Dystopias (video)

Dystopias (known as Chapter 1: Dystopias) is the first episode of Terrible Writing Advice.

Plot
To be added.

Setting
The first thing your dystopia needs is an evil, oppressive government. Instead of doing some boring research about how that could happen, just say some vague past disaster made everything terrible! Or you can be super creative and original by saying it happened because of some ideology you hate! Whatever you do, though, make sure there's no logical reason for the evil government to exist.

If you need inspiration for how your dystopian society should look, you can model it after high school. But don't think about it too much, because who likes believable and convincing settings anyway?

Villians
Use a classic evil dystopian overlord, and make him vague and mysterious so you won't have to flesh out his character. Give him a highly trained but strangely incompetent elite military force that constantly fails to capture a bunch of plucky teenagers.

Of course, you should also make all the smart people evil, because we have to teach future generations the dangers of science and free thought. You wouldn't want your dystopian novel to show that thinking for yourself is good, right?

Protagonist
The protagonist has to effortlessly succeed at anything she tries, because watching characters work for things is boring. Describe her as ordinary looking but make sure that every male character falls in love with her at first sight. This will make it way easier to set up an awesome love triangle!

Other Characters
All adults should either be useless or working against the protagonist. This includes the protagonist's parents, if they aren't dead.

Plot Love Triangle
Dystopia is all about love triangles, so make sure the protagonist has to choose between two guys! Most of the story should focus on this, but you also have to spend a little time sorting out the evil government thing. Your protagonist will lead the charge against the government because it will obviously be ineffective against a single teenager. After the dystopia is toppled and all the boring plot stuff is over, spend the rest of the time detailing the protagonist's love life! Like all the classic dystopia novels, yours should have a happy ending.