Sometimes I just think about how Musk shared a graphic last year that featured a bunch of heroines of YA dystopia, essentially aligning himself with some kind of resistance effort. Yeah. A billionaire who somehow got to where he is because he's so "against the system." That's totally how that works. - ThreadSky

veronicaroth.bsky.social • 33 days ago

Sometimes I just think about how Musk shared a graphic last year that featured a bunch of heroines of YA dystopia, essentially aligning himself with some kind of resistance effort. Yeah. A billionaire who somehow got to where he is because he's so "against the system." That's totally how that works.

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veronicaroth.bsky.social•33 days ago

It was a really sobering moment for me, and not the first one I've had, just realizing that you can't control how people interpret or receive your work, even if those works are pretty unambiguous about their position. You can only work to ensure they say something true and worthwhile.

lainitaylor.bsky.social•33 days ago

Yeah, symbols will always be willfully misappropriated, but the fact that people can’t see the hypocrisy is so infuriating, that they can cheer for the “rebels” in a movie and not see that they’re voting for the Empire 😒

veronicaroth.bsky.social•33 days ago

"every villain is the hero of their own story" is cliche at this point for writers, but like...also an ACTUAL FACT apparently.

lainitaylor.bsky.social•33 days ago

And we all get to be extras in this big narcissist mashup, lucky us…

veronicaroth.bsky.social•33 days ago

I would never hold up my work as a stellar guidebook of "how to resist." I think I've been clear that I see Divergent as mostly...for funsies. What I was exploring was more intimate-- grief, family, duty, virtue. But it also communicates my deep suspicion about systems of power. I hope so, anyway.

veronicaroth.bsky.social•33 days ago

All this is to say, if you're writing today, I think you can keep your goals narrow. My job today is only to carve out the truest, most meaningful version of whatever it is I'm writing, to the best of my ability. The rest is out of my hands.

shvetathakrar.bsky.social•33 days ago

This. Look at all the tech bros who took science fiction cautionary tales as how-to manuals.

But you know what you said, and that's something. <3

veronicaroth.bsky.social•33 days ago

It's sort of hard to watch all these people who you KNOW have read some sci fi seemingly unaware of what it all meant. But it's good to remember, I suppose, that reading is participatory-- the reader creates meaning *with* the book. And the reader can be anyone.

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