Rori Rockman
asked
Katharine McGee:
I just read about King Camp Gillette's vision of a tower city, published in 1894. Did this inspire your trilogy?
Katharine McGee
This is such an interesting take on the notion of a futuristic tower city. Thank you for sharing, I hadn’t seen it before!
My idea for the Thousandth Floor trilogy was actually a response to the YA dystopian trend. Those stories all feature such bleak, hopeless versions of the future: with evil dictators, or children fighting to the death, or caste systems and slavery. I kept hoping that someone would write a brighter version of the future—one where humans had actually improved upon the world of today, rather than turning it into something twisted and broken.
All of this had been swirling around my mind when I read an article about “vertical urbanization”: the idea that cities in the future will be completely self-sufficient buildings, complete with everything from hospitals and schools and retail outlets to interior parks and gardens. I couldn’t stop wondering, what would New York look like if it became one of these cities—if it stretched upwards for two miles? And what would it feel like, to be a teenager there? I realized then that it had to be the setting for my novel!
My idea for the Thousandth Floor trilogy was actually a response to the YA dystopian trend. Those stories all feature such bleak, hopeless versions of the future: with evil dictators, or children fighting to the death, or caste systems and slavery. I kept hoping that someone would write a brighter version of the future—one where humans had actually improved upon the world of today, rather than turning it into something twisted and broken.
All of this had been swirling around my mind when I read an article about “vertical urbanization”: the idea that cities in the future will be completely self-sufficient buildings, complete with everything from hospitals and schools and retail outlets to interior parks and gardens. I couldn’t stop wondering, what would New York look like if it became one of these cities—if it stretched upwards for two miles? And what would it feel like, to be a teenager there? I realized then that it had to be the setting for my novel!
More Answered Questions
Kelly
asked
Katharine McGee:
What was the inspiration behind the dynamics of Jeff and Nina's relationship?
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