2) Create different parts in this futuristic society and give them funky names. If they don't sound quite serious enough to actually exist, don't worry. Just capitalize the first letter and everything shall be fine.
3) Try to create some kind of age-related deadline/inevitable milestone for the characters to go through. 18 is the best age, considering the target audience, but it can be anything if you can make it work. It is better if there is a fancy government-sponsored ceremony attached to the event.
4) Go on a little bit about the new big brother-like society and then insert [character 1, most likely the narrator or part-time narrator, who has been raised *this way* and who is confused/passive/naive].
5) Insert now [character 2, future love interest of character 1, who has been raised in exactly *the opposite way*].
6) Arrange for them to meet and somehow be unable to avoid each other despite a less than ideal start.
7) Skip the boring relationship building. No time for that.
8) Also skip the world building and pesky little details like consistency or "now, why would society ever do that?" explanations. No one will pay attention.
9) First option: If you want an introspective book: painfully slow but steady evolution of the plot towards a rebellion against the narrator's overbearing and totalitarian society, rebellion born from their loving relationship
Other option: fast paced, engaging plot with twists and turns that will make the reader forget about everything that's wrong with the world building and the insta-love relationship.
Bonus: get some kind of [childhood best friend/new love interest/narrator] love triangle in there, and you're set for a trilogy.
Of course, this is an exaggeration.
Of course, not every YA dystopian novel is like this. But you have to admit, it fits for most of the popular ones, and I think this is my recurrent problem with YA distopia right now: it works, on a very shallow level. It looks intriguing, but once you start actually thinking about it? It falls apart.
Case in point with a few popular dystopian YA books:
In Matched by Allie Condie, the pacing was the main problem for me. I know it worked for some people, but it completely fizzled out the narration and plot, and the pairing and love interest seemed to jump out of nowhere. It's not even that Cassia started having all these feelings and I was wondering where they were coming from. No. I couldn't even see the feelings in question.
In Delirium by Lauren Oliver, a novel with a fascinating premise, I would have loved to have more details and context about why people suddenly started thinking love was a bad idea. I know it's explained a little bit, but I need to be convinced. I can't just accept that something this huge could have happened and not have details. It's up to the author to figure out how to give them.
Another example: Divergent by Veronica Roth. Now, I actually liked that one. But the world building? No. Come on. People can't be rendered to being one single thing. The mere notion is preposterous. People don't have a "dominant trait" or whatever you want to call it. It's much more complex that that, and I feel like, again, we weren't really given any details about the thought process behind it.
I would be more than happy for you guys to let me know about any counter-examples you may have encountered, especially the ones for points 7 and 8. I'm begging for an in-depth dystopian YA novel, but haven't managed to find one yet.
