At the recent Storymakers conference, I taught a class on Writing Dystopia. This week I’ll be turning that class into a series of blogs:

Monday: Defining Dystopia
Tuesday: History of Dystopia
Wednesday: Elements of Dystopia
Thursday: Elements of the Dystopian Hero
Friday: Social Commentary in Dystopian Fiction

Yesterday we talked about some common elements in dystopian fiction. Today, we’re going to look at common elements in the dystopian hero. A dystopian her0 generally:

• Helps the reader understand the problems with the society. We talked yesterday about how the society, structure and setting are integral to the story, and the main character is the lens through which we see that setting. Whether the protagonist initially understands the societal problems (like Katniss in Hunger Games) or doesn’t (Cassia in Matched), the readers still learn through the main character. Dramatic irony (when the reader knows something a character doesn’t) is a staple of dystopian fiction. Cassia doesn’t recognize the problems in her society, but the reader absolutely sees them. Even in 1984, where Winston is dissatisfied and unhappy, there is still a hefty dose of dramatic irony: he’s hates his job and his marriage, even though readers realize that Winston’s problems are much much worse than just that.
• Discovers secrets or restricted information. Like we talked about yesterday, dystopian societies hide information from their citizens, and the discovery of this information is almost always the catalyst to spur the protagonist to action. Think of Tally in Uglies, who discovered the truth about the both the Pretties and the Specials, or Winston in 1984, who is fascinated with “true” history, and gets a copy of The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, a treasonous book written by the #1 enemy of the state.
• Feels trapped/isolated. While the protagonist is learning more about the problems of their situation, they are trapped, both physically and socially. Their physical isolation comes in the form of constant surveillance and inabilty to to speak freely or act freely. But the social isolation is worse: the philosophies of the society are so rigid and ingrained that it’s often very difficult to find anyone who dares/wants to discuss societal problems.
• Is often more ideological than practical, and is willing to take huge risks. To some extent, this can be said about characters in many types of fiction, but its especially prevalent in dystopia. Dystopian protagonists are rebels. When they decide to take an action, whether it is to attempt a revolution, or disseminate information or simply escape, they understand that the consequences are very dire. Aside from the threat of punishment, they also know that they are rejecting society and friends–often everything they have ever known. And, very often, they don’t know what the consequences will be even if they succeed: What would escape mean? What would take the place of the current society?
• Is almost never an outsider. While the protagonists of utopian fiction were outsiders, very often travelers who visited a new civilization and learned about its society in great depth, the dystopian hero is almost always an insider. Winston worked for the government, actively censoring history. Cassia, while not privy to dark secrets, was completely immersed in the society to the point of being oblivious to the problems happening around her. Even Katniss, who lived in the outer provinces and was well-aware of the problems of society, still counts as an insider because she has grown up in and accepted the reality of her society. “Insider” doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re complicit in the nefarious actions of the society (though it can); it simply means that they’re a long-term member of this society–what they’re seeing (and what the reader sees through them) isn’t new and strange.

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At the recent Storymakers conference, I taught a class on Writing Dystopia. This week I’ll be turning that class into a series of blogs:

Monday: Defining Dystopia
Tuesday: History of Dystopia
Wednesday: Elements of Dystopia
Thursday: Elements of the Dystopian Hero
Friday: Social Commentary in Dystopian Fiction

Yesterday we talked a little about the definition of dystopia, and today we’re going to talk about where dystopian fiction came from.

Before dystopia, we had utopia. Although the term comes from Thomas More’s book, Utopia, and is translated in that context as “no place”, utopian fiction had been around long before he put his name on it–all the way back to The Garden of Eden (and other paradise legends). Essentially, utopian fiction is stories of places where life and society are significantly better than the real world.

It was Plato who took it a step further, purposely creating a hypothetical society that ran according to his philosophical ideals. This concept is reflected in both Plato’s Republic, and his Timaeus and Criteas (both about Atlantis). I’ve read all three of these–The Republic for school, and the Atlantis books for a writing project that didn’t go anywhere–and let me tell you: DELIGHTFUL.

The problem with reading utopian fiction, from a modern perspective, is that it lacks one crucial element to good (modern) storytelling: conflict. These books–even More’s Utopia–are essentially academic. They present a theoretical world as a social commentary.

It’s not surprising then that dystopia is a reaction to utopia. In the 1500s and 1600s, utopian stories were the hot trend, and most followed a simple formula: a traveler gets lost, finds an unknown civilization and learns how they live, and then the traveler comes back home to tell everyone about great it was. It was in about 1605 when Joseph Hall wrote Mundus Alter Et Idem, the first dystopia, which used the same formula but with very different results: the traveler visited the lands of Crapulia (gluttons), Viraginia (nags), Moronia (fools) and Lavernia (theives). The book was satire, pointing a finger both at utopian fiction but also at many of the current social conventions.

And really, that’s the whole point of both utopian and dystopian fiction. Utopian fiction looks at current social problems and imagines how they could be fixed. Dystopian fiction looks at current social problems (and social “successes”) and imagines how they could get horribly worse.

It’s worth noting that even in the modern era, dystopia continues to be a reaction to utopian ideals. Some cases are very specific: Brave New World, a classic of modern dystopia, was written almost as a parody of H.G. Wells’ utopian novel Men Like Gods. But really, almost all dystopian novels take an idea that many might consider new and innovative and great and show how it could go wrong. Take Ally Condie’s Matched, for instance: her society is based on technological advances in psychoanalysis and genetic testing, positing that science can understand us so well that it can make better choices (about who we marry, or what career we pursue) than we can. Ally takes that ostensibly positive idea and illuminates the dark consequences.

I’ve speculated a few times on the blog about where the current rise in dystopian fiction is coming from and, while I’m not ready to commit to a firm theory, if there’s one thing that’s been historically clear about dystopia: it’s a reactionary genre for a dissatisfied audience.

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