Most dystopian, classic and contemporary, paints a future world that puts a twist on present society - a future world that could plausibly happen.
Lauren DeStefano
'Dystopian,' by definition, promises a darker story.
When I am writing anything in general, I just want to tell the story that exists in my head; I don't try to write a parable or make a point.
I realized how wonderful YA is and how I really wanted to write something that created that level of intrigue.
When I was growing up, there actually wasn't a lot of YA literature as it exists today. Most of the YA that I read was from the '60s and '70s, older than me.
When I was 11 or 12, I was really bored with everything on my summer reading list. It was all happy, middle-grade kinds of books. I was getting frustrated, because I liked to read. My mother went to the library and got me a copy of 'The Other Side of Midnight' by Sidney Sheldon. It was my first adult book.
Every generation has a macabre notion that wars, government prohibition, natural disasters or mankind itself could be the downfall of society and the world as a whole.
It was my fifth grade teacher who introduced the idea that writing could be more than a hobby for me.
