Post-dystopian Vs. Dystopian Fiction

(After you’ve read this blog, you might want to read a great review from a teen blogger: That Teen Can Blog .  Here’s my first blog . . . )

I’m a huge fan of dystopian fiction.  In fact, over the ten years and more that I was developing these first History Camp stories, I thought I was writing dystopian fiction.  However, as the final drafts began to take shape, under the watchful eye of my editor and publisher, Lou Aronica, it soon became apparent to me that my work didn’t quite exactly fit the genre.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lou told me. “It’s an exciting, futuristic adventure that young and old readers will enjoy, and it’s a series that can go on and on. Relax.”

But I’m not the relaxing type, as you will find out.

‘What the heck am I writing?’ I kept asking myself. While working out on the treadmill, at my local “Y”, I occupied my mind by listing the comparative aspects of my work to that of the different dystopian stories I admired. There were the original ones I grew up with; 1984,  Brave New World, The Chrysalids, and my fave number one oldie, Lord of the Flies.  Then there’s recent dystopian writing; The Hunger Games trilogy, Unwind, The Giver, Feed, Uglies and The Adoration of Jeanna Fox, to name but a few. The big difference between those stories and my work my characters grow up in a world which rose afterthe fall that made up those other dystopian fictions.

My writing recognizes the fall and the agony humankind could go through, but my work presupposes that humans will endure and learn how not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

“It’s what happens after,” I mumbled to myself as I treadled along on the machine. “It’s what happens after the dystopia. Is it Utopian? Nah. I don’t believe in that. People will still struggle. They’ll have doubts and insecurities, jealousies and disappointment. But it’s what happens after the dystopian time. What’s a prefix or suffix to denote after?” I stopped dead on the treadmill, just stood there, staring out the window at The Kingston Center. “Post!  I’m writing post-dystopian literature!”

I jumped off the machine and started running toward the locker room. I needed to write this thing down. My memories good, but I forget sometimes!

“Hey, wipe down your machine,” I heard a voice call.

“Post, post-dystopian literature, post-dystopian, post-dystopian, post-dystopian,” I kept repeating as I wiped the disinfectant on the grips of the treadmill.

There’s a couple of public computers in the lobby of my “Y”, so I ran out and sent myself an email. Then I went onto Google and did a search for “post-dystopian”.  The phrase has been used a few times, but not in a way that my usage would contradict.

When I got home I started writing definitions and statements of how the phrase could be used in a quote.  My favorite one, which got used in my author’s bio at the end of The Lens and the Looker, is;

“I write Post-Dystopian fiction. After society’s collapse, which is imagined in so many great dystopian stories, humans will either fade into history, with the dinosaurs, or, if it learns the right lessons, society will go on to construct a civilization to last tens of thousands of years. History Camp stories are the exciting adventures of young people doing the latter.”

So, thanks for dropping by.  Let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Lory Kaufman

FOR SPECIFIC DESCRIPTIONS OF THE BOOKS,EXCERPTS AND EVEN READINGS,

CLICK ON THE “BOOKS” LINK

History Camp series will give ongoing glimpses of the future from one book to the next.

   History Camp is planned as an ongoing series of stories where young people from the 24^th century go back in time and have dangerous and exciting adventures. This is to help them learn to appreciate the almost utopian 24^th century world they come from, until something goes horribly wrong.

     Because it is a series, I made the conscious decision not to go into great detail about the 24^th century in every story. I figure there will be time for that in subsequent books and, hopefully, the reader will learn a little more as they revisit their ‘friends’ for the first stories. Now, over the years I was writing the first History Camp drafts, I wrote long descriptions of this future world and its technologies. They were developed from my personal studies and interests in futurism, speculative and science fiction, as well as the environmental movement. During the editorial process I had to strike a balance between storytelling and including too much research and “facts”, which would more properly belong in a polemic.  In writing classes they call that “preaching”, a big no-no. So I decided to take my time about exposing the future world and spend the majority of pages on the characters adventures in the past.

     Then, when The Lens and the Looker was going to print, and we were designing the History Camp website, an idea came to mind. I could use the wonderful, new technology of the website to communicate with readers who really were anxious to know more about the History Camp back story.  

For example, you may want to know;

• Why are there only three hundred million people on Earth in my 24^th century world? (less than five percent of today’s population)
• Why does the community of New York, (one of the biggest cities on the planet in 2347) have only thirty thousand people in it, and why isn’t it on Manhattan Island anymore?
• Why is the planet’s average size community sixty people?
• What is a steady-state economy?
• And why does every human on the planet have a person A.I. (artificial intelligence) from birth, etc . . .

. . . you can go to the Back Story link on my www.lorykaufman.com website and read about these questions and more. I look forward to hearing from readers about anything you wish to speak on about these topics or my stories. But most of all, I hope you enjoy my first book in the History Camp series, The Lens and the Looker.

Oh, by the way, due to a computer input error at the distributors, the E-versions of The Lens and the Looker started being shipped March 1^st. You can order it now. The trade paperback editions will start being shipped March 16^th.

Cheers

Lory