Just when Areum - daughter of a privileged family in the totalitarian state of Choson (North Korea) - thought she was free from her personal prison, her world collapses around her as her family is taken away in the middle of the night to a hell-like camp in the mountains where people who have strayed from the righteous path are brutally re-educated through blood, sweat, tears, and starvation.
There she has to fight for survival together with the family she hates and is forced to re-evaluate every aspect of her life until then: her deep resentment toward her twin sister; her view of her father in the face of mounting evidence that he is a traitor with the blood of millions of fellow countrymen on his hands; and even her love and affection for the Great General - the eternal savior and protector of Choson, whom she had always considered her true father.
Note from the author:
Have you ever wondered what the world looks like when seen through an indoctrinated mind?
This is a topic that has intrigued me for as long as I can remember, so when I came up with the idea to write a book many years ago, I decided to create it from the viewpoint of a victim of indoctrination… which in the end became Areum (the protagonist of the story).
What I try to explore in this story is how deep the indoctrination of a 14-year old girl can run and how much “reality” it can be exposed to before breaking… if it will break at all. As a comparison, the defectors from North Korea who arrive in South Korea are isolated for three months in a de-programming facility called Hanawon before they are allowed to join society where they go through this process in a more controlled (and less brutal) way than Areum.
I hope you will enjoy this slightly different take on the dystopian genre!
With the progression of modern society, it become more and more important maintain a good work/life balance. The tricky thing when starting out as an author – or any other small-scale business for that matter - is that you start from zero. That means you in most cases don’t have a book deal with money in advance from an established publishing company, no reader base, and any income from your writing lies many years in the future. In other words – you need to keep your day job in order to keep paying the bills even if you have big dreams of a life as a full-time writer. And that restricts how much time you have at your disposal to fulfill that dream. And if you’re like me, then you also have a full-time family to maintain, which removes many more chunks of you time.
Becoming an author who can live off one’s writing is a dream of many – myself included – but it’s no secret that writing novels takes an enormous amount of time and energy. And it’s a long-term investment, with emphasis on “long.” In order to achieve it, you will have to sacrifice hundreds of nights and weekends that you otherwise could have spent with family or friends, all the while not bringing home a single cent for many years. That requires commitment, and it should definitely be a family decision with all the cards on the table before starting out.
I debuted a year and a half ago and still have a long way to go before writing can become my full-time occupation. But I have my family’s full support, and I firmly believe I will get there eventually. And when I do, I will no longer need to take precious time from my loved ones to work on my dream. It will be like a normal job that I can do from home with nights and weekends off. But in the meantime, I need to keep fighting for balance, and not to neglect the treasures I have in my life right now. And I need to keep the paychecks in coming every month.
Adria Carmichael is a writer of dystopian fiction with a twist. When she is not devouring dystopian and post-apocalyptic content in any format - books, movies, TV-series and PlayStation games - she is crafting the epic and highly-addictive Juche saga, her 2020 debut novel series that takes place in the brutal, totalitarian nation of Choson. When the limit of doom and gloom is reached, a 10K run on a sunny day or binging a silly sitcom on a rainy day is her go-to way to unwind.
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Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteIt's my pleasure!
DeleteThank you for posting about the Juche box set, this is a must read series for my teen-aged grandchildren and I. Thank you, Adria for sharing our thoughts on how to balance life and writing
ReplyDeleteIt's my pleasure. If your grandchildren read it, I hope they enjoy it!
DeleteI enjoyed reading about your balance your life with your writing, Adria, Juche sounds like a thrilling and exciting series! Thanks for sharing it with me and have a fabulous day!
ReplyDeleteIt does sound like an amazing book!
DeleteSounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read.
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