characterization in Jenna, but the way it made me stop and think.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman. Again, no spoilers, but here's what Publisher's Weekly had to say about this dystopian.

"Gripping, brilliantly imagined futuristic thriller...The issues raised could not be more provocative--the sanctuary of life, the meaning of being human--while the delivery could hardly be more engrossing or better aimed to teens."

And again, from the School Library Journal:

"This gripping, thought-provoking novel is guaranteed to lead to interesting discussions about abortion, adoption, organ donation, religion, politics, and health care."

As I turned the pages of this book, I found myself not only riveted by the characters and plot, but often I found myself pausing to examine my own thoughts on particular issues.

I think Scott Westerfeld (author of the UGLIES trilogy) says it best in his review of Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth:

"Zombies have been metaphors for many things: consumerism, contagion in an overpopulated world, the inevitability of death. But here they resonate with a particularly teenage realization about the world--that social limits and backward traditions are numberless and unstoppable, no matter how shambling they may seem at first.

And yet we must try to escape them anyway, lest we wither inside the fence."

His thoughts "that social limits and backward traditions are numberless and unstoppable, no matter how shambling they may seem at first. And yet we must try to escape them anyway, lest we wither inside the fence." are EXACTLY why dystopian novels are riding the tidal wave of popularity. And not just with young adults, but with anyone who dares to think.

What do YOU think? What novels have made you stop and think -- about life, love, the apocalypse?