Can You Top This? Writing Dystopian Fiction in a Dystopian World
by Elizabeth Solar
In suburban neighborhoods, masked neighbors hurry past each other to the opposite side of the street, avoiding physical contact, eyes averted. Others stand in lines that wind around supermarkets and sometimes a city block, waiting to shop for often hard-to-find items like cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer and toilet paper. Many remain inside their homes to defend against an unpredictable, highly contagious and often deadly virus.
Cities aflame, entire blocks consumed by raging fires. Blood red sunsets on the East Coast, that beauty belied by the shroud of thick smog that stretches from a coast thousands of miles away. Gunfights with assault weapons in busy downtown areas. Children in cages. Detention camps.
Marches over bridges for basic human rights, devolving into chaos by nomadic riot inciters and looters. Reports of forced gynecological procedures by government agencies. And a constant drip-drip-drip of propaganda perpetuated by a despotic leader.
A new limited series on Netflix? The synopsis of the next Margaret Atwood or Stephen King novel?
Sadly, no. It’s our newest reality.
If you thought 2019 was bad, it had nothing on 2020, which blew in like the hurricanes whipping over the gulf, washing away nearly entire coastal towns in the south. Did we mention delayed mail delivery that threaten the lives of those who await vital medications and perhaps thwart the results of a presidential election.
Okay, now that I’ve thoroughly depressed you, which is not my intention, how does a writer comb the dark recesses of imagination for thought-provoking literature while the unimaginable is happening all around them? As Gertrude Stein said, “Nothing is really so frightening when everything is so very dangerous.”
I do not have answers about this literary quandary. Better minds and imaginations may be able to provide insight, then lead the way, harken to past cultures, mine our darkest history to tell stories of both our most depraved instincts and the redemptive quality of our humanity to bring light out of darkness.
Skeptical idealist that I am, I acknowledge the current status of our world, but understand the world turns forward on its axis. Babies are born. People fall in love. We share joys and sorrows as we complete the circle of life. And we possess the agency to do more than witness injustice and wring our hands. We are equipped with the information, means and will to do better. I am hopeful we will.
In the meantime, we have access to thousands of stories, both fiction and nonfiction to touch, educate, illuminate and make us laugh. And when ‘everything is so very dangerous,’ maybe the most radical act, perhaps bravest act is to tell a joke, immerse oneself in a ‘Good Place’ or ‘Cheers’ marathon, or turn to the New Yorker to delight in how Andy Borowitz makes the crazy and absurd, hilarious. Because, and despite of it’s truth.
For now, I’ll focus most of my writing towards writing the funny. Sure, comedy is hard, but these days it’s a lot easier to take than reality.
For further reading, check out New York Magazine’s excellent piece from last November’s ‘Future’ issue that talks more about living out dystopian fiction.
