By Jason Steger
Veronica Roth is embarrassed that until last November's Presidential election she had never voted. So at the age of 28, in addition to registering herself to vote she made a video urging other young Americans to do likewise and exercise their democratic rights for the first time.
It was, she said, the sort of election to get you motivated. After all, there was a lot going on in the country that had attracted people's attention. Police violence and shooting deaths of black men had made her more aware of local politics and she was particularly concerned about gun violence in Chicago, her home city.
Veronica Roth learnt a lot about world-building when she wrote the Divergent trilogy.Credit: Alamy
"A big part of living in this city is being aware of how scary it is out there. It's something that lives in the back of my mind." She pauses when asked whether she would like to see greater gun control, always a controversial subject in the United States given the second amendment of the constitution. "Yes," she says eventually. "I would."
But it wasn't guns that galvanised her. "What really sparked my motivation to vote was he who shall not be named said something truly offensive and I was like, 'Right, that's enough'."
Carve The Mark, by Veronica Roth. Credit: AP
We have a laugh over the phone that Donald Trump, the President-elect of the United States, is something of a political Voldemort figure. But for Roth – and for millions of people in the US and elsewhere – the election result was no laughing matter.
Roth is gearing up for the release of her latest novel, Carve the Mark, around the same time that her new President takes the reins of her country. It should provide a slight distraction for her.
According to Forbes magazine, she was one of the top-earning authors in 2015, racking up an impressive income of $US25 million ($34 million) – a bit more than your run-of-the-mill novelist. She is the author the Divergent trilogy, young-adult dystopias, two instalments of which were adapted for the big screen. The final one is being filmed for television.
In a recent article for The Atlantic, Noah Berlatsky wrote that at this point in its ascent, young-adult fiction "is not just about books, but about film deals, fan discussions, and fan fiction, and Divergent seems unusually aware of these possibilities, incorporating them into its plot and themes as a series of metafictional nudges".
Roth is wary of generalisations about the genre because she thinks few people really understand how broad it is. The development she does love, though, is the greater reader and fan engagement that the internet allows.
"I know it has its drawbacks. As a creator of content" – she laughs at that management term – "I sometimes experience the wrath of the internet, especially with Allegiant (the third Divergent book) and its ending. That was not always well received; I've seen the dark side."
Was she shocked by the vociferous response to the fate she dished out to her heroine, Tris?
"Oh, man. Is it unbelievable if I say I was? I feel like I shouldn't have been. I didn't think about it that much, I was thinking about the story and the characters. I wasn't trying to pull something, but of course it was surprising. I understand that."
Mostly, though, she's enthusiastic about the internet's role. "With the internet and social media, it's so easy to be connected to people even when you would never occupy the same physical space."
Although she tries to shut out how people will respond to her books, it's now more difficult for her. "I've gotten to know my readership a little better. And I feel like it's very important for young women especially to have someone who speaks to them on purpose."
So to what extent did she tailor the character of Cyra in the new novel for her readership?
"I don't know that it was as intentional as that. But I did try to find her authentic experience in this fantasy world. The struggles that she had, some of them are very unique to young women such as being told by other people that you are valuable only for what your body offers. I think she struggles with trying to convince people that she is valuable because of a lot of things, including her brain, and so the reason I connected with her so much was how she resonated with the young woman inside of me."
Carve the Mark is set on the nation-planet Thuvle and follows the dramas in the life of its two main characters, Akos Kereseth and Cyra Noavek. The former is the son of Sifa, the oracle of the Thuvleans; the latter is the daughter of the ruler of the fierce Shotets, who invade early in the book. When his brother Eijeh is captured, Akos vows to bring him home. It's the beginning of an adventure that will propel the duo into at least one more book.
Their galaxy is distinguished by the Current, which "flows through every person who breathes breath, and emerges differently through each mind's sieve". The Current gives specific "gifts", talents and abilities, to people. Akos' is an ability to interrupt the Current flow; Cyra's is for inflicting pain, but because the pain is within her she also suffers it.
That aspect was important to Roth. "I'm glad you brought it up because it's one of those things about her that is quintessentially female. So many women I know go to doctors and have their pain underestimated or dismissed. My rage about that definitely comes through Cyra."
The other characteristic of the Current is the element of pre-destination to the characters; their fates and futures are apparently pre-determined.
When I suggest to Roth, a practising Christian, it's a rather Calvinist outlook she says that's possible. "I'm not quite a Calvinist, but I did read his Institutes in college. It's definitely something I've thought about and I do think it's interesting. I'm just not sure to what extent I believe it."
Certainly the world of Carve the Mark is a more textured creation than Divergent, a reflection perhaps of her grasp of the craft of fiction making.
"I did learn a lot from world-building in Divergent. Occasionally with the third book I would get to a place and realise I made a decision in the first 50 pages of the first book that I couldn't take back that was causing me a lot of problems. This time I was very aware of making a plan in advance and leaving a lot of space for the universe to grow and change over time and for different places to express different things."
Roth was studying cognitive behavioural therapy when she encountered exposure therapy, which was to be the inspiration for the parts of Divergent when characters go through simulation tests to see how they react to their greatest fears. She has some experience of the therapy.
"I have been in treatment for an anxiety disorder and am on medication for it so it's a huge part of my life even now. I think I will probably have some form of anxiety intervention for the rest of my life. Not that I don't believe in recovery, but I try to accept that might be the case. The worst-case scenario is this will be a struggle for ever – but that's not such a bad worst-case scenario."
We know she was anxious about the appearance of Donald Trump, but she says there are a lot of things that affect her. "This would be a whole different interview if we talked about those things. But mostly it's a sort of nebulous kind of thing ... I realised that I was waking up every day feeling panicky about nothing in particular and that struck me as not a terribly good way to live."
Roth credits J. K. Rowling with much in the development of young-adult fiction, to the extent of not being aware of the term until the Harry Potter phenomenon took off. Apart from contributing much of how "our industry works", she sees the Potter books as a constant inspiration.
Unlike Rowling she has not been involved in the screen adaptations of her work. She was very happy with the first of the Divergent films, but you get the impression less so with the second – which she calls "less character focused".
And while there are people poking around Carve the Mark with a view to film, it's not something she wants to be involved in. "I'm not particularly interested in developing the script at this stage. I like books. All dialogue; that would be a challenge for me. I'm not dialogue savvy."
Carve the Mark is published on January 18 by HarperCollins at $24.99.