Memoirs of a Fan | The Hunger Games (Part 2)
Scene from The Hunger Games (2012). Taken from Filmgrab.
Part 2: Baby, Let the Games Begin
In yesterday's post, I mentioned that I tried to write an SYOT, but failed. I could blame any number of factors—not enough tributes, my school schedule, procrastination—but in the end, I had simply underestimated the amount of work I had to do. Yes, the submitters had to provide important details, but it was my job to flesh them out and make them interact with each other. Long story short, I never got past the prologue.
I don't think I can ever write it now, but I still like the arena I'd planned for it. The inspiration was Greek mythology, so there would've been mutts1 based on Pegasus and the sirens, among other things. Imagine seeing an actual winged horse on TV. Bonus points if the tributes' armor and weapons were inspired by ancient Greece, or even the theme park version of it. After all, the Hunger Games universe is set in the far future.
Speaking of the future, this SYOT would've been set in an alternate universe where the rebellion never happened. The reason? Prim wasn't reaped, so Katniss never volunteered. I didn't think too far beyond that when I was writing the prologue. All I needed was a semi-believable reason for the Games to continue past the 75th. But a couple of years later, I revisited this concept and added some details I'd never thought of before.
Meanwhile, in Another Universe
As with the first attempt, the rebellion doesn't happen because another girl gets reaped instead of Prim2. But during the victory tour for the 74th Games, President Snow suddenly dies. An autopsy finds traces of poison in his bloodstream. Now, if you've read Mockingjay, you'll know that President Snow has been poisoning his political rivals and drinking from the poisoned cups to keep suspicion off him. But in this universe, most people don't know this, and Finnick (who reveals the information in canon) won't be in a position to talk. So of course, the gossip in the Capitol is that Snow has been assassinated.
The books (only the first three—I haven't read Songbirds and Snakes) don't give specific names to Snow's family or rivals. Mockingjay mentions a granddaughter, but I imagine she's too young to be president at this time. So for this alternate universe, I invented her father—Snow's son. I mean, the granddaughter has to come from someone. Snow's son is just as evil, but far less competent than his dad. He's so terrible at leadership that the rest of the Capitol's government has to work overtime to cover up his mistakes. Eventually, this incompetence affects the Games itself. Perhaps the president and his allies are so corrupt that they use the national budget to refill their bank accounts, leaving less money for other things such as the Games. The Gamemakers then cut corners on arena construction. Unfortunately for them, the rebels in District 13 are aware of this and the instability in the Capitol. About a decade or so after the son becomes president, the Games are disrupted when some tributes are able to escape the arena. Chaos ensues.
Government officials who are dissatisfied with the son assassinate him and try to place one of their own in power. But this other guy also gets assassinated, so his former allies back his wife, thinking she'll be easier to manipulate. The wife's aware of this, but she also wants to assert herself—and what better way to assert yourself as a dictator than to crush your enemies? A good start would be the rebels who are destroying the state...
(Oh, and I just realized I wasn't able to account for the granddaughter. I don't remember if she was killed by her father's assassins or kidnapped by District 13).
The Arena of Possibility
It seems that even when I play with someone else's creation, I can't resist adding new actors or messing with their stage. And now that I've mentioned stages, I think it's a good time to list the other arenas I've imagined for potential Games:
- An arena based on the Winchester Mystery House. I don't remember a lot of indoor arenas from my time reading SYOTs, so when this idea came to me, I thought, "Why not?" Think of rooms within rooms, stairways to the ceiling, doors that lead to nowhere...it gets maze-like really quickly. The Gamemakers might not even need too many mutts. Several days of getting lost in a huge, possibly-haunted house (with no idea how much time has passed) might be enough to drive one to insanity, perhaps even outright murder. That's exactly what a Gamemaker wants.
- An arena based on Salton City, California. Picture abandoned houses in the middle of a desert. Done? Now add a salty lake with a shore full of dead fish. By the way, this lake is the only water in the arena, unless you count sporadic rain showers or water bottles (the ones that you and your fellow tributes fight over on the first day, or the ones sent by a sponsor if you're lucky).
- An arena inspired by photos of Tacloban City, Philippines after it was destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda (or Haiyan, to the rest of the world). Imagine howling winds and torrential rains at random times of the day, ruined buildings with caved-in roofs...and zombie mutts that resemble children, perhaps a tribute's little siblings back home. They'll crawl out of the ruins, tug at your clothes, ask you for food, and chase you down until you trip. Then they can shred you with their fingernails and sharp little teeth, all the while crying as they ask why you're ignoring them.
In case any of you want to write an SYOT and plan to use an idea above—I'd say go for it. Just credit me. Oh, and send the link.