The Making of the World

One of the most important things that separates a dystopian novel from all the rest is simply: setting. While the setting of any novel is important, the setting for a dystopian novel is key. It is, after all, the changing world that makes a dystopian novel a dystopian.

Nathan Bransford said there were three important traits of setting in a novel:

1. Change Underway: the setting should be dynamic, something should be happening in the outside world, be it a storm (King Lear) or a world that responds to outside influence (Narnia)
2. Personality and Values: Setting doesn't just include the weather or the physical location of a place--it also include the society, and societal expectations. Does the world expect your character to be a slave, or a hero?
3. Unfamiliarity: A good setting should show the reader something new. Whether it be China or Mordor or even our own backyard, we need to discover something.

These are certainly excellent traits to consider in a setting, but since setting is so vital to a dystopian novel, I think there are a few more characteristics that need to be considered:

1. Antagonist: This is a dystopia, not a utopia. The setting in some way needs to stand against the character. This could be because the world situation is actively trying to kill the main character (The Hunger Games), or because the world is no longer quite habitable (The Road), but the setting itself needs to present a conflict to the characters.
2. History: Dystopias are reflections of our worlds that have gone wrong. There needs to be some element of our current world reflected in the new, darker one. It could simply be a reminder of what the world was like before the apocalypse (The Forest of Hands and Teeth), or it could be a driving force of the novel (Life as We Knew It) but this new world needs to reflect something of the old one.
3. A Stage for the Character: The most important thing about a dystopian setting is that it provides the main character with a chance to rise above the dark world and be a hero. Not only should it present conflict, but the setting also needs to be a vehicle for the hero to become better. In The Hunger Games, Katniss's world was against her--but it also provided her with the opportunity to change it. In The City of Ember, Lina and Doon see the world is wrong, and work together to change it. 

In short, it's not enough for a dystopian novel's setting to just be. The characters can't just stare out the window and notice what the world looks like. Instead, the setting of a dystopian novel must play a dynamic, interactive role within the book.


As Heather Zundel put it, the setting needs to be a character itself. She says:

Setting is a character, and must be given that same amount of attention as any "real" character, and not just act as the backdrop to everything else. Think of of it like the cardboard scenery from your elementary school days. It's there, but has no substance. A bad setting will feel the same way.  ...Because when your world comes alive, so do your characters.

So, what else makes a good dystopian setting? What are some good dystopian settings you know of? 

And the Winner is...

Thank you ALL for making our first contest here on The League a success! In the end, nearly 200 people threw their names in the hat, and with extra entry opportunities, there were almost 500 entries! I used Random Number Generator to randomly pick a person, and the number selected was...

The winner of our first ever prize pack, which includes signed swag and signed copies of Monstrumologist and The Forest of Hands and Teeth is...

KrysteyBelle!
Visit her blog, See the Stars, here!

Congratulations!

There's Nothing New Pretty Under the Sun

What does a man from Chicago in the early 20s, an old episode of The Twilight Zone, and best-selling YA author Scott Westerfeld all have in common?

They all tell stories about a world where, when you reach a certain age, you are expected--even covertly forced--to get extensive plastic surgery to make you beautiful.

Perhaps best known is Scott Westerfeld's series starting with the book Uglies. In it, Tally is about to get the surgery to make her pretty when she discovers that the surgery does more than change your outside.

But nerds dystopian scholars like me :) will know that the idea of being turned pretty is a story that was first told on The Twilight Zone. The episode is called "Number 12 Looks Just Like You," and in it, a young girl protests getting the surgery, saying "Is [getting a surgery to be beautiful and perfect] good? Being like everybody? I mean, isn't that the same as being nobody?"

(Also: HILARIOUS--Rod Sterling says in the beginning that we're supposed to imagine this in the future, "Say, in the year 2000." HAHAHA!)

Here's a short version of it (less than five minutes long), but there are longer whole versions available online, too.



And while The Twilight Zone is clearly old--this episode aired in 1964--the source of it is a short story by Charles Beaumont in 1952 called "Beautiful People."

It's clear where Scott Westerfeld got his inspiration from. Although by no means did he copy The Twilight Zone, it certainly sparked the idea for Uglies--a fact attested to in the book Mind-Rain. As reviewer RJ Carter says, "There are two special shorts in this collection that are actually pre-Uglies publications, and Westerfeld explains how both impacted his writing of the series. The first is Charles Beaumont's "The Beautiful People," a short story about a society where, at a certain age, everyone gets the operation that makes them beautiful. Society is thrown for a loop, however, when a young girl discovers ancient texts -- actually printed on paper, if you can believe that! -- and decides she wants to keep her natural appearance. Sound familiar? Maybe you saw it on television: Beaumont's 1952 story was turned into an episode of The Twilight Zone, a story titled "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" which aired in 1964."

I love that Westerfeld embraces the sources of his inspiration, and that we, as readers, can see how these differences play out. To me, it's interesting to compare how in 1964, the story ended with the girl falling to the surgery and coming out, as Rod Sterling says it, "A girl in love...with herself." But in Westerfeld's story--which progresses through four volumes--the heroine becomes a true heroine fighting back against the establishment and the idea of being pretty.

While the differences in the outcomes of the girls isn't the only thing that distinguishes these three works from each other, it is the one I find most intriguing. Is the difference one based on time? Were we expecting the worst in 1964, but expecting to fight in 2005? Or is it more a matter of telling different stories?

Recently, I was at a talk and book-signing of Robert Goolrick, author of The Reliable Wife. (Photo from Fireside Books, my local indie.) He mentioned that authors really only have two or three or maybe six things to say--but no more. Every writer has a basic thing to say--Does true love exist? Does good triumph over evil? Is God real?--and every book is the writer's attempt to answer that question.

So, what was the difference between Charles Beaumont, The Twilight Zone, and Scott Westerfeld? What different thing were they saying--and what similar things were they saying? What do you think? Why would these authors take the same concept--a "pretty world"--and have such drastically different endings? And which ending do you prefer?

Let Me Countdown the Ways

Creating a dystopia is all about the question: what if things go horribly wrong? What if a new plague wipes out half of humanity? What if a group of greedy corporations secretly take over the world? What if our creations rise up against us? It’s a fun exercise, but we (as writers and readers) don’t want the world to go that way. Just the opposite. Usually, we’re playing around with these ideas with the hope of it all not going tragically wrong.

But, what would it take for things to go really, really wrong? Like end-o’-the-world wrong. Over the past few years, experts (and the media) have compiled all sorts of happy lists.

• Last Days of Earth on ABC and the History Channel.
• 10 Ways the Earth Could End on the Discovery Science Channel
• "10 ways the world could end", a TED Talk by Stephen Petranek, former editor-in-chief of Discovery magazine.
• “20 Ways the World Could End” in Discover Magazine
• “How will the World Really End?” at BigThink.com

Most of these lists share at least these causes of mass destruction in common (in no particular order):

1. Killer asteroid
2. Rogue black hole
3. Global pandemic
4. Nanotechnology/biotechnology disaster
5. Nuclear war
6. Super volcano
7. Climate change
8. Robots taking over
9. Solar flare
10. Supernova

Some of the experts throw in potential causes like alien invasion, killer mutants, and mass depression/insanity—with some sincerity.

Looking at this list, I can see that Earth getting swallowed by a rogue black hole or getting hit by a big enough asteroid (or flare) would bring the world to an abrupt halt. We’d go out with a bang. However, we could probably limp along as a species after a global pandemic or robot uprising and go forth and rebuild our civilization in some form or another. It ain’t going to be pretty, but that’s the stuff of good dystopian fiction. (Of course, dystopias don't need a world meltdown to happen.)

Here's one of my favorite doomsday scenarios. (It may have more to do with the goofy edge to this Science Channel video than the actual method of world destruction.)



And what kind of dystopia might this disaster create (if we indeed survive)? How 'bout this little cult-classic?



What’s your “favorite” way to go? What kind of dystopia might it produce? Discuss.

A Playlist for the Apocalypse

Hi everybody,

Ok, so you wake up one morning and find that the first wave of the zombie apocalypse is about to turn your world into a blasted hellscape. What should be your #1 priority? Thematically appropriate music!  Of Course!

Here are my picks for ten songs that will play you into the apocalypse in style.

Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult - If my reading of this song is correct it's about death generally, but for me it's the sound of it that really evokes the end. It's that guitar mostly, how those repetitive notes sound like they're just flying out into nothingness. It all sounds sad and resigned but still incredibly romantic.



It's the End of the World as We Know It - REM - A fairly joyous look at the end of the world. Yes, the world is random and confusing and overstuffed, but isn't it all just a glorious mess?



London Calling - The Clash -  Spare and dark and paranoid. A classic. Is that a laugh you're hearing or a scream? Is it both?



1999 - Prince - Ah Prince, god bless your freakiness. You are a national treasure. If this is the apocalypse--lingerie and overcoat clad multiracial polymorphous perversity--I'll take it.



Anarchy in The UK - Sex Pistols -  Johnny Rotten is like some kind of feral post-apocalyptic child. Man, this dude is so nuts he sings behind the drumkit. Once the government collapses you'll be seeing alot of people like him so get used to it!




Burn Up - Siouxsie and the Banshees - Listen to how this song just slides completely out of control at the end. That's the sound of a very sexy end of the world.



Nothing But Flowers - Talking Heads - Sonically it's a nice break from the gloom, but i's still pretty dark in it's way. One man's utopia is another man's dystopia. "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower!"




Earth Died Screaming - Tom Waits - I could have made this entire list comprised of nothing but Tom Waits songs, but this one is probably the most apt.  This guy is a huge hero of mine.



God's Gonna Cut you Down - Johnny Cash - Those who know me know I get a little emotional when it comes to The Man in Black. There's something about his approach to religion that just moves me. Yes, there's something dark and old testament about it, but you don't feel like Johnny would ever use religion to control anyone or judge anyone. He stumbled alot but he seems genuinely full of mercy and love and hope. I don't know that I consider myself a Christian exactly but when I think of who really walked the Christian walk I think of Johnny Cash.



Under The Milky Way - The Church - This makes a nice bookend with Don't Fear the Reaper. Like that song, it's the sound of this one that evokes the end of the world more than the lyrics. Again, it's that guitar, so surrounded by emptiness and how the singer seems exhausted and sorrowful as he looks back over something that's gone.




I know. I know. I missed like a million good end of the world songs. There isn't even any Metallica on this list! Feel free to set me straight.

How about you all? How would you like to go bopping into the apocalypse?

The flip side of dystopia is...

...of course, utopia. And, like most things life - you can't appreciate one without the other.  So, here's a bit of a history lesson on utopian societies in - of all places - Indiana.

I was born and raised in Indiana. A rather unlikely spot for a Utopia, you might think. However, not just one, but two of America's great utopian communities were resident in a town a mere 150 miles from where I grew up and also from where I currently live.

In 1814, Johann Georg Rapp and his followers, known as the Harmony Society - Separatists from the German Lutheran Church - purchased land in southwestern Indiana on the Wabash River. For ten years they lived and worked in what was considered to be one of the most prosperous and beautiful towns in the area. Then, they decided to move back to Pennsylvania, so they sold the town to Robert Owen.

The Rapp version of utopia was founded on the ethic of work & save (from the Swabian area of Germany) and work & pray (from the Benedictine's rule.) Owen, however, had a different utopian dream. His was based on complete equality (there aren't even markers on their graves), free education, the abolition of social classes and no personal wealth.

Although Owen's "utopia" lasted only for two years, many scientists and educators came to New Harmony during that time and following the end of the communal era (1827) Owen turned to geology. The area became one of the most important geological training centers in the United States.

I can personally say, that visiting New Harmony is a fabulous adventure - especially when one keeps in mind what was going on there at one time. There are a couple of labyrinths to walk and a very cool river to watch and Indian mounds and all kinds of "feelings" to absorb and have come out at some later date in a novel.

I find places like New Harmony fascinating. And, I love going back in history to see what people were thinking and doing - especially in relationship to future things. I plan on doing some reading of "old" science/dystopian/speculative fiction & will report back here on what I discover!

Bio: League Member Elana Johnson

Name: Elana Johnson

YA dystopian title: Possession (Simon Pulse, Summer 2011)

Short Plot: In a world where Thinkers control the population and Rules aren't meant to be broken, fifteen-year-old Violet Schoenfeld does a hell of a job shattering them to pieces. When secrets about her "dead" sister and not-so-missing father hit the fan, Vi must make a choice: control or be controlled.

Favorite dystopian/sci fi works: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. Candor by Pam Bachorz. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Scott Westerfeld's Uglies. And The Giver by Lois Lowry. Oh! And pretty much anything by Ursula LeGuin. I mean, she's like a genius, right? Right. As far as movies go, The Terminator is at the top of my list.

Why Write Dystopian? Dude, this could go anywhere -- which is exactly why I write dystopian! You can do anything! The world can be anything. The possibilities are limitless, and I kinda like that. Plus, I don't like to research, so anything I can do to just make stuff up brings me happiness.

Whimper or a Bang? Uh...I guess a whimper. I've never really thought about it much. I sorta think it's neither. It's like dirty laundry. The end of the world just sort of edges closer, ever closer. And no one really sees it, you know? Like all of a sudden you'll wake up and realize that you're living in a post-apocalyptic world. Like you walk by the hamper and realize there's this mountain of laundry. Yeah, I think the end of the world is gonna be sneaky like that. Like dirty laundry.

Online @
Elana's Blog
Elana Tweets!
Elana on Facebook
Elana at Goodreads
Email Elana