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!

I like that name and profile 😊

My writing has totally stalled. Can't concentrate for long enough to knock something out. However, out of the blue, have written a load of poems. Don't usually write poetry and not even sure if you'd call them that but at least I'm still writing!

Well done get and spider for your steely focus.

I've done 4000 words! Tiny drop in the ocean, but I'll accelerate from here!

The first part is the hardest. I haven't written fiction since I was a teen.

Welcome to the quiche, nameless :)

Interesting discussion re POV. I struggled with this a lot but decided in the end to tell my story from three POVs - the major characters - so that all the story could be told and also so that I could develop the characters in their own heads as it were - the main one has a long journey to go on from where she starts out in terms of worldview shift so I wanted to bring that out. I've struggled to differentiate voice between two of them, the third is more distinctive but I think I'm getting there - they have very different personalities and I'm trying to show that without making them caricatures of themselves, if you see what I mean.

In my second book, I'm including a few third person chapters as I need to introduce characters and a storyline which the main characters don't realise is going on alongside theirs until the end - so that's another challenge and hard to get right - I wrote the first chapter and it just doesn't feel quite immediate enough - but then again, I am intending there to be distance in these chapters so perhaps it works....hmmm.

I wrote 4,000 words the other day when back from holiday but nothing since as I have so much to catch up on with other stuff, so must get on with it all.

Like the sound of Libertine, Get :)

I love creating new characters.

Many of my crime novels are part of an ongoing series where the MC and much of the core cast are returning characters, so I always get great satisfaction from introducing new ones.

One thing I have to keep in mind with the dystopian project ( that never featured in novel writing) is casting.

Obviously I will have no involvement in the actual process but I do need to ensure that I create the sorts of parts that will attract actors.

I'm trying to make each character complex and nuanced whilst keeping the project firmly in YA territory.

It must be so exciting, Get, to see your characters come to life on screen - must be kind of strange too - would it ever get old for you? Just can't imagine it.

I love creating characters too. I have quite a dark teenage goth type atm and she's great but I don't want to make her a caricature either - it's hard sometimes not to fall into the trap of making someone a cliche and giving their character a depth of their own.

Characterisation is so hard! And sometimes harder in a dystopian novel as their reactions and actions are so linked to their world and its getting that across without ten pages of explaining why.

Having said that my main character finally grew some balls yesterday and I was so pleased!!

Read a ya book last week full of clichéd characters and it was painful!

mad these characters are still a long way from making it to the screen .

So much can stall a project like this!!!

The current schedule doesn't even include a filming date. The producers have said they would like to be in place by early 2017 but there's still so much that can go pear shaped before then.

The money is contingent on so many things.

The different POVs sound really interesting Mad. Love the idea of having part of it in third person!

Agree stripy. I'm finding it really hard to describe my characters and their reactions in a dystopian way... there are so many fitting similes/metaphors which I can't use because there's no point of reference in the world I've created. Trust me to make a complicated plot overcomplicated...

Thanks mad.

Really enjoying the discussion about character and POV. I think character quirks have to feel internally consistent with the character, but in dystopian fic they also have to be externally consistent with the world. Tough to balance!

I agree that it is much easier to write either during or shortly after the apocalypse event.

The characters can still reference real life things even if they no longer exist.

Once characters have no memory or knowledge of the old world, you're stuck.

I had trouble the other day trying to describe streets. My POV character had never seen one before, only corridors. Absolute bugger.

One thing I've included (which was not intentional when I started) is that my MC reads lots of old world books. This means that whilst she may have never seen a sunset, she knows what they are etc.

Yep, we make it difficult for ourselves with this whole dystopian thing - I still keep coming across words/phrases which my characters would have no way of knowing in their new worlds (which is over 100 yrs post plague etc so even more difficult)

Agree re similes and metaphors. Mine have no concept of certain things as they are in a country shut away from any others - so wouldn't know what tigers are, for eg, and I found myself describing someone prowling like a tiger - then thought wtf, she wouldn't ever have seen a tiger or heard of one, her world is so very narrow. It's things like that which catch me out so easily - also things like brand names of drinks, certain foodstuffs they wouldn't have access to - I had mine drinking hot chocolate, then thought no, they wouldn't have access to cocoa, so no they wouldn't be drinking that - they wouldn't know what chocolate is...it's a bit like the siblings/swear words thing we discussed up thread. It's constantly keeping your head immersed in their world as you write - nothing can be out of place, or it goes very wrong and it glaringly obvious.

I've made it ridiculously difficult for myself Get... 80 years post-apocalypse, and no 'old world' artefacts allowed in the new world.

Why do I do this to myself?!

On the plus side, hit 30k words this morning :D DS is currently asleep so hoping to crack on...

Well done spider! Keep going.

You're in the murky middle now!!!!

I am now waaaay behind schedule.

I've had the kids off school for so long on study leave/exams and I find it very hard to work with them constantly around!!!

I'm meeting my agent next week and I simply have to have prepared a workable document by then.

Noooo don't call it the 'murky middle'... I'm dreading it losing momentum (i.e. me losing momentum!)

DS work up about 5 minutes after I typed ^ Typical; he slept for three hours yesterday!

We've since gone out, and he fell asleep on the way back. May have brought my laptop to the car just so I can write...

Spider I really really want to read your book! We have so many similarities :)

Sorry spider it's just that IME the middle is where the tension and I begin to flag simultaneously .

I do however have lots of tips (borne of many a saggy middle) for keeping the middle and the author, if not spritely, then at least not comatose.

How's everyone going?

I met my agent yesterday and we took a long hard look at what we've got so far.

Basically, we have a world that has internal logic and is pretty visually interesting.

We have a cracking MC which we are fairly confident would attract a good actress.

We have six supporting characters which are well delineated and make a fairly textured ensemble.

We have some fab cameos, one off characters.

We have an exciting plot.

What we evidently don't have is an episode by episode plan of how that plot will break down, which also ensures each episode is a story in its own right.

However the plan us to send what we do have to the production company and see where we go from here. I am beginning to see why show runners get paid so much money and are sacked so regularly. It's a fucking huge job!

get if you have all that, I'm sure the episode by episode thing will fall into place. It sounds like the kind of thing I would watch.

I am having a huge "plot storm" this morning. I have lots on interesting things planned but want to put it together in a nice structured way that isn't too busy. Anyone have any pointers? I didn't plan the last book-it sort of planned itself and ended up with a nice beginning, middle and end. And I wrote it out of sequence, meaning lots of rewrites trying to interlink things and make it work as a cohesive piece. Finding this one a little more difficult and would prefer to be more organised!

How is everyone else doing?

Okay, I've succumbed; I'm snow-flaking it. It has helped actually-things are a lot clearer in my mind

Ooh what's a snowflake plan? Sounds intriguing .

Get it sounds like you have some great things in place, I bet it'll all come together now, so exciting.

Cantfeel - also wondering about snowflaking? Just reading 'On Writing' by Stephen King and he really doesn't like meticulous plotting of any kind - he suggests the writer goes along with the creative flow. I'm kind of with him - it's how I wrote the first book in my trilogy - I had an over arching idea and plotting kind of happened with writing - but the second two I've had fairly detailed plot outlines because I like to know where I'm going. I think as long as I stay flexible it's ok - I should let the characters do what they want, not always what I planned.

How's everyone else getting on? I'm in a negative rut with various RL stuff taking up too much thinking time, and I need to climb out of it... (waiting for agent with full ms isn't helping...)

I'm been doing a fair bit of editing but giving that a break for a bit and trying to write the dreaded synopsis!

I'm watching the waiting on agents thread and it both excites and depresses me!! I would love love love to get a novel published but then I remember why I wrote this book- because I wanted to and because I enjoyed it, and then the agents/publishers/sales thing doesn't seem that important anymore!

Mad I hope u get your writing spark back soon and everyone continues to enjoy their writing (apart from Get who just has to crack on with those episodes )