L.X. Beckett talks world building and inspiration for debut novel Gamechanger
L.X. Beckett explains the process of crafting their debut novel, Gamechanger, a science-fiction story that imagines what the world could be like in 2101.
September has been a busy month in terms of book releases, and that means there are plenty of exciting stories to dive into as fall turns into winter and we all find ourselves spending more time indoors. And one release you certainly won’t want to miss is L.X. Beckett’s Gamechanger, a science-fiction novel that explores how humanity will carry on in the wake of climate change.
“Gamechanger is about the people of tomorrow (well, 2101) living in a world they’ve
worked incredibly hard to drag back from the brink of climate disaster,” Beckett explained. “It’s a post-capitalist world, remade by social media and the gig economy. A person might find themselves playing VR esports in the morning, working as a public defender a few hours later, then lobbying to crowdfund their favorite ecological rehab project after that.”
That certainly seems like the path we’re headed down, with many modern-day workers attempting to take advantage of the gig economy and holding multiple jobs at once. We aren’t as far along technology-wise, though, and that’s one of the things that presented a challenge to Beckett when crafting this story.
“The biggest part of the creation process was researching technologies we’re working on
today,” they explained, “then imagining them deployed, on a global scale, in the future: nuclear diamonds, drones that can plant millions of trees in a day, infusions that turn desert sand into arable land, economic ideas like minimum standard of living societies. (You can find stories about all these things online!) Then I threw these innovations forward a hundred years and started imagining knock-on effects.”
We could certainly use a few of Beckett’s contraptions in our current circumstances! And advanced technology isn’t the only way that Beckett’s world is a step ahead of our current one. The setting of Gamechanger also showcases a society that has come much further than ours socially, at least in some regards.
“What I’m most nervous about is that, because the Gamechanger society’s in a more stable place than we are now, some of today’s thorniest problems might seem like I’ve glanced over them,” Beckett said. “My 2101 Earth is a place where a lot of race and gender privilege has been dismantled. There’s an implication that this was a hard fight, but it’s not onstage — it’s decades in the rearview for my main character, Rubi Whiting. I keep waiting for someone to charge that I’ve ignored the racism, rising fascism, and toxicity of present-day culture, by presenting a future where things have moved on.”
Beckett’s concern is a valid one, though the fact that Earth has advanced is clear from the very beginning of Gamechanger. The moment the characters ask one another’s pronouns during introductions emphasizes exactly what it’s meant to: that the people of Gamechanger have achieved the world that many progressive minds are striving to create today. And the author has hopes that the book will drive that change as well.
“I hope the ideas in Gamechanger will excite people and inspire them to throw themselves into envisioning the better world we have to create for coming generations,” they said. “More than that, I hope they have fun living in this vision of a future world, so they want to create one that’s even better than what I came up with.”
Beckett also offered some advice for anyone looking to create their own fictional worlds, denying the idea that there’s one way to become a writer. They said, “People will tell you there’s one way to write a book or be a writer,” they said. “Write every day, write when the mood strikes, get an MFA, don’t get an MFA, do a workshop, never workshop… and while it can be useful to try some of those suggestions, the idea that there’s only one path is damaging garbage.”
And Beckett is currently taking that advice and working on Dealbreaker, the sequel to Gamechanger. There’s so much going on in Beckett’s world to explore, so it’s likely the author will dive further into some of the futuristic social ideologies and technological advancements in the next installment. We can’t wait to see what else this future holds!
Next. The Nobody People is a mature sci-fi read for superhero fans. dark