Anyone writing dystopian fiction?

[stripyeyes]

My novel is set in a modern dystopia, where the details of how society is ordered is gradually revealed.

The story centers around a young man and his boss, who has a not-insignificant power over him. She asks him to take actions which are increasingly morally and legally ambiguous and it is the consequence of this which makes the story.

My current issue is I've read the damn thing so many times, I've lost the ability to "see" what a new reader would know, and whether the implied threat is great enough to affect his actions. Does anyone have any tips? Or fancy a read?!

I'm reluctant to give it to friends and family to read at this stage due to all the usual issues regarding biased or kindly reviews!

207!

Know what you mean-I hate it when it's flowing really well and you want to ride the wave but the next day you're at work and it's totally wasted on the real job. Anyway, nice to hit the sack knowing I've reached my WC target.

P.s I concur. Messrs Hiddleston and Turner are essential research topics for any aspiring novelist

In addition to writing, I work part time lecturing at university.

I took the university position as a foil to the endless hours spent alone writing and I really enjoy it. Plus the widening participation work I do alongside is very important to me.

But. At the moment and fur the foreseeable future the dystopian project is hugely time consuming. I'm struggling to make this work and am seriously considering taking a break from university work. I'm freelance essentially so could choose not to renew next term's contract if I wanted.

Yay! Well done Cant

I've got a day in lieu due, so I think I might 'treat' myself to a day of writing - as it'll be on one of the day's DS is at nursery, I can really get stuck in.

And oh nice Get!! Could you take X months and then go back? Or do you think they would fill your position?

Well done everyone for keeping up those WCs (naice fishy seats or not). Do you all work full time - it's so hard to fit in writing, and I only work p/t (have health issues.) I work from home so it's a big temptation to put down the work tablet and pick up the laptop for writing....sigh.

Haircut - sounds a big decision - as Spider says, can you keep your position on hold at all...or at least open to the possibility of you going back after say 6 months? If you can afford it it would be lovely to concentrate on your writing. It takes up so much blummin time.

Now. Dystopian swearing. Do you:

a/ use normal swearwords
b/ use none
c/ make shit up

I'm tending towards making some up, but wonder if that's overdone with stuff like the Maze Runner. You can't ever replicate what Battlestar Gallactica did, and it could sound like you're trying too hard. So I could use some words we use now, except in my world everything has changed, so words like 'hell' wouldn't be in use because there would be no concept of 'hell', for eg...I quite like the idea of resurrecting some Shakesperian curse words. S'bones, anyone?

There was a thread a while back on here with some suggested made up swear words- but I think most sounded made up which defeats the object.

Do you have other 'new' words that your characters use? Otherwise the swear words may look a bit out of place? Most modern swear words are about human excretions and sex so if you have new words/systems for those things you could make up a word linked to that? (Like if a mutation meant their wee is now green, then being called a Green could be an insult?)

stripy kind of... although its more of a derogatory classist nickname, as opposed to a swear word 'by proxy'. I quite like it though, as its what they call themselves - they've taken ownership of it and made it their own, if that makes sense?

Mad I've had the opposite problem, kind of...

There are certain situations where my character's reaction/thought would be "Oh God". Except there is no religion.

I have that too, kind of, Spider - all old religions have been squashed so no one knows anything of them - (they are not allowed to learn history.) There is a state religion that is v oppressive and sometimes they use that as a shock word or something.

I want to make it sound authentic to the context but not just made up. But I guess that's what it is, in the end, so it doesn't matter that much

Stripy, yes they use a few 'new' words for various things, not that many though as I wouldn't want to overload and make it completely inplausible. It's always a balance.

I've been thinking about my university work and have decided I will take a sabbatical. Fortunately the writing has always paid well so that's not a worry.

I've emailed my HOD.

As for swearing, I have a very prescriptive list that my producers will accept ( as it impacts upon prospective cable networks).

So I can say crap, shit ( occasionally), bitch but definitely not fuck or cunt etc.

It's sooooo frustrating. In my crime fiction, there is tons of bad language!

Mad, yep same - although they get a very filtered view of history based on what the dictator wants them to know (how they were 'saved' - builds their feeling of gratitude).

Good luck Get. Definitely sounds like you've made the right decision.

I think the language we use would be bound to change, wouldn't it? Probably more than a readership could cope with actually.

Maybe it's a case of the story feeling authentic as opposed to being it?

DS and I once listened to a great audio book where the working class children were all brought up in great factory-orphanages and their language was miniscule. The MC had to use increasingly imaginative ways to make himself understood. So everything was big good or little good, because they had no language for 'very' or 'extremely' or even 'bad'. We still use a catchphrase from that novel here in Casa Carl 'I don't know your big words'.

I have received a lovely email back from my HOD, suggesting that I might like to drop my hours, perhaps lose one of my post graduate modules next term.

So that's a splendid compromise I think! I'm going in later and I think I'll take in a thank you cake .

Oh that sounds a great compromise Get - best of both :)

Spider - are we writing the same book?

YY to language used - I like big word/little word. I'm working on language for siblings at the moment as there is.no such concept in my world...

Mad I am a bit worried that we are! If yours involves evolution, I am just gonna stop writing...

mad I remember a radio play where people on another planet used Blood Boy and Blood Girl for brother and sister. I liked that.

Oh I like that, haircut.

Spider no not evolution, but it does sound like we have some similarities. We should swap mss sometime!

That is really cool, Get.

Phew! ~continues writing~

I've been away with work for the past week so have only managed 1,000 words. Hoping to catch up this weekend, but am SO tired. My goal is 20,000 by next Monday - 3,000 to go...

Had a useful weekend here.
I finished the first (very rough) draft of episode 1.

I know there are problems with it; too talky, too many external scenes (so expensive), one character dies off too quickly.

But it's a start. I think the new world order is fairly evident and I think the four main characters are well drawn (which is why I need to delay the death).

I'm going to leave it for a few days and work on another project today (crime fiction).

Well done Get, sounds intriguing. I've done 576 words this morning so over performing in relation to my WC target already. I'm writing a really bitchy scene but in chaste language which is good fun

I am part time at work and Monday has been my 'writing day' for a few weeks although might have to go back to work FT at some point, depending on finances. It's a pain. Glad your boss is bring flexible about teaching position, Get

Hope things are progressing well for everyone...

Ooh well done Get! Sounds like everyone has been making good progress...I did Scriptwriting at Uni, and I always found them harder to edit than prose. So good luck!!

That's great Cant. Jealous of your writing day. Technically mine is Thursday, but I also have DS to look after. He's very inconsiderate by wanting things like attention, and food... . Joking aside, he generally sleeps for two hours so I crack on then. Am also part time for the foreseeable future, which is nice. I'm ignoring our finances.

I did nearly 3,000 words yesterday . Only 1,200 or so counts towards my 20k target by next Monday - the other 1,800 was on the epilogue of book 3. It was so lovely to write though...

spider it is harder to edit ( though easier to draft in the first place I think).

I've edited 145 pages of a crime novel today .

I ended up with 1255 today so pretty chuffed Spider My writing day is actually 9-2 factoring school run but it's way better than the scrimping words at night pullava that went on for four years during first book. The words flow better in the mornings for me. In the evenings, I can't focus and find myself wandering onto Youtube

Well done with your WCs, you'll def hit 20,OOO by Monday, I reckon. Work is v busy for a few days for me but next week,, I am writing a pivotal scene that has lots of triangular tension and sex in it- hurrah! better go brush up on Aidan Turner in the meantime- it will come in handy I think

I have the odd hour in the evening when babies are in bed and housework is done....this is going to take roughly a decade isn't it?

It's alright Dust, you're probably writing the next 'Gone with the wind' but yes, about a decade, give or take 5 years...and somebody up thread here or somewhere else was taking about how slow the industry is, so we should all be published by our late sixties...hurrah!

My top tip for writing and juggling kids/work/ other responsibilities is to make a habit of writing in the cracks of the day.

If you wait for longish stretches of time, well they don't happen often, but if you grab a pen/lap top whenever you get the mins, then a book can get itself written.

I wrote my first novel like this. Much of it done in soft play, the park, train journeys. It was the only way.

Plus you have to prioritise. No one is super woman ( nor should they seek to be ). So this means writing has to rise up the pecking order and other things have to float at the bottom.

Don't think of writing as a hobby that you might spare an hour a week. Think instead of it as building up a business.