The final book in the Hybrid Chronicles, Echoes of Us, came out this week. (You can read my review here.)
Here’s the official word:
All Eva ever wanted was the chance to be herself. But in the Americas, to be hybrid—to share your body with a second soul—is not tolerated past childhood. Now Eva and Addie, her sister soul, are constantly on the move, hiding from the officials who seek to capture them. But the tide is changing. A revolution is brewing, and people are starting to question the hybrids' mistreatment.
Then Marion, an ambitious reporter, offers Eva and Addie a daring proposal: If they go undercover and film the wretched conditions of a hybrid institution, she will not only rescue them, she'll find a way to free Jackson, the boy Addie loves. It's risky, and Eva will have to leave Ryan and her friends behind, but if she succeeds, it could also tip the scales forever and lead to hybrid freedom.
As Eva and Addie walk into danger, they cling to each other and the hope of a better future. But the price they might pay is higher than they ever could have imagined.
Author Kat Zhang recently stopped by to talk about YA movie adaptations, and some movie scenes that have a similar look and feel to what she’d imagined when writing her novels.
Adaptations and Atmosphere
by Kat Zhang
It really seems like YA books are getting adapted into movies left and right these days! The Giver has just released, as have If I Stay and The Maze Runner. Of course, we can’t forget the Hunger Games movies, as well as Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars. There are plenty more in the pipeline, too! The Duff finished filming not too long ago, and I keep hearing about studios snapping up movie rights to new books.
I took a few film and screenwriting classes in college, and I’ve loved film for a long time, so I’m always really interested in seeing how the moviemakers interpret a book, transforming it from a written to a visual media. There are the obvious changes that can be made, of course. Plots can be simplified, with subplots cut for timing. Characters can be combined or deleted or altered in personality and appearance.
But sometimes, it’s even larger-scale things. For example, was anyone else caught off-guard by the steampunk feel permeating the Golden Compass movie? Or the overt militaristic feel (all drill-sergeant-y and push-ups) of the Ender’s Game movie? When we read a book, especially one set in a world very different from our own, we create our own “atmosphere.” Often, this atmosphere is unique to each reader, and it’s cool (though sometimes somewhat disorienting!) to see which atmosphere is chosen for the movie.
When I first came up for the setting of the Hybrid Chronicles, I had some parameters in mind. First off, though the books are set in an alternate version of “present day,” the level of technology in the Americas (though not in the rest of the world), is lower in many ways. The characters don’t have cell phones. Computers aren’t nearly as commonplace. The internet is non-existent for the public.
To go along with this “older” feel (and I realize that by “older,” I’m basically referencing the 80s and 90s, hahaha), I came up with a society that was more insulated and more conservative in many ways. Since the reasoning for the lower level of tech was the Americas’ self-segregation from the rest of the world (and an attempt by the Powers that Be to keep their population better under control), that kind of society seemed to make sense.
But if I somehow got the magic ability to project my imagined Hybrid Chronicles “atmosphere” onto a screen, there would be other little details, as well. You know how movies sometimes seem to have a color scheme? Some are full of rich, deep, and high saturation colors, like Gangster Squad:
Others use a lot more cool, pale colors, like Hanna:
In my head, the Hybrid Chronicles world looks a little bit vintage. Think some of the scenes in Never Let Me Go (but less … British, haha):
The colors are soft. A bit muted. But more light/dark contrast than Never Let Me Go, perhaps. (There are so many low-lit scenes in the series!). So perhaps mix in some of the light-work from Ginger & Rosa (why are all my examples set in the UK?):
Why does the Hybrid Chronicles world look like this in my mind? I’m not entirely sure. Certainly, not all of my books do. But each of my stories definitely invokes a different mood—a different mental atmosphere.
Have you thought of books in this way? 
About Kat
Kat Zhang is an avid traveler, and after a childhood spent living in one book after another, she now builds stories for other people to visit. Recently graduated from Vanderbilt University, she spends her free time scribbling poetry, raiding local bookstores, and plotting where to travel next. You can read about her travels, literary and otherwise, on her website or check her out on Twitter.
Echoes of Us is available now.