SciFiNow - 06.2020

070 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K

BOOK CLUB

Interview

YOU HAVE

CHOSEN WISELY

Can you tell us more about your

upcoming novel, Chosen Ones?

Chosen Ones is about a group of people who

saved the world when they were teenagers.

They took down the ‘Dark One’, a being

of great evil who wreaked havoc across

North America.

Now, ten years later, they’re the most

famous people ever to have existed, famous

for something that haunts every one of

them − especially the main character,

Sloane. But she finds out that just because

you take down evil once, doesn’t mean evil

disappears, and it doesn’t mean your story is

over. Basically, if you ever read or watched

a ‘chosen one’ story when you were younger

− which, if you like genre fiction, is pretty

much unavoidable! − this book is about

what comes next.

Why did you decide to move on from

young adult fiction to adult fiction for

this novel?

It was a creative move, really − I got the idea

for Chosen Ones. I grew up on Harry Potter,

and Dune, the Animorphs books, The Matrix,

Buffy − they’re all ‘chosen one’ stories. I

even wrote one myself, with Divergent. So

the question of what might come after −

not so much on a plot level, because some

of the stories I listed do continue − but

psychologically and emotionally kept tugging

at me. And that idea, at its core, is not a

coming of age story. It’s a ‘well, okay, I’ve

come of age... now what?’ story.

Chosen Ones takes an interesting

deviation in that it’s set in the

aftermath of a great battle between

good and evil, what made you decide

to take this route?

The ‘aftermath’ part was really the core

of the idea for me! But I think the reason

it appeals to me now, particularly, is that

I’m a little older. I know what it’s like to

spend your whole life preparing for one

thing, getting that thing, and then having

to sort out what comes next. We all do − I

mean, what is school, exactly, if not a long

preparation for getting a full-time job,

moving out of your parents’ house, maybe

getting married or having kids of your own?

when I was growing up − with the exception

of Buffy − that was always the role of the

woman. She’s there to be kissed, you know?

She’s there to be rescued, along with the

world. But the story doesn’t actually belong

to her.

Part of playing with tropes like this is

indulging them before you upend them. So

Sloane gets to be the love interest figure

before. And then she gets her own story.

We also liked how each chosen

one was very different and each

dealt with their ‘celebrity’ status

in a different way – how has your

experience been since the successes of

your Divergent novels?

Divergent was a whirlwind, and I didn’t

really know how to think about it at the time,

but I have some perspective over it now −

and that’s what’s on display in Chosen Ones.

Each one of these characters encounters fame

in a way that I connect to, even if it’s just in a

small way: Esther revels in it, Albie crumples

beneath it, Ines fears it but also makes use

of it, Matt experiences it as a burden and a

duty, and Sloane despises it. They show us

all the paths we might take, if we suddenly

found ourselves world famous. Maybe we

would hate it, maybe we would spend all our

time on the ’gram! Maybe it would make us

paranoid, maybe all three! I don’t know, but

it’s a good personality test, like tag yourself,

which Chosen One-fame-reaction are you?

There is very much an emphasis on

PTSD and coping after a horrific event

in the novel, why did you decide to

explore these themes?

I think those themes are kind of baked into

the idea. Regardless of the other things

Sloane went through, when you boil her

story down to its basic elements, what she’s

famous for is killing a man. An evil man,

sure, and one who needed to be stopped,

but still − her and her four friends

ultimately killed someone. Something

like that would have a real emotional and

psychological cost for a person. Even though

there are a lot of things I’m playing with and

delighting in with this book, I did want to

take that seriously.

And reaching that place is a pivotal moment.

You have to figure out where to go, what to

strive for. You have to deal with the choices

you’ve made and the person you are.

But there’s another story there, in that

aftermath. There’s plenty of adventure left,

for all of us. Thank god.

There are numerous snippets

throughout the novel that deviate

from straightforward prose with

newspaper articles and official memos

etc – can you tell us more about why

you decided to include these?

I started writing them because even though

I wanted to tell the story of what came after

the big battle, you still need to see what the

big battle was, and why it left our heroes

in the position they’re in ten years later.

The documents were a great way to do that

to give the most complete picture of what

happened. And throughout the rest of the

book, they do the same thing: they build a

more complex, more well-rounded world.

They were such a challenge − every single

interstitial required a lot of research! − but

the end result was more than worth it to me.

Plus, they were absurdly fun to write.

We loved the complexity of the strong

female lead character Sloane; she is

very independent but also part of a

co-dependant group of chosen ones.

What inspired you with this character?

We thought it was also great that

the protagonist wasn’t the so-called

‘leader’ of the group...

The way I see it, the ‘before’ story, the one

about the big battle, that’s not really Sloane’s

story. She’s an important figure there, but

she has more of the ‘love interest’ role. And

in the ‘chosen one’ stories I read or watched

We speak to Divergent author Veronica Roth about her first foray into adult fiction

with her upcoming novel, Chosen Ones...

WORDS RACHAEL HARPER

AT ITS CORE IT

IS NOT A COMING

OF AGE STORY

VERONICA ROTH

070-071_SFN_170 Author Interview.indd 70 17/03/2020 18:31

070 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K

BOOK CLUB

Interview

YOU HAVE

CHOSEN WISELY

Can you tell us more about your
upcoming novel, Chosen Ones?
Chosen Ones is about a group of people who
saved the world when they were teenagers.
They took down the ‘Dark One’, a being
of great evil who wreaked havoc across
North America.
Now, ten years later, they’re the most
famous people ever to have existed, famous
for something that haunts every one of
them − especially the main character,
Sloane. But she finds out that just because
you take down evil once, doesn’t mean evil
disappears, and it doesn’t mean your story is
over. Basically, if you ever read or watched
a ‘chosen one’ story when you were younger
− which, if you like genre fiction, is pretty
much unavoidable! − this book is about
what comes next.

Why did you decide to move on from
young adult fiction to adult fiction for
this novel?
It was a creative move, really − I got the idea
for Chosen Ones. I grew up on Harry Potter,
and Dune, the Animorphs books, The Matrix,
Buffy − they’re all ‘chosen one’ stories. I
even wrote one myself, with Divergent. So
the question of what might come after −
not so much on a plot level, because some
of the stories I listed do continue − but
psychologically and emotionally kept tugging
at me. And that idea, at its core, is not a
coming of age story. It’s a ‘well, okay, I’ve
come of age... now what?’ story.

Chosen Ones takes an interesting
deviation in that it’s set in the
aftermath of a great battle between
good and evil, what made you decide
to take this route?
The ‘aftermath’ part was really the core
of the idea for me! But I think the reason
it appeals to me now, particularly, is that
I’m a little older. I know what it’s like to
spend your whole life preparing for one
thing, getting that thing, and then having
to sort out what comes next. We all do − I
mean, what is school, exactly, if not a long
preparation for getting a full-time job,
moving out of your parents’ house, maybe
getting married or having kids of your own?

when I was growing up − with the exception

of Buffy − that was always the role of the

woman. She’s there to be kissed, you know?

She’s there to be rescued, along with the

world. But the story doesn’t actually belong

to her.

Part of playing with tropes like this is

indulging them before you upend them. So

Sloane gets to be the love interest figure

before. And then she gets her own story.

We also liked how each chosen

one was very different and each

dealt with their ‘celebrity’ status

in a different way – how has your

experience been since the successes of

your Divergent novels?

Divergent was a whirlwind, and I didn’t

really know how to think about it at the time,

but I have some perspective over it now −

and that’s what’s on display in Chosen Ones.

Each one of these characters encounters fame

in a way that I connect to, even if it’s just in a

small way: Esther revels in it, Albie crumples

beneath it, Ines fears it but also makes use

of it, Matt experiences it as a burden and a

duty, and Sloane despises it. They show us

all the paths we might take, if we suddenly

found ourselves world famous. Maybe we

would hate it, maybe we would spend all our

time on the ’gram! Maybe it would make us

paranoid, maybe all three! I don’t know, but

it’s a good personality test, like tag yourself,

which Chosen One-fame-reaction are you?

There is very much an emphasis on

PTSD and coping after a horrific event

in the novel, why did you decide to

explore these themes?

I think those themes are kind of baked into

the idea. Regardless of the other things

Sloane went through, when you boil her

story down to its basic elements, what she’s

famous for is killing a man. An evil man,

sure, and one who needed to be stopped,

but still − her and her four friends

ultimately killed someone. Something

like that would have a real emotional and

psychological cost for a person. Even though

there are a lot of things I’m playing with and

delighting in with this book, I did want to

take that seriously.

And reaching that place is a pivotal moment.

You have to figure out where to go, what to

strive for. You have to deal with the choices

you’ve made and the person you are.

But there’s another story there, in that

aftermath. There’s plenty of adventure left,

for all of us. Thank god.

There are numerous snippets

throughout the novel that deviate

from straightforward prose with

newspaper articles and official memos

etc – can you tell us more about why

you decided to include these?

I started writing them because even though

I wanted to tell the story of what came after

the big battle, you still need to see what the

big battle was, and why it left our heroes

in the position they’re in ten years later.

The documents were a great way to do that

to give the most complete picture of what

happened. And throughout the rest of the

book, they do the same thing: they build a

more complex, more well-rounded world.

They were such a challenge − every single

interstitial required a lot of research! − but

the end result was more than worth it to me.

Plus, they were absurdly fun to write.

We loved the complexity of the strong

female lead character Sloane; she is

very independent but also part of a

co-dependant group of chosen ones.

What inspired you with this character?

We thought it was also great that

the protagonist wasn’t the so-called

‘leader’ of the group...

The way I see it, the ‘before’ story, the one

about the big battle, that’s not really Sloane’s

story. She’s an important figure there, but

she has more of the ‘love interest’ role. And

in the ‘chosen one’ stories I read or watched

We speak to Divergent author Veronica Roth about her first foray into adult fiction

with her upcoming novel, Chosen Ones...

WORDS RACHAEL HARPER

AT ITS CORE IT

IS NOT A COMING

OF AGE STORY

VERONICA ROTH