I loved Suzanne Collins’s book The Hunger Games. Katniss, the heroine, had to survive this epic, gladiator, fight-to-the-death prime time reality show nefariously created by the Capitol to keep the Districts in line. It all made such convincing sense–why the Capitol needed the Games, how they were televised, the rankings of the Tributes, the communication with their mentors, the dangers the Tributes faced, the manipulation of the Gamemakers…
When I was reading the book, there was a sense of, “well, of course that’s the way it is”, as if Collins had simply flipped through her history books of Panem [the country in which the book is set].
Now that I’m writing my own futuristic, dystopian world, I see that, wow, not so much. I would love to thumb through my world’s history books–or, even, more recently, its newspapers/magazines/news sites. Because I have so many questions about what this world looks like and why things are the way the are. The problem, of course, is that the information doesn’t exist. I have to make it all up.
Yet I have to make it all up to make sure it makes sense for the story.
Let’s take my quarantine camps for an example.
In this world, a future U.S., there is a devastating plague. After I figured out where it came from and how it affects people (airborne? contracted through bodily fluids? how contagious? how long to incubate? how long before people die?), I determined the government would send victims to quarantine camps as a way to try to contain the disease.
Of course, this being dystopian, it’s not just the sick who are sent. It’s also anyone who has come in contact with infected people–even if they themselves aren’t sick. Of course, hanging out in a quarantine camp will no doubt make you sick, ergo…
Why I need the quarantine camps: I need to put Lyra into a situation that only she, with her phoenix cells, can survive. I decided to create a character who may have antibodies in her system–she’s lived longer with the plague than anyone else. Ok, so what does this have to do with Lyra? Why not have the good doctors in the camp draw some blood and deliver it to the medical researchers desperately working on a cure?
Ah, that’s because there are no nurses or doctors or any officials in these camps. Once people go in, no one comes out.
Great. Now I have the set-up for Lyra. Since she can survive the plague which has killed everyone else, she can get in, get a vial of the all-important blood and get out.
So what do these quarantine camps look like? Where are they? How many are there across the country? How many people are in each camp? How long have they been open? How many people have been through each camp since they’ve been open? If there are no officials, how do they get food? Supplies? Since people are dying all the time, what happens to the bodies? How long do people last in a camp before they die? What are the social dynamics in the camp? How do people divide up? Is there violence, chaos, anarchy, or have they organized themselves in some way? If so, how? If the turnover of people is so swift, since the plague kills so quickly, how is order maintained? And how does the researcher know this girl has lived longer than anyone else? Does the government keep records? Do they track each person? Do they notify families after someone dies or do they not care?
You see my point? The questions never end! But somehow, they have to, for me to create a convincing environment that will challenge Lyra. Something that will help her confront her view of the world and her misbeliefs.
‘Cause as I said, it’s all about Lyra.
(Man, this girl is a a lot work. 🙂 )
[photo credit of quarantine sign: Matt Miller, papyrus.greenville.edu]