Author Suzanne Collins, has experienced massive success due to the popularity of The Hunger Games trilogy of its own with books, movies, merchandise and much more. With the release of the trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and the movie premiere on November 21, the success is expected to continue into the future.
Collins grew up a Military Brat after her father was deployed to Vietnam when she was six. Inspired by her childhood experiences, she released and children’s book last year called The Jungle. The illustrated book follows the main character Suzy as she begins to understand the meaning of her father’s deployment.
Inspired by her childhood experiences, she released and children’s book last year called The Jungle. The illustrated book follows the main character Suzy as she begins to understand the meaning of her father’s deployment.
Knowing her upbringing helps to understand the common theme of war in Collins’ novels. Collins’ father was deployed in Vietnam in 1968. In 1970 the Air Force posted Collins’ father and family in Brussels. She once told the New York Times that her father would often describe wars to her in detail, giving her an understanding of violence at a young age. He even went as far as to take them to the battlefields in Brussels to reenact the war.
Some late night TV surfing was the final element that led her to conceptualizing The Hunger Games.
” I was flipping through images on reality television where these young people were competing for a million dollars or whatever, and then I was seeing footage from the Iraq war, and these two things began to fuse together in a very unsettling way, and that is the moment where I got the idea for Katniss’s story,” Collins said in an interview with her Scholastic publishers.
Since that initial idea, the series has exploded across a large fan base, and the release of the new trailer leaves fans anxious for more.
I always find the stories of how writers come up with their stories interesting. I think this article best suits fans of the hunger games. In a sense, Susan Collins is a bit like Katniss. She was persistent to her goals no matter what obstacles stood in her way.
After reading this article, it makes total sense how Collins came up with the idea for Hunger Games. It’s interesting to see how her background as a TCK played well in her favor in coming up with the books. Very interesting article!