Using the Present to Inspire Your Dystopian

Today I'm hosting Amy Christine Parker, whose debut The Silo will be released in 2013.  Learn more about Amy and her book below.

Creating societies that might exist in the future and making them seem realistic is a challenge. You have to do extensive world building—figuring out your government and how it works, developing a fresh culture with its own set of beliefs and norms, deciding on the chain of events that led to the development of this new world—and much, much more. It’s enough to make any writer’s head spin. And it isn’t as if you can research this new world you’re creating or follow some sort of template because we’re talking about the future, right? A blank page, uncharted territory and all of that. Well, actually, I don’t think that we are. I think that templates for future societies, in particular dystopian ones, exist right now. Let me show you what I mean.

Let’s start with a list of characteristics that Elana Johnson compiled on this blog in a post she did a little while ago. (you can read the whole post here)


A dystopian society is:

• A society that includes "bad" things.
• A society in a post-apocalyptic world.
• A "closed" society--one that exists without any outside influence.
• A society that includes an overbearing government.
• A novel that includes social commentary.

If you take out the post-apocalyptic part, there are lots of societies surrounding us today that meet the other requirements listed.

Let’s look at one example: the Amish. Now granted, they don’t make up most of our current society and are probably considered more of a subculture, but I’d argue that their world is good inspiration for any fictional dystopian society. They’re closed in that they refuse to be a part of the rest of modern society. They have their own system of leadership, specifically a deacon who decides how and when to enforce the set of rules that their society lives by. Their entire way of life is controlled, from what they wear to who they can talk to, to how they prepare meals and support their families. And many of their members are disillusioned by their way of life, but terrified to leave it because of how the rest of the society will react. Sounds very dystopian, right? And right now there’s even a television show, Breaking Amish, which follows several young people as they leave this society and explore ours.

Their stories are so similar to a dystopian novel that it’s eerie. This show and the Amish society itself are perfect inspiration for a dystopian novel.

And what about certain countries? Iraq under Saddam Hussein is a great example of a dystopian-like society, and even more currently, North Korea. Also, many cults fit most of this definition as well. My first novel, THE SILO, is based on a cult and I absolutely played up the dystopian elements to the society I created even though the story takes place in the present. There are a whole host of cultures and societies that look dystopian once you examine them a little. So really, when you think about it, all you need to inspire your own dystopian society is just a mouse click away.

Amy Christine Parker is the author of the upcoming novel, THE SILO, about a girl who's grown up in an apocalyptic cult. She begins to question what she's been taught as the "end times" approach, causing the cult’s leader, Pioneer, to alter his plans, which accelerate and grow ever more dangerous for all involved, debuting with Random House in Fall 2013. You can find out more about Amy and her book on her website, Goodreads, and Twitter.

ChiCon Report

How many of you have attended one of the larger cons like the World Science Fiction Convention known as WorldCon? I recently returned from my first one as a published author. John Scalzi was the terrific toastmaster who kept the Hugo Awards both funny and classy, we had a surprise visit by Neil Gaiman himself to accept his well-deserved award for Best Dramatic Presentation short form with the wonderful “The Doctor’s Wife” for Dr. Who, and George RR Martin was genuinely thrilled and surprised to win for long form, even though the audience knew he would win.

I was on two panels on the peak day, Saturday, which was fun because of the new fans and authors you get to meet. One panel I had requested -- "How You Get Your Ideas" -- and the other one I was assigned to. That one was called -- "Moral Ambiguity in Your Characters" -- and I was honored to be there with Jay Lake, Nancy Kress and Charles Stross, all multi-published authors. Our moderator was Bryan Thomas Schmidt, who kept the panel lively and even funny, especially for such a heavy topic. The room was packed, people sitting on the floor, and was well-received.

My first panel was opposite George RR Martin on the conference grid, so I didn’t expect anyone would show up. But we did have a nice turnout and a great group of authors. Former CIA member Tom King moderated for us, with the esteemed Harry Turtledove really showing us all how to be a consummate professional in all circumstances. He always has the best stories. 

Much of the fun took place after dark. On Friday my publisher put on a special invitational cruise down the river. I had no idea how gorgeous the Chicago architecture would be from the water, all lit up, with movie soundtrack music making you feel like this is the best cruise of your life (the alcohol and appetizers didn’t hurt). George RR Martin was there, along with GoT actor Ron Donachie, and many of the convention’s biggest authors. I was able to catch up with 2010 Hugo winner Paolo Bacigalupi and meet a writer I’ve admired for a long time for her “Kitty” series, Carrie Vaughn, as well as the lovely Liza Groen Trombi who won the Hugo this year.

Click to see George wearing his signature cap.

The other thing to do at night is party hop. You take the elevator to the top floor and work your way down. You never know who you’re going to meet from the whole range of people from fans who like to dress in costume to some of the best authors and editors working in science fiction and fantasy. A surprising amount of business takes place then. And then there are also those seeking the android of their dreams.

So many people volunteer their time all year to make the con a success. One group that came across my radar this year is the dealers. They work so hard, packing their cars and driving across the country, getting little sleep, to bring us the books and jewelry and treasures. They are the first ones there building their booths, and the last ones to leave, carefully packing up each book to carry home.

One of my treasures!

So tell us – have you gone to one of these large cons? How was it? Did you meet anyone? Fall in love?

Book Blogger Appreciation Week

This week marks the 5th year of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, a yearly event to celebrate book bloggers that started my first year of book blogging back in 2008. After only four months of book blogging, my blog Presenting Lenore had already made enough impact to be nominated for Best YA blog that first year (an honor I won in 2010).

It's hard to believe how far I've come in five years, and I'll never tire of saying just how much book blogging was instrumental to my success as an author. In my acknowledgements for LEVEL 2 I say thank you to book bloggers for challenging me and enabling me.  What do I mean by that?  Let's break it down:

Challenging me
Book bloggers love creating and joining reading challenges, and though I've never been terribly successful at completing them, they have been my impetus for expanding my reading horizons (i.e. trying out an adult category romance book and reading more POC novels and more overlooked gems in general).  And book bloggers challenged me to read MORE books.  Before book blogging, I read maybe 50 books a year - which I considered a lot. After book blogging? More than 150 a year.  All this reading fed into my idea kitchen and gave me an excellent basis to start writing.

Enabling me
Ask a book blogger if you should buy/read a certain book always leads to the inevitable answer of YES.  So thanks to book bloggers for expanding my book buying habit about 30 fold.  Book bloggers have also been incredibly supportive of my writing habit - forgiving me when I go days at a time without posting on my once incredibly active blog.

But it's not just that. Coming from a book blogger background I am intimately aware of how much commitment it is to review one single book. Let's say an average time needed to read a book is 4 hours.  Then you have writing a review which may take around 1 hour.  Then there is the time spent formatting it and finding links and extra content as well as linking the review on twitter, facebook and other social media - not to mention uploading it to amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing, and NetGalley which can also take up to an hour.  So the average book review you see on a blog? Takes that blogger 6 hours. And they do it for free. Because they love books.  And that's why I'm always amazed and incredibly grateful when book bloggers review LEVEL 2. It's a remarkable gift that I will never stop appreciating.

THANK YOU.

 

Courage, Passion, and Determination

This weekend was a trifecta of writerly inspiration. On Friday night my wife, Margaret, and I went to a dinner sponsored by the Indiana Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. I sat next to Alina Klein, whose debut young adult novel, Rape Girl, came out last year. So of course I dragged my copy along and bugged Alina for her autograph.

Rape Girl is an amazing book, one that belongs on your shelves alongside books like Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and Scars by Cheryl Rainfield. But what I find most inspiring about Rape Girl is the fact that it exists. You see, it's loosely based on Alina's own experience as a teenage rape survivor. (A fact she discusses in the author's note at the back of the book.) I can't even imagine the courage it took to write this book.

I've been kicking a blog post around in the back of my brain for more than a year--one that would deal with my middle school experience with child molesters--but I can't summon the courage to write it. Yes, I break concrete blocks with my bare hands, but I'm a wimp compared to Alina. It takes real courage to write.

Saturday night Margaret and I went to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at Conner Prairie. I guess you'd call them a swing/jazz band.

What amazed me about BBVD was their passion--they're totally committed to their music and their audience. They break the conventions of their genre: electric guitar in a swing band? Banjo? Sure--they make it work! They play with an infectious abandon--if the Greek god Dionysus returned to earth, these guys would play for his procession.

As I enjoyed the music, I thought: this is how I want to write, with a wild disregard for everything but the words and my audience. I want to write words that unleash an irresistible flood of emotion, words that inspire laughter, dancing, or tears. It takes passion to be a writer.

Sunday was a day for yard work at the Mullin home. I bought two cubic yards of hardwood mulch to spread across the flower beds in our front yard. As the attendant at the garden center cut into the pile of mulch with his front-end loader, I noticed it was smoking. Even an hour later, the mulch in the back of my pickup truck was hot to the touch.

Unloading that much mulch from the truck to the wheelbarrow to the flower beds is a lot of work. My score? Five blisters formed, one popped. As I turned up yet another spadeful of black mulch, a spot of green rose to the top. It was an acorn, still a beautiful light green color despite its sojourn in the smoking mulch pile. I have no idea how long it had been buried there or how it escaped being ground to mulch, holding onto its life while all the neighboring twigs and leaves turned a uniform dark brown.

I felt I had a metaphor rather than an acorn on the end of my spade. All writers spend time buried among the thousands of others querying literary agents or struggling to find their readership via self-publishing. A few of us, like that acorn, hang on long enough to be unearthed. It takes determination to be a writer.


My weekend reminded me of the traits I aspire to as an author: courage, passion, and determination. How was your weekend? Let me know in the comments, please.

Going All Out

Okay, so this has been one of the best summers for me. I read a lot of books. I met a lot of authors. And there's something I've noticed in the science fiction I've been reading. It goes all out.  Like, the technology is hard-core, or the space travel, or whatever the element is.

And I love it. It's been a good reminder for me as an author to go all out. Sometimes I think we need those reminders, and that's why reading is such an important part of writing.

One example I'm thinking of is INSIGNIA by SJ Kincaid. I haven't finished it yet. In fact, I'm only about 75 pages in. But the main character, Tom, gets recruited to help fight in World War III (no spoilers here!). And the technology that Kincaid uses to do this is awesome.

It's all out.

Do you like your sci fi to go all out? Take you to technological places you hadn't thought of?

Overachievers and Geeks: Two Nonfiction Books for Us YA Writers

In the spirit of Random Acts of Publicity, I want to plug two nonfiction books by Alexandra Robbins that I read recently:

• The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids (2007)
  
  
• The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School (2011)

In both, Robbins studies real high school kids, and the best parts of the books read like good YA fiction. That’s hard to do—making real life (and some theoretical stuff) as interesting as well written characters.

The titles of the books really do tell you what they’re about. Book one is about those overachievers trying to get into Harvard and Stanford and the like—and about how really ultracompetitive it is these days. (Who knew there were professional coaches you could hire to make sure you got into these universities?)


The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth is about how the outsiders (the so called freaks and geeks) really are better equipped to take on the world post high school. Here’s the Amazon blurb:

In a smart, entertaining, reassuring book that reads like fiction, Alexandra Robbins manages to cross Gossip Girl with Freaks and Geeks and explain the fascinating psychology and science behind popularity and outcasthood. She reveals that the things that set students apart in high school are the things that help them stand out later in life. Robbins follows seven real people grappling with the uncertainties of high school social life, including:

• The Loner, who has withdrawn from classmates since they persuaded her to unwittingly join her own hate club;
• The Popular Bitch, a cheerleading captain both seduced by and trapped within her clique's perceived prestige;
• The Nerd, whose differences cause students to laugh at him and his mother to needle him for not being "normal";
• The New Girl, determined to stay positive as classmates harass her for her mannerisms and target her because of her race;
• The Gamer, an underachiever in danger of not graduating, despite his intellect and his yearning to connect with other students;
• The Weird Girl, who battles discrimination and gossipy politics in school but leads a joyous life outside of it;
•  The Band Geek, who is alternately branded too serious and too emo, yet annually runs for class president.

In the middle of the year, Robbins surprises her subjects with a secret challenge--experiments that force them to change how classmates see them. ...

If you’re an educator and/or parent, the theoretical and statistical discussion (in both books) might interest you. However, I found myself flipping past some of this to get back to kids. In both books, Robbins lets the students speak for themselves throughout the year or so that she studied them. That’s pure gold for a writer.

What nonfiction books would you recommend for YA/MG writers? Anybody read Robbin's other books?

Extraordinary News From the League!

We've had lots of exciting things happening in the League lately, and wanted to let everyone know. So settle in, grab some popcorn, and learn all about it! :)

Our own Angie Smibert has a lot going on right now. First, check out the sale Amazon has on her books: MEMENTO NORA ($1.99) and THE FORGETTING CURVE ($1.99; free for Prime members). If you've not checked these books out before, now's your chance to snatch them up at a great bargain!

• THE MEME PLAGUE, the next book of the series, will come out June 25, 2013. Find out more here.
• MEMENTO NORA will be out in paperback by next spring.
• Angie's short story, "The Long Glorious Now of Max Madden" is the September issue of Odyssey, a teen/tween science magazine.

And speaking of new books, Elana Johnson has sold the third book in the POSSESSION series to Simon & Schuster! The cover for this book, ABANDON, will be revealed on September 20, and if you'd like to participate in the reveal, then you can find more information here.

Lenore Appelhans has great news about the audiobook version of her debut, LEVEL 2: it's going to be narrated by Jenna Lamia, and will be released from Listening Library in January 2013.

There's a lot going on in the foreign publishing department, too! Lissa Price's book, STARTERS, was a feature at the recent Brazilian Sao Paulo Book Festival, thanks to her publisher Novo Conceito. They made a 12 foot high version of the book for the display! You can see more pictures here.

And finally, CREWEL, the debut of Gennifer Albin has sold Bulgarian rights to Bard Publishing. 

Congratulations to all of our League members! Have any of you got some awesome news to share?