(That is, when they are not banning it.)

And now, of course, its a new drama series which premiered on Hulu on Wednesday.

[Laughs] I do feel like.

Did I will this into being?

Is this my fault that we have this now?

It is very peculiar.

SoThe Handmaids Talehas come up in previous elections but it really came up again on Nov. 9.

And it has not stopped since that moment.

You had posters from the Womens March with the lines Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again.Yes, we had those.

But there were three backstories to writing the book.

It was witchcraft and demonology language.

The other thread was my teenage love of dystopians and utopians and sci-fi.

And my interest in writing a dystopia.

Most of the ones I had read had been from a male point of view.

And thats more or less our world.

But when he got the power, he did the things he said he was going to do.

Now people have more power to do those things and they are doing them.

The Handmaids Talehas already been through the Hollywood system.

It was a movie back in 1990 that starred Natasha Richardson as Offred.

But it wasnt a big hit.

What do you chalk that up to?Things go in waves.

Second wave feminism happened in the 60s and into the 70s.

And then people got tired.

And others felt they had achieved a certain number of things and it was other peoples turn.

When youre a certain age, you think your mum is old-fashioned.

Offred (before she becomes Offred) is like that in the book.

So the book was written at that time of mum is quaint.

And then I think people move into other phases.

You read about Joe Stalins purges and people just disappear.

And then you wouldnt mention them.

That is what Orwell is channeling in1984.

Those people would disappear, not only from your life but from the record.

How involved were you in the series?

Did you collaborate much with showrunner Bruce Miller?We talked a lot.

Is that exciting for you?Yes, it is.

He explores some of the edges of things in his answers, written by me.

That will be interesting but I cant predict what we will do.

So what youve seen so far in the first series…Its very good.

Are there scenes that are upsetting to you?

She really had a rough road in this series but she is so good.

That made me cry.

Really shocking was what happened to Ofglen, which I dont want to spoil.

Yes, episode 3 is quite rough.Its bang, right between the eyes.

But Bruce Miller followed the rules.

Its not just something that happens to people over there.

Were there images you wanted to see visualized in a certain way?The thing looks gorgeous.

Let me just say that.

The photography, the saturation of color it is really quite gorgeous.

Now in the novel, I never pictured overhead shots.

But with the overhead shots, you’re free to get this patterning.

Its like the old Busby Berkeley musicals, or Esther Williams, where people are making floral pattern scenes.

Normalizing is a big thing with this series.

That to me is the most terrifying part of it.

They become not only socially acceptable feelings, but socially demanded feelings.

Lets do that, its the acceptable thing to do.

The corollary of that is when the Handmaids are urged on to basically kill a man.

They never would have killed a man before but this is what you do now.

Until, of course, we change our minds as to who the mob is.

During the witchcraft trials, the safest place to be is among the accusers.

That is what causes mob behavior its safer in the mob.

You dont want to be ganged up on.

You dont even want to be the person heroically defending them.

Because then you will become one of those attacked.

Thats how Salem worked.

Its unsafe to defend people against that behavior.

Its safer to be among those doing the attacking.

Its not usually what happens to you at this age.

So its very interesting to me and Im glad its so interesting to many other younger people.

And it ought to be because this is the world they are increasingly living in.