Presenter Q&A: "An Alternative Second City" —Veronica Roth on Writing about Chicago

Set in an alternative Chicago, Veronica Roth’s new novel Chosen Ones follows the story of five adults who, having fulfilled their destiny by defeating an evil entity, must now grapple with the dark aftermath of leadership.

We talked with Roth about the connections between her life in Chicago and the places that inspire her writing. Read Roth's responses below and then watch her conversation with Greta Johnsen!

CHF: What are the places in Chicago that inspire your writing?

Roth: "In my new book, Chosen Ones, five people who saved the world as teenagers have to cope with being the most famous people ever to have existed…as well as the trauma of what they went through when they were younger. They live in Chicago, but it’s not quite the Chicago we know and love. Parts of it have been destroyed by magic. Here are some of the places that inspired me while I was writing yet another alternate Second City. (Third city? Fourth city?)"

1) CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER

IMAGE CREDIT: VERONICA ROTH

"A beautiful oasis in the middle of a busy city."

Roth: "When I was sixteen, I went on a school field trip in which we went on an architectural walking tour of the city. It was long, it was fall, and it was raining, so by the end of the day, I was more than ready to go home. The Chicago Cultural Center was my last stop. I remember standing in the quiet, directly beneath the apex of the Tiffany dome, and feeling relieved that I hadn’t skipped it. It was a beautiful oasis in the middle of a busy city.

So when I was writing a scene in Chosen Ones where my main character, Sloane Andrews, was having a surge of anxiety and needed to find somewhere quiet to gather herself, I had her go to the Chicago Cultural Center, to experience that same calm."

2) OLD MAIN POST OFFICE

IMAGE CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“Sometimes...you supply a setting that suits your book’s needs. Sometimes it’s the other way around: you decide to work a particular setting into your book."

Roth: "I used to drive west on Congress to get out to the suburbs once a week for physical therapy. Every time, I drove under that huge, apparently abandoned building that stretches over the road, and wondered what the heck it was. So I looked it up, and what I found was remarkable: photographs of utter ruin. Buckling floors, crumbling walls, and old equipment left to rust. Up until recently, that’s what the Old Post Office was—but now it’s the largest adaptive reuse project in the country, and its doors are again open.

Sometimes, as with the Cultural Center, you supply a setting that suits your book’s needs. Sometimes it’s the other way around: you decide to work a particular setting into your book, come hell or high water. I was haunted by those photographs of that building’s former wreckage. I had to put it in my book. I won’t spoil how, though."

3) EDGEWATER

IMAGE CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“Chicago isn’t really defined by the Loop—it’s defined by its neighborhoods.”

Roth: "I love a big, grand set piece. That’s probably why both my Chicago books—Divergent and Chosen Ones—have a lot of the Loop in them. The lure of the architecture and the skyscrapers is strong. But Chicago isn’t really defined by the Loop—it’s defined by its neighborhoods.

So, as a nod to Chicago’s neighborhoods, I set part of Chosen Ones in one of the lesser known ones. It’s also my former neighborhood: Edgewater, one of the northernmost neighborhoods in Chicago. It’s not easy to describe—it’s just a place where people live. But I miss my unassuming three flat there. That’s the difference between being inspired by a place as a tourist, and being inspired by somewhere you live: you know the day to day, the regular. And all you have to do, to find inspiration there, is to look carefully at it again."

Veronica Roth is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of the Divergent series (Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, and Four: A Divergent Collection), the Carve the Mark duology (Carve the Mark, the Fates Divide), The End and Other Beginnings collection of short fiction, and many short stories and essays. Her latest book is Chosen Ones. Roth lives in Chicago.

Watch Veronica Roth's conversation about her book Chosen Ones!

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