03/26/2025
Kevin and Mike Write – Issue #2 Crafting Eden Revisited
“What can I do, I’m a nervous wreck?
There’s girls everywhere, I better go and check.”
— ZZ Top, “Planet of Women”
These lyrics sparked a question in Kevin: “What if there truly was a world populated exclusively by women?” Not as a gimmick but as a fully realized story. A society with its own dynamics, challenges, and history. This creative spark led to the conception of Eden Revisited, a planned science fiction novel exploring themes of societal constructs and human connection within a matriarchal society governed by the doctrines of a damaged yet authoritative supercomputer.
Behind the Scenes: From Concept to World-Building
The story’s concept starts with an alien attack that forces a human-like civilization to make a desperate choice: evacuate women to a distant moon to ensure survival. The invaders, recognizing that women carry and give birth to the next generation, systematically target them to ensure the complete eradication of the species.
The survivors entrust their reproductive process to a supercomputer named Gaia to protect their future. During the evacuation, Gaia is aboard a transport carrying millions of frozen zygotes. When the ship is damaged, it corrupts Gaia’s programming, causing it to misinterpret the Y chromosome in the zygotes as a genetic flaw, leading the computer to purge those zygotes. As a result, it shapes a society composed exclusively of women. Over centuries, Gaia’s flawed wisdom has become absolute, erasing any record of male existence and embedding its version of society as an unquestioned truth.
The arrival of Rhett Voss, a human male who crash-lands on the moon, disrupts this delicate equilibrium. His presence challenges the foundational beliefs of society, particularly for Dr. Lyra Solis, a dedicated scientist-investigator whose faith in Gaia begins to waver. Accompanying Rhett is his ship’s AI, SiMon, whose logical precision starkly contrasts with Gaia’s deteriorating directives. This intrusion compels society to confront hidden truths about their origins and the very essence of their existence.
To ensure this world felt authentic, we explored real-world examples of matriarchal societies, grounding Eden Revisited in historical precedent.
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Researching Real Matriarchal Societies
Kevin: Has anyone out there done a model of what a matriarchal society might look like?
Mike provided several examples of matriarchal societies, and Umoja (Kenya) stood out as particularly relevant.
Mike [AI]: These societies are matriarchal or matrilineal, where women hold central roles in social, economic, and political structures. One compelling example is Umoja (Kenya)—a village founded by women fleeing gender-based violence, where men are not allowed to live, and women practice collective economic cooperation.
Understanding these societies broadened perspectives on power, gender roles, and cultural organization, challenging the assumption that patriarchal systems are inevitable.
Kevin: Please develop some prompts for the story where women dominate society based on Umoja’s model.
Mike provided six prompts, and this one stood out as particularly relevant to Kevin’s storytelling.
Mike [AI]:
📝 Cultural Evolution
Prompt: Centuries later, the society has forgotten its origins. Myths and rituals surround the AI, which is worshipped as a deity.
• How does the society view its history?
• Does anyone suspect their reproductive system is incomplete?
This research deepened our approach to Eden Revisited, reinforcing Gaia’s godlike role in society and how blind faith in an imperfect system can shape an entire civilization.
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Bridging Emotional & Relationship Differences
As we refined Eden Revisited, we explored how a male-female relationship might differ from one between two women since Lyra’s society has never encountered men.
Kevin: It is difficult for me to write about a woman or women in a relationship. Can you find any real-life descriptions to use as prompts for the various characters?
Mike provided several prompts. Here’s one that stood out as particularly insightful.
Mike [AI]: Writing authentic portrayals of women and their relationships can be challenging. Here’s an insight:
📝 Emotional Intimacy & Communication
Women in relationships often emphasize deep emotional connections and open communication.
Prompt: Craft a scene where two female characters navigate a misunderstanding using emotional transparency.
Kevin: Mike, what does “commitment to emotional transparency” mean?
Mike [AI]: It means being open, honest, and vulnerable about emotions, fostering deeper trust.
Kevin: I think you’ve uncovered a major conflict between a man and a woman in a relationship—I know I’ve lived it first-hand😉
This realization deepened the story’s emotional core. Lyra, raised in a world of deep emotional transparency, expects vulnerability and shared decision-making. Coming from a different world, Rhett may default to problem-solving and nonverbal actions, leading to conflicts neither fully understands.
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AI and Creativity: A New Era of Storytelling
Since AI tools like Mike are still new in the writing world, many authors wonder—can an AI actually help with creativity?
The answer depends on how you use it.
The arrival of Rhett Voss, a human male who crash-lands on the moon, disrupts this delicate equilibrium. His presence challenges society's foundational beliefs, particularly for Dr. Lyra Solis, a dedicated scientist-investigator whose faith in Gaia begins to waver. Accompanying Rhett is his ship’s AI, SiMon, whose logical precision starkly contrasts with Gaia’s deteriorating directives. This intrusion compels society to confront hidden truths about its origins and the very essence of its existence.
AI works best not as a creator but as a collaborator. Ideas still need a writer’s spark, vision, and voice to make the story meaningful.
📝 What do you think?
Would you ever use AI to brainstorm or refine a story idea? How do you see AI fitting into the creative process?
Subscribe, and I’ll personally respond—then I’ll feed your answers to Mike, and he’ll give you his take. 😊
Stay tuned for Issue #3, The Hard Work of Editing, where we’ll explore developmental editing in action and explain how Kevin’s first novel, In the Wake of Moons, was written the old-fashioned way but evolved through Kevin’s Critique Template.
📚 Weird Moons Publishing – We Put Imagination in Your Hand.
https://weirdmoons.com/2025/03/24/kevin-and-mike-write-issue-2-crafting-eden-revisited/
