Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a best-seller and literary sensation, which surprised many because of its subject matter. The story centers on the relationship between two video game creators. It's character-focused, gripping, and appeals even to those who would never play a video game.
Rather than treating video games as a story gimmick or shallow backdrop, Zevin uses game development as the emotional core of the novel. She captured the truths about the gaming industry without turning the novel into an exposé. Ultimately, she introduced readers to an often misunderstood world.
Zevin's success doesn't simply glorify games and gaming; it understands the people who make them and the system they must work within. Let's explore what this novel got right about the gaming industry and, subsequently, why it was so successful.
Game Creation as Art
One of the most important things that Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow gets right is how it portrays video game creation as an artistic pursuit. In the novel, games aren't products built for the masses. They are expressions of the creator's identity, emotions, and philosophy.
The characters reflect the reality of the gaming industry, where developers see themselves are artists and creators, not as a cog in the engineering machine. Indie developers, especially, use game creation to explore their grief, joy, experiences, failure, and love.
Zevin adeptly conveyed how mechanics, story, sound, and design all carry personal meaning.
The Emotional Cost of Game Creation
This novel also realizes the emotional and personal toll that comes from working in the gaming industry. Success often requires sacrifice in the form of long hours, creative differences, financial pressure, and criticism. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow never romanticizes this reality, but instead shows how passion is forced to coexist with them.
Another theme and story engine is collaboration, and how it can both strengthen and fracture personal and creative relationships. Game development relies on teamwork, but the relationships are fragile. There's ego, ambition, passion, and contrasting visions, all of which can slowly erode friendships and romantic relationships.
Zavin wasn't shy about showing how creative clashes and financing pressures can undermine artistic expression in the name of commercial success.
The Myth of the "Brekaout Hit"
Zevin's novel explores the uncomfortable reality behind success in the gaming industry, and how it's unpredictable and unevenly rewarded. A game that's labelled a "breakout hit" can change lives overnight, but it can also act as a cage for the creators and form expectations for future games they are unable or unwilling to meet.
What the novel truly gets right about the gaming industry is how financial success trumps creative success, and brings power struggles, loss of control over creative projects, and shifting priorities. All of this accurately reflects what happens when a game with artistic merit and intent becomes a hit.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow resonates with readers because it treats the gaming industry with respect, not reverence. Gabrielle Zevin doesn't present gaming as a frivolous novelty. She understands it as a medium driven by human emotion and experience, and how deeply flawed it is.
