How the Overmind came about

When I first started Rome's Revolution in 1973, I had no idea of what things were going to be like technologically in 2013. But I did know that Rei and Rome were fated to be together.

Part 1, which used be known as Book 1, Asdrale Cimatir, needed a climax. I decided that leaving Rei behind on Dara while Rome flies the Algol off to safety would be a heart-breaking conclusion. That is until we discovered that Rome, in fact, had not left.

But then I got stuck. If Rome stayed behind, why wouldn't she just radio Rei and tell him she stayed behind? I guess I could have said the radio malfunctioned but I took it one step further. I postulated that the spacesuits didn't have radios.

But why? Why wouldn't they? I then said, OK, the Vuduri are from the future, maybe they are mind-connected. From there, it was a simple leap to create the Overmind.

At that point, I had to go back to the beginning and create an entirely new culture, centered around the Overmind. More on that profound change tomorrow.

But all of this because I wanted Rei to run up a ramp...