8 Thoughts on How to Write Dystopian Fiction
What is dystopian fiction?
Dystopian fiction is any fiction writing where the world setting is futuristic and the way people have to live to survive is less than ideal.
The opposite of dystopian would be a Utopia where everyone lives happily as equals and no one suffers want our hunger and there is no crime against humanity.
What is a dystopia?
It is a setting either worldwide or regional in which survival is difficult and corruption and crime are rampant. No Character lives without some suffering in this type of setting.
Discovering a new dystopian world
Our dystopian world doesn’t have to be Earth and it doesn’t even have to be the entire planet that you’re working on.
It can be a region or a different planet altogether, but something looks good with dystopian society is the background.
Usually dystopian happens after a thriving society.
Having the remains of what once was a vibrant civilisation is actually a very appealing look for a genre like this.
Think I Am Legend.
All of the buildings and houses of the major cities were left.
Grass, weeds, and trees grew up around them and on them.
Roots broke through roadways. Animals ran through street corners where man had once dominated.
It was now empty and nature was taking it back.
Ideas like this are helpful in creating a dystopian story where you can see what was there before and how it makes the ruins look there after whatever caused civilization to crumble.
Get ideas from reading and watching dystopian fiction critically
Look at stories like:
– I Am Legend
– Hunger Games
– Snowpiercer
– Divergent
– Maze Runner
– The Walking Dead
– A Quiet Place
– Water World
– Children of Men
– Alita
All great places to get a feel for what you are trying to accomplish.
And when we say to consume something critically out just means to watch and read it and be thoughtful about what you like and what you don’t like.
What works for you and keeps you interested and what causes you to lose interest.
This way you can come up with your own story that will be unique and also thought provoking.
Different dystopian scenes we’ve already seen
– Apocalypse
– Zombies
– Military
– Aliens
– Pandemic
– Global Warming
– Nuclear
– A.I.
– Gov take over
– Monsters
– Evil corporation
– Giants
– War ridden
– Anarchy
– Evil overlord
– Cloning
– Breeding
– Vampires
– Werewolves
– And combinations of the above
8 Thoughts on How to Write Dystopian Fiction
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8 Thoughts on How to Write Dystopian Fiction
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8 Thoughts on How to Write Dystopian Fiction
Main components to think about your future world
1. Setting
2. People
3. Money
4. Barter system
5. Currency
6. Geography
7. Social norms
8. Languages
9. Dialects
10. Hospitalization
11. Medicine
12. Food
13. Wealthy vs Poor
14. Intelligence
15. Technology
What types of characters are we following?
Are we following a group or a herd?
Do we have a main character?
Do we have a specific duo or trio?
Does it eb and flow throughout the narrative?
Do we lose characters or do they all survive?
What to avoid in the main plot
This is just my belief but there really is nothing new under the sun and lots of story ideas have been redone hundreds of times and readers and audiences still really enjoy them.
Some authors might say to avoid vampires, zombies, and aliens etc.
I find that to be overrated input.
Think of all the shows and movies and books that have repeated the same creature themes or end of the world ideas and have still made for great stories.
There are hundreds of vampire stories yet when another one comes out many people are interested.
The key takeaway here is that if we decide to write another alien story in what ways can we tell it better and different than our predecessors?
Try to hone in on what’s relevant
My wife and I (well mostly me) recently watched Colony.
You know what drew me to wanting to watch it?
My sister told me it was about a society that was lock-down by the powers that be…
Coronavirus anyone?
I was immediately intrigued to see what the story was and how it would play out.
Spoiler alert! Don’t read further if you don’t want to know!
But it turns out that it was an alien invasion and even though I’ve seen many alien invasion but now it was still interesting to watch and think about.
So don’t be afraid to use old ideas.
Just do your best to give them in a new package with interesting characters and story points.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
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8 Thoughts on How to Write Dystopian Fiction
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If you are enjoying 8 Thoughts on How to Write Dystopian Fiction, consider sharing this social-friendly image 🙂
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If you enjoy 8 Thoughts on How to Write Dystopian Fiction, Storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
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Try Grammarly, The Free tool that should be in every writer’s toolbelt.
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