By Lisa Johnston, author of Wakeless
Whether it is war, environmental ruin, oppression or the creation of a new society, readers seem to be obsessed with the dystopian genre of fiction. According to vocabulary.com, a dystopia is a fictional world where people live under a highly-controlled or totalitarian system. The Cambridge Dictionary describes it as an imaginary society of the future in which there is suffering. In my opinion, a dystopia is a utopia that has gone drastically wrong. Although created with good intentions, it is a place that is far scarier than we can ever imagine.
I have loved dystopian novels ever since I first discovered Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale when I was a teenager. Since then I have devoured many dystopian novels which have included Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. Such books have left me shocked, devastated and horrified, but more importantly, utterly amazed with the creativity of the authors. Each time I was transported from my own ordinary everyday world into something that was fascinating and brilliant, leaving me yearning for more and always sad when the book came to an end.
On that note, following are my four reasons as to why we love dystopian novels.
Escapism
At the finish of a dystopian novel, most readers feel like they have been put through the wringer. Yes, they are horrific, depressing, hopeless and dark – and often too bleak for some readers. But, they also allow us to escape our own existence. When we pick up a dystopian novel, we often forget about our own problems of the day and escape into a world that is even scarier than our own. In the process, dystopian books can make us feel better about ourselves and our own living conditions. We may be social distancing from COVID-19, but at least we are not handmaids living in Gilead.
Fascination
We have all done it: we have driven by a horrific accident scene and turned our head for a glimpse at the destruction and devastation. We have searched for newspaper articles to delve further into a terrible tragedy. We want to know how someone was killed when a body turned up at the local morgue. It seems to be a part of human nature: we are fascinated with terrible things, and nothing is more gripping than an apparent utopia that suddenly takes a terrible wrong turn and plunges its characters into the ultimate physical and mental game of survival. We need to know if the father and son will reach the sea or if they too will fall by the side of the road.
Imagination
All novels take an abundance of work and creativity, but I believe dystopian books are brimming with a deeper level of imagination. They create worlds strikingly different from our own but not completely out of the realm of possibility. We may one day have survival game shows on television where contestants play to the death. We may one day have to live in underground cities as the air above is toxic. This may not be the life we would choose for ourselves as we sit on our comfy couches and order takeout for dinner, but we are fascinated with the creation of new governments, new societal rules and the welfare of those living on the brink of extinction.
Inspiration
Despite all the doom and gloom, despite the oppression, despite the destruction of today’s world, dystopian novels can be inspirational. Many dystopian novels have a hero or heroine who is brave or honourable; someone we can relate to or hope we would mimic if we ever found ourselves in a battle of survival. Good versus evil. Triumph over defeat. But not all dystopian books have a hero for us to love. Some have something even better: a villain to hate, which can be almost as satisfying as rooting for the good guy. Yes, we want Big Brother to fail almost as much as we want Winston to succeed.
From the standpoint of an author who writes dystopian fiction, there is nothing more rewarding—or fun—than creating new world orders, new countries, new protocols and new government regimes. I don’t want to write about everyday life; I am already living that. I want to write something no one has ever thought of before. I want to write about the unimaginable.
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A communications graduate of the University of Calgary, Lisa Johnston is an established writer and editor in the magazine and corporate publishing world. Wakeless is her first fiction novel. Lisa enjoys traveling, reading and ocean walks near her home with her husband and two sons on Vancouver Island. To connect with Lisa and to learn about upcoming releases, as well as receive bonus content, follow her at lisajohnstonauthor.com and on Facebook and Instagram.
WAKELESS follows a young woman, Emma, who has somehow survived the wreckage of the 21st century—when gas reserves have run dry, hospitals have shut and deadly diseases are rampant—and now faces her greatest challenge. Discovered living in a basement hideout, she is proclaimed clean and moved to Redemption City. Despite escaping the contaminated world, Emma soon learns that life is no better in the promised utopia—secrets abound, no one is free and eyes are always watching.
As Emma begins unraveling the true purpose of Redemption City and rebelling against the male hierarchy, she reluctantly joins forces with a potential ally. Troubled by ghosts of her past and an unreliable vision of reality, Emma must find a path to redemption or pay the ultimate price.
Available now from Amazon, Bookshop.org, and bookstores.