DYSTOPIA RECIPE

1. Grammar Effects
2. Be decisive about viewpoint (1st/3rd person)
3. Use known language effects:
   • Pathetic Fallacy
   • Neologism (new made-up words)
   • Semantic Field – explained below
   • Portmanteau (joining 2 existing words)
4. Foreshadowing
5. Anti-hero = character
6. Symbolism
7. Prevalence of technology

And to sum it all up: IDEAS/Setting
– amplification of societies’ current problems/future fears
– totalitarianism
– set in the future
– rebellion (anti-hero experiences enlightenment and then rebels)

Further Explanations
Semantic Field is like metaphor, but looser; through word choice. Words chosen from a particular domain to create a subtle effect e.g colour of TV, tuned to dead channel etc = technological words suggest technological world. Orwell uses military words to suggest military stuff.

Anti-hero is someone who does heroic things but is not typically heroic in their nature

Grammar Effects Include

• Fronted Prepositions
• Noun Phrases
• Relative Clauses
• Subordinate Clauses
• Adverbials

Introduce it slowly. Describe scene generally and move slowly, revealing tidbits about the wider society as u go.

Preposition Task

Fronted prepositions: where you use a preposition (“location” word) at the start of a sentence.

1. Beneath the bridge, still and silent, the glassy river lay in waiting.
2. Above the third chimney flew a fat pig.
3. Behind the bridge of broken concrete lies a series of smoking chimneys.
4. Between the frosted railings, two soldiers guard the bridge.

Behind the bridge of broken concrete lies a series of smoking chimneys.

Bold = fronted preposition

Italics = noun phrase, post-modification of noun

Noun phrases: a noun and all the words used to describe it which together can be considered a noun.

Relative Clauses: help describe people and places by joining sentences using which, that, who and whose.

Examples of simple sentences:

1. The street was totally deserted //
2. The ground was strewn with litter //
3. The sun shone down the road //
4. The buildings stood tall and imposing //
5. The air smelled of car exhaust //

1. The man was alone //
2. The man gazed up at the statue //
3. The man pulled his suitcase along the concrete //
4. The man hummed to himself //
5. His suit was itchy against his skin //

Relative clause: used to associate information.

The street, that was strewn with litter, was totally deserted.

The buildings, which stood tall and empty, lined the sides of the street.

The air, which was thick with dust and ashes, reeked of charred wood and gasoline.

The man, who was alone, pulled his suitcase along the concrete.

The man, whose suit was itchy against his skin, gazed up at the statue.

New Example with fantasy picture

• The river, which was grey with mud and waste, flowed through the cracked glass and flooded the basements.
• The furnace, which was fueled by the remnants of the bombed outskirts, pumped heavy smoke towards the heavens.
• The sky, which is thick with gritty ash, glows orange like the flames of the smoking rooftops.
• The castle windows, which were dirt-streaked and

The furnace, which is fueled by the remnants of the bombed outskirts, pumps heavy smoke towards the heavens. Beyond the burning castle lies the city centre, void of life but thick with charcoal and amber smoke. The river below, which is grey with grit and waste, flows through the cracked glass and floods the castle basements.

Within the dirt-streaked doors lies a vacant ballroom, still warm with the flames of the night that took the lives of too many.

New Photo

• Dark smoke coiled into the air
• The building stood desolate and covered in grit
• The river lay parched and stagnant

• After
• Unless
• Now that
• Before
• If
• Since

After the citizens ignored the warning signs, dark smog coiled into the still air. ??

Since the ecology of the Earth collapsed, the building stood desolate and coated in grit. OR The building stood desolate and coated in grit, since the ecology of the earth collapsed.

Now that the river lay parched and stagnant, the stench of rotting vegetation filled the air. OR The stench of rotting vegetation hung in the air, now that the river lay parched and stagnant.

All hope was lost after the ecology of the planet collapsed. OR After the ecology of the planet collapsed, all hope was lost.

FROM ASSESSMENT DOC – copy and pasted Sunday 23rd Aug

Remember this is an assessment about the writing, not the ideas. You don’t have to come up with a unique completely original idea (that’s basically impossible for a dystopia anyway), you just have to be original in the writing of it.

‘Plonk’ the reader into the story at a key moment. e.g the day of the aptitude test, first day of school at the ‘streamed’ school, the day the mother finds out that her child is a ‘fundamental’ idk

Plan

In a move to combat overpopulation, unemployment, unhappiness and inefficiency in our world, the government begins a new project based on evolving genetic and psychological technologies. This project consists of two key events:

• All embryos are tested within the first weeks of conception. Those with abnormalities and undesirable traits are aborted immediately.
• At age 11, all children undergo an aptitude test. This, combined with their genetic test, determines their strengths and weaknesses, potential for success, and thus their best suited future career option(s).

As a result, children are streamed into schools that best fit their future careers. The Fundamentals (supermarket workers, rubbish truck drivers, kind of minimum wage jobs vibe), The Trades (physical skill jobs, including athletes), The Professionals (the most desirable, stressful, highest paying jobs such as doctor, lawyer, entrepreneur, accountant that kind of vibe) and The Creatives (artists, musicians, entertainment etc). [names of groups subject to change]. You are allowed to have friends from other groups but cannot meet them through school or work as these are streamed. There is also another group in charge (the government but bigger) that includes police and teachers etc and are employed by the state, keep order in the system.

Professional =

Trade =

Creative = colourful, free and creative. Supplies society with stuff for entertainment things – based on performance.

Fundamental = basic. Little funding and more freedom. Taught basic skills, graduate school at 15 and work.

If performance in any of the ‘top 3’ is unsatisfactory then you are dropped to the Fundamentals. If you are outstanding in your field you can move up to The Ministry/The Authorities, which are the government system, highly classified, and the best of the best. Most people come from The Professionals but there is the occasional Trade or Creative.

• could enter into the story here, or maybe later… continue

At first it works, and society is productive and functioning well, but then there is some kind of revolt against the system (maybe the Fundamentals against the others, biggest group by number and the worst paid, most boring jobs. When the system is introduced the adults believe it is unfair for their precious children and so they fight against it?) (or maybe everyone against the government) and this war absolutely wrecks the system.

Then all of a sudden, the key revolt leaders are silenced somehow (‘vaporised’/killed/suddently they don’t want to revolt anymore) which is a bit suspicious. what is the government doing…

BRUH

What if there is a girl that doesn’t fit into her school. She is in the ‘Professionals’ but is secretly a Creative. She doesn’t fit in and she can’t understand why. It turns out that her parents cheated the system and now she doesn’t know what to do.

Plonked into their first day of their last year of school (age 16, nice and generic). They go to school and describe what they see at the professional school. How they feel out of place and no one understands.

KEY FEARS PRESENTED:

• government having too much control and not enough accountability
• advancing biotechnologies being used unethically
• environmental destruction and overpopulation driving drastic measures to fix it

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Facts from Germany, England etc to use as influence:

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Draft? Possible plan to start. 1st person present, starting at age 16 first day of school for the year.

My mother always says that the concrete slabs surrounding our part of town are beautiful. Efficient. Do their job and don’t let you get distracted from the task at hand. I think they suck the life out of the place.

I crouch behind a bush and watch them march mindlessly into the complex. The fake grass scratches my leg, poking through the thick cotton pants of the uniform unique to The Professionals.

STOP

The oil-slick sky leaks into the city streets.

MOSCOW KIND OF VIBE