The Writer’s Guide to Dystopian and Utopian World-Building is designed for curious minds. Explore nuanced societies, from bleak dystopian nightmares to radiant utopian harmonies. Using forty interwoven factors, this manual reveals how to measure the distance between paradise and ruin. Each factor is mapped on a dynamic scale, from good to bad, or bad to good, illuminated by real-world, literature, and film examples. Along the way, tailored writing prompts help you shape compelling worlds and layered character arcs.
Whether you’re crafting speculative fiction or simply rethinking the world around you, this manual is your compass for navigating the grey space between extremes. Packed with philosophical insights, narrative tools, and cultural parallels, PJ Mackintosh invites you to dissect the architecture of society and imagine what lies beyond. Paradise isn’t a place, it’s a question.
Literature is skewed towards dystopian stories, rather than utopian.
This is because dystopia offers a ready-made goal, something for the protagonist to fight for. Utopian stories are typically written about when they are threatened or when a sinister underbelly is revealed. If nothing changes in a utopia, there is no story – everything is perfect, and the world is rather dull.
The writer’s guide to Dystopian Utopian World Building offers a framework that enables analysis of a society, or even an individual.
In all stories, there are three outcomes:
- Escape: (Run away) Usually from dystopia to a supposed utopia
- Change: Either through revolution or changes in the character’s circumstances, or perception
- Death: The ultimate way out
Inspiration for the writer’s guide came by accident. Whilst writing Kurdor The Newcomer, I listed out all the elements I could think of that would make a utopia. The list grew and grew. Rather than letting this go to waste, I developed my notes into The Writer’s Guide to Dystopian and Utopian World Building.
I hope you find it useful. For updates on the release, sign up for the newsletter to get access to free resources and follow along on TikTok and Facebook.
My next book, Two Worlds, One History, uses all the factors in the writer’s guide. I have practised what I have preached!
Two Worlds, One History – Coming out in 2026
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Simon William Jacobs
