Worldless: Born in the Middle by Mel
Worldless: born in the middleWhy I think the book works, an insider "behind the book" review.
Worldless is the second book idea I pitched to my father-in-law, but this one was a lot more vague in content, and I can't reveal the main idea because it would spoil the whole book. I will only reveal content from the first third.
In short, at a family party, I was speaking with my sister-in-law, Julie, and we discussed a video I saw about generation spaceships. The three of us, Eric, Julie and me, we decided we would write that book together.
Eric had more time, so he proposed to lay down the main characters, introducing the world, and then we would help him fill the story.
The goal was to string Jake along longer and to have him see his 4 matches from which he could possibly marry one, only to marry Penelope near the climax of the book.
Julie wanted to focus on Tancy, I liked Penelope and Eric would have focused on Amy.
We had a plan!
But then, Eric decided that Tancy had to leave to make the story work, and it's me who realized that the zone where Penelope live had to be closed.
This completely changed the structure of the book! We wouldn't each have a potential wife to write, giving three identities and styles to the book, which was the original plan.
We would have written independent chapters, different stakes, a sort of mixing of three storylines by three different authors, and a simple decision by Eric accidentally cut Julie's writing part off, and another decision of mine cut Eric's part off.
None of us minded, it made sense for the story, but then he kept writing, skipping over my parts to focus on the later parts of the story when Jake is an adult and he is taking care of his kids.
The plan was for me to add my stories between the start of the book and the later portions.
I wrote a few paragraphs. That's what I managed to write when Eric was writing the climax of the book and I realized that the story was more than just Jake picking a wife.
It was about ensuring the survival of everyone on the ship for all future generations. The little stories I wanted to write about maintenance and the simple joys of life no longer mattered as much.
And this is what I love about the book. We still get these little guilty pleasures, making cheese when Penelope is pregnant or investigating how to change a ring rotation motor.
But now, the book is more. It's about hope and about great challenges bringing great leaders. Jake wasn't born to lead, but he finds faults and problems where no one sees them, almost forcing him to step up.
And that, to me, is inspiring.
There is a parallel universe where instead of him writing the book alone, Julie and I write each a third of it. And I firmly believe that Eric's version is better. Because it's a single story with a strong main character filled with self-doubt.
That is something I like!