'What if?'

When some people see YA before a genre they instantly dismiss it and I say 'SHAME ON YOU' to all of those people. The tag young adult only means more accessible, it doesn't mean that the genre or topic of the novel will be dealt with softly in order for a younger audience to appreciate it. In fact, it often means taking heavy and hard hitting plot lines and applying them to a young person, putting these difficulties into the world a young person lives in just helps them to relate to incredibly difficult situations.

I just love the 'what if?' aspect of a dystopia; worlds that are created in response to a 'what if?' For example;

• 'What if reality TV turned into a way of controlling the rebellious masses by airing a hideous gladiator-esque competition?' - The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
• 'What if love was seen as an infectious disease?' - Delirium (Lauren Oliver)
• 'What if we found a way to live forever?' - The Decleration (Gemma Malley)
• 'What if the UK never solves it's debt problem?' - After the Fear (Rosanne Rivers)
• 'What if aliens invaded?' - The 5^th Wave (RickYancey and looooaads more)
• 'What if we lived in just five virtuous factions?' - Divergent (Veronica Roth)
  
• 'What if global warming causes the earth to become hostile and the poor live among it whilst the rich float in cities in the sky?' - Terra (Gretchen Powell)
• 'What if we lived strictly by one person's vision of purity and goodness?' - Article 5 (Kristen Simmons)
• 'What if royalty was decided by a dating competition?' - The Selection (Kiera Cass)
• What if all that mattered in the world was how we looked and life being one big party?' - The Uglies (Scott Westerfeld)

I can't even think of a 'what if?' for Unwind (Neal Shusterman), read it and you'll see what I mean. But hey, what if that actually happened?

I wish the whole series looked like this.

Of course these dystopian realities are made up of more than just one 'what if?' but those 'what if?' questions make us reflect on the world we are currently living in and the choices that we, as individuals, make. After the initial 'what if?' we often branch out into 'what if that happened to me?' and that moment of self reflection amongst societal reflection is something really quite special.

Of course, currently I'm living in the fantasy created by the question;

'What if I can actually get my book published?'