But first things first, let’s figure out what this subgenre is all about.

What is Dystopian Fiction?

Dystopian fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction that explores imagined worlds where society is characterized by oppression, suffering, and often a bleak or nightmarish future. These narratives are often used for cautionary tales, critiquing contemporary social, political, or technological trends. Some authors also use this as a tool for warning of the potential consequences if those trends continue unchecked. Sounds like something you might want to do with your work in progress? We’re off to a society that is set in the near future, dealing with something that is already a problem in our world today. If you think about one of your favourite dystopian fiction, you would probably be able to figure out how this might be unfolding in that tale.

If you want to give your work in progress a great structure and make sure your target audience instantly connects with the tale, it is often wise to include the key elements found in the other works like yours. 

Why To Include Key Elements?

Readers come to a book with certain expectations. This is based on its genre and subgenre. Meeting these expectations can make their literary adventure more enjoyable and satisfying. As an author, it is your responsibility to deliver what you promised. So, if you are promising a dystopian land where water is a luxury, that is what they will be excited to read. You can only stretch so much trust your readers have put into you. It is also great to make sure your narrative effectively conveys the themes of the particular subgenre. In Dystopian Fiction’s case, these themes revolve around technology, individual freedom, and ethics.

If you want to make sure your readers instantly connect with the tale unfolding in your novel, it might be a good idea to include these key elements often seen in Dystopian Fiction.

Elements of Dystopian Fiction

An Oppressive Regime

Such worlds are often governed by authoritarian governments or powerhouses that exercise significant control over every aspect of citizens’ lives. How they might do it? Well, that is up to your imagination. It can range from state-of-art surveillance, propaganda, censorship, or simply brute force. All of this is done to maintain their power.

Lack of Hope

Dystopian stories tend to lean more towards a pessimistic nature. This is not to say that your characters should be insufferable, always cribbing about what is going around them. Rather it means that the characters are faced with insurmountable odds and limited hope for a better future.

Advanced Technology

Dystopian societies often possess advanced technology, what it is used for depends on how you want your story to unfold. Remember, technology can both empower and oppress in these settings. This can also have either nature taking the world back by force or a complete environment decay where resources are scarce. 

A Rebellion

One of the most recognizable elements of Dystopian narratives is that it frequently involves characters or groups who resist the oppressive regime. They either often seek to overthrow it or simply survive within it. These resistance efforts are a central element of the story.

Continuing our journey into the realms of subgenres in speculative fiction, our sails shall be next set to navigate the territories of Utopian narratives. Do you think I missed any key elements of Dystopia narrative? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time! 

Disha Walia is a lifelong storyteller and an enthusiastic writer and editor in love with the idea of exploring the creative world of words. While making her space in the world of non-fiction and fiction alike, Disha loves to spend even her free time daydreaming about what next to write. Connect with her on www.quillinary.com. You can also follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

The post Unlocking the Recipe for Dystopian Fiction appeared first on DIY MFA.

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In this episode Alexis Schaitkin and I discuss:

• Writing a story with mystery as a central premise without focusing on solving that mystery.
• Creating a fable-like feeling through the intentional use of tropes.
• The nature of community and isolation and how it relates to writing.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Alexis Schaitkin

Alexis Schaitkin is the author of Saint X and her short stories and essays have appeared in Ecotone, Southwest Review, The Southern Review, The New York Times, and elsewhere. Her fiction has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. She received her MFA in fiction from the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow. She lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with her husband and their two children.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter.

Elsewhere

Richly emotive and darkly captivating, with elements of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and the imaginative depth of Margaret Atwood, Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin conjures a community in which girls become wives, wives become mothers and some of them, quite simply, disappear.  

Vera grows up in a small town, removed and isolated, pressed up against the mountains, cloud-covered and damp year-round. This town, fiercely protective, brutal and unforgiving in its adherence to tradition, faces a singular affliction: some mothers vanish, disappearing into the clouds. It is the exquisite pain and intrinsic beauty of their lives; it sets them apart from people elsewhere and gives them meaning.

Vera, a young girl when her own mother went, is on the cusp of adulthood herself. As her peers begin to marry and become mothers, they speculate about who might be the first to go, each wondering about her own fate. Reveling in their gossip, they witness each other in motherhood, waiting for signs: this one devotes herself to her child too much, this one not enough—that must surely draw the affliction’s gaze. When motherhood comes for Vera, she is faced with the question: will she be able to stay and mother her beloved child, or will she disappear?

Provocative and hypnotic, Alexis Schaitkin’s Elsewhere is at once a spellbinding revelation and a rumination on the mysterious task of motherhood and all the ways in which a woman can lose herself to it; the self-monitoring and judgment, the doubts and unknowns, and the legacy she leaves behind.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 417

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The post Episode 417: Setting the Tone for Your Novel Through Voice, Mood, and Point of View – Interview with Alexis Schaitkin appeared first on DIY MFA.