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Now, withMinecraft: The Island,well learn how to survive something even bigger: life itself.
Now, there are different types ofMinecraftyou can play.
Credit: Courtesy Del Rey Books
And thats usually where people build extravagant buildings.
So how doyouplay?I play on something called Survival, where literally you wake up in a world.
Its a natural world, and it looks no different than this world.
From the moment that you open your eyes, just like in the real world, youre losing food.
So you better find a way to eat: Either hunt animals, or plant seeds and grow crops.
But to do that, you better make tools.
And to make tools, you have to get wood.
Thats very different than all theMinecraftmusic videos I saw on YouTube.Wow is right.
Thats way different from music videos, but you know what?
Its actuallynotdifferent from music videos.
When I called it an alternative universe, I mean it.
Because in our world, people make music videos, but those people still need to eat!
So thatsMinecraft.Minecraftis our world.
And herein lies the initial challenge of aMinecraftbook.
Like, if Im writing aCall of Dutybook, thats a no-brainer.
You already have the characters, you already have the plot, you have everything.
Whereas this, you literally have to write a story that takes placeinthis world.
So I already had a specific story I wanted to tell.
We need to be very clear: Im not writingthe Minecraftbook.Im writinga Minecraftbook.
If the folks fromHalocalled me to writetheHalobook, I could do that, but you cannot writethe MinecraftBook.
BecauseHalohas a mythology?Yeah.
If youre doingWorld of Warcraftor something like that, its very specific.
WhereasMinecraftis literally just a world.
Its like saying, Write the human race book.
I mean, the game is that specific.
Get this: I literally, playing the game, woke up at the bottom of the ocean.
I opened my eyes and locked on the sun, because I didnt know which way was up.
And once you lose air, you start to acquire damage.
They have no memory.
and How am I safe?
and Where do I sleep at night?
I would say the key difference betweenHatchetand my book is: The kids got a hatchet!
How awesome would it be ifmycharacter had a hatchet?
Yeah, that would skip a lot of steps.Exactly.
But if you skipped a lot of steps, youd skip a lot of life lessons.
Do you think everybody who playsMinecraftthinks of it in terms of life lessons?
Or is this just you, as an adult and as a dad?I have no idea.
Im the throw in of writer who can never venture to anticipate my audience.
I thought I was the only one who thought about this.
So I have to go with what appeals to me about that world.
So is this going to be a series?No.
You did?Oh yeah.
I had a book idea, they loved it… and I think their contract ran out.
Because they waited too long?No, I think thats just the normal business cycle.
And while Mojang was waiting to find a publishing partner, we were in limbo.
But I couldnt stop thinking about it.
Just throw it up on my website and… whatever.
Were on draft three, and there may be two, three, four more drafts.
Part of the job now is to take the time and get it right.
Minecraft: The Islandhits shelves later this year.
