A few years ago, I remember when every YA book that seemed to come out had to be a dystopian. The stories usually followed the pattern of despotic government overtakes an area, imposes despotic rules, singular teenage girl stands up against despotic government, falls in love with brooding teenage boy, they work with a resistance, and revolution and then victory. And I ate it up every time, to be honest. Now, the thing is, dystopian novels have actually existed for a long time. There were lots of sci-fi novels from authors like Ray Bradbury and George Orwell that took the dystopian route as well. But how does one actually write a dystopian setting for a story?
Crafting a dystopian world is not that simple, because there are lots of things you need to consider beyond just the current state of the dystopia such as the origins and the underlying implications on the rest of the world.
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Understanding Dystopia
Before we get into how to create a dystopia, we should understand what are the elements that make up the dystopian world.
For the most part, a dystopia is characterized by a society that is on the decline. These societies are full of oppression, suffering, massive disparities in the wealthy vs the poor, a lack of personal freedoms, and an overall controlling government that monitors and punishes harshly.
For most of history, dystopian novels were a critique on the current state of affairs, which is why we see a lot of dystopian novels come out during the rise of fascism and communism in much of Europe. They tend to pinpoint a problem in society and highlight an extreme potential reality of that problem.
There are many dystopian stories that exist out there, such as V for Vendetta, 1984, The Hunger Games, and Fahrenheit 451. These span across a few generations, but the core message is relatively similar.
How to Create a Dystopian Setting
Step 1: Define the Core Conflict
At the base foundation of any dystopian world is the conflict that led the world to become a dystopia. This issue or core conflict tends to be something based in reality, just cranked up dramatically.
Totalitarian regimes tend to be very commonplace in dystopian novels, and this is based on the political system called fascism. Fascism is marked by government control that is exerted over every aspect of life, extreme nationalism that reaches deluded levels, extensive surveillance, high levels of propaganda, and extreme censorship. One novel that covers this very well is 1984 by George Orwell, where this is shown in possibly the most extreme form possible.
A global war is also a very plausible way to explore dystopian stories. Typically, an extreme government comes about from some sort of political collapse and vacuum in the world. A war is a great way to have something terrible go on in the world. 1984 does something similar where the world descends into chaos with the development of atom bombs that are destroying entire parts of the world.
An environmental disaster is also a great way to set up a dystopian world. Natural disasters, extreme climate change, depletion of resources, and more are all great setups for a dystopian world. Additionally, viruses and pathogens are excellent ways to showcase a dystopian world. For instance, The Last of Us has a fungal infection that turns everyone into zombie-like creatures.
Technology becoming hyper-advanced to the point where it basically replaces humans at leadership levels is another way for a dystopian world to be showcased well. This is actually also a conflict type called “character vs technology,” which you can learn about in my post on the 7 identifiable conflict types in literature.
Finally, something like economic inequality is a major spurring of a dystopian world. The disconnect between the ultra wealthy and the rest of society can easily set the stage for dystopian hell. The Hunger Games did a great job of this, with the Capitol taking children from the poor districts and sending them to die for entertainment in a horrifying arena.
Step 2: Establish the Government and Power Structures
Dystopian settings almost always include an overbearing, powerful, despotic government or at least some sort of ruling organization. When you go to create a dystopian setting, you should consider a few things, such as what type of government you’re including, how the government controls society, and if there is any resistance to that government.
If you want to learn more about creating governments in world building, you can check out my guide on that.
Additionally, you want to spend some more time on this section than some of the other sections when you’re world building for a dystopian setting and story. The government and the way society is controlled is pretty much the reason why dystopias are the way they are. It’s also a good idea to include some explanation as to why everyone seems to accept the government’s overreaching powers and how there are some that do not accept it, but maybe they are punished in a way that scares everyone else.
In dystopian settings, the governing bodies and power structures are often oppressive. Decide who holds power and how they maintain it. V for Vendetta did a great job of this. If you haven’t yet, go and watch that movie or read the graphic novel. It’s one of the best at displaying what dystopian worlds look like while still being very grounded in realism.
Step 3: Develop the Society and Culture
The next thing you’ll want to focus on in your dystopian world is the society and culture of your selected group of people. For the most part, what you want to showcase to the reader are things like daily life, the class structure, the disparities in those classes, and the cultural practices of the people in that society.
People don’t just start accepting a government immediately such as the ones in dystopian worlds, but there is a process. At the end of the process, how do people start living their lives and how are their lives controlled? What sort of practices do people in this society do that are influenced directly by the government? These things are pretty much what you want to think about in developing your world.
Furthermore, class and wealth disparities are always evident in situations where there is a dominant controlling class.
If you want to create your own culture, you can check out this post where I talk about creating one. Sure, it’s for fantasy stories, but you can take lessons from it and apply it to a dystopian setting too.
Step 4: Craft the Environment
The next phase you want to think about in creating your dystopian world is the idea of the environment. The environment of your setting affects how the characters will react to their situation. For instance, characters living in more rural areas may have a different experience than people in cities.
The architecture and the way things look is also a very important thing to consider. For instance, in the aftermath of World War II, during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, a new architectural style called brutalism grew. Its main features were being minimalist, with barren colors, sharp geometric shapes, unpainted concrete, or something similar.
Step 5: Create the History and Backstory
The next thing you need to consider is how the dystopian world in your story actually came to be, and this can be done through writing lore and backstories. For example, was there a war or a revolution that led to the world today? Did some power-hungry guy in the government seize control or did this person win an election? Was there a coup d’etat that led to the military seizing control? Maybe there was a cultural revolution that installed a dictator that people wanted, thinking life wouldn’t turn out as dark as it did?
My recommendation, look up real examples of dictatorships and read about how they came to be. You’ll find more often than not that there are common events that precede these things.
Step 6: Focus on Character Experiences
A lot of dystopian stories are told from the perspective of a character living under the oppressive rule of the regime in power. However, there is also room to tell stories from the perspective of the regime as well. Whatever direction you decide to take, you need to think about how the psyche of the characters will be in reaction to the world around them.
Additionally, you need to delve into the personal challenges the characters face. Does a character lose someone they care about to this government? Does a character desire to rise in the ranks to become the next dictator?
Furthermore, you should think about resistance and compliance. Showcase how the people who comply act versus how the people who resist act and why they react the way they do.
Step 7: Focus on Propaganda
Back when I was studying in university, I took a course on propaganda and the media and how the two intertwine. You tend to notice propaganda more and the way it can be subtle or direct in messages.
Well, the thing with despotic governments is that they rely on brewing fear in society and then taking control of that society. A lot of this fear is brewed in releasing propaganda. For example, in 1984, we saw lots of propaganda from Ingsoc telling people that “big brother” is watching them. There’s also propaganda in V for Vendetta, where the slogan of the Norsefire Party is “Strength through unity, unity through faith.”
A lot of eras in history showed propaganda in full swing, like World War II, the Cold War, and even today! Propaganda is constant and always present in our world, but in dystopian worlds, you need to focus on propaganda. Propaganda needs to be convincing, it needs to be memorable, and it needs to show why people are controlled.
This is a piece of propaganda from the United States, let’s analyze it for a second:
So, this was clearly done in response to a war. From a first glance, we see the monkey is wearing a German-inspired WWI helmet with the word “militarism” on it. The monkey is also holding a bloodied club with the word “kultur” on it, the German word for culture, I assume. The monkey looks very vicious and even has a mustache on its face that is reminiscent of German military officials back in WWI. Above the monkey is written: “Destroy this mad brute.” The monkey is also holding a woman who has been stripped and is terrified of this monkey. And then we look a little lower and see the monkey is invading a plot of land that says “America” on it. The poster is encouraging American men to enlist in the Army and fight the Germans, using the woman as a motivation (i.e., if you don’t fight against Germany, the women in your life will be assaulted by those inhuman brutes).
This propaganda does a good job of the following: Dehumanizing the enemy, instilling fear in the populace, and portraying the “bad guys” as a wild brute that must be destroyed. Right or wrong is not our discussion right now; focus on the subtle tells in this piece and try to recreate that for your own dystopia. Trust me, propaganda is important. VERY IMPORTANT!!!
Step 8: Be Reasonable!
Yes, dystopian settings often take a real world scenario and exaggerate them to showcase an extreme version of that scenario, but you should still think about how to make your story realistic, plausible, and reasonable.
The way you can ensure this is through logical, consistent world building where you think about the elements that work in society. At the end of the day, your characters should also not be caricatures of people. They should have realistic reactions to propaganda. You’ve been exposed to propaganda yourself, so think about how your first reaction is, maybe your second reaction, etc…
Finally, there is one thing I want to note about the “revolution” aspects of stories in dystopian novels: Oftentimes, they’re not very realistic. The one instance that I found really did a good job of the revolution thing was The Hunger Games because (SPOILERS) the new leadership from District 13 ended up basically seizing control from President Snow and just becoming a new despotic form of government. 1000% this is insanely accurate and good on Collins for doing that.
Animal Farm by George Orwell also did this brilliantly. One of the best portrayals of what happens in a post-revolutionary country ever. If you haven’t read Animal Farm, read it! It’s a shorter book, but it is FULL of symbolism and it is very realistic.
This is why I always say to use the real-world for inspiration. Dystopias are based on reality, but you need to keep realism in mind. Most people will not revolt against the government, and it really will take a long time for it to work. And it often doesn’t succeed (check Egypt post-2011, it hasn’t really changed much).
I think dystopian stories can be some of the best written ones out there, but creating the dystopian setting is also very important. If you don’t focus on crafting the setting, you’ll lose your readers. You don’t want a reader walking away from your story going “but how did this government even take control?” You want to address these potential questions before they even get asked.
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