It’s another open mic! I’m out of town at the moment, so talk among yourselves or ask stuff for me to talk about when I get back next week.
It’s another open mic! I’m out of town at the moment, so talk among yourselves or ask stuff for me to talk about when I get back next week.
Does anyone know if there’s such a genre as “epic dystopian fantasy?” My backbrain has handed me four dystopian ideas in the last two months (two of them came in the last two weeks), and I don’t know what to do with them since I don’t read dystopian very often.
If there isn’t such a genre, then invent it. Having a novel you’re excited to write is more important than following other people’s genre conventions.
FWIW, I’m currently attempting an urban fantasy with a side order of political satire, which is definitely not a thing. But I read one too many books where the world unexpectedly discovers the existence of the supernatural and just sort of accepts it, and I said to myself: no way would the USA actually react that well. Or even that coherently.
Ooh! That sounds fun!
Thanks for the advice, too; I think I would have gotten there eventually, but I’m still pretty new and so I still fall into the trap of caring what other people might think of my writing. 🙂
Now, off to see if I can write a fantasy dystopian without knowing that much about the genre… There may be a train wreck impending, but we’ll deal with it when it comes!
It seems to me there’s a tension between “epic” and “dystopian.” The former typically involves great striving, great events, and great achievements. But “dystopia” typically refers to a story in which the main characters’ actions are constrained by the limits of an all-encompassing dysfunctional society whose grip is so complete that no resistance can escape it. Orwell’s _1984_ is my ur-example here.
However, a straightforward way to combine the two is to have one’s characters overthrow the dystopian society. That’s the great achievement, and it breaks the bonds that have constrained the characters. You have to be willing to give up the omnipotence of the dystopian society — it has to be vulnerable — so I’m not sure I’d really call it a “dystopia.” But there certainly is a subgenre of that sort, from _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_ to _Building Harlequin’s Moon_.
That said, the revolution-against-dystopia seems to be more common in SF than in fantasy. There are probably fantasy examples out there, but I’m not familiar with them (or I’ve just forgotten them at the moment). If the trope really is rarer in fantasy, that suggests a good niche to aim at that hasn’t been done to death. Julian May’s Saga of Pliocene Exile might serve as a useful reference point: it’s technically SF, but it uses a lot of standard fantasy tropes.
I think I’d like to read one like that . . .
Good points! Now that you mention it, it does seem really fun to play around with the juxtaposition between a dystopian society and an epic/high fantasy mood–sort of a “necessity breeds invention” sort of scenario, only something more like, “bondage inspires freedom”. Who knows, maybe that’s what dystopian is about, anyway. I think I mentioned that I don’t read a lot in that genre. 🙂
What I think I’m having the hardest time working with is the fact that the ideas I’ve been given aren’t quite dystopian, but they’re not exactly fantasy, either. There are magic powers in this dystopian society, which are brought about by the existence of a semi-sapient goo that takes the form of any living being submerged in it. Which reminds me of the kandra from Brandon Sanderson’s “Mistborn” series, more than anything else; actually, “Mistborn” may very well be a good example of this sort of fantasy/dystopian combination, if you’ve not yet heard of it.
And, having looked up that book you mentioned, it does seem interesting and weird, in a fun way. 🙂 Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll definitely take a look into it!
I enjoy dystopian sometimes, and tbh, I just think of it as opening background setting is a tyrannical government controlling individual lives, often assigning education, jobs, and relationships, etc., aka what most supposed utopias would be in practice if you’re trying to have a government run it. The big tonal thing that makes the genre is it feels suffocating and those who don’t conform have generally dire consequences.