A fan recently told me about a weird argument she’d had with her friends. She was telling them that Hunger Games reminded her of the Uglies series, and they responded that I must have copied my ideas from HG, because it’s so popular. She pointed out that Uglies was published in 2005 and HG in 2008, but they would not believe her, because HG was EVERYWHERE and therefore it was first.
This is a common human response to reality: We comprehend the world not by its own logic, but by the logic of how we encountered it. In other words, whatever we heard first must be more true and more real and more first than all the other versions out there.
This happens a lot with urban legends. You know, you tell the story of the Mexican Pet to a bunch of people and someone complains, “No, the rat-pet was from Venezuela, not Mexico!” This person has, of course, heard the same urban legend as you, but a slightly different version of it. And for some reason they think that the one they heard must be the correct one. They have NO reason to think this, because both versions are ridiculous and silly and untrue. But that other variant is theirs and so they become Team Venezuelan Pet in this stupid argument. And you all fight late into the night, your positions not based on logic, but on how you first got introduced to the story.
It’s like baby ducks seeing their mother or something. (I will also point out that most people have the same religion as their parents. Just sayin’.)
This phenomenon is part of a larger phenomenon called egocentrism. Not egotism, which is thinking that you are the best, but egocentrism, the assumption that your personal experiences are central and somehow universal.
But here’s the irony in applying this egocentric logic to the reading of books: The modern novel was invented as a way of being inside someone else’s life.
Think about it. Every word of Hunger Games and Uglies was carefully chosen to create the experience of being in Katinss’ or Tally’s head. This is why neither book has the line, “Gentle reader, unlike the people of your time, no one in this future world knows what an iPad is.” Because that would put you back in your life and ruin the whole point of modern narrative.
I keep saying “modern” because it wasn’t always this way. When the novel was a younger form, lots of them started with some sort of leisurely preamble, like, “This strange tale you are about to read was discovered in an old sea chest blah blah blah.” But in novels these days, the first sentences usually go BOOM THESE ARE SOMEONE ELSE’S THOUGHTS—DEAL WITH IT. Like, “When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.”
It’s the opposite of egocentrism, letting yourself become another person for a few hours. Especially when that person lives in a radically different reality, like a post-scarcity utopia or a post-apocalyptic wasteland. This departure from self is essential to reading novels, and it’s one of the ways that reading makes us better people. (It’s key to writing as well, which is why I gave this advice three years ago.)
Of course, there’s also a positive side of making our egos central to the reading process: When we read new books, we use the knowledge gained from all the other books we’ve read. We supplement the story of a novel with the story of our own reading history. This is a major reason why people can react to the same novel differently, like this:
New Reader: “I had no idea that Romantic Lead 1 and Romantic Lead 2 were going to get together. They HATED each other at first!”
Slightly More Experienced Reader: “That book was stupid. I knew from the first chapter that Romantic Lead 1 and Romantic Lead 2 were going to get together!”
Experienced Reader: “It’s cool what the author did with Romantic Lead 1 and Romantic Lead 2 in that scene, because that will make it more ironic when they get together later.”
This is in fact the major way we can tell how sophisticated a reader is, by how they relate the text in question to all the other things they’ve read.
But I’ll leave all the subtler points of readerly ego in your capable hands. I’m curious how your experiences with other writers’ novels changed your view of mine, whichever order you read them in. Let me know in the comments.
Of course, here is where I reveal that this was all a leisurely preamble to my own news: My UK publisher has released new covers for the Uglies series, featuring a crass-tastic tagline that will solve all problems of priority forever and ever!
Yes, gentle reader. They went there.
WOAHHHHHHH
Uh. Wow. The overall design is kind of cool, though, although the X-acto knife makes me shudder a bit.
The “gentle reader” thing suddenly made me think of Lemony Snicket–those books have the conceit of using a pseudo-Victorian florid narrator, but then, who wants to be in those kids’ heads?
Kind of like how people complained that True Blood was ripping of Twilight when the books came waaay before it. Books that put “fans of The Hunger Games will love this” or “the next Hunger Games” (one said “Hunger Games meets Harry Potter” – eek!) are kind of off-putting…but what your UK publisher has done is actually pretty clever.
Hahahahah! Those covers will forever produce a chuckle from me, at the least. There is a tad of snark in them, isn’t there? ;D
I love these covers. I have often times wondered after reading so many novels that are set in the future which author has the time machine that worked. I really hope that yours did Mr. Westerfeld because I would much rather be forced to comply with a “pretty” way of thinking than have to watch my friends or myself fight to the death. Being controlled by a group of specials and not knowing what was going on would be much better than living in constant pain. I thought both books had a very enticing plot line and while there were many similarities each book took a very different look at the future.
My first experience with Nikola Tesla was from reading Leviathan, but luckly i’m pretty open minded and didn’t try to convince my teachers he tried to blow up a city. But I still crack up every time i see his poster at the back of my math classroom.
Well, first off, I attempted to read twilight (BORING!) and it made me never want to read again! Luckily I ran into a shelf and Uglies fell off, so I read it, now everything else seems boring to read… 😀 But I don’t mind, because I know what a GOOD book is.
My friend is the same way, she refuses to read Uglies because she’s “just awesome enough to judge a book by it’s cover” When she said this I went all psycho Special on her and we just aren’t very close anymore..
i gotta say i read the uglies way before the hunger games and aside from the fact that they’re both set in the future, they are NOTHING alike. its really not even fair to compare such different novels like that.
P.S. I read leviathan the right before my class started learning about WW1 and it really helped except the fact that Prince Alec doesnt really exist and neither do flying beasties otherwise id be one right now
I love the new covers and the line about being before The Hunger Games. It gave me a good laugh. 😀
Well here’s a bit of a story:
When I first read Leviathan, I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it. I’d never read steampunk before, or anything about genetically modified beasties, and I wasn’t particularly interested in historical fiction. I really didn’t know how to relate to it. A few months later, Behemoth came out. In the beginning I felt the same way about it as I did with the first book, but then a few chapters in, something just clicked, and I was hooked. And now the Leviathan books are some of the best I’ve ever read. I’m also really excited in history class because I recognize people and events from the books. I’m also reading a LOT more steampunk and historical fiction.
I also read Midnighters, and I was pretty excited because a note on the shelves said that fans of the Maximum Ride series would love this book. I really didn’t get how the two series relate, but Midnighters was still really good. =)
As for Uglies, I think that it’s a very unique book. I mean, dystopian books are going to have some similarites, but Uglies was great because I could relate to the dystopian society , and still read a completely new story.
Wow…this comment is long.
I really like these covers. Actually, I’ve liked all the covers so far, including the originals.
I love being an intense reader, because it gives another dimension to the whole process of reading a new book. Whereas some people might say “Oh, that was a good book.” I’m the one going “Wow that was just like ___!”
I thought that the totalitarian futuristic controlled societies of the hunger games and uglies had a similar feel to them, but it’s the same with many books because the idea feels so real and possible. I really hope Uglies is adapted to film so that more people will hear about it, it’s amazing and I think alot of people (hunger games fans especially!) would love it
I read Scott’s books before ANY other young adult books. The Uglies series was the book series that kind of got me started on reading for fun. (And now I read ALL THE TIME). OK, except right now.
As I become more of an experienced reader, one of the things I started to value more in books was unpredictability in the plot. A book where I can guess most of the key events within the first quarter, (even if it’s a wonderfully written book) gets old.
But even after reading a lot of books, the Leviathan series and the Uglies series are still right up there with my favourites. Just not my FAVOURITE. Then again, if someone asked me what my VERY favourite book is, I wouldn’t know. Questions like that are hard, because you can’t really compare, say, the Gone series with Leviathan easily…
Meh, I don’t think the Hunger Games and Uglies are similar at all. I mean, what aspects can you compare, anyways?? There’s…um, a female protagonist and it’s set in the future?? (Along with like, hundreds of other books).
I want to get these books (even though I already own them) in the U.K.! I love the covers…I can brag to everyone that UGLIES CAME FIRST. 🙂
I bet if Uglies made a movie (which I really hope while happen…finally) and it was as well advertised as the Hunger Games movie was, I bet it would get close to as popular…not that this really matters, though. A lot of people think that Uglies are only ‘girl’ books because of the covers, though…my friend (who is a guy) was super surprised when I told him the book series was written by another guy. I showed it to another friend (who is a guy) and he loved the series.
I think if cover-designing people thought more about their covers, the whole don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover issue wouldn’t exist…I mean, a cover should be the book for your eyes.
Ok, I’m so off-topic. You can tell I’m bored…
i don’t see how the hunger games and uglies are alike at all, aside from being in a dystopian society and involving teenagers. unfortunatly, a lot of other sci-fi books are caron copies of each other. i was on amazon this week looking for new books for spring break and every single synopsis was the same. it was so sad not finding any new, interesting looking sci-fi
I think I win the longest comment contest in this post 🙂
Nice article, Scott. It’s very interesting. It can be hard to believe that people can be that daft, but they are. It’s sad when a cover requires “Before so-and-so, there was…”
Once again, nice article. It’s all true, sadly for the first part.
@15: Yes, I think you do.
Shouldn’t that be “Before the Hunger Games, there were…”? 😉
Really, I didn’t think the books were alike at all… Either way Uglies is and always will be better than the Hunger Games.
To answer your question, the Uglies series is the standard by which I measure all my future dystopian reads, whether I like it or not. I read the books when they first came out, at a unique time in my life – I was finally starting to feel and act like an adult, so I felt a little rebellious reading YA literature. When I finished the series, I was hooked on YA, and I learned something new about myself as a reader – I could read beyond my comfort zone! Now, when I read any sort of science fiction, I can’t help but to think of Uglies. And when I stretch myself to read something out of the ordinary for me, I think of my success with Uglies. It’s one of the few series I own and treasure – for the story, yes absolutely, but also for the personal memories and revelations. Sorry to get all sappy there, but I felt compelled to get that off my chest. Thanks for Uglies (and all the others – that one’s just extra special in my book) – you didn’t need a redesigned book cover to tell me it came before The Hunger Games. 😉
Okay, dude, that is funny. I was laughing through the whole post, and now I wish I lived in the UK so I could get a copy of these books!!! (I have the whole series, but dude, these are awesome covers!!)
The stupidity of others is very amazing to me. I, of course, love Scott Westerfield’s books, and find his books superior to The Hunger Games. I don’t see how you can find them similar. At all. They’re basically the moon and sun – still in the same sky, but they bring different things.
But, besides that, WHY DOES THE U.K. GET THE AWESOME COVERS? Those are pretty dang sweet.
Oi, what is wrong with people! I try to get points like that into peoples head all the time but they just say things like, well my mother said it was true, like that decides it. Personally I learned that parents weren’t all knowing in kindergarten when I started correcting my mum (I’m usually right). Love the UK covers they are better than the US new covers. I do believe I detect some snark in that tagline…
I read Uglies first and while reading Hunger Games it never reminded me of Uglies. they are both great original sic-fi books.
ps- I agree with 22 all of it
wow…
Oh my WOW!!! I love these new covers–why does the UK get these AMAZING new covers?! ;o
I personally love the original U.S. covers, (I don’t know if the covers in other countries were different at first).
(:
Hmm interesting. I don’t understand why theyre comparing these two series, they really don’t have much in common, aside from the fact that they both take place in the future. The covers are neat though, although, much as I love the Hunger Games, sticking it on the cover of your book kind of makes it seem like theyre upstaging you. Maybe it’s just me.
Personally, I LOVE the Hunger Games books, they were so good (and I’m dying to see the movie!), but I haven’t actually read Uglies, so I can’t make a fair comparison. I will say, however, that even though the Hunger Games is one of my favorite series, I have no problem accepting the fact Uglies came first. Also, I don’t believe either series “copied the ideas” of each other. That’s just my two cents.
…Wow
Here’s a reflection on reading order (dear readers) from a new-ish librarian for teens. The first Westerfeld I read was So Yesterday, so I thought, OK, here’s someone who writes great contemporary, realistic fiction. (I find cool hunting such a fascinating topic.) Then I tore through the Uglies series. Wound my way back to Midnighters. I started telling readers Here’s a writer who captures different voices so very well and is great at world-building. Then Leviathan took us into alternative history / steampunk, and well, wow. But overall, I could call all of it “speculative fiction” — except for So Yesterday, which game me my first impression. So I stick to listening to what the reader’s in the mood for, and if a Westerfeld sounds like a good match, I say simply, Well, you must try this one.
Okay, this is super awesome. I’m a huge fan of both series, by the way, but I like The Hunger Games more than Uglies. Of course I should also mention that The Hunger Games ties with LBG.
Although, I do have to ask, what could one have copied from another? They don’t seem similar at all to me aside from the dystopian-ness and possibly the over-throwing of the government, but, other than that? Nadda. None. I’m curious to know what you possibly could have “Copied” from THG. *cough*
1.) While it seems to me that neither Uglies nor the Hunger Games were copied off of one another, I do hate it when you can totally tell when someone copied, you just can’t tell who. For example (because that was really confusing): the Kronos Chronicles and Percy Jackson & the Olympians. They are exactly the same, but they both came out at around the same time, so you can’t tell who copied off of who.
2.) Why does the U.S. always get the boring book covers?! Sometimes they start out good (like the original Leviathan cover) but then they have to be re-designed and look not quite as cool. Or they just start out boring and you think ‘oh well, at least everyone else reading this has the same cover.’ And then you realize that everyone else has cooler versions.
3.) Is it just me, or is there a larger percentage of longer comments for this post than there usually are?
Shame, I really liked the UK covers from ages ago, the ones with bits of barbies and the razor blade. That’s what got me into the books in the first place.
Without those covers I would never have encountered any of Scott’s books. I saw them on the shelf and was intrigued by them every time I saw them in Waterstone’s. Eventually I bought ’em and that was that. I really don’t like the latest covers or the covers before these.
The ones before these were too childish, I would never have read them. These are better, but not as intriguing as the old ones.
@32. Rose, you’re right. There is a much larger percent of large comments than usual. THG and/or UPSE generally stir up debate on their own, but when you put them together… BLAMMO!
@4. Gasp! You said “snark”! I love that word. Just saying. Snark, snarky, snarkiness, snarkified, all of it. 😀
And before there was Uglies, there was Brave New World! Seriously Scott, I hope you have read that book. There are so many parallels between Huxley’s book and yours and that one was written in the 1930s!
Oooo, those covers are loverly! 😀
Most good things in life existed before The Hunger Games. I find it sad that they feel the need to take up so much precious space on those covers to remind us of that.
Before The Hunger Games, there was…
…Jane Austen!
…gazing at the stars!
…eating vanilla ice cream!
…sunshine!
You could play this game for quite a while.
…not that I don’t like THG (I do), but honestly, people in general waste so much time saying, “[Current big thing] is BIG right now!”
My favorite series will be and always be Leviathan. It’s just beautifully written and has a beautiful blend of science and history and fantasy that compliment eachother perfectly.
@37
I totally agree with you, especially with the Jane Austen part. People don’t understand the beauty of classic literature anymore thanks to the Hunger Games craze. Even though I like The Hunger Games, I don’t see what the big deal is over it and I don’t understand why people think we couldn’t have lived without it. Well, we have lived without it before, and these new covers are a great reminder of that.
thank you scott for bringing up the religion thing , what a coinsidence your parents religion is the one true religion
( P.S. i have never met a stupid athiest )
AWESOME!!! I love sarcasm, not that I don’t love the Hunger Games, but it’s completely ridiculous how people think they’re cool for reading one book thats really popular…..
@8 thats funny, we just started WWI in history class, and I knew way more answers than anybody else did because I read Leviathan. So not only did I enjoy it, but it was also educational 😀
@41 – “it’s completely ridiculous how people think they’re cool for reading one book thats really popular”
Right on, Libby.
Scott, this post made my night. And whoever mentioned Brave New World, RIGHT ON. I love that book as well.
I first discovered you from your Leviathan novels, and although I typically don’t read steampunk or fantasy or whatever ‘genre’ they ‘fall under’, they were just amazing, historically-informative, and (insert-other-gleeful-adjectives-here) fun. It’s rare for me to return to a book after reading them but I know that Leviathan – somehow, some way – will be revisited by me again and again.
Haven’t read your Uglies series but those covers are looking good (especially the taglines!)
Your ideas on egocentricism and the different readers have further convinced me that you are a terrific human being. And the 2NE1 song? Just for mentioning something completely unexpected, you, sir, win at life!
I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE.
Hahaha Mr. Westerfeld I just love the irony 🙂
OH SNAP!!!
I do love the publishing and advertising world!
More experienced than experienced reader: I’ve read this plot line before…Now I am going to re-read the Leviathan Series, Uglies quarted and Unwind.
Unwind: an original YA dystopian novel.
Okay. First, I absolutely love it that Scott tagged 2NE1. It makes me happy that we listen to the same music!
I took this article a little differently. Currently, I’m faced with a problem of other students not contributing substantially to discussions (of readings). It’s not that they haven’t read the article, it’s just that they skimmed the surface of it. And it’s incredibly frustrating! It’s frustrating because I would like to have an in-depth and delving discussion. So when I was reading this I was thinking of my fellow students. And I realized that I was a more experienced reader than them, and I should have patience. Thanks Scott for resolving internal dissonance.
Secondly, I’m an anthropology major and I love that Scott uses some anthropology terms! Or they could be from another field, but, again, egocentricism! I’ve only heard about it in my anthro classes.
I remember when I first read Uglies. They were my frist Scott books. I completely overlooked them in book stores because of their cover and placement within the store. They were right next to those…uh…how shall I say this? “preppy” books, I think is the politest. So I thought that Uglies was a preppy book and I REFUSED to read something like that. Then, I was at my best friend’s house and her sister had Uglies and having nothing else to do, I picked it up and started reading. That weekend, I went and bought the series (I had to wait a bit for Extras; it hadn’t come out yet). I haven’t yet read So Yesterday but only because I can’t find it anywhere! As an anthropologist, I think I would find So Yesterday fascinating. Uglies, from an anthropological view is amazing! I just….love the series. Love. Pure and simple.
Personally, I love these covers. I like how the publisher did the “before the hunger games, there was….”
It’s completely hilarious. I can’t stop chuckling when I look at it. @37, yea, we should play the before the hunger games, there was…. game. XP
I’m a huge fan of both the series. I think that they are both very good books. (but I must say, I prefer uglies a little more compared to hunger games.)
Except for the fact that, both books are set in the future and both the main characters are females. The two books are completely different. There is some similarities…but that’s in the values that the two main characters hold such as stubborness, love & strength.
I hate it how people say this author rip off another author. Like some say, Suzanne Collins rip off Battle Royale. Yes, there are similarities. But isn’t really ripping off?
I mean, authors get their ideas from everywhere. So yea. And I’m sure they didn’t purposely rip it off and maybe, they weren’t even aware that such a thing even already existed. So yea.
Books are awesome. I’m not really sure what reader level I am at. But I guess, it doesn’t really matter. Just sit back & ENJOY ALL THE BOOKS~!
The fact that you need to do that is just a tiny bit sad. But I actually do like the covers.
Just wondering, had you started writing Leviathan when you were finishing Specials? I was re-reading it and I noticed that Tally used the word ‘boffin’.
Probably that person just hadn’t read any futuristic/sci-fi/speculative fiction before. I haven’t read The Hunger Games, but I can’t really see what it has to do with Uglies. HOWEVER, when I was first introduced to sci-fi as a kid, I thought that the first sci-fi thing I watched (Silversun) had INVENTED the genre, and when I encountered my second sci-fi text, I thought it was a rip off of that show (even though it was written earlier too). Because I’d never encountered anything sci-fi before, I thought it was unique.
Thankfully, I quickly discovered that there’s a lot more out there — thankfully, because poor Silversun got axed after season one. :'( So I’m glad we have other books in the sci-fi/speculative fiction genre! 😀
i haven’t read So yesterday or the Leviathan Series, but having read Twilight, Hunger Games, True Blood, Midnighters and Uglies i feel like i can say that they have little in common, other than being YA fiction by anglo saxon authors (i’m portuguese). i love them all in their own way, because they are all different. i find it sad to have to make a cronology just for marketing purposes. it’s ridiculous this thing about the latest big hit is obviously the best one yet. how many authors came after Jane Austen who are inferior to her? why should hunger games be better than uglies just because it’s more recent. both series are good, read them all, read, just read! reading is so good for you. don’t read just one book for the rest of your life, read as much as you can, in the order that you stumble upon them, it doesn’t matter what came first, read them all!!!
having said that, i don’t like these covers very much (i seem to be alone here) and i think the snarky tagline calls out the attention to Hunger Games, even more.
my favourite covers of the uglies series are the portuguese ones, i have to say. but covers conform to tastes and tastes are different depending on your culture and country, etc., exactly like Mr. Westerfeld pointed out so brilliantly (as always), so i don’t think there is such thing as a better cover than the other, i think there is a cover that one individual likes better than the other.
and i really really love the midnighters series as well, how come people always just talk about uglies?
i’ve been planning to read Leviathan as well for some time now, but haven’t gotten around to it.
i hope Mr. Westerfeld continues to write more and more and more because i’m a big fan!
@3 Interestingly enough, one review of Hunger Games says “it’s Modelland meet The Gladiator”.
People seem to underestimate the whole premise of archetypes in modern reading. The Hunger Games archetype has been around before books even existed. But Scott’s right, it’s the way stories are told that changes everything.
I remember some of my early stuff was really dry and anti-egocentric. A comment I constantly received was “who the heck is the main character.” Needless to say, that changed…
But yeah, the thing about reading is the readers themselves. Like my sister has read dozens more books than me, but she has a very immature view on plots. So, it depends on the person, I guess.
I like the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy. 🙂
YOU GO SCOTT BOY! 😀
Wow, I never thought of reading that way before… and there I am, being egocentric!
@54
There’s nothing wrong with being egocentric, it’s just a perspective thing.
It’s the egotistical and egomaniacal parts of us we need to look out for.
@46 – Yep. I think the term ‘egocentrism’ applies to many fields. I remember studying it in my high school’s psychology class… or was it the sociology class? But anthropology ties in with both psychology and sociology eventually, yea?
Also, I just picked up my copy of So Yesterday a couple of weeks ago. I got mine at Ollie’s, which is kind of a leftover discount store. Basically all surplus items end up in that store. It’s pretty local though so if you aren’t around in the northeastern USA you probably won’t have the store to browse through. I get most of my books there. My local Ollie’s had several So Yesterday copies. If you really want maybe we can work out a mailed package? Let me know. I know how frustrating it is to look for a certain book you’re dying to read but can’t get a hold of a personal copy. *grumbles* My local Barnes & Nobles is seriously lacking lately.
I already weighed in but I reread the article and wanted to comment on another aspect. Most people in the world are followers, So Yesterday represents this well. Take my class for example, there are two groups of girls. One of them is a group of followers they wear the same clothes, they all have Vera Bradley backpacks and lunch boxes, are cheerleaders, and have no personality.Then there is us. We all are completely different wear whatever we feel like and are very umm.. Unique. I think innovators(to use the SYterm)are more likely to be experienced, intelligent readers because they don’t just read what’s popular they read what they want.
Also on the religion topic I do see a connection. This guy and I decided to do a survey of the kids in our class and what their religions are. Almost everyone said a form of Christian except for my one friend who said Taoist and the guy and I who are atheist. the three smartest kids in my class ( I’m counting myself because it’s widely acknowledged not to be egotistical) are the guy and I ( aforementioned atheists) and my good friend Giana who is very catholic. Make of this what you will.
*Scoffs* The Hunger Games is cool. But the Uglies series is a true classic and NO ONE!! can take that away from you Scott. It’s actually possible that the Hunger Games was a copied idea from a Japanese book. Scott you stay origional and always keep us on edge. What I say is RISE SCOTT WESTERFELDIANS! RISE AND SHOW WHO IS ONE OF THE BEST WRITERS EVER! I will not take the gargbage that trashes your books Scott. You inspire people. You kept me awake at night reading your books cause I couldn’t stand not knowing what was gonna happen next. I LAUGH at the Hunger Games (though it is a good book) and say, “HA! If specials where in the hunger games with Katniss and Peeta. Guess who would win? SPECIALS! And guess what SPECIALS would win TALLY AND SHAY! They’d kick that district 12 BUTT!” And so I say Scott. Uglies is superior to the Hunger Games. KEEP WRITING AND NEVER STOP!!!!
@ 55
I realize that, but thanks for explaining anyways 🙂
@ 59
I just find explaining things fun. Even if I’m the only one that listens. Sometimes it’s more fun to just hear yourself figure things out.
@57
The reason you three are the smartest kids in class probably has to do with the fact that you chose to believe what you believe and therefore have some sense of identity. Personally I’m Mormon and it’s because I chose to be. The reason most Athiests aren’t stupid is because they chose to be. No one forced them. They have identity. Isn’t it amazing what a little free will can do?
*Cracks up* I feel at fault for these 😉 haha… We still love Uglies Scott-la 😉 even if my profile picture is normally a mockingjay, I named my puppy Zane 😉 😀
Beautiful explanation Scott-la! I especially like the UK covers- good to see someone has escaped the hysteria that is The Hunger Games. I do like the series tho…but after what they did to Cinna I lost a bit of respect.
Man, it’s been forever since I checked this place out…I really need to start coming back!
@ TheWordMaster: Only after Cinna? haha … 😉 I still love ’em, though definately coulda not done such things to Cinna…
Gah, I kind of cringed at those covers. Both because of the exacto knife (which means I was probably reacting the way the publisher-people wanted) and because of the Hunger Games line, because although I know Uglies-the-book is singular, it sounds really clunky and wrong to have a “was” there.
X-acto knives- the sworn enemy of clumsy people. Especially me… but I do somewhat like the whole black color scheme… *says the girl who dresses in almost all black* @62 I know! I haven’t been here FOREVER because I gave it up for Lent… what was I thinking…
*afterword to characteristically long-winded comment which happens to be entirely unrelated* Mr. Scott-person-la-or-whatnot, what it the ETA for the Manual of Aeronautics?
Okay, that’s an amusing tagline.
I wish they didn’t go there but I guess your publisher wants to have the series more popular again with bringing in the Hunger Games name. I love the Hunger Game series but love The Uglies series as well and read Uglies first since it came out in 2005.
Both book are different and have different agendas/themes.
That story makes me almost as sad as hearing someone call Battle Royale a rip off of the Hunger Games. That had to have been the closest a white person has ever come to shouting meaningless Japanese while violently murdering people with a terrible quality Katana.
This was a great post, and I laughed. I can’t believe that line is on your cover. It’s great though, because your Uglies series got me into the whole dystopian thing in the first place. And whenever I rate a book on Amazon, if it was bad I recommend your series instead, along with a few others I’ve liked recently (Divergent, Cinder). I feel like you’re kind of responsible for the dystopian boom in YA books, and I thank you for it. In that respect, I think that’s a great tagline. You started it all and you should get the recognition for it. Not to mention it’s still one of the best YA dystopian series of all time, in my completely unbiased opinion.
Also on religion, it turns out that if Christians were born anywhere other than a non-dominant Christian country (a la America), they would probably be the religion of THAT country.
Food for thought.
unbiased huh?
I got into the books later (after so yesterday and Leviathan) but I love Utopian stories. that being said I prefer Uglies to Hunger Games. any day.
now my sister calls me Iain-la because I read part of the book to her.
I love the snarkiness of the covers.
And your notes on egocentrism. I never thought of that before and I definitely can appreciate noting the fact. Sort of in a similar way that John Green says the universe wants to be noticed. We forget that our experiences are only a small part of the rest of the world around us.
THOSE ARE SOME SASS PANTS COVERS. i read the hunger games the year it came out (which was like four years ago) and i could probably go on for a while about how good they are. but the whole “THAT AUTHOR STOLE THAT” is a little……well lets just say it happens a lot. Suzanne Collins was accused a hundred times over with copying from some Japanese movie. A lot of people say that Suzanne Collins opened up a new door into the realm of Dystopian books kind of like the Twilight series opened up the Vampire door, but its not like there weren’t good vampire books already there! same with the hunger games, because there were good Dystopian/ utopian books way before The Hunger Games (UGLIES!!!)
So, in conclusion, DONT HATE THEM CUZ THERE GOOD. AND…UHHH… THE HUNGER GAMES ISNT THE ONE AND ONLY FIRST-EVER -TOPIAN BOOK.
Amen!
Heck, most sci-fi/fantasy novels are based on ideas of something or someone else. I love it when someone has an idea that I can take a whole new spin on. Heck, if we really want to get right down to it, we can say that every distopean novel is based off Isac Assamov and every fantasy novel is based off JRR Tolkien. Embrace it, accept it, move on. If we didn’t have books like Scott’s books and the Hunger Games (both books that make us think) the we wouldn’t progress in literature at all.
yeah I read an article once that said that there are only like 30 something plot lines in the universe and that all those other books are variations of that plot line.
ASSAMOV!!!
*Teen with low attention span*
Well, all mystery novels fall into one of five categories created by Edgar Allen Poe. So technically, all mystery novels are ripoffs!
Clever!!! Love the new covers. Uglies does need more awareness, and I really hope it’ll help the movie happen sooner.
Epic new covers!!!!!!!!
I recently finished the Hunger Games trilogy, although it was awesome it doesn’t compare with the EPICNESS of Uglies. When reading Uglies I hid in my room for a week because I couldn’t stop reading. Uglies is WAY better than Hunger Games.
HI!!!!!! It is so good to be back! Although, I am wondering, where is Rachel, M@X, Zaliz, Sophie and who ever I forgot from when I was in the Wester-obsessers? Either I have missed a lot during Lent or none of you guys are posting any more. Well, I also have some relatively bad news. I am quitting the Wester-obsessers for good. It’s been fun and I will still be watching this blog and commenting and maybe submitting fan-art but I will no longer be part of your threads. See ya later, peeps. Sincerely ;), Levi.
I find this very funny because I just finished reading The Hunger Games two days ago and when of my first thoughts was
“I always thought that the Rusties in Uglies were US but what if the timeline actually went; Now, the world of Panem, the world of Uglies.”
***HUNGER GAMES SPOILER ALERT!!***
What really made me start thinking this was how at the end when Katniss is super thin from being in the arena and Cinna tells her they wanted to give her surgery to make her breasts larger, which since they’d knocked her out, would have been against her consent. This plus the fact that everyone in the Capitol dresses all crazy with modifications makes it seem as though Panem is only a few steps away from Pretties.
Interesting about Poe. Was talking about him 5 seconds ago with someone else. Another interesting thing? Most action adventures are based off Homer’s work. My English teacher blamed it on archetypes. Awesome. Archetypes have been around since before writing was invented. I think we’re safe to blame them! muahahaha!
Bwahahaha, this is one of the best Uglies posts ever. So great. (:
I will say that Uglies will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first dystopian science fiction story I had ever read, and it was amazing. Then I read the Hunger Games a year later. I loved it as well, I loyally checked the fansites everyday and dreamed that both Uglies and HG would become movies.
Then all this happened. How everyone is reading Hunger Games, and praising it, and saying they are huge fans. As someone who adored it before it was even announced it was going to be a movie, this ticks me off. As happy as I am for it, I hate that most people only know it now because it is a wildly successful movie. Then I look at your books, and wonder if this will ever happen with Uglies. It is a possibility, you have such a good story here, and now with a movie being planned…
These UK covers are pathetic. I’ve already seen so many books with “The next Hunger Games” or “Fans of the Hunger Games will adore it”. How dare they taint Uglies with such a wannabe phrase on the cover…and yet it is so funny.
Wow I’ve been ranting. Anyways, I’ll close with this: Uglies and HG are very different, but are both wonderful stories.
OMG AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Uglies are my inspiration, Pretties delve into my morales and Specials show me whats important in life. You’ve taught 3 important life lessons to me, even in Peeps and The Last Days.
the strength of our will and our determination to follow our own path is our motivation. Thats what makes us PRETTY and SPECIAL. humanity doesn’t need an operation to be beautiful, it just needs a change in heart to what really matters.
Ugh… I JUST noticed the Hunger Games thing. *junior senior moment* I mean, I LIKED the Hunger Games a WHOLE lot, but they shouldn’t be throwing two completely different things together like that!
Heaven forbid they do that with Harry Potter. o_0
Scott, have you realized that it’s been 3 weeks since the last FAF? And that was really a Fan Art Saturday.
THIS IS LOW!!YOU DON’T HAVE WHY TO COMPARE YOUR BOOKS WITH THG THEY BOTH ARE SUCEFULL!!BOTH DONT NEED TO PUT THAT ON YOUR COVER JUST WRITE A GOOD STORY AND YOU WON’T HAVE TROUBLES! AND YOU ALREADY HAVE A GOOD STORY! AND THIS IS NORMAL THG IS MORE KNOW BECAUSE OF THE MOVIE BUT DONT DO THAT PLEASE!
That was rather interesting to read. I’ve had those thoughts before about writing but it’s good to hear it in another voice. I read uglies before hunger games and they were opossites to me but if te same genre. I saw that these two stories could be the next rivals because they were both formed off of a future that went wrong. They are two branches of what could happen, kinda. I have always said that hunger games and uglies could be the next Harry potter vs twilight (meaning the epic rivalry). This is why your book needs to be a movie! I’ll be an ugly fan for sure (though I liked hunger games too). I just thought it was something that made my thought about perfection very clear.
Before the Hunger games there was…
This simple tagline is what brought me to this site after reading my way through Uglies, Pretties and Specials.
The Hunger Games Triology and The Uglies are very diverse. Though each are set in a dystopian future and feature a female heroin whos fate is faulted by others. Both are horrific and thought provoking in their own ways.
But more importantly I love both.
Thanks to your Uk Publisher and your pretty-making writing, I discovered Zane, David and of course Tally; oh and you earned a new fan. Therefore I thank you both.
P.s The books would make great Movies, I look forward to them with my fingers crossed.
I read the Uglies series when I was in the eighth grade, and fell in love! Now the series rests on a special shelf in my room, where I keep all of my favorite books. I am currently a junior in high school and have just recently read The Hunger Games. While I thoroughly enjoyed the series, I felt that I was constantly comparing the books to Uglies. I had a similar conversation with my friends, as the conversation described in the article. I told my friends that the Hunger Games seemed similar to the the Uglies, most of my friends haven’t read the Uglies so there wasn’t much of a dispute, but reading The Hunger Games made me think a lot about Tally. I believe that the characters of Tally and Katniss are a lot alike. They are strong, female leads and they both have to deal with issues in their government system. They are both adventurous, outdoorsy, and extremely clever. Some of the circumstances they are put through and their reactions are similar as well. Such as, the fact that both are used as pawns of their government systems. While I was reading The Hunger Games I oftentimes found myself calling Katniss, Tally. I believe that most futuristic novels have certain traits that will tie them together, and that it is in human nature to compare present circumstances with past experiences. The Uglies will always hold a place in my heart, and will be the point of comparison for every dystopian novel I read. I truly believe that it’s not about which book gets the most public recognition, true fans know which novel came first, and in my opinion the Uglies is definitely better than the Hunger Games, due to its freshness and the fact that each book packed a new punch. There were no repeats, like there was a repeat of the Games in Catching Fire. I am excited to hear that there will be an Uglies movie, and I hope that it will live up to the book. Hang in there Scott, your books will get the recognition they deserve, in due time. Anyway, isn’t it better to have a long-lasting following then to be a part of a passing fad?
This is late, and no one will probably never read this, but I just had to say this:
BEFORE THERE WAS ‘UGLIES’ THERE WAS ‘FEED’
😮 I am getting those, one way are the other, doesn’t matter if I already have copies I AM GETTING THOSE.
@2-I LOVE A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS!!!!
All my friends have read The Hunger Games and not Uglies. Exept for Mary, Hope, and Isabella. And my Sunday School teacher.
Uglies, The Hunger Games, and the Things Not Seen series are the only science fiction books that I like.
I love the person who did this ^.^ I’ll take anything Scott westerfeld over The hunger games
I love these new covers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will always love the Uglies series and really I think they’re the best books I have ever read. Its more than a good read, they’re stories that teach valuable life lessons that I’ll always keep in my heart.
I love this article. I think it’s brilliant that just because one fan wrote in, Scott made a whole new set of covers (well, technically it wasn’t him but oh, well).I love these books so much and I think they are definitely better than The Hunger Games.
I did notice some plotline similarities, but that isn’t always what makes a good book, is it? Sometimes a book can have a boring plotline but is written so beautifully Þhat everyone loves it. It could also be the opposite. I prefered both Uglies’ plotline and writing style to that of the Hunger Games. I did think that Coin’s character was failry similiar to Dr. Cable’s, and that Katniss was a bit like Shay. Other than that, there weren’t many big things.
I don’t think this has had quite the desired effect your publisher wanted… When I saw these in my local supermarket I assumed you had attempted to write a prequel of the book, not that this was meant to put all those tween arguments to bed. It seemed to me you were trying to associate yourself with the hunger games. My friend alo saw them and asked if I’d read them and she assumed you had attempted to write a prequel about a girl living in the Capitol. Splattering the name of the hunger games on your cover seemed like a pretty cheap trick to me. Now I understand your book came first but it still seems like a pretty cheap trick…