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Hi, all! I know I kinda recently created a new topic asking y’all the cliches of sci-fi, but this topic is a little different. I’m thinking of writing a dystopian novel. I know this genre can be pretty heavy on the cliches, so my questions is ‘what are the cliches of this genre?’
I know the whole oppressive government thing is kinda cliche, and I realized I kinda have that as part of my plot. But one of my main POV characters (two actually) work for the government, and I hoped it might spice it up a little. Do you think this would work?
Thank you!
@jane-maree @audrey-caylin @mariposa @rochellaine @livgiordano @radically-surrendered @aratrea @daeus @that_writer_girl_99 @emily-d @dekreel @dragon-snapper @sam-kowal @skredder @itisastarrynight @notawriter @anyone elseI'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com@jenwriter17 I’m not sure about cliches specifically, but some of the things that I’ve seen pretty often in this genre are: having family members on both sides of the fight, the reluctant hero, family members of the MC being killed (reasons vary), bad guy who thinks they are doing the right thing for the majority, having a hero in the lower-class, essentially a faceless military, and those are all the ones I can think of right now.
As far as having two MCs working for the government, I know that it has been done before but with a little tweaking you could make it work pretty well.
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
@jenwriter17 Ha. I actually have a KP Cinema video about cliches in dystopian novels coming out sometime this month. xD So a lot of my “advice” would be in there. I wouldn’t say oppressive governments are cliched because they’re required for that genre, but I would recommend studying classic dystopias like Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, etc. to understand what influences the modern YA dystopian trend.
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. Guiding authors at Story Embers.
@jenwriter17 I haven’t really read modern dystopia, but I do get the impression that it has lost something it used to have. Namely, all the early dystopias were prophesies. The authors looked at the culture around them and, knowing what they did of mankind, civilization, and technology, they constructed a model of the future that they thought was very possible. I don’t think this exists so much in modern dystopia. I think they just pick a random oppressive government as a backdrop for their story to happen in. The dystopian genre’s main power though comes from the fact that it speaks directly to a culture that is headed toward a society like the one depicted in the book.
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@jenwriter17
Confession time.. I don’t think I’ve ever actually read a dystopian novel … haha.I think a common thing though is that a small band of teenagers is all it takes to overthrow the evil government.
and I was so confused
@jenwriter17 Dystopian! was actually, if I remember correctly, more like ‘utopian’ and it was all about predicting what was going to happen in the future. Prophecy, like @daeus said. And then some authors decided… what the if future isn’t going to be perfect like we think? And then there was dystopian. Modern, more YA focused dystopian sort of just pasted in that setting.
So, my idea to make a dystopia go in a different direction would be to maybe make it a utopia… that is on the verge of collapse. Society seems like it is perfect, but the builders of this new world have overlooked something really important.
And as far as the characters working for the government, that sounds like it would work to me. :D. It would offer a unique point of view to the story.
*Giarstanornarak tries to melt chair*
Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.@daeus @notawriter @sam-kowal Thank you all! This gives me stuff to think about…
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.comOppressive governments aren’t necessarily a cliche, they’re actually a requirement (or less, a complete lack of government), some cliches though would be:
MC is “different” (Divergent, maybe? ;P)
Rebellions ALWAYS work
Communist or Socialist governments. Any type of government can go wrong, so you could try exploring something other type.
Dystopian world was caused by a nuclear accident of some kind. There are a lot of things that would effectively cause a world collapse. Loss of cummincation or another Great Depression, for example.
That is what I can think of off the top of my head.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@seekjustice Thank you! I will keep all these things in mind.
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com@Jenwriter17 As someone who writes and reads dystopian quite frequently, I think the main biggest cliche is “MC is a teen who leads a rebellion against the evil government and wins”
As Josiah said, I 10000% recommend reading into some of the good-ol’ dystopian novels like Fahrenheit 451 and the others he mentioned. Along with other more recent dystopian. (Which, if you need recommendations, I could toss a few titles your way. 😛 )
Writing Heroes ♦ Writing Hope // janemareeauthor.com.au
@jane-maree Thank you! yeah, I’d love some book recommendations!!!
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com@Jenwriter17 Alrighty, book recommendations coming your way. 😛
– The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
– Divergent (Veronica Roth)These trilogies are both fairly well known. They’re not favourites of mine, and some of the content is a bit iffy, but they’re good for researching the genre.
– Out of Time (Nadine Brandes)
– The Lunar Chronicles (Marissa Meyer) (though these are also sci fi, depending on your POV)
– The Reckoners (Brandon Sanderson)
– The Mission League (Jill Williamson) (leaning more toward contemporary, to be honest)
– Supernaturalist (Eoin Colfer)
– Counted Worthy (Leah E Good)These are all books that I’ve really enjoyed at some time in the past. They’re well written and very good examples of great dystopian books.
Writing Heroes ♦ Writing Hope // janemareeauthor.com.au
@jane-mare Oooh, thank you so much! I was thinking of buying the Hunger Games series and the Mission League books. I actually just ordered book 1 of the Out of Time series, so that’s on it’s way! (yaaaaay! *throws confetti*) Sadly though, I bought Counted Worthy several months back, but after my dad looked into it and read reviews, there was content in it he didn’t want me to read and we had to send it back. But I’m glad you have so many on this list for me to check out!!! 😊
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.comoops, messed up your tag @jane-maree
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com
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