Past, Present, Future
Authors and predictions
“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”
~ George Orwell, 1984
Last week, I hosted a conversation on the topic of authors who seem to predict the future. We shared thoughts on four novels: 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid’s Tale, and my own book, Make No Mistake.
All four authors wrote about future versions of the United States where books have been banned (and burned in Fahrenheit 451), women’s rights have been abolished, citizens are inundated with lies stated as truths, and the government is rewriting history in order to match their own agenda. The actions and movements of citizens are monitored, rebels (in thought, word or deed) are dealt with (death, disappearance, imprisonment or torture), and mass media floods homes, streets and workspaces. The parallels with current-day United States are shockingly accurate so we discussed how writers could have anticipated these scenarios seventy to eighty years ago.
What are your thoughts? Do some writers gaze into crystal balls or read tarot cards?
My own experience in writing Make No Mistake echoes interviews with George Orwell, Ray Bradbury and Margaret Atwood. Each author was influenced by the social, political or religious context of the time. Their books were intended as satire, cautionary tales to warn readers of what could happen if certain elements aligned. The ability to observe social and political trends, patterns and changes as well as a deep understanding of human nature are all qualities that these authors share.
For me, it’s also a question of asking myself, “What if?”
What if this happened, and then this happened, what would result?
At the end of the event, I asked participants to ask themselves the same question. I’m sharing it here for you to consider as well.
What if ... we could change the world?
What might be possible then?
In other news, I’m giving an online presentation next week on my experience using Substack to publish and market Make No Mistake: The Novel. As some of you may remember, I initially released the book one chapter at a time here on Substack, then as a podcast/audiobook (Substack, Apple, Spotify) and finally as a paperback and ebook. The entire process cost me nothing but time, built a strong readership and gave me immediate feedback from readers. Substack has also been a valuable marketing tool and I’m eager to share my experience with other writers.
My presentation is being offered through Eyes On Books , a marketing-focused hub for writers. Check out the link for more details.
Julie —
I need you to know what happened when I started reading Make No Mistake.
I told myself one chapter. Just one. I was deep into tax season, I was expecting company coming from the East Coast and Canada the next week. I had three poetry challenges running simultaneously all over the place, I had journalism deadlines. I had Life deadlines. One chapter.
Reader, it was not one chapter.
Maggie Carpenter is the woman I want to be when I grow up — and I’m 74, so that says everything. She’s older, furious, organized, and absolutely done with men who mistake her patience for permission. The underground Book Club as a resistance framework? Brilliant. The kind of brilliant that makes you put the book down and stare at the ceiling going, why didn’t we think of this.
You wrote this in 2019. In 2019, Julie. I’ve been writing investigative journalism about exactly these executive orders, these mass arrests, this methodical dismantling — and your novel beat is the gut punch. That’s not a compliment I give lightly.
The chapters hit like dispatches. Short, urgent, each one ending exactly where it shouldn’t. The President, Daniel, the collusion — it doesn’t read like fiction anymore. It reads like a briefing.
Maggie’s question — do I bring down the government, or do I save myself — is the question every woman in this moment is sitting with at her kitchen table.
Thank you for writing the book we needed before we knew we needed it. And, Lordy, but do we really need it now!
I’m sorry I have to miss it. I have a dental appointment at that time. It looks very interesting, Julie.