Guest Post: The Anything-Goes Attitude of Post-Apoc

Today I'm hosting the fabulous Mindy McGinnis, author of the forthcoming YA novel Not a Drop to Drink. I met Mindy in the querying trenches, and I can tell you she writes one excellent blog post. You are in for a treat, dear readers. To learn more about Mindy, check out her bio below.

 The Anything-Goes Attitude of Post-Apoc

A lot of people wonder where the sudden surge of dystopian and post-apocalyptic literature is coming from. I’ve got a fast and quick answer – our inner psyche. But we don’t have to ruminate on that. There’s a really fun explanation too, and that’s the fact that anything goes in a world we create on our own.

Dystopian and post-apocalyptic literature moves us beyond the “what-if” to the “who-are-we, really?” as individuals, and as a human race. If there weren’t police would we obey traffic laws? If there were no enforcement of a moral code would we kill each other without regret? And even more important – are you scared of heights?

That last one might feel like a left-field question, but it nipped me in my creative bud earlier this spring. My debut NOT A DROP TO DRINK (Katherine Tegen / Harper Collins, Fall 2013) revolves around a teen girl who protects her pond in a world where water is scarce by sniping strangers from her roof. I wanted a few nice aerial shots for what I hope will eventually develop into my trailer, so I looped a camera around my neck, dug out a ladder, and proceeded to freeze up about ten feet off the ground.

Yep. Ten feet. I had another solid ten to go, and then a scramble onto the shingles before I could even pretend to be the feral creature my MC is. And it totally didn’t happen. I meekly crept back down, put the ladder away, and got some nice still shots of the placid surface of my pond.

Now, if there had been some kind of motivating favor, like say, a tiger chasing me across my yard, then yes – I probably would’ve scurried on up the ladder. But there was no tiger, and I don’t feel the need to shoot people who take water from my pond, mainly because nobody does. Who the hell drinks pond water when you don’t have to?

But what if you did have to?

What if that pond was the only thing keeping me alive?

What kind of person survives in a world like that?

This is what I like about my little corner of the writing world, and have liked about it since I read THE STAND when I was… well, when I was too young to be reading it. Post-apoc and dystopian give writers the chance to throw our characters into a place that has only the laws we set, and then see how they eek out a life within those parameters.

They’re amazing people, these fictional characters that survive the brutal punishments we put them through. They’re little glimpses of a tougher, leaner human race that are asking the same questions we are, but in a different environment. Who am I? What do I stand for?
And while it may seem that I’ve circled back around to the inner-psyche, the more relevant question in most dystopian is – will I live through tomorrow? That kind of pressure hovering over each minute refines our characters, making every movement inform the reader.

When the difference between making it to the roof is losing a good photo-op or losing your foot to a tiger, minor inconveniences like fear are overlooked. Anything goes in our brave new worlds, and the things that go leave us with a stripped person, who we build back up with the blocks of our own making.

There’s so much creative freedom in dystopian, which is why we see such a glut of titles these days, each of them with it’s own unique world and characters. Enjoy them all, but don’t dismiss any of them as “been-there-done-that.”

Chances are, you haven’t.

Mindy McGinnis is a YA author and librarian. Her debut dystopian, NOT A DROP TO DRINK, will be available from Katherine Tegen / Harper Collins Fall, 2013. She blogs at Writer, Writer Pants on Fire and contributes to the group blogs From the Write Angle, Book Pregnant, Friday the Thirteeners and The Lucky 13s. You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook. 

Balancing Two Lives

While I am in Chicago for Chicon, the World Science Fiction Conference, debut author Kat Zhang has graciously offered to be my guest blogger at the League. Once you get to read her amazing book, WHAT'S LEFT OF ME, you'll look back on this post in a different light.


As a university student and a writer, I often get questions about balancing the two. Life as a student and life as a writer can seem like pretty separate things, but really, they’re not—in the same way I think nothing is separate from the life of a writer.

Writing, more so than, I think, many professions, permeates every moment of life. A writer is really never not being a writer, because an essential part of writing is living/observing life, and if you’re not doing that, we’ve got a problem!

Being a university student certainly provides a lot of material in the form of interesting, varied characters (funny, how they like to be called “people” when you’re talking to them ;P), strange new experiences, and, of course, classes.

Now, I’m not saying I walk into lecture with a story notebook and jot down plot ideas, or that I have my class notes on hand when I sit down to write. But I’ve taken such interesting classes over the last three years, and if life bleeds into fiction, then why not classes, as well?

What’s Left of Me and the rest of the Hybrid Chronicles are wonderful stories to write, because they let me explore so many different things and pull on so many threads of information. The series is not really dystopian, not really sci-fi, but a little of both. During sophomore year, I took a Neurobiology class, and during junior year, a Political Science class. Little bits of both made their way into the first book. I’m signed up for a Science Fiction class this semester (go ahead, be jealous!), and I’m sure that’s going to worm its way into some story or another.

In my Science Fiction class, my professor mentioned a quote that was something like, “Literature must please before it can instruct.” I googled like crazy to try and find whoever said this quote, and couldn’t find anything, but appealing to the late-night crowd on Twitter got me some great similar quotes! (Thanks, twitter!) Apparently, Horace once said something along the lines of, “literature should please even while it instructs and instruct even as it entertains.”

“Instruct” is a heavy word for me, though. I don’t really like to feel like I’m being “instructed” by a novel, and I don’t write my books to instruct, either. But I do write my stories to explore and wonder and question, which really isn’t very different from what I love doing as a student.

And if any part of my books inspire a reader to explore and wonder and question on top of enjoying the plot, I’ll be a very happy writer :)



Kat Zhang’s WHAT’S LEFT OF ME, THE HYBRID CHRONICLES, BOOK ONE doesn’t come out until September 18 of this year. It was chosen for the very exclusive buzz panel at this year’s BEA, and readers are eager to get their hands on this poetic YA dystopian that has echoes of NEVER LET ME GO and WITHER. Visit her at www.katzhangwriter.com

Learning from dystopian characters

I often get asked why I chose to write post-apocalyptic/dystopian books and, though there's no real answer since I didn't actually decide to write in a certain genre, I love dystopian fiction and can see its many merits. For me the fascination with the genre lies in the characters more than in the setting - which might sound strange, considering how important world building in dystopian literature is. But what really draws me in is reading about the characters' struggles and see them discover their strength and overcome their fears. It makes me think about the strength in each of us, what we're capable of and what we really need to survive.
Many of us will never have to forgo food and water for days, or live without daylight and electricity. Sometimes dystopian books make me wonder what we really need? How many of the things we're using every day are really necessary and not just something we're using out of habit or because we're too lazy to look for alternatives?
Do I really need to drive everywhere with my car? Do I need that third cup of coffee?
I always thought I couldn't live without meat. My mom had always cooked with lots of meat, and when my husband and I moved in together I kept up that habit. It was something I thought I needed and couldn't live without, but then three months ago I (and the husband too) became vegetarian and you know what? Breaking a life long habit wasn't that difficult and I don't actually need meat. I think in today's society it can be liberating to forego certain things - not because you have to but because you want to. And inspired by some post-apocalyptic settings, I'm thinking about other things in my life I could live without. We'll see which habit I'll lose next!
Of course, I might have to reconsider my vegetarian ways if I ever became a zombie, but until then...

Are there any things in your life you thought you couldn't live without and then suddenly did? Or is there something you want to do without in the future?

Btw, I'm having an international ARC giveaway on my blog if you're interested!

Preppers & Apocalypse Readiness

Have we talked about Preppers lately? No? Ok, then let's do it!

According to a recent Today Show report, there are over 3 million families in the US alone that are preparing for "the end of the world as we know it" by stockpiling food, medical supplies, and other survival essentials. FEMA recommends having a 72 Hour Kit handy (this is a portable kit with three days of food and water for one person) in case of disaster (natural or otherwise), but Preppers go much further, sometimes even changing their current lifestyle in order to be more prepared.

Prepper essentials may include:

- the previously mentioned 72 Hour Kit
- a portable "bug out bag" (contains some food & water but also tools for attaining more)
- get home bag (similar to the bug out bag, but usually stored in your car so that you can get home from wherever you are when disaster strikes)
- a gun and ammo plus lessons at a shooting range to defend yourself and your family
- a fully stocked food pantry (canned goods, rice, bottled water, MREs)
- a fully stocked supply closet (flashlights, blankets, etc)
- 3-6 month supply of all necessary medications
- acquiring non-electric kitchen gadgets for food prep
- a full tank of gas for every vehicle (at least)



More radical measures may include:

- moving to a place that is more than one tank of gas away from the nearest city
- cultivating a green house, a fish pond, a bee colony and/or raising your own livestock
- building a bomb shelter/ emergency accommodations
- going off the electricity grid: using solar panels and/or getting an emergency power generator
- acquiring gas masks & biohazard suits

How prepared are you for the "end of the world as we know it"?

Author Copies of ASHEN WINTER!

One of the wonderful traditions of the publishing business is author copies. When your book is published, a box shows up with however many free copies of your work are specified in your contract. In my case, it's twenty.

I'm fortunate to be published by Tanglewood Press, a small, reputable children's and young adult publisher based only two hours from me, in Terre Haute, Indiana. (If you aspire to write for kids or teens, they're a great house to keep in mind. Unlike most publishers, you don't need a literary agent to submit work to Tanglewood.)

So last year when I heard that ASHFALL was in from the printer, I couldn't wait for them to be shipped--instead, my wife and I hopped in the car and picked them up in person.

I'm not sure I can adequately describe the joy of holding the result of three yeas of work in your hands in the form of a finished hardcover book. It doesn't exactly wipe out all the rejections, all the time spent agonizing over the perfect words, or the sleepless nights wondering if anyone will enjoy your book; but it does make all those worries seem less important somehow.

The other thing about author copies? Our cats love them, too. When I got home from Tanglewood, I laid the books out on the bed for a photo, and all three cats had to come check them out.

I figured that this year, when the author copies for my second book arrived, it would be no big deal. Been there, done that, right? Not so much.

When I got home from my taekwondo class Thursday night, there they were. Twenty hardbacks of ASHEN WINTER, and twenty of the new paperback edition of ASHFALL.

It was almost as squee-worthy a moment as seeing the first book. Aren't they lovely? Here's a close-up:

The cats--well, one of them, anyway--were pretty excited, too:

A huge thank you to everyone who bought, read, talked-about, or blogged about ASHFALL. You made the paperback edition and the sequel possible, and I owe my joy to you. Thank you.

What's Left to Fight For?

Today we have a guest post from debut author Jessica Souders, whose book RENEGADE launches this November from Tor Teen. Please give her a warm League welcome!


At a recent conference I was on a panel about dystopian literature and someone asked a question that pretty much stopped me in my tracks. I had no idea how to answer it.

The question? What’s left to fight for when there’s nothing left?

I’m fairly certain that I looked like a fish with my mouth opening and closing, and no sound coming out, but finally I settled on an answer. Love. However, the minute I said it, I had to backtrack, because even when love is gone there’s something left.

Hope.

Hope to find love. Hope to conquer whatever task we’re trying to beat. Hope that things will get better. Even when everything else is taken, there’s hope. Hope is the most dangerous weapon a person, group, or society has. Because where there’s hope, there’s strength to accomplish anything. When we lose hope, we lose the ability to fight.

That’s why so many countries make sure the morale is up for their troops. With high morale comes high hope. With high hope, a higher chance of winning.

In the Hunger Games movie, President Snow makes a very enlightening comment about hope that illustrates my point clearly. In a conversation with the head gamemaker, Seneca Crane, he’s talking about why they have the Hunger Games. He asks Seneca why they don’t just line up the 12 children and shoot them instead. It’s certainly faster. When Seneca can’t answer, he says, “Hope: It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective; a lot of hope is dangerous. Spark is fine, as long as it’s contained. So, contain it.”

Seems a bit diabolical, right? Yes, but he’s right and he knew that if Katniss won the Hunger Games, she’d give hope to the people he didn’t want to give too much hope. Because by controlling their amount of it, he was able to control them. By doling it out in slow amounts, he made the citizens dependent on him. But too much would make them realize they didn’t need him at all. Thus starting an uprising. Of course, if they didn’t have any hope at all, he wouldn’t be able to control them either, because they wouldn’t care enough to do what he needed them to do. Make clothes, make their electronics, dig for coal, etc.

And like in life, hope is, in my opinion, the most important part of every story. Not to mention the one of the common denominators between every book, but most specifically in dystopian books. It’s what not only fuels our characters to keep going through their darkest ordeals, but it’s part of what keeps us reading. If we care about the characters, we’re hoping they’ll come out unharmed from whatever it is they’re dealing with and that they’ll have their (somewhat) happy ending.

So…do you agree? What’s left to fight for when there’s nothing left?



J.A. Souders is the author of RENEGADE, the thrilling YA underwater dystopian coming
November 13, 2012 from Tor Teen. Visit her at http://www.jasouders.com/ or @jasouders on twitter.

Future YA Reads

As the fall season approaches, we're all hearing about what's coming next, but we're scifi writers, yo, we're always looking to the FUTURE, so I thought I'd share some recent YA acquisitions that will be hitting the shelves in 2014!  (Doesn't 2014 sound so futuristic?  Perhaps it's the "teen" part.)

Shaunta Grimes's VIRAL NATION, the first books in a post-apocalyptic series featuring a high-functioning autistic sixteen-year-old girl and her older brother as they discover that the world they live in is not what it seems and the rules they've been forced to obey are there to enslave them rather than protect them, to Michelle Vega at Berkley, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2013, by Kim Lionetti at BookEnds.

R.C. Lewis's STITCHING SNOW, in which a royal teen runaway is scraping together a living in a mining settlement on the far side of the universe, until she is discovered and "rescued" against her will... a rescue operation that just might kill her, to Catherine Onder at Disney-Hyperion, in a two-book deal, in a six-figure deal, for publication in Summer 2014, by Jennifer Laughran at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Jenny Martin's debut TRACKED, pitched as Star Wars meets Speed Racer, in which a daring, street-racing girl transforms from rebel to revolutionary after a taking a no-win deal to race the corporate rally circuit, where she's catapulted between the boy who's been running alongside her all her life and the intense, castoff rogue who prepares her all too well for the road, to Heather Alexander at Dial, in a very nice deal, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, by Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger (world).

VCFA grad Amy Rose Capetta's debut ENTANGLED, pitched as Firefly as a YA novel, in which a girl who thought she was alone in the universe with just her guitar, finds out that she is one of two humans to be experimentally connected on the particle level, and has to launch herself across space to save the boy she is quantum entangled with, with the help of a smuggler and her rag tag crew aboard a living spaceship, to Kate O'Sullivan atHoughton Mifflin Harcourt Children's, at auction, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger (world English).

Kass Morgan's THE HUNDRED, following 100 teenagers with dark secrets, who leave their homes -- enormous, city-like spaceships -- to recolonize a barely recognizable Earth, only to discover they cannot escape their pasts, to Elizabeth Bewley at Little, Brown Children's, and Kate Howard andHarriet Bourton at Hodder & Stoughton, in a two-book deal, for publication in Spring 2014 and Fall 2014, by Sara Shandler and Joelle Hobeika at Alloy Entertainment (World English). THE MADMAN'S DAUGHTER trilogy author Megan Shepherd's THE CAGE trilogy, following six teens put in an elaborate "human zoo" by a powerful and psychic otherworldly race, and one girl's attempts to escape without falling first for her terrifyingly beautiful captor, whose job is to keep her in the Cage forever, to Kristin Daly Rens at Balzer & Bray, in a significant deal, for publication in Summer 2014, by Josh Adams and Quinlan Lee at Adams Literary (NA). Care to discuss trends?