The Bird & the Snake
“Remember who the enemy is,” Haymitch tells Katniss, moments before she is taken off to the Quarter Quell arena. Again, he reminds her as she attempts to talk down a man in District 2 holding a gun to her head; “Who is the enemy?”
The enemy, she knows, is the Capitol, and the man who embodies the so-called “beating heart” of Panem: President Snow. Where she is the symbol of freedom, he is the symbol of an oppressive system.
When Katniss first meets the President at the presentation of the victors, she understands instantly that he knows she is a threat, that she is the reason the Games and the Capitol were undermined. In the film, he seems to come across softer, commenting on her mockingjay pin and telling her that her district must be proud.
This softness and civility, we know, is a ruse. His eyes, she notes in the novel, are “as unforgiving as a snake’s” as he crowns her. What Katniss doesn’t realize at the time is how alike the two are, and just how much they will come to understand each other.
Panem Today, Panem Tomorrow, Panem Forever in Our World
Katniss raises her bow and lets loose an arrow, blowing a Capitol hovercraft out of the air. As it crashes into a second craft and they plummet to ground, the screen bursts into flames, and then: the Mockingjay logo over black. We watch this in the theater at the end of a trailer, Panem sees this at the end of a rebel propaganda short—a propo. The Hunger Games reflects a darker version of our own future, but our world reflects Panem right back.
Young Adult dystopian fiction is not a rare genre to find. Divergent, The Chemical Garden, Delirium, Uglies, Unwind, Chaos Walking, the list goes on. There are a vast array of reasons young adults connect with dystopian fiction. Give them a world they can see coming in their own future, a land destroyed by those before them, rules that tear away their agency, adults who would manipulate them, and yet give them the strength to grow, to change the narrative of their world for the better.
By wiping away the tedious normalcy of our lives now and exaggerating the things that already make life harder for everyone such as surveillance, media bias, body autonomy, and more, YA dystopian literature manages to not only distill issues in our present, but warn of future problems.
Mountain Sound | Seven
Efa spears the shovel into the soft ground, taking in her finished work. Four graves, two smaller than the others, rest beneath an old oak the Farmer’s wife once admired aloud on a golden spring day. The physical labour of digging and burying at least granted her a few good hours of work to distract herself, but now Efa finds herself alone with her own thoughts. Not feelings, she knows, because she can’t be feeling. But the thoughts are there, and they are not kind ones.
Nearby, the sheep drift around the small meadow as they graze, though many of them wandered over earlier to sniff what she thinks may have been goodbyes to Cinna’s small body.
Rogue Podron Mission 3 – 3: Egg
All wings report in! This episode: X-wing: The Krytos Trap Chapters 10-12.
This week on Rogue Podron, we discuss the second installment in the ongoing Poe Dameron comic, and chapters 10-12 of X-wing: The Krytos Trap, including: Dr. Gavin and the horrors of Krytos, Ackbar and Borsk having a showdown in the New Republic senate, the history of bacta, the unpronounceable Vratix and more!
Fanfic of the week, courtesy of listener Sarah: archiveofourown.org/works/6893167
Listener Question of the Week: What’s up with the egg? Tweet your answers to @roguepodron or send your stories to [email protected].
Website: roguepodron.tumblr.com
Hosted by Meg, Danny, Saf, and Heath.
NEXT WEEK: X-wing: The Krytos Trap, chapters 13-16.
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State of the Blog (and Where It’s Headed)
April was the second birthday of this blog (April also happens to be the birthday month for both me and my Twitter, too) and at the time, I didn’t have much to say on the fact. Plus, last month ended up being impossibly busy—the coolest thing being volunteering at Play by Play (NZ’s first international games festival), running a Twine workshop and doing event photography.
So, where is Not Saf for Work headed now that it’s in its terrible twos? Well, for what feels like the first time since I first posted here, I’ve actually got a somewhat solid plan.
Mountain Sound | Six
All at once Efa’s body goes limp, slouching forward over the dying sheep. Though she has no breath to silence, there’s a sudden, deathly stillness about the droid that fills Harper’s veins with a cold fire.
“Efa,” she says, hesitantly at first, then again, louder: “Efa. Efa, wake up.”
The sheep have returned by now, crowding around with low bleats that remind Harper of her brother’s somber humming. They seem to look to her for answers, because Efa is quiet and cold in a way so like Harper’s mother, her sister, and—
and—
her.
Rogue Podron Mission 3 – 2: One Wing to Rule Them All
All wings report in! This episode: X-wing: The Krytos Trap Chapters 5-9.
This week on Rogue Podron, we discuss what we think we’ll see in Jyn Erso’s characer arc, Wedge’s dad talk with Asyr, Corran being Corran, even after brainwashing, Wedge being totally adorable and awkward, and more!
One of our listener’s wrote this awesome breakdown of the epilogue of book 2: archiveofourown.org/works/6587467
Listener Question of the Week: What do Gavin and Asyr do on their dates? Tweet your answers to @roguepodron or send your stories to [email protected].
Website: roguepodron.tumblr.com
Hosted by Meg, Danny, Saf, and Heath.
NEXT WEEK: X-wing: The Krytos Trap, chapters 10-12.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Hawaii Colours (April 15)
Me: [puts down drink and gets out camera]
Sister: Are you taking another photo of your drink?
Me: [taking photo] No…These photos are from like, an entire year ago, but winter is fast approaching and I’m missing those golden sands. So many gorgeous colours there, I couldn’t stop snapping photos of the way the light shone through leaves, across the landscape.
Also there were cats.
Rogue Podron Mission 3 – 1: Nobody Puts Kitten in a Loorner
All wings report in! This episode: X-wing: The Krytos Trap Chapters 1-4.
This week on Rogue Podron, we discuss our #trashyromance wishes for Rogue One, and the first chapters of book 3, which include a funeral for Corran, Kirtan Loor being creepier than usual, an impassioned plea by Wedge to the council, and an emotional visit to the prison!
Listener Question of the Week: Before joining Rogue Squadron, what do you think Nawara’s toughest case was? Tweet your answers to @roguepodron or send your stories to [email protected].
Website: roguepodron.tumblr.com
Hosted by Meg, Danny, Saf, and Heath.
NEXT WEEK: X-wing: The Krytos Trap, chapters 5-9.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Letting Your Character Grow
You have a character, and she’s your new baby. She has a picture-perfect face, and a name researched for days that exactly sum up her personality and her role within the narrative. Three chapters into the story, and she’s already pulling at the leash, wanting to turn left when the plan dictates turning right.
Sometimes, a character grows beyond their creator, forming opinions and traits that alter their trajectory. If you’re unprepared, an especially rebellious character can entirely throw a story’s path into turmoil.
Not every writer experiences their characters suddenly gaining a will of their own, and others will very seriously state that these characters must be kept very firmly on their destined track—you are in control!
No two people write exactly alike, nor will they experience the writing process the same way. I’m going to talk about how I—as someone who throws the reins free the instant I begin a story—approach character creation and growth.
