What Color Is Dystopia?

I've been thinking a lot about covers because I finally get to reveal the cover of LEVEL 2 in one short week (cue breathless anticipation)! I can give you a little hint though today - the main color on my cover is white. Why? Well, LEVEL 2 is set in a starkly white afterlife that is almost more sinister in its brightness than a shadowy, dark place would be. White, to me, also denotes order (where black represents chaos) which goes along well with dystopias that rule with an iron fist (where black goes along well with post-apocalyptic stories).

Kate Hart has an interesting recent post on covers that goes a long way towards refuting the idea that YA is too dark (at least visually).  And you might think, well dystopians and post-apocalyptic books are dark, ergo dark covers.  But you only have to look in the sidebar of this blog to see that's not (always) the case. So, what do we think? Could the color of dystopia actually be white?




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