For genre geeks such as myself, one of the most exciting developments in 21st-century fiction is the embrace of sci-fi, fantasy and horror by so-called “literary” authors. That’s true in the real world and within The Dreamers.įind Karen Thompson Walker online at. The mystery of the virus’s origin and its effects on those who succumb raise a number of questions: How long will they sleep? Will they survive? What are they dreaming? Walker balances these worries with moments that will warm readers' hearts, and others that might crush them into a million pieces. Writing in the present tense offers the reader a chance to understand a character’s motives as they are developing. Walker's story not only pulls the reader in to the lives of its characters, but also, through their actions, thoughts, and especially their dreams, into their deepest desires and fears. “It added urgency” to the dire situations each character was facing. Walker began writing the novel in the past tense but turned to the present.
From the college students who go from partying, to mourning, back to partying, to the father who builds a doomsday shelter in the basement of his home, to a biology professor who visits a friend in the hospital, to a couple with a newborn baby girl coming to terms with the way life is versus the way it once was, Walker has expertly braided authentic and relatable characters into the novel. Once Mei had a voice, Walker searched for other characters “who would logically reside” in the college town she created. Walker explained that her approach was to begin with Mei and then “follow the advice of Charles Baxter to 'crowd your characters.’” Doing it for several characters could overwhelm a writer. That is the case for several of the characters in the story.Ĭlose third person can be difficult to write, even from a single character's perspective. “I have an affinity to people who feel apart or distant from others” Walker told Spine. She began with Mei, a quiet college student who doesn’t quite fit in with the others in her dorm. Walker wrote the novel in chronological order, juggling several characters' points of view and doubling down on that challenge by writing them in close third person, and in the present tense. The book wraps readers in a tranquil dream while keeping them turning the pages to uncover the cure. Soon, the disease extends outside the dorm walls. And so much of this life will remain always beyond her understanding, as obscure as the landscape of someone else’s dreams.Īuthor Karen Thompson Walker's new novel The Dreamers, out last month, is set in the fictional college town of Santa Lora, California, where a mysterious virus has arrived in a college dorm, placing its victims in a perpetual dream state.
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