Dystopian Dilemma

Every book falls into a genre, allowing the discerning reader to keep within their comfort zone when choosing their next book. But categorising is an artificial process, more attuned to marketers’ and buyers’ needs than the writer’s. Just think of a bookshop: the buyer’s starting point is to find the section and shelf, for example, crime, history or sci-fi, and then work through the authors alphabetically. My Liberty series has found itself in a sub-sector of sci-fi, but I never set out to write a dystopian novel or series. My ambition was to pen an adventure tackling contemporary themes. What I discovered, as ideas formed, was the unwritten future offered a more flexible canvas; a more fertile land for literary invention. Fiction depicting ‘today’ lives within the constraints of our familiar society. You can shine the spotlight on an existing flaw but to raise the alarm on a germinating problem, yet to sprout to the surface, it helps to project into the future. Making it a dystopian/post-apocalyptic future helps further, because, with world’s end, you get a broom to sweep away existing convention, offering the opportunity to re-build from scratch, extenuating and focussing on the key problem you’ve identified.

And so, I found my adventure on contemporary themes set in the unexpected genre of dystopia. This has led to some marketing problems. The very word ‘dystopia’ shouts negativity and this does little to attract the average reader. What’s more, the genre can include some dark and unsubtle stuff: excessive death, destruction, zombies and not forgetting the odd apocalypse. For fans of the darker side of the genre, my work won’t be ticking their box, even if there is some gritty and dark stuff within. Everything I project for the future, with respect to human behaviour, can be found in the history books. While I wanted to tackle some serious subjects, it has never been my intention to write novels without hope, happiness or laughter. Hope is embedded within them as the motivation for the heroes and that it even exists in the world means something. Both Liberty Bound and Where Liberty Lies have received praise for their character development, relationships and the depiction of the family, and, of course, those dynamics can relate to any genre. A love story weaves it way through book one, the dialogue is not short of laughs, while when tragedy occurs it never de-humanises - in fact, within those pages lies a lesson on the dangers of dehumanising. One reviewer wrote of Where Liberty Lies that it “…feels fearless, fresh, and so much fun!” It is through these core elements - tragedy, comedy, romance - present at the heart of drama since the classical era, that books can transcend those artificial genres.

In a strange way, films can easily overcome the barriers of genre. TV is a pool you can dip in and out of, while not requiring the dedication of reading. Horror may not be your thing, but when Jaws is shown on the box you may watch it for its reputation, because nothing else is on, to prove to your friends you don’t flinch at the scary bits or because you like all films including Robert Shaw. While if romance is not your thing, you may watch Titanic for the CGI effects, because it is one of the highest grossing films of all time, an interest in history or because you want to know how it ends ;-). It is a little harder to draw in the reader to a book. You need those moments to yourself, some peace and quiet to concentrate and more than an hour or two. The investment is often worth it but not everyone is willing to do so in our world of easy choices and distractions, and, as with all investments, still fewer are willing to risk trying a book outside of their zone. Book clubs are a good way to stretch yourself, discover new authors, a different genre, but I can’t image many saying ‘let’s try a dystopian novel next!’ If anyone wants to suggest a book with adventure, twists, romance, tragedy, thought-provoking social commentary, satire, some grit and tears, some fun and laughter and plenty of strong characters, then perhaps Liberty Bound and Where Liberty Lies might be for you - you don’t even have to mention the word dystopian!