Calm by SJ Baker
This is a brilliant guest blog from author S.J. Baker about dystopian fiction for teens. There is certainly a large appetite for this type of book!
The power and popularity of dystopian fiction among young adult readers.
“You write well,” said the literary agent in response to my submission, “but YA dystopias are a crowded market.” A year later, as I was still doing the rounds with my hopeful manuscript, another agent told me that publishers “simply aren’t looking for YA dystopias anymore.”
Who was I, a novice at the publishing game, to disagree? But my experience in the classroom told me that – whatever publishers were after – young people were still hungry for dystopian novels. Students still devoured The Hunger Games or Divergent or Flawed during class reading time; The Giver was a sure-fire winner as a Key Stage 3 text.
So what is it about the dystopian genre that is so compelling for young adults? This question has intrigued me as I’ve travelled with my debut novel, Calm, on the road to publication.
Most obviously, of course, dystopias are suspense-filled and exciting. Danger is guaranteed. The dystopian world is a hostile place, a place where power is abused, where human rights are ignored. Almost every chapter of Calm ends on a cliffhanger, a structural choice that evolved naturally as its two young protagonists, Owyn and Tiegan, negotiated the consequences of their rebellion against an authoritarian regime, a regime which drugs its citizens into uniformity. Characters in dystopias are in real jeopardy: these novels are nail-biters, page-turners. It’s unsurprising that teenage readers should seek them out.
Perhaps, though, young adults also seek out dystopian novels as a way of responding imaginatively to the ugly issues that confront them in the real world. From our exploitation of the planet to toxic social media interactions; from brutal dictatorships to graphic images of war; these human tendencies have always been with us, but never so available at the swipe of a screen, never so omnipresent in young people’s consciousness. Dystopian literature allows young adults to explore their response to the dark recesses of human experience from a safe perspective. Owyn and Tiegan face difficult choices at every stage of their journey. Do they prioritise their own safety, or another’s? Do they accept injustice, or fight against it? Do they adopt the enemy’s methods, or choose to retain their own humanity? Their decision each time will move the plot forward, of course; but beyond that, their often instinctive responses reveal important things about their character.
Young adults are learning about the world around them and working out how they fit into it. They are making decisions about the kind of people they want to be: what they will embrace, and what they will reject. Ursula Le Guin, a towering writer in the fantasy genre, wrote that “we read books to find out who we are.” Young Adult dystopian novels prompt young readers (and the many adults who enjoy the genre too) to engage imaginatively with the perilous dilemmas that their characters face, and to think about choosing wisely in a challenging world.
Constructing the world of Calm challenged me creatively, morally and imaginatively. I hope my readers will be challenged too, as well as absorbed, as they walk for a while in Tiegan and Owyn’s shoes. Perhaps the fusion of imaginative challenge and excitement helps to explain why dystopias continue to be sought out by thoughtful young adult readers, despite the crowdedness of the genre.
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Federation.
