2083 - Novel
ROLE
Author
DESCRIPTION
"And you, what would you do if it was the end of the world?". It is with that question that I spent four years imagining, creating, writing and reviewing 2083 before it was published by HelloÉdition, a publisher based in Paris, France.
YEAR
Writing and reviewing : 2021-2025
Published : 2025
PUBLISHER
HelloÉditions, Paris - France
PLATFORM
Book, action-adventure novel - 160p.
BRIEF SUMMARY
And you, what would you do if it was the end of the world?
In 2083, Europe is devastated by climate change, the end of fossil fuels, pandemics, and wars. States and governments have ceased to exist, and communication technologies have been nonexistent since the morning the first atomic bombs were dropped in 2078.
Yet, in this new reality, a glimmer of hope remains: a return to the standards of the old world. In south-central France, a quarantine zone, hundreds of kilometers enclosed by walls and barbed wire, guards and protects a new energy source. The survivors of the old continent quickly learn of its existence and form armed communities to plunder its energy resources.
But an international team of five walkers enters this sealed off region, hoping to be the first to reach its center, the location of the coveted Singularity. They advance with the goal of finding a guide who will lead them further than they alone can go...
SKILLS LEARNED
WORLD DESIGN
A COHERENT WORLD WITH A STRONG VISION
Writing a fiction that feels believable and interesting requires a world with coherent rules - rules that stay unchanged for the whole story.
During the writing of 2083, I allowed myself to write about possible events in the near future that would result in a post-apocalyptic life not only in France, but in the whole of Europe and, even, the world. My goal was to have a world that stayed coherent and believable from beginning to end - whilst staying true to my vision.
Coherence is what helps the reader or the player experience a universe that is believable.
Believability is what makes this world relevant and creates a real sense of consequences for any actions.
It also breeds attachment to the reader for the world and its characters.
Through coherence comes believability. Through believability comes real emotional attachment.
THE WORLD AS A LIVING ORGANISM
During the writing of 2083, I learned that to create an immersive world, full of frights, action and heroic acts, the real protagonist should not be the characters we follow, but the world itself.
Hence, I first took time to build a universe from zero, set in our real world, but located more than sixty years in the future. I developed a full lore of historical dates and figures to make this world vibrant and alive. Then, after having planned each apocalyptic events, I designed the "play ground" for the story: the Perimeter, located in the center-south of France.
Having loved the Stalker Universe for a long time, I easily found my voice in the chaos of a post-apocalyptic France. Factions had to occupy the territory and each had to have their own objectives. Being in apocalyptic times, paranormal activities had to occur in some degrees and were constructed from the historical lore of this universe.
Then, in all of that chaos, one small group had to decide to come into the Perimeter to test their luck. The characters we follow are unwilling heroes, they have not been sent on a mission to venture into dangers: they are human beings tired of waiting. Their movement is not against an idea, but for one: saving themselves and, maybe, saving their world at the same time. But, others could have easily taken their place.
POLITICAL DYNAMICS
The etymology of "Politic" is found in ancient greek "Politikos", derived from "Polis", or the "city", and "Politès", or the "citizen".
In the case of 2083, the city is the Perimeter and its citizen are represented by the factions and their followers. Each faction has their own goals, their own morality, their own dressing code, their own intended missions and their own truths. It is the conflict of these "truths" that drove to an emergent story. The main characters we follow, which do not represent one political body more than the other, have to live with these factions and find a way to achieve their personal goal through alliances, lies, secrets and/or conflicts.
The world feels alive in 2083, because the main characters resemble small boats next to giant oil tankers. In the same way, the goals of our characters feels much more rewarding when they succeed in overcoming such large ships through the meager means at their disposal.
CHARACTER DESIGN
REAL CHARACTERS - PURPOSE, MEANS AND OBJECTIVES
Creating and building characters to integrate them in a large story helped me refine my skills, such as: psychological understanding, backstory creation, personality crafting, goal design, character arc development, physical description, relationships dynamics and consistency. In total, I built over 15 characters to have their unique traits and personality, as well as numerous minor characters less detailed.
NARRATIVE DESIGN
NARRATIVE FLOW AND EMOTIONAL BUILDUPS
To design the narrative flow, I followed the principles proposed in Construire un récit, written by Yves Lavandier (2011), a script doctor that worked on hollywood movies during his career. I learned through his book structural awareness, pacing control, rhythm and variation, narration cohesion and how to avoid doing info-dumping. Through this structure-driven approach, I then learned how to create emotional buildups through emotional stakes, gradual escalations, timing the climax, then dealing with the aftermath and resolutions.
DEVELOPPING A VOICE
"Everything has been said, but not yet by everyone." - Karl Valentin, Bavarian comedian
I agree with the idea that every story has already been said. Yet, through that idea, I do also believe that every story can be said differently through a new voice. A voice is a distinct and recognisable pattern of expressions or intentions that can shift a tone, a point of view or even deepen the core of a known story. Whilst writing 2083, I developed my own voice and my own patterns. This voice of mine can easily be applied to any type of projects.
CHALLENGES OVERCOME
PRIOR WRITING EXPERIENCES, BUT LIMITED FOR NOVELS
As an avid reader since childhood, I imagined that writing a novel with characters and a storyline would be simple. Which is untrue: the qualities of a reader are different than the qualities of a writer. During the creation of 2083, I then looked for help in method books, but found that they are rare. Thankfully, Yves Lavandier's method book served me well, as soon as I had the opportunity to apply his principles to my story. From an enthusiastic contemplative novel, I transformed its narrative flow to a more action-driven one. Today, the published novel received many positive feedback with readers saying that "we always want to know what happens in the next page".
FROM CONTEMPLATIVE NARRATIVE TO ACTION-DRIVEN
The first iterations of the novel were more contemplative than action-driven, which was my desire initially, but after listening to the feedback, I decided to change the pacing and add more rhythm to the storyline. To do so, I halved the number of pages and included more dialogs and more action scenes. All the while staying true to the original vision.
REVIEWING AND REWRITING
The hardest part of this project was the reviewing and the rewriting. From the Version 1.0, written in 3 months, I went to rewriting the story 13 times, with the published version being the Version 13.0. Each version was a different iteration of the story, with storylines changes or characters having a different arc, but also adding more coherence and depth to the world it takes place in.
PUBLISHER-FRIENDLY
The biggest challenge for 2083 was to be deemed worthy of publication by a publishing house. Having contacted most of the houses that were invested in action stories and fictions, I gradually changed the versions of the novel to gain their attention. This constant learning, reviewing and rewriting the story led me to receive a contract with Hello Editions, a french Paris-based publishing house.
HOW I GOT IT DONE
12/06/2021
On the 6th of December 2021, the morning after discussing with a friend about my desire to someday write a novel, I decided to start the work and imagined the setting and world in which the story would take place. I stopped my freelance work to do what I had envisioned.
02/14/2022
For the next three months, I worked every day from 9am to 5pm, except on Sunday. In the evenings, I would go to read for 3 hours in a café next to my place. My books ranged from Lawrence of Arabia to Isaac Asimov, Arkadi and Boris Strougatski, Chateaubriand and Carl Von Clausewitz, but also writing method books.
I knew where I wanted to lead the story and what I wanted to say with it, but I left room for improvisation, which recreated a sensation of adventure for the characters that evolved in a world in which they were not in control, nor were the main protagonists.
The 14th of February 2022, I finished the Version 1 of the novel.
06/2022
After finishing the Version 1, I restarted my freelance work and worked during the evenings and weekends on the novel. In May 2022, through friends, I found an artist workshop in Lyon where I applied as a resident to meet other artists and to challenge my novel thanks to their feedback. I was accepted for a 6 months residency in June 2022 and then began the reviewing of my work on the Version 3.14.
Winter 2023
During the winter of 2023, after two years of work, now arriving to the Version 7.3, I decided that it was time to send it to publishers and see if my work was satisfactory. I delivered the manuscript to three famous French publishing houses and, unfortunately, received a refusal from each. I saw it as a need to keep working on my story and characters, but decided to move to other activities in the mean time.
2023-
2024
Between 2023 and 2024, I started and graduated from Narrative Design online courses to hone my skills. I also sporadically returned to the manuscript. Reading it with new eyes, I saw what modifications were left to do and gave more movements to the story. I gave adjustments to the world settings, the characters and ultimately decided to reduce the number of pages to give the manuscript a lighter feeling. These decisions and changes helped the manuscript respect the A. de Saint-Exupéry quote : "Perfection is not achieved when there is nothing to add, but when there is nothing to retract."
Summer 2024
During the Summer 2024, I arrived at the Version 13 of my manuscript. I decided to send it to all publishing houses in France which could be interested by a post-apocalyptic action-adventure novel set in France. And then, I moved on to other activities.
09/2024
In September 2024, I received positive news from Hello Éditions, a human-size publishing house based in Paris, France. Having well-liked my novel, they expressed their wish to publish it. From there began the reviewing work with them that would last until May 2025.
07/2025
The 18th of July 2025, 2083 is finally published and available on order on every major distribution network in France (Fnac, Decitre, Le Furet de Nord, Amazon, etc.)