The worlds of dystopian novels

With the record-breaking box office success of The Hunger Games, everyone is talking about dystopian novels—reading, writing and publishing them. While there are essential guidelines to writing any type of fiction, such as developing strong characters and plot points, a fundamental aspect of dystopian literature is the creation of the world they take place in. These are settings like no other—new worlds stemming from the imagination or inspired by art, real life and other literature. New rules, classes and technologies can be created—and the possibilities are endless.

Writing the characters of dystopian novels and their settings go hand in hand—these are people who live in societies gone awry, whether through apocalyptic scenarios brought on by natural disaster, war or terrorism. The worlds created in the aftermath embody the ugliness of humanity, offering an idea of what society could become—in essence, forcing the reader to confront their greatest fears. The settings are often warnings of the future consequences we could face from the issues we face as a society.

It’s very interesting that the genre has proven so successful in books for young adults. Writers face the difficulties of creating these incredible (or not-so-incredible) worlds yet need to make their characters relatable to this wide audience that tends to be facing coming-of-age issues. Clearly, it’s a challenging feat, but authors are doing it very well at the moment. The same audience is very savvy, especially with all the technological advances of today, so it’s crucial that these dystopian worlds make sense and are well thought-out.

Dystopian literature expands readers’ awareness by addressing the potential of the most horrific and appalling aspects of society, from governments and class systems to our deteriorating environment and global warming, as well as our values and morals. To build these new or post-apocalyptic worlds, the author must create new rules of society, technology, religion, politics, and possibly even a new language.

Whether writing books for young adults or for a different audience, the author may need the talent to create science fiction elements such as artificial intelligence, futuristic settings and even hybrid species. Yet the science fiction elements of dystopian literature are only part of the story, not integral to the actual storytelling. The author may explore totalitarian governments, different classifications within society involving race and religion, as was done in Revealing Eden, and the creation of new hierarchies and ruling classes. These themes help expose the reader to issues greater than themselves and inspire them to think about their own development within society.