Suzanne Collins - Tumblr Posts

do people really just wanna be fans of the hunger games and not mention palestine at all? like honestly? do you really wanna just support fictional uprisings and fighting back against fictional oppression but don't actually give a shit about it in real life? did y'all genuinely learn and internalize nothing from this series????

This is an awesome take. The district that never quite played the capital's games by the rules, and seeing the whole progression of changes their actions caused due to the capital deing unable to predict what they'd do.

Lucy gray brought the entertainment elements to win people over.

Haymitch brought the rebellion by using their own weapons (the forcefield and whatever else we find out from his story) against them.

Katniss and Petta combined both of these elements and that is what finally brought it all down.

It makes sense to chose the previous district 12 victors when their stories add more context to why Katniss and Petta's games were so revolutionary.

I’m actually compelled by this prequel announcement because it makes a lot of sense to me to finish the stories of all four District 12 victors.

I keep hearing theories that we'll get a capital/gammaker/non-distrct 12 tribute POV for sunrise on the reaping, which is supposed to show the propaganda and how the capital twist things to suit their narrative.

While that might be interesting, I don't see how we'd get a view of what exactly Haymitch does to make them alter his footage like that when the narrator is so removed from his perspective. If we are watching from the outside wouldn't we just be seeing what the capital tells us?

The same likely altered story Katniss watched a tape of?

Sure we could watch a gamemaker and get more of the broadcasting picture.

But we have the option of a cocky young Haymitch who grew up in the seam, seeing the effects of the capital's work, who has now been reaped and has the chance to go down fighting. Wouldn't it make more sense to follow him or one of the tributes that gave the Capital a reason to alter the footage, then watch as no one believes them after the games due to being fed lies that distort all the tributes fought for while trying to survive?

Besides, if Suzanne wanted to show an outside perspective of what propaganda can do to objectify and dehumanize the tributes, I think we'd be getting Finnick's story. Think about it, the 14 year old people are already invested in, who's life was shaped forever by how the gamemakers and Snow presented him to the world. The one who's story and impact can come across easily from an outside perspective because everyone knows how old his is, regardless of if they want to forget.

Not the guy who won then disappeared into a tiny district away from sight and became a laughing stock of a drunk.

Haymitch knows what he did, and why it was warped to the point all evidence of his work beyond that final kill was eraised. He knows why all this happened, and would have to deal with the frustration of not being believed or understood while all his family and girlfriend were killed.

Haymitch is what happens when Snow uses propaganda to get rid of his problems and uphold his control over the districts - AKA the masses. It's best seen from the inside.

Haymitch is a tale of using propaganda to control the masses regardless of what actually happened.

Finnick is what happens when Snow uses propaganda to obectify tributes to distract the capital from the fact a child they got attached to is in a fight to the death with other children. It's done to control the capital AKA the few, and doesn't quite have the same effect on district people who see their own children in his situation year after year. It's easily seen from anyone anywhere, but it's effectiveness is best seen from those who let it brainwash them.

Finnick is a tale of using propaganda to dehumanize/objectify people to keep the audience invested in watching something.

In short, while a capital viewer POV might be interesting, I don't think the 50th games are the ones best suited for it. That's just my 2 cents on this.

Agreed.

She has plenty of other options to switch things up if she wants. But Haymitch is right in the middle of it all and familiar to readers even if we don't know him super well.

I feel like it makes sense to have him narrate.

everyone's theorising about who will narrate the new thg book but i honestly can't imagine it would be anyone other than haymitch, 1st person or 3rd person alike

shout out to suzanne collins for normalising, and honestly even romanticising, body hair on girls/women. shout out for writing a lead female character who honestly likes her body hair and is sad when she has it forcibly removed.

shout out for describing it in a pleasant way ("soft, curly down") rather than something unsightly and vaguely embarrassing.

honestly just shout out to suzanne collins

Last read:

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Number of Pages: 374

Rating: ★★★☆☆

First published: September 14, 2008

Read: April 19, 2022 - May 12, 2022

Thoughts:

First of all, I have to say the first chapter decidedly is not an inducement to keep reading the novel. It seemed like a first draft that the author or the editor forgot to come back to and fix. It feel different than the subsequent chapters. Why the editor didn’t correct it or ask the author to rewrite it? I think that does a disservice to Suzanne Collins since I liked her novel, however because of this I didn’t continue with the book when I first tried it years ago.

I liked very much the reflection of how much planning, effort, work and time goes into obtain food and the mention of how much free time one has to do other things when one has the privilege no to worry about hunting, harvest, gather, clean, etc.

Another aspect that I appreciated was that it was pointed out that people don’t have much time to consider about how a despot government manipulates history because the primordial concern is to get water, food, medicaments and protection from the cold. Nevertheless, it didn’t passed unnoticed that in the school the children were only taught political propaganda.

It was great of the author to highlight that the districts didn’t have communication between them and that was a way to prevent the people from unite and remove the regime.

Katniss is an inspiring protagonist. It was fascinating watching her being the caretaker of her family, then Rue and then Peeta. I like the way she thinks and solves her problems; I admire her compassion and I felt moved by her grieves, like the lost of her parents.

I’m intrigued by Haymitch and I expect to learn more about him in the next couple of novels.

My only other complain is the insistence of Katniss of being oblivious to Peeta’s feelings for her. That’s way too cliché in young adult fiction, as well as the love triangle for wich I never care for.

I think the Hunger Games series sits in a similar literary position to The Lord of the Rings, as a piece of literature (by a Catholic author) that sparked a whole new subgenre and then gets blamed for flaws that exist in the copycat books and aren’t actually part of the original.

Like, despite what parodies might say, Katniss is nowhere near the stereotypical “unqualified teenager chosen to lead a rebellion for no good reason”.  The entire point is that she’s not leading the rebellion. She’s a traumatized teenager who has emotional reactions to the horrors in her society, and is constantly being reined in by more experienced adults who have to tell her, “No, this is not how you fight the government, you are going to get people killed.” She’s not the upstart teenager showing the brainless adults what to do–she’s a teenager being manipulated by smarter and more experienced adults. She has no power in the rebellion except as a useful piece of propaganda, and the entire trilogy is her straining against that role. It’s much more realistic and far more nuanced than anyone who dismisses it as “stereotypical YA dystopian” gives it credit for.

And the misconceptions don’t end there. The Hunger Games has no “stereotypical YA love triangle”–yes, there are two potential love interests, but the romance is so not the point. There’s a war going on! Katniss has more important things to worry about than boys! The romance was never about her choosing between two hot boys–it’s about choosing between two diametrically opposed worldviews. Will she choose anger and war, or compassion and peace? Of course a trilogy filled with the horrors of war ends with her marriage to the peace-loving Peeta. Unlike some of the YA dystopian copycats, the romance here is part of the message, not just something to pacify readers who expect “hot love triangles” in their YA. 

The worldbuilding in the Hunger Games trilogy is simplistic and not realistic, but unlike some of her imitators, Collins does this because she has something to say, not because she’s cobbling together a grim and gritty dystopia that’s “similar to the Hunger Games”. The worldbuilding has an allegorical function, kept simple so we can see beyond it to what Collins is really saying–and it’s nothing so comforting as “we need to fight the evil people who are ruining society”. The Capitol’s not just the powerful, greedy bad guys–the Capitol is us, First World America, living in luxury while we ignore the problems of the rest of the world, and thinking of other nations largely in terms of what resources we can get from them. This simplistic world is a sparsely set stage that lets us explore the larger themes about exploitation and war and the horrors people will commit for the sake of their bread and circuses, meant to make us think deeper about what separates a hero from a villain.

There’s a reason these books became a literary phenomenon. There’s a reason that dozens upon dozens of authors attempted to imitate them. But these imitators can’t capture that same genius, largely because they’re trying to imitate the trappings of another book, and failing to capture the larger and more meaningful message underneath. Make a copy of a copy of a copy, and you’ll wind up with something far removed from the original masterpiece. But we shouldn’t make the mistake of blaming those flaws on the original work.

post 27188337 of why I love katniss as a character: she was a huntress. so some part of her was a fighter, skilled in that way, but it existed because she needed it to survive. we all know that one of the main themes throughout the series is the relation between survival and humanity and i think that this is one of the best depictions of it. when katniss must use the skills she spent her whole life refining—because she had to protect her family—to kill innocent people. it is through her idenity as a hunter, she as to walk the line of using it to be a protector or a killer. and then fight to keep the line from blurring.

and that’s what’s really interesting to me. that collins let us see katniss go into the arena as someone who had the skills and precision to kill, but not the heart to. amazing. truly amazing.

&& when she draws her bow at peeta at the very end of thg when the announcers say that there can only be one victor. and then she realizes what she’s actually doing. WHAT A PIVOTAL SCENE ... not only because of her feelings for peeta, but because she knows she has the upper hand here and it would be so easy, that one shot means she goes home to her family, but she crumbles to the ground because it’s her humanity that she is sacrificing by killing the person she has grown to love. and then the line clears again. she realizes that it is rebellion to retain her humanity. and then the berries.... you know what i mean

hunger games and tbosas didn't imprint themselves on me the way that they did for many people, but it did make me wonder what the population was like for panem. oh god. where do i start with this. all of district 12 can somehow cram themselves into one waiting area so this lady can read names out of a bowl. that bowl was not full. how little people are there in this expanse of country. appalachia today has like millions of people living there. can you imagine cramming the entire of new york city into one waiting area so this one lady can pull names out of a fucking bowl. that's ignoring the other population in new york state. california has like 58 million people. televise or digitize that shit. how horrible were the conditions of panem that they can fucking herd an entire district into one waiting area when today you can barely fit an eighth of a small city into four football stadiums.

Gale and Revolutionary Hate

Okay, it's been a while since I last spoke about THG but I'll give it a try because I've been thinking a lot about this matter.

It's been a while since I saw someone on TikTok defending Gale because, if I remember correctly, he was somewhat of a true revolutionary. The person meant that Gale not only believed in the Revolution but also thought violence was justified for it and although I don't disagree with it - I do think violence is justified in the face of oppression - I think this person forgot a crucial part of what is needed in a Revolution: organizing.

When Marx first brought up the idea of hatred as fuel for the Revolution, what he meant wasn't scorching and annihilating the enemies but using the hatred (born out of indignation for our oppression) as motivation to organize. Organization means being able to get together, form a community, and with that be capable of resisting capitalistic oppression.

And that's exactly what is lacking in Gale.

Don't get me wrong, there is a tremendous anti-violence message in Hunger Games - although I attribute it more to the trauma Katniss goes through because of it (which is warranted) than any ideological point Collins could be trying to make. And that message is definitely not one to pass when the motives of the Revolution are fair but anyhow, the point is: message or no message, I still believe Gale isn't a good example of a revolutionary.

That's because Gale, although filled with an appropriate amount of hatred to fuel a Revolution, lacks another essential aspect of a revolutionary, one Che Guevara puts quite well: "The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality."

That's because love is the thing that should be at the core of your hatred. Otherwise, we fall into a trap: in our hatred and need to destroy our enemies, we forget why we're fighting in the first place - the people who are oppressed by this enemy.

So the fact that Gale is willing to go so far as to explode the people out of the mountain on District 2, that he'd bomb the Capital with no care for the people who are there on the side of the revolution but unable to get to the other side of the fight, is what makes him a bad revolutionary.

Because his hatred isn't filled with the notion of community, he sees anyone who doesn't rebel loudly and proudly as an enemy, which simply isn't true. Not everyone will help the Revolution by making a fuss, or by fighting, not everyone can do that. Gale's unwillingness to understand so shows that his hatred isn't founded in any idea of community between the oppressed or love for the people he's a part of but actually is founded in personal offense of the Capital against him and the people he cares about.

Although that's a valid sentiment if your motivations are wrong, so will your actions.

And that's why I think Prim (in the films) and Peeta are the closest thing to a good revolutionary we've got there:

Prim understands there's a reason for violence, which she doesn't partake in not because she thinks it is wrong but simply because it's not her. More than that, Prim's capacity to empathize isn't blurred by her need to survive like Katniss's (understandably so, of course) so she is able to see the people who become collateral damage with kindness and openness that lack in Gale, for example.

Peeta is the same: he understands the necessity of violence but he won't partake in it unless it's the only way (which reminds me of Fidel Castro's quote: "Revolutionaries didn't choose armed struggle as the best path, it's the path the oppressors imposed on the people. And so the people only have two choices: to suffer or to fight"). Peeta chooses to be kind but his violence stems from the hatred this very kindness creates.

So no, I don't think Gale is a good revolutionary regardless of how The Hunger Games was written.

I really like how this is structured by the way lol (:

While reading A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, this is what I pictured Coriolanus and Lucy Gray to look like:

(Oddly enough, the actress' name is also Lucy but I didn't know that until I googled the picture)

ALSO

I've seen some comparisons with names in the books, mainly keeping with how the style of Greco-Roman naming is still in the book, and how some of the Capitol families in the original trilogy are shown to be in positions of power in the prequel.

BUT but but but

did anyone notice Arachne's last name?

CRANE

As in

Seneca Crane???

Mr muttonchops?

I hadnt seen it in any other reviews

And i just wanted to see if anyone else caught that reference

They certainly met their ends from their arrogance.

I know the new Hunger Games book announcement is exciting. But in what world are we hearing more about a book announcement than we are about the bombing of 40 children in a UN school-turned-refugee shelter? These two events occurred on the same day. Only one is being widely spoken about in the media.

Let’s not forget why Suzanne Collins wrote the series in the first place. One night, she was watching TV, flipping back and forth between coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a reality-TV show. That's when she had the idea that would ultimately turn into The Hunger Games.

Please don’t let pop culture distract you from a genocide.

The difference between me and Suzanne Collins is that if I wrote The Hunger Games I would have made Katniss’s name Nicoal.

~ 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞

𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘹 𝘍𝘦𝘮!𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳

𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺: Haymitch was your mentor in edition 51 of the Hunger Games, and now it's been a year of dating, you just want him not to embarrass you at the capital party

✫彡

Another year that you would have to go to the parties in the Capital, another year dragging your boyfriend with you, anywhere you got the attention was looked directly at you two

A beautiful couple doesn't think so? A darling from the Capital and a drunk, no one knew what you had seen in him. But how could you explain it? He simply understood you, you shared traumas together, you found comfort in each other, you were the one who made him sober, he was the one who gave you hope for a better life, of a love, and both would do anything to keep each other safe from the capital, from this evil people

You had agreed to do favors to Snow in exchange for Haymitch's safety, you didn't care much about yours, but his reaction when he discovered it broke your heart into a thousand pieces.

Now you had to deal with the consequences and extreme jealousy of Haymitch when you interacted with anyone of the opposite sex, you just want him not to embarrass you.

“Sweetheart" a rough and dragged voice called you and you turned around, watching your boyfriend's eyes shine with how beautiful you were."Haymitch!" You said going towards him and placing a kiss on his lips, and quickly tasted the alcohol. "Whisky?" You asked a little upset that he started drinking so early, every time you returned to the capital it was the same thing. "Sometimes I think you drink hidden from me," He said "No, I just kiss you too much"

He put his hand on your waist and pulled you closer, the strong aroma filling your senses, and soon he leaned his lips on yours, kissing a little desperately you would say, but you tried to calm him down. "Mich, please, please, please control yourself with the drinks today," he didn't answer you, he held your hand and both entered the salon, you just rolled your eyes

✫彡

"Interesting L/N, but why don't we talk in a more reserved place?" Asked the tall man you were talking to, the idea of having to go to bed with another man disgusted you, but fortunately you would return to the district tonight, so such an act would not happen "Oh, I'm sorry but I think Mr. Damian would come to meet me here, exactly...”you paused to look at the decorated clock on the wall “...10 pm”

“Do you think it's necessary to wait for him?" He added running his hand through his dark hair "Yes" you completed simple, wanting to look direct, until you hear a noise of a glass breaking, you turned quickly and soon found the cause of the confusion

Haymich

Damian's suit was soaked and stained with a little blood, he was supposed to come look for you now, but someone stopped him

And this someone was coming towards you, you felt your face boil with anger and relief at the same time, you didn't know, but your boyfriend was listening to all the things Damian wanted to do with you tonight by taking her away from the man you were talking to

And soon you felt a strong hand grab your waist, your nostrils smelled expensive perfume and alcoholic beverage, but his angry voice invaded all your senses making you weak. "Is everything okay here, my love? I don't want to break a cup in another pompous one in the capital" You didn't answer, you preferred not to do it, you just watched him hide the other hand that had started to bleed. “Have a good evening sir, we have to leave" you said and walked quickly dragging Haymitch to your side

If he wanted to go and do something stupid, that wasn't in front of you

“You're not going to leave me, are you?" He said making that abandoned puppy face, looking a little sad, you stopped in the middle of the hallway looking directly at him

"Haymitch, I'm sad not because you wanted to protect me, but by the way you did it, one of the reasons I love you is this, you take care of me in a way that I don't even do myself, so never, I would never leave you" you ended by giving a quick kiss on his nose, now your eyes were watering

He was just an impulsive boy, you knew that, you knew everything that people had warned you about him, but you never regret it, you had promised, between kisses, touches, oaths of eternal love, that you would both fix each other together, you would overcome everything together

He wiped a tear that flowed from your eyes. "I'm sorry, really I- "he took a deep breath trying to find the right words" I would do anything for you, I love you baby" words could not express what he really felt, but taking a lock out of his hair and putting it behind his ear to see those beautiful eyes he was sure, you were not everything in the world, you were the world

Haymitch may not be the most romantic person, but for you he would do anything.

✫彡

A TENTH ANNIVERSARY INTERVIEW WITH SUZANNE COLLINS

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the publication of The Hunger Games, author Suzanne Collins and publisher David Levithan discussed the evolution of the story, the editorial process, and the first ten years of the life of the trilogy, encompassing both books and films. The following is their written conversation.

NOTE: The following interview contains a discussion of all three books in The Hunger Games Trilogy, so if you have yet to read Catching Fire and Mockingjay, you may want to read them before reading the full interview.

transcript below

DAVID LEVITHAN: Let’s start at the origin moment for The Hunger Games. You were flipping channels one night . . .

SUZANNE COLLINS: Yes, I was flipping through the channels one night between reality television programs and actual footage of the Iraq War, when the idea came to me. At the time, I was completing the fifth book in The Underland Chronicles and my brain was shifting to whatever the next project would be. I had been grappling with another story that just couldn’t get any air under its wings. I knew I wanted to continue to explore writing about just war theory for young audiences. In The Underland Chronicles, I’d examined the idea of an unjust war developing into a just war because of greed, xenophobia, and long-standing hatreds. For the next series, I wanted a completely new world and a different angle into the just war debate.

DL: Can you tell me what you mean by the “just war theory” and how that applies to the setup of the trilogy?

SC: Just war theory has evolved over thousands of years in an attempt to define what circumstances give you the moral right to wage war and what is acceptable behavior within that war and its aftermath. The why and the how. It helps differentiate between what’s considered a necessary and an unnecessary war. In The Hunger Games Trilogy, the districts rebel against their own government because of its corruption. The citizens of the districts have no basic human rights, are treated as slave labor, and are subjected to the Hunger Games annually. I believe the majority of today’s audience would define that as grounds for revolution. They have just cause but the nature of the conflict raises a lot of questions. Do the districts have the authority to wage war? What is their chance of success? How does the reemergence of District 13 alter the situation? When we enter the story, Panem is a powder keg and Katniss the spark.

DL: As with most novelists I know, once you have that origin moment — usually a connection of two elements (in this case, war and entertainment) — the number of connections quickly increases, as different elements of the story take their place. I know another connection you made early on was with mythology, particularly the myth of Theseus. How did that piece come to fit?

SC: I was such a huge Greek mythology geek as a kid, it’s impossible for it not to come into play in my storytelling. As a young prince of Athens, he participated in a lottery that required seven girls and seven boys to be taken to Crete and thrown into a labyrinth to be destroyed by the Minotaur. In one version of the myth, this excessively cruel punishment resulted from the Athenians opposing Crete in a war. Sometimes the labyrinth’s a maze; sometimes it’s an arena. In my teens I read Mary Renault’s The King Must Die, in which the tributes end up in the Bull Court. They’re trained to perform with a wild bull for an audience composed of the elite of Crete who bet on the entertainment. Theseus and his team dance and handspring over the bull in what’s called bull-leaping. You can see depictions of this in ancient sculpture and vase paintings. The show ended when they’d either exhausted the bull or one of the team had been killed. After I read that book, I could never go back to thinking of the labyrinth as simply a maze, except perhaps ethically. It will always be an arena to me.

DL: But in this case, you dispensed with the Minotaur, no? Instead, the arena harkens more to gladiator vs. gladiator than to gladiator vs. bull. What influenced this construction?

SC: A fascination with the gladiator movies of my childhood, particularly Spartacus. Whenever it ran, I’d be glued to the set. My dad would get outPlutarch’s Lives and read me passages from “Life of Crassus,” since Spartacus, being a slave, didn’t rate his own book. It’s about a person who’s forced to become a gladiator, breaks out of the gladiator school/arena to lead a rebellion, and becomes the face of a war. That’s the dramatic arc of both the real-life Third Servile War and the fictional Hunger Games Trilogy.

DL: Can you talk about how war stories influenced you as a young reader, and then later as a writer? How did this knowledge of war stories affect your approach to writing The Hunger Games?

SC: Now you can find many wonderful books written for young audiences that deal with war. That wasn’t the case when I was growing up. It was one of the reasons Greek mythology appealed to me: the characters battled, there was the Trojan War. My family had been heavily impacted by war the year my father, who was career Air Force, went to Vietnam, but except for my myths, I rarely encountered it in books. I liked Johnny Tremain but it ends as the Revolutionary War kicks off. The one really memorable book I had about war was Boris by Jaap ter Haar, which deals with the Siege of Leningrad in World War II.

My war stories came from my dad, a historian and a doctor of political science. The four years before he left for Vietnam, the Army borrowed him from the Air Force to teach at West Point. His final assignment would be at Air Command and Staff College. As his kids, we were never too young to learn, whether he was teaching us history or taking us on vacation to a battlefield or posing a philosophical dilemma. He approached history as a story, and fortunately he was a very engaging storyteller. As a result, in my own writing, war felt like a completely natural topic for children.

DL: Another key piece of The Hunger Games is the voice and perspective that Katniss brings to it. I know some novelists start with a character and then find a story through that character, but with The Hunger Games (and correct me if I’m wrong) I believe you had the idea for the story first, and then Katniss stepped into it. Where did she come from? I’d love for you to talk about the origin of her name, and also the origin of her very distinctive voice.

SC: Katniss appeared almost immediately after I had the idea, standing by the bed with that bow and arrow. I’d spent a lot of time during The Underland Chronicles weighing the attributes of different weapons. I used archers very sparingly because they required light and the Underland has little natural illumination. But a bow and arrow can be handmade, shot from a distance, and weaponized when the story transitions into warfare. She was a born archer.

Her name came later, while I was researching survival training and specifically edible plants. In one of my books, I found the arrowhead plant, and the more I read about it, the more it seemed to reflect her. Its Latin name has the same roots as Sagittarius, the archer. The edible tuber roots she could gather, the arrowhead-shaped leaves were her defense, and the little white blossoms kept it in the tradition of flower names, like Rue and Primrose. I looked at the list of alternative names for it. Swamp Potato. Duck Potato. Katniss easily won the day.

As to her voice, I hadn’t intended to write in first person. I thought the book would be in the third person like The Underland Chronicles. Then I sat down to work and the first page poured out in first person, like she was saying, “Step aside, this is my story to tell.” So I let her.

DL: I am now trying to summon an alternate universe where the Mockingjay is named Swamp Potato Everdeen. Seems like a PR challenge. But let’s stay for a second on the voice — because it’s not a straightforward, generic American voice. There’s a regionalism to it, isn’t there? Was that present from the start?

SC: It was. There’s a slight District 12 regionalism to it, and some of the other tributes use phrases unique to their regions as well. The way they speak, particularly the way in which they refuse to speak like citizens of the Capitol, is important to them. No one in District 12 wants to sound like Effie Trinket unless they’re mocking her. So they hold on to their regionalisms as a quiet form of rebellion. The closest thing they have to freedom of speech is their manner of speaking.

DL: I’m curious about Katniss’s family structure. Was it always as we see it, or did you ever consider giving her parents greater roles? How much do you think the Everdeen family’s story sets the stage for Katniss’s story within the trilogy?

SC: Her parents have their own histories in District 12 but I only included what’s pertinent to Katniss’s tale. Her father’s hunting skills, musicality, and death in the mines. Her mother’s healing talent and vulnerabilities. Her deep love for Prim. Those are the elements that seemed essential to me.

DL: This completely fascinates me because I, as an author, rarely know more (consciously) about the characters than what’s in the story. But this sounds like you know much more about the Everdeen parents than found their way to the page. What are some of the more interesting things about them that a reader wouldn’t necessarily know?

SC: Your way sounds a lot more efficient. I have a world of information about the characters that didn’t make it into the book. With some stories, revealing that could be illuminating, but in the case of The Hunger Games, I think it would only be a distraction unless it was part of a new tale within the world of Panem.

DL: I have to ask — did you know from the start how Prim’s story was going to end? (I can’t imagine writing the reaping scene while knowing — but at the same time I can’t imagine writing it without knowing.)

SC: You almost have to know it and not know it at the same time to write it convincingly, because the dramatic question, Can Katniss save Prim?, is introduced in the first chapter of the first book, and not answered until almost the end of the trilogy. At first there’s the relief that, yes, she can volunteer for Prim. Then Rue, who reminds her of Prim, joins her in the arena and she can’t save her. That tragedy refreshes the question. For most of the second book, Prim’s largely out of harm’s way, although there’s always the threat that the Capitol might hurt her to hurt Katniss. The jabberjays are a reminder of that. Once she’s in District 13 and the war has shifted to the Capitol, Katniss begins to hope Prim’s not only safe but has a bright future as a doctor. But it’s an illusion. The danger that made Prim vulnerable in the beginning, the threat of the arena, still exists. In the first book, it’s a venue for the Games; in the second, the platform for the revolution; in the third, it’s the battleground of Panem, coming to a head in the Capitol. The arena transforms but it’s never eradicated; in fact it’s expanded to include everyone in the country. Can Katniss save Prim? No. Because no one is safe while the arena exists.

DL: If Katniss was the first character to make herself known within story, when did Peeta and Gale come into the equation? Did you know from the beginning how their stories would play out vis-à-vis Katniss’s?

SC: Peeta and Gale appeared quickly, less as two points on a love triangle, more as two perspectives in the just war debate. Gale, because of his experiences and temperament, tends toward violent remedies. Peeta’s natural inclination is toward diplomacy. Katniss isn’t just deciding on a partner; she’s figuring out her worldview.

DL: And did you always know which worldview would win? It’s interesting to see it presented in such a clear-cut way, because when I think of Katniss, I certainly think of force over diplomacy.

SC: And yet Katniss isn’t someone eager to engage in violence and she takes no pleasure in it. Her circumstances repeatedly push her into making choices that include the use of force. But if you look carefully at what happens in the arena, her compassionate choices determine her survival. Taking on Rue as an ally results in Thresh sparing her life. Seeking out Peeta and caring for him when she discovers how badly wounded he is ultimately leads to her winning the Games. She uses force only in self-defense or defense of a third party, and I’m including Cato’s mercy killing in that. As the trilogy progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid the use of force because the overall violence is escalating with the war. The how and the why become harder to answer.

Yes, I knew which worldview would win, but in the interest of examining just war theory you need to make the arguments as strongly as possible on both sides. While Katniss ultimately chooses Peeta, remember that in order to end the Hunger Games her last act is to assassinate an unarmed woman. Conversely, in The Underland Chronicles, Gregor’s last act is to break his sword to interrupt the cycle of violence. The point of both stories is to take the reader through the journey, have them confront the issues with the protagonist, and then hopefully inspire them to think about it and discuss it. What would they do in Katniss’s or Gregor’s situation? How would they define a just or unjust war and what behavior is acceptable within warfare? What are the human costs of life, limb, and sanity? How does developing technology impact the debate? The hope is that better discussions might lead to more nonviolent forms of conflict resolution, so we evolve out of choosing war as an option.

DL: Where does Haymitch fit into this examination of war? What worldview does he bring?

SC: Haymitch was badly damaged in his own war, the second Quarter Quell, in which he witnessed and participated in terrible things in order to survive and then saw his loved ones killed for his strategy. He self-medicates with white liquor to combat severe PTSD. His chances of recovery are compromised because he’s forced to mentor the tributes every year. He’s a version of what Katniss might become, if the Hunger Games continues. Peeta comments on how similar they are, and it’s true. They both really struggle with their worldview. He manages to defuse the escalating violence at Gale’s whipping with words, but he participates in a plot to bring down the government that will entail a civil war.

The ray of light that penetrates that very dark cloud in his brain is the moment that Katniss volunteers for Prim. He sees, as do many people in Panem, the power of her sacrifice. And when that carries into her Games, with Rue and Peeta, he slowly begins to believe that with Katniss it might be possible to end the Hunger Games.

DL: I’m also curious about how you balanced the personal and political in drawing the relationship between Katniss and Gale. They have such a history together — and I think you powerfully show the conflict that arises when you love someone, but don’t love what they believe in. (I think that resonates particularly now, when so many families and relationships and friendships have been disrupted by politics.)

SC: Yes, I think it’s painful, especially because they feel so in tune in so many ways. Katniss’s and Gale’s differences of opinion are based in just war theory. Do we revolt? How do we conduct ourselves in the war? And the ethical and personal lines climax at the same moment — the double tap bombing that takes Prim’s life. But it’s rarely simple; there are a lot of gray areas. It’s complicated by Peeta often holding a conflicting view while being the rival for her heart, so the emotional pull and the ethical pull become so intertwined it’s impossible to separate them. What do you do when someone you love, someone you know to be a good person, has a view which completely opposes your own? You keep trying to understand what led to the difference and see if it can be bridged. Maybe, maybe not. I think many conflicts grow out of fear, and in an attempt to counter that fear, people reach for solutions that may be comforting in the short term, but only increase their vulnerability in the long run and cause a lot of destruction along the way.

DL: In drawing Gale’s and Peeta’s roles in the story, how conscious were you of the gender inversion from traditional narrative tropes? As you note above, both are important far beyond any romantic subplot, but I do think there’s something fascinating about the way they both reinscribe roles that would traditionally be that of the “girlfriend.” Gale in particular gets to be “the girl back home” from so many Westerns and adventure movies — but of course is so much more than that. And Peeta, while a very strong character in his own right, often has to take a backseat to Katniss and her strategy, both in and out of the arena. Did you think about them in terms of gender and tropes, or did that just come naturally as the characters did what they were going to do on the page?

SC: It came naturally because, while Gale and Peeta are very important characters, it’s Katniss’s story.

DL: For Peeta . . . why baking?

SC: Bread crops up a lot in The Hunger Games. It’s the main food source in the districts, as it was for many people historically. When Peeta throws a starving Katniss bread in the flashback, he’s keeping her alive long enough to work out a strategy for survival. It seemed in keeping with his character to be a baker, a life giver.

But there’s a dark side to bread, too. When Plutarch Heavensbee references it, he’s talking about Panem et Circenses, Bread and Circuses, where food and entertainment lull people into relinquishing their political power. Bread can contribute to life or death in the Hunger Games.

DL: Speaking of Plutarch — in a meta way, the two of you share a job (although when you do it, only fictional people die). When you were designing the arena for the first book, what influences came into play? Did you design the arena and then have the participants react to it, or did you design the arena with specific reactions and plot points in mind?

SC: Katniss has a lot going against her in the first arena — she’s inexperienced, smaller than a lot of her competitors, and hasn’t the training of the Careers — so the arena needed to be in her favor. The landscape closely resembles the woods around District 12, with similar flora and fauna. She can feed herself and recognize the nightlock as poisonous. Thematically, the Girl on Fire needed to encounter fire at some point, so I built that in. I didn’t want it too physically flashy, because the audience needs to focus on the human dynamic, the plight of the star-crossed lovers, the alliance with Rue, the twist that two tributes can survive from the same district. Also, the Gamemakers would want to leave room for a noticeable elevation in spectacle when the Games move to the Quarter Quell arena in Catching Fire with the more intricate clock design.

DL: So where does Plutarch fall into the just war spectrum? There are many layers to his involvement in what’s going on.

SC: Plutarch is the namesake of the biographer Plutarch, and he’s one of the few characters who has a sense of the arc of history. He’s never lived in a world without the Hunger Games; it was well established by the time he was born and then he rose through the ranks to become Head Gamemaker. At some point, he’s gone from accepting that the Games are necessary to deciding they’re unnecessary, and he sets about ending them. Plutarch has a personal agenda as well. He’s seen so many of his peers killed off, like Seneca Crane, that he wonders how long it will be before the mad king decides he’s a threat not an asset. It’s no way to live. And as a gamemaker among gamemakers, he likes the challenge of the revolution. But even after they succeed he questions how long the resulting peace will last. He has a fairly low opinion of human beings, but ultimately doesn’t rule out that they might be able to change.

DL: When it comes to larger world building, how much did you know about Panem before you started writing? If I had asked you, while you were writing the opening pages, “Suzanne, what’s the primary industry of District Five?” would you have known the answer, or did those details emerge to you when they emerged within the writing of the story?

SC: Before I started writing I knew there were thirteen districts — that’s a nod to the thirteen colonies — and that they’d each be known for a specific industry. I knew 12 would be coal and most of the others were set, but I had a few blanks that naturally filled in as the story evolved. When I was little we had that board game, Game of the States, where each state was identified by its exports. And even today we associate different locations in the country with a product, with seafood or wine or tech. Of course, it’s a very simplified take on Panem. No district exists entirely by its designated trade. But for purposes of the Hunger Games, it’s another way to divide and define the districts.

DL: How do you think being from District 12 defines Katniss, Peeta, and Gale? Could they have been from any other district, or is their residency in 12 formative for the parts of their personalities that drive the story?

SC: Very formative. District 12 is the joke district, small and poor, rarely producing a victor in the Hunger Games. As a result, the Capitol largely ignores it. The enforcement of the laws is lax, the relationship with the Peacekeepers less hostile. This allows the kids to grow up far less constrained than in other districts. Katniss and Gale become talented archers by slipping off in the woods to hunt. That possibility of training with a weapon is unthinkable in, say, District 11, with its oppressive military presence. Finnick’s trident and Johanna’s ax skills develop as part of their districts’ industries, but they would never be allowed access to those weapons outside of work. Also, Katniss, Peeta, and Gale view the Capitol in a different manner by virtue of knowing their Peacekeepers better. Darius, in the Hob, is considered a friend, and he proves himself to be so more than once. This makes the Capitol more approachable on a level, more possible to befriend, and more possible to defeat. More human.

DL: Let’s talk about the Capitol for a moment — particularly its most powerful resident. I know that every name you give a character is deliberate, so why President Snow?

SC: Snow because of its coldness and purity. That’s purity of thought, although most people would consider it pure evil. His methods are monstrous, but in his mind, he’s all that’s holding Panem together. His first name, Coriolanus, is a nod to the titular character in Shakespeare’s play who was based on material from Plutarch’s Lives. He was known for his anti-populist sentiments, and Snow is definitely not a man of the people.

DL: The bond between Katniss and Snow is one of the most interesting in the entire series. Because even when they are in opposition, there seems to be an understanding between them that few if any of the other characters in the trilogy share. What role do you feel Snow plays for Katniss — and how does this fit into your examination of war?

SC: On the surface, she’s the face of the rebels, he’s the face of the Capitol. Underneath, things are a lot more complicated. Snow’s quite old under all that plastic surgery. Without saying too much, he’s been waiting for Katniss for a long time. She’s the worthy opponent who will test the strength of his citadel, of his life’s work. He’s the embodiment of evil to her, with the power of life and death. They’re obsessed with each other to the point of being blinded to the larger picture. “I was watching you, Mockingjay. And you were watching me. I’m afraid we have both been played for fools.” By Coin, that is. And then their unholy alliance at the end brings her down.

DL: One of the things that both Snow and Katniss realize is the power of media and imagery on the population. Snow may appear heartless to some, but he is very attuned to the “hearts and minds” of his citizens . . . and he is also attuned to the danger of losing them to Katniss. What role do you see propaganda playing in the war they’re waging?

SC: Propaganda decides the outcome of the war. This is why Plutarch implements the airtime assault; he understands that whoever controls the airwaves controls the power. Like Snow, he’s been waiting for Katniss, because he needs a Spartacus to lead his campaign. There have been possible candidates, like Finnick, but no one else has captured the imagination of the country like she has.

DL: In terms of the revolution, appearance matters — and two of the characters who seem to understand this the most are Cinna and Caesar Flickerman, one in a principled way, one . . . not as principled. How did you draw these two characters into your themes?

SC: That’s exactly right. Cinna uses his artistic gifts to woo the crowd with spectacle and beauty. Even after his death, his Mockingjay costume designs are used in the revolution. Caesar, whose job is to maintain the myth of the glorious games, transitions into warfare with the prisoner of war interviews with Peeta. They are both helping to keep up appearances.

DL: As a writer, you studiously avoided the trope of harkening back to the “old” geography — i.e., there isn’t a character who says, “This was once a land known as . . . Delaware.” (And thank goodness for that.) Why did you decide to avoid pinning down Panem to our contemporary geography?

SC: The geography has changed because of natural and man-made disasters, so it’s not as simple as overlaying a current map on Panem. But more importantly, it’s not relevant to the story. Telling the reader the continent gives them the layout in general, but borders are very changeful. Look at how the map of North America has evolved in the past 300 years. It makes little difference to Katniss what we called Panem in the past.

DL: Let’s talk about the D word. When you sat down to write The Hunger Games, did you think of it as a dystopian novel?

SC: I thought of it as a war story. I love dystopia, but it will always be secondary to that. Setting the trilogy in a futuristic North America makes it familiar enough to relate to but just different enough to gain some perspective. When people ask me how far in the future it’s set, I say, “It depends on how optimistic you are.”

DL: What do you think it was about the world into which the book was published that made it viewed so prominently as a dystopia?

SC: In the same way most people would define The Underland Chronicles as a fantasy series, they would define The Hunger Games as a dystopian trilogy, and they’d be right. The elements of the genres are there in both cases. But they’re first and foremost war stories to me. The thing is, whether you came for the war, dystopia, action adventure, propaganda, coming of age, or romance, I’m happy you’re reading it. Everyone brings their own experiences to the book that will color how they interpret it. I imagine the number of people who immediately identify it as a just war theory story are in the minority, but most stories are more than one thing.

DL: What was the relationship between current events and the world you were drawing? I know that with many speculative writers, they see something in the news and find it filtering into their fictional world. Were you reacting to the world around you, or was your reaction more grounded in a more timeless and/or historical consideration of war?

SC: I would say the latter. Some authors — okay, you for instance — can digest events quickly and channel them into their writing, as you did so effectively with September 11 in Love Is the Higher Law. But I don’t process and integrate things rapidly, so history works better for me.

DL: There’s nothing I like more than talking to writers about writing — so I’d love to ask about your process (even though I’ve always found the word process to be far too orderly to describe how a writer’s mind works).

As I recall, when we at Scholastic first saw the proposal for The Hunger Games Trilogy, the summary of the first book was substantial, the summary for the second book was significantly shorter, and the summary of the third book was . . . remarkably brief. So, first question: Did you stick to that early outline?

SC: I had to go back and take a look. Yes, I stuck to it very closely, but as you point out, the third book summary is remarkably brief. I basically tell you there’s a war that the Capitol eventually loses. Just coming off The Underland Chronicles, which also ends with a war, I think I’d seen how much develops along the way and wanted that freedom for this series as well.

DL: Would you outline books two and three as you were writing book one? Or would you just take notes for later? Was this the same or different from what you did with The Underland Chronicles?

SC: Structure’s one of my favorite parts of writing. I always work a story out with Post-its, sometimes using different colors for different character arcs. I create a chapter grid, as well, and keep files for later books, so that whenever I have an idea that might be useful, I can make a note of it. I wrote scripts for many years before I tried books, so a lot of my writing habits developed through that experience.

DL: Would you deliberately plant things in book one to bloom in books two or three? Are there any seeds you planted in the first book that you ended up not growing?

SC: Oh, yes, I definitely planted things. For instance, Johanna Mason is mentioned in the third chapter of the first book although she won’t appear until Catching Fire. Plutarch is that unnamed gamemaker who falls into the punch bowl when she shoots the arrow. Peeta whispers “Always” in Catching Fire when Katniss is under the influence of sleep syrup but she doesn’t hear the word until after she’s been shot in Mockingjay. Sometimes you just don’t have time to let all the seeds grow, or you cut them out because they don’t really add to the story. Like those wild dogs that roam around District 12. One could potentially have been tamed, but Buttercup stole their thunder.

DL: Since much of your early experience as a writer was as a playwright, I’m curious: What did you learn as a playwright that helped you as a novelist?

SC: I studied theater for many years — first acting, then playwriting — and I have a particular love for classical theater. I formed my ideas about structure as a playwright, how crucial it is and how, when it’s done well, it’s really inseparable from character. It’s like a living thing to me. I also wrote for children’s television for seventeen years. I learned a lot writing for preschool. If a three-year-old doesn’t like something, they just get up and walk away from the set. I saw my own kids do that. How do you hold their attention? It’s hard and the internet has made it harder. So for the eight novels, I developed a three-act structure, with each act being composed of nine chapters, using elements from both play and screenplay structures — double layering it, so to speak.

DL: Where do you write? Are you a longhand writer or a laptop writer? Do you listen to music as you write, or go for the monastic, writerly silence?

SC: I write best at home in a recliner. I used to write longhand, but now it’s all laptop. Definitely not music; it demands to be listened to. I like quiet, but not silence.

DL: You talked earlier about researching survival training and edible plants for these books. What other research did you have to do? Are you a reading researcher, a hands-on researcher, or a mix of both? (I’m imagining an elaborate archery complex in your backyard, but I am guessing that’s not necessarily accurate.)

SC: You know, I’m just not very handy. I read a lot about how to build a bow from scratch, but I doubt I could ever make one. Being good with your hands is a gift. So I do a lot of book research. Sometimes I visit museums or historic sites for inspiration. I was trained in stage combat, particularly sword fighting in drama school; I have a nice collection of swords designed for that, but that was more helpful for The Underland Chronicles. The only time I got to do archery was in gym class in high school.

DL: While I wish I could say the editorial team (Kate Egan, Jennifer Rees, and myself ) were the first-ever readers of The Hunger Games, I know this isn’t true. When you’re writing a book, who reads it first?

SC: My husband, Cap, and my literary agent, Rosemary Stimola, have consistently been the books’ first readers. They both have excellent critique skills and give insightful notes. I like to keep the editorial team as much in the dark as possible, so that when they read the first draft it’s with completely fresh eyes.

DL: Looking back now at the editorial conversations we had about The Hunger Games — which were primarily with Kate, as Jen and I rode shotgun — can you recall any significant shifts or discussions?

SC: What I mostly recall is how relieved I was to know that I had such amazing people to work with on the book before it entered the world. I had eight novels come out in eight years with Scholastic, so that was fast for me and I needed feedback I could trust. You’re all so smart, intuitive, and communicative, and with the three of you, no stone went unturned. With The Hunger Games Trilogy, I really depended on your brains and hearts to catch what worked and what didn’t.

DL: And then there was the question of the title . . .

SC: Okay, this I remember clearly. The original title of the first book was The Tribute of District Twelve. You wanted to change it to The Hunger Games, which was my name for the series. I said, “Okay, but I’m not thinking of another name for the series!” To this day, more people ask me about “the Gregor series” than “The Underland Chronicles,” and I didn’t want a repeat of that because it’s confusing. But you were right, The Hunger Games was a much better name for the book. Catching Fire was originally called The Ripple Effect and I wanted to change that one, because it was too watery for a Girl on Fire, so we came up with Catching Fire. The third book I’d come up with a title so bad I can’t even remember it except it had the word ashes in it. We both hated it. One day, you said, “What if we just call it Mockingjay?” And that seemed perfect. The three parts of the book had been subtitled “The Mockingjay,” “The Assault,” and “The Assassin.” We changed the title to Mockingjay and the first part to “The Ashes” and got that lovely alliteration in the subtitles. Thank goodness you were there; you have far better taste in titles. I believe in the acknowledgments, I call you the Title Master.

DL: With The Hunger Games, the choice of Games is natural — but the choice of Hunger is much more odd and interesting. So I’ll ask: Why Hunger Games?

SC: Because food is a lethal weapon. Withholding food, that is. Just like it is in Boris when the Nazis starve out the people of Leningrad. It’s a weapon that targets everyone in a war, not just the soldiers in combat, but the civilians too. In the prologue of Henry V, the Chorus talks about Harry as Mars, the god of war. “And at his heels, Leash’d in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire crouch for employment.” Famine, sword, and fire are his dogs of war, and famine leads the pack. With a rising global population and environmental issues, I think food could be a significant weapon in the future.

DL: The cover was another huge effort. We easily had over a hundred different covers comped up before we landed on the iconic one. There were some covers that pictured Katniss — something I can’t imagine doing now. And there were others that tried to picture scenes. Of course, the answer was in front of us the entire time — the Mockingjay symbol, which the art director Elizabeth Parisi deployed to such amazing effect. What do you think of the impact the cover and the symbol have had? What were your thoughts when you saw this cover?

SC: Oh, it’s a brilliant cover, which I should point out I had nothing to do with. I only saw a handful of the many you developed. The one that made it to print is absolutely fantastic; I loved it at first sight. It’s classy, powerful, and utterly unique to the story. It doesn’t limit the age of the audience and I think that really contributed to adults feeling comfortable reading it. And then, of course, you followed it up with the wonderful evolution of the mockingjay throughout the series. There’s something universal about the imagery, the captive bird gaining freedom, which I think is why so many of the foreign publishers chose to use it instead of designing their own. And it translated beautifully to the screen where it still holds as the central symbolic image for the franchise.

DL: Obviously, the four movies had an enormous impact on how widely the story spread across the globe. The whole movie process started with the producers coming on board. What made you know they were the right people to shepherd this story into another form?

SC: When I decided to sell the entertainment rights to the book, I had phone interviews with over a dozen producers. Nina Jacobson’s understanding of and passion for the piece along with her commitment to protecting it won me over. She’s so articulate, I knew she’d be an excellent person to usher it into the world. The team at Lionsgate’s enthusiasm and insight made a deep impression as well. I needed partners with the courage not to shy away from the difficult elements of the piece, ones who wouldn’t try to steer the story to an easier, more traditional ending. Prim can’t live. The victory can’t be joyous. The wounds have to leave lasting scars. It’s not an easy ending but it’s an intentional one.

DL: You cowrote the screenplay for the first Hunger Games movie. I know it’s an enormously tricky thing for an author to adapt their own work. How did you approach it? What was the hardest thing about translating a novel into a screenplay? What was the most rewarding?

SC: I wrote the initial treatments and first draft and then Billy Ray came on for several drafts and then our director, Gary Ross, developed it into his shooting script and we ultimately did a couple of passes together. I did the boil down of the book, which is a lot of cutting things while trying to retain the dramatic structure. I think the hardest thing for me, because I’m not a terribly visual person, was finding the way to translate many words into few images. Billy and Gary, both far more experienced screenwriters and gifted directors as well, really excelled at that. Throughout the franchise I had terrific screenwriters, and Francis Lawrence, who directed the last three films, is an incredible visual storyteller.

The most rewarding moment on the Hunger Games movie would have been the first time I saw it put together, still in rough form, and thinking it worked.

DL: One of the strange things for me about having a novel adapted is knowing that the actors involved will become, in many people’s minds, the faces and bodies of the characters who have heretofore lived as bodiless voices in my head. Which I suppose leads to a three-part question: Do you picture your characters as you’re writing them? If so, how close did Jennifer Lawrence come to the Katniss in your head? And now when you think about Katniss, do you see Jennifer or do you still see what you imagined before?

SC: I definitely do picture the characters when I’m writing them. The actress who looks exactly like my book Katniss doesn’t exist. Jennifer looked close enough and felt very right, which is more important. She gives an amazing performance. When I think of the books, I still think of my initial image of Katniss. When I think of the movies, I think of Jen. Those images aren’t at war any more than the books are with the films. Because they’re faithful adaptations, the story becomes the primary thing. Some people will never read a book, but they might see the same story in a movie. When it works well, the two entities support and enrich each other.

DL: All of the actors did such a fantastic job with your characters (truly). Are there any in particular that have stayed with you?

SC: A writer friend of mine once said, “Your cast — they’re like a basket of diamonds.” That’s how I think of them. I feel fortunate to have had such a talented team — directors, producers, screenwriters, performers, designers, editors, marketing, publicity, everybody — to make the journey with. And I’m so grateful for the readers and viewers who invested in The Hunger Games. Stories are made to be shared.

DL: We’re talking on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of The Hunger Games. Looking back at the past ten years, what have some of the highlights been?

SC: The response from the readers, especially the young audience for which it was written. Seeing beautiful and faithful adaptations reach the screen. Occasionally hearing it make its way into public discourse on politics or social issues.

DL: The Hunger Games Trilogy has been an international bestseller. Why do you think this series struck such an important chord throughout the world?

SC: Possibly because the themes are universal. War is a magnet for difficult issues. In The Hunger Games, you have vast inequality of wealth, destruction of the planet, political struggles, war as a media event, human rights abuses, propaganda, and a whole lot of other elements that affect human beings wherever they live. I think the story might tap into the anxiety a lot of people feel about the future right now.

DL: As we celebrate the past ten years and look forward to many decades to come for this trilogy, I’d love for us to end where we should — with the millions of readers who’ve embraced these books. What words would you like to leave them with?

SC: Thank you for joining Katniss on her journey. And may the odds be ever in your favor.

Just One Date pt.2

>> part 1!

A/N: Hi guys! You absolutely loved the first part of this and I cannot express how happy that makes me :D I am so thankful for every reblog, like and comment! Here's the awaited part 2, I really hope you'll like it! Should there be a part 3?

Let me know ;D

Warning: !spoilers if you haven't read the first part!, slight hint of drugs and swear words

Special mentions: @merromimo , @justtrying2getby

➷ ➷ ➷ ➷

Cameras. 

There were cameras everywhere as soon as you stepped out of the train. The citizens of Capitol had grouped around the station as if your arrival was worth looking at, and they certainly hadn't missed the show. Your breath hitched in your throat as soon as you saw the dark voids of lenses taking you in. They recorded your every step, which eventually led to tripping and falling off the last two stairs. They also manage to eternalise the way you landed into a pair of strong arms, the chuckle the person holding you made, and when you looked up, you saw the broad shoulders of Finnick Odair, covering you from the broadcast. 

"Watch your step, honey," he whispered with a sly smirk, making you look up. Anger took over your previous shock. You knew you could easily be the talk of the Capitol. And you couldn't care less about their shenanigans as long as you had the promise of peace. Because you knew they couldn't hurt you any more than they had already done. They couldn't hurt you any more than your own district already did. But you didn't expect it from any of the victors. Not from Finnick Odair. Though the question making you go crazy at that moment was, what did you really expect? 

You didn't expect of Finnick Odair to even glance your way, ever since you saw him in the Capitol after your games. Why he was there, you don't know. He acknowledged you a few times you happened to be at the same party in Capitol. You never expected him to approach you alone. Let alone, ask you on a date. And then bring the whole nation to come and watch your downfall. No, no matter what you had done in the past and how much you had come to despise your life, you would never allow anyone to drag you down like this. You had your pride to keep that for yourself.

And that pride led you to a small dimly lit room, somewhere near the station. Your memories were blurred by the red that kept colouring your sight, your chest rising up and down rapidly, with your loud huffs of air that fell on the face in front of you. He barely breathed as you held a small knife to his throat, his hands up in surrender, but that smile, that smirk on his face, you couldn't wipe it away even with a dagger threatening his thread of life to be cut. He was a victor too, after all, but you refused to step away now. "When you approached me," you started, still panting. "I thought you confused me with someone else. When you asked me out on a date, I thought you had to be totally wasted,"

"But you came-" Finnick hissed, making you push the cold metal against his neck even more, shutting him up. "I came because I never expected you to be so out of your fucking mind!" you retorted, your voice louder. The truth was, you didn't know why you came. You thought he might really have taken an interest in you. Was it that bad? To finally be able to escape your life in your district? No more spitting on you on the streets, no more threats, no more surviving. But as the seconds went by, you were more and more convinced that was the life you deserved. 

Meanwhile, Finnick was panicking inside. This was not how he imagined it to be, your dagger on his throat, the cold metal slowly grazing his dead skin cells before it could dig into his nerves and veins. He was so caught up in himself, so naive, thinking you would just roll with all of this. Now he thought you might stab him. Your guard was up, the smile from before was gone, it was replaced by anger, fury and... fear. You were scared. So was he. He could play on that. 

"I'm not out of my mind, sugar, you don't have to worry about that. And you don't have to worry about them," he nodded towards the locked door. "They won't hurt you anymore," His eyes softened as he spoke. If you could just play this with him, they will hurt neither of you.

Your eyes widened. "I'm not... I'm not worried about them," you relaxed your grip. And you noticed; Finnick did not take advantage of that. Then you let him go completely and he bent down, caressing his sore throat. "You have a nice grip," he nodded. 

But you stayed silent, watching him warily. "I swear, I won't hurt you," he extended his arms to you. You blinked a few times before your muscles relaxed. You haven't heard that sentence in 2 years. How refreshing, to have someone say that. But at what cost. "What do you want then?" you asked, still not letting him close enough. He smiled, gently. "You remember Katniss and Peeta?"

"The new victors?"

"Yes. I know how they survived this. We can do that too," he spoke softly, each word a seed in your heart, setting it ablaze. "How?" you asked too eagerly. "We will become star-crossed lovers ourselves," You gulped.

"Trust me."

He took your hand, opening the door to the outside. There were people on the sunlit streets, your hand in his soon enough catching their attention. You looked around, noticing their curious glances, the lifted eyebrows, faces of amusement. They wanted this.

Finnick spun you to face him, placing his palms firmly against your cheeks. "Do we have a deal?"

"Yes," you whispered, and with that, he pulled you in. Butterflies exploded in your stomach, his lips tasting sugar and ocean salt at the same time. They created a taste you could never forget. 

And if there was one thing you had to give to Finnick Odair, it was his charm. He did keep his word. He wooed you with just one date.

And that's how you happened to end up here. It took a few weeks, a few meetings, a bunch of interviews and you stood in one of the rooms in one of Capitol's mansions, the party downstairs at its peak. It took you a few kisses too, but you didn't dare to admit that it was your favorite part. 

A subtle knock on your door made you turn around as you tried to finish zipping up your dress. "Come in," you said, immediately smiling when you met Finnick's dark brown eyes. "Ready?" he asked, but you hesitated. "I don't know, I mean, what if they-"

"Hey, no what ifs, it's too late for that anyway," he came closer, placing his hands on your hips. "We'll just grab you a few drinks and you'll see how fast you'll relax," his warm breath tickled your ear as he turned your back to him, finishing your zip. "Finnick!" you hissed back instead of thank you, turning away to hide the redness on your cheeks. "I'm kidding! Just keep close to me and I'm sure you'll have the time of your life,"

"Yeah, can't wait for that," you mumbled as he gasped dramatically, your hand already in his, dragging you out and to the party.

As always, your entrance brought all the attention to you. It was like as soon as you started to appear with Finnick, his beams seemed to shine out of you too. He switched his grasp from your hand to your lower back, guiding you through the crowd, looking forward as if none of them existed. And everything seemed fine, until people actually started approaching you. You were terrified, unable to count how many times Finnick had to nudge you to relax before you could deprive his arm of any blood flow. Soon enough he was handing you a pink drink he fetched from the waiter, making you relax with every sip.

"Sleepless pills," one of the colorful guests smiled at you. 

"Huh?" you managed to say back. 

"It's a new pill from Capitol! Why sleep when you can eat this and stay up all night? Without feeling tired?" the woman squealed together with the man next to her. You looked up at Finnick to exchange shocked glances before you excused yourself, your head spinning, Finnick following you right after. "This is sick," you stated, leaning against one of the tables for support. 

"I'm trying to catch at least a few hours of sleep every night and they are creating pills to avoid it?" you couldn't believe the words you had just heard.

"Don't mind them, Y/n, you know they will never know what it is like," Finnick caressed your back gently, but his words and alcohol only made you angrier. 

"I think I need a minute," you breathed heavily, looking away from Finnick and down to the floor. "Should I get you water or something?" you heard him say, his words coming in muffled. You dragged yourself to the wall near you, sliding down your back and onto the floor. 

"I will get you-" you couldn't hear the rest, looking up and watching as Finnick's black suit disappeared in the crowd of walking rainbows. Then everything went dark.

When Finnick came back with water, you weren't there. In fact, you completely disappeared out of the hall. He looked around in panic, your name slipping down his tongue. He was ready to shout it at the crowd, maybe they noticed something while sipping the purple liquid...

Your drink was pink.

Finnick's face turned pale with realisation. And then he was shoving his way through the guests and out of the hall. 

➷ ➷ ➷

⤞ My masterlist ⤝

Listening to Billie Eilish's No Time to Die from Snow's perspective. Crazy accurate...

.· * • ˚

✶ : · •

.· *

I should've known, I'd leave alone

Was I stupid to love you? Was I reckless to help?

Was it obvious to everybody else, that I'd fallen for a lie?

You were never on my side

I let it burn. You're no longer my concern

Another lesson yet to learn

There's just no time to die

Something struck me as I was reading Catching Fire again...in spite of everything else Snow learned through his experiences in Ballad, I do feel that one positive lesson he learned was that the people in the districts were not actually inferior to him or the rest of the Capitol. Reading this scene, I appreciate how polite he is towards Katniss and her mother.

Of course, he's a charmer by nature (and he was playing it up in this scene, I'm sure) and very much has an "us vs. them" mentality, but Gaul's lesson equalized everyone in his mind. They were all players in the game he considered life to be. He changed the entire way the people of the districts were treated. He humanized them to the Capitol.

Now, in Catching Fire, I'm sure one reason he's being so gracious towards Katniss and her mother is because he wants to stay on good terms and avoid a rebellion, but I also liked how he didn't seem to be flaunting any superiority with them, ruthless though he is.

lucy gray: “…are you serious?” 🥀