Veronica Roth Responds To Fans Who Say She’s Trying To "Fix" Divergent

Veronica Roth is wearing Amity red when she calls in from her home office in Chicago. There’s a shelf packed with books and a shirt that says “No one writes sad hotties like Veronica Roth” on display behind her. Avi, her beloved “very demanding” tiny Havanese,” has wriggled its way into the interview. A copy of her new book, The Sixth Faction, shimmers as she holds it up to the camera. Her publisher, HarperCollins, went all out for Roth’s return to the beloved Divergent universe, adding sprayed edges and interior art to the novel’s deluxe edition.

Roth, 38, announced her alternate-universe retelling of Divergent at BookCon in April. The original series has sold over 32 million copies worldwide, and the surprise reveal practically broke BookTok with fans eager to have a new Divergent book in 13 years. The Sixth Faction is not a prequel, sequel, or spinoff, but rather the first in a duology that asks: What if Beatrice “Tris” Prior had made a different choice?

In the post-apocalyptic Divergent universe, people are split into five factions based on a specific virtue: Abnegation (selflessness), Amity (kindness), Candor (honesty), Dauntless (bravery), and Erudite (intelligence). In the original book, Tris is raised in Abnegation, but switches to Dauntless. In The Sixth Faction, she makes a different choice after an unexpected tragedy changes the course of her life.

Roth, who managed to keep this new duology a secret for nearly three years, is finally ready to spill the beans about what fans can expect from The Sixth Faction, why she turned down money to write the book, and what she has to say to critics who believe she’s trying to “fix” the ending of the original series.

You created the world of Divergent back in college. How did you reacquaint yourself with the characters?

Rereading was the first step. Then I did a lot of brainstorming because I knew I was going to make some adjustments to the world building and, obviously, to the plot. There was a lot of outlining and re-outlining and then checking things against the original.

I also worked with an editor who hadn't read the original series and didn't even know how it ended because I wanted to make sure that it could be read by someone who hadn't read Divergent.

I was way freer with the changes than my editor or my agent. They were like, "Wait, you can't change that." And I was like, "Yes, I can. I can do whatever I want. "The thing about writing books is that if you do really deep revisions, which is how I work, then you're used to seeing the book in a dozen different ways throughout the course of writing it. So an alternate universe felt completely normal to me.

What's something that surprised you as you were rereading the original series?

Tobias and Evelyn's relationship. I didn't really remember how much there was of it in the books, especially in the final book, and I was surprised by how well it held up emotionally. It's definitely something that I tried to maintain in this new series too, because I think their dynamic is very interesting.

When you were writing The Sixth Faction, did you try to match your original writing style?

I did. I don't really write in first person anymore, so I had to get back into Tris’s head. It took a couple tries.

You’ve talked about declining an advance for this book, saying, “I only get paid if you buy it.” I would love to know more about that decision.

I knew people would call this a cash grab. That's a criticism that we see disproportionately brought up when women decide to re-explore their popular universes. There's something to examine there for sure. An advance is intended to keep a writer paid while they're working and because of the success of Divergent, I don't require that, so I just wanted to benefit if people wanted to read it.

What is your response to people who think you’re writing The Sixth Faction to “fix” the Allegiant ending?

There was no avoiding it. All I can say is that I tried to think of The Sixth Faction as a new series. I like the ending of Allegiant; I think it accomplished my goals at the time. This is a new work, and so I'm just earnestly trying to figure out how this series with its changes and its new themes should end.

How has coming back to this series helped you heal from the criticism that came with the final book, Allegiant?

I needed to build some positive associations. I held onto all the negative stuff. My main goal of writing The Sixth Faction duology was trying to build better connections in my mind to the series. Making something new makes you appreciate what you did before, and appreciate your growth, too. Even in areas that I thought were weak in the original series, being able to rediscover them and to learn that I have acquired more skill since I wrote the original, it was very rewarding.

Is there any news you can share about a potential film?

We'll see what happens. I have no idea what's going on that front.

What inspired you to write Seek The Traitor’s Son, the book you published in May?

I love a sad hottie. I think the sad hotties of my youth began with Tobias from the Animorphs series, no accident, but also Angel from Buffy — very important and influential. Actually, many sad hotties are vampires. I don’t make the rules. That’s how it works. But I was also influenced by the big sci-fi stuff that I loved when I was young, like Dune. It was such a transformative book series for me, and then the recent movies have been really fun. And Star Wars Rogue One and Andor, I loved those. They have a great kind of melancholy tone to them while building a revolution, which I think was very interesting. And The Witcher, which doesn’t sound like it would be related because it's a Polish folklore fantasy, but he’s a sad hottie for sure.

Are you going to be giving us a sad vampire hottie book any time soon?

Strangely, I have no interest in writing about vampires despite really loving media with vampires.

You have a reputation for creating the perfect sad hottie. How did you decide to lean into this black cat boyfriend trope?

My theory of male leads in romance is that we take qualities that we find attractive in real life and exaggerate them. It's not that you want a domineering man in your life, it's that on the page, it's like an exaggeration of confidence of someone who knows what they're about. That's a really attractive quality. Theren [from Seek the Traitor’s Son] and Four are both in this category. Sensitivity — someone who’s attuned to your emotional state, and cares about it and has respect for you — is really appealing, especially with Theron who's literally feeling your emotions alongside you.

You have written 10 novels since Divergent, yet this series is one that people keep coming back to. How do you balance celebrating your old work with trying to get people to see you as an author outside the YA dystopian genre?

People are always talking about Divergent, which is a gift. But as a writer, you're like, “OK, but that was 10 years ago at least.” Writing something new in the same universe helped to make me feel like I'm talking about the work I'm doing now in addition to the work I was doing then. I'm happy to talk about Divergent, but I don't want it to be the only thing I talk about.

I think the awareness of my other work is growing and that's really rewarding. Every time I get someone in line at a book signing who's like, "I haven't even read Divergent," it's a special little treat.

Can you give me a little insight into your writing process? Are there any habits or rituals you have to tap into your creative side?

I make a playlist and listen to it on long walks while trying to visualize scenes. Then I sit down to write after that. If I'm not walking, I have a hard time solving problems in the book.

Who was on the playlist for The Sixth Faction?

I went back to a lot of the songs that were on my original Divergent playlist. Metric was on there, some Lincoln Park. I put some Evanescence songs on there, and some Imogen Heap. It was a blast from the past.

What about for Seek the Traitor’s Son? Who was on that playlist?

Oh, that was a very eclectic mixture and it wouldn’t make sense to everyone. There's a kind of German pagan band called Heilung. Very epic sounding. It's almost like soundtrack music. The Dune soundtrack was on there, but there was also some Foo Fighters and a Miley Cyrus song. It's not a direct parallel to the book. The playlists are on Spotify if you're interested.

Are you working on anything new?

I haven't really let my brain go to a new place. I would love to go back to the Seek the Traitor’s Son universe or see what I can do with When Among Crows, because I feel like that one desperately needs a third book. We'll see where my mind goes after this.