The Mighty Pen Writing Club discussion

Especially in the Intermediate and Young Adult categories, this genre really seems to be gaining in popularity. What are some characteristics that make good dystopians? What are some perceptions about dystopians that you would change or do differently?

I thought The Road by Cormac McCarthy was an amazing dystopian.
The reader never actually knows what has happened. All that is revealed is "crops all dead, streets abandoned, deathly winters" and the like.
I loved this dystopian (i gave it 4 stars, like The Hunger Games) because its so darn believable.
You could actually imagine this happening in the future. It was almost as if i was reading a non-fiction.
There are no massive fight scenes, no huge betrayals. Its just a father and his son trying to stay alive in this ruined world-and trying to find food.

The villains are "road-rats" who are also believable and utterly evil.
In the HG, President Snow....hes bad.
But id rather a run in with him then to "road rats"
The "road rats" are gangs who haunt roads, looking for surviving people to steal from, rape, and eat as food.

The Road shows just how precious the world is now, and it has to be taken care of. After its publication, it was named in the FIFTY BOOKS TO CHANGE THE WORLD, and won a Pultizer Prize.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbLgsz... -There is also a movie.

Jillian -always aspiring- wrote: "Well, dystopians can't be dystopian JUST TO BE IN THE GENRE. They need a MESSAGE -- and a strong one, at that -- that reflects on our current society in the real world and criticizes it for some a..."

I can't wait to read Hunger Games, but honestly that's something that I think is a little...iffy. I mean, kids fighting gladiator-style to the death - that seems almost too out there, because our culture actually seems to be on the opposite end of the spectrum, cuddling and coddling kids (and grownups) and opposed to any displays of physical violence at all.

Yeah, I agree with you Amelia...I actually think our society has come to expect too little of young adults, quite sadly. We're capable of great things.

Um...yeah, this is the Rebelutionary coming out in me. :3

Anyway, the best dystopian, and this is being quite honest, that I've read...would have to be The Giver, as far as the whole purely dystopian with meaning. The Hunger Games was great, but for me it wasn't because of the whole "this means something in our world today."
Dystopian is, at it's core, fantasy. Unless you count a book set in Nazi Germany as dystopian. ;) Having a message isn't just something that dystopians should have, and it doesn't have to be "see? we could really fall this far!" All books should have some specific meaning. I mean, there should be a reason you're writing which is deeper than "just 'cause I feel like it." :)

I totally get what you mean, Jillian. And I agree with you.
What I meant about HG was that the original concept seems a little much, because it's so opposite what we believe. We do subject our kids to more, definitely, but at the same time we seem to create a dichotomy by cringing away from anything violent, so it seems strange to imagine "us" in a few X many years making our kids do this stuff. But hey, that's good fantasy, right? You have to step away from reality just a little for storytelling purposes.

Jillian -always aspiring- wrote: "Okay, let me rephrase: our society's children are exposed to more at younger ages. Children aren't exactly allowed to be children in the sense of innocence. If you look at The Hunger Games, the ..."

Okay! Thanks for clarifying. It IS sad, the loss of innocence in the world. :(

I think that the message shouldn't be super...loud, for lack of a better word. The message should be there, but it shouldn't feel like the author's pushing an agenda, or being preachy.