The Underdog, is a short novella set at a bus stop during a rainy night in London, after you have just encountered an unknown woman called, 'Jake'. With the bus delayed, Jake begins to tell you a story about her life, and something inside you feels inclined to listen – as though you’ve heard her stories before somewhere deep inside your own soul.
The Underdog was created as blend of fiction and thesis, to explore the concept of unconfronted grief. Written as a 2nd perspective mystery, set in modern-day London. The novel brings the reader to the forefront of The Underdog’s tale by turning the reader into an active participant to interact with our case study, and protagonist - Jake.
Development sketches of the underdogs
Read The Underdog, below ↓
Underdog_Soraya Caraca_webversion.pdfTHE UNDERDOG behind-the-scenes
Creating Jake
Using its fictional setting, The Underdog acts to create an interpersonal dynamic between the reader and Jake, when discussing the topic of depression and grief. This is opposed to a typical case study format, which reflects the relationship between the author and the subject (where the reader is just a bystander). Jake speaks to the reader directly through the novel, forming this space of back-and-forth talk, between you and her. Switching the role of author and reader by turning the author into the bystander, and the reader into the participant.
Alternative cover designs for The Underdog
Because of The Underdogs' use of 2nd perspective, with terminology such as, “You reach over the counter”, and “You take a deep breath”, it puts the reader in the same scene with Jake. She talks, and acts, as if she is talking to you- and the Underdog is a lived experience between both of you, not just her. It makes the whole project a lot more personal to the reader, and not just the author.
Jake, our protagonist, has unconfronted grief - meaning the traumatic events she’s experienced in her past have not found any resolutions, nor has she made any attempt to move past them. As far as she is concerned, her trauma doesn’t affect her daily life; she believes that though she’s never confronted her past, she is capable of living with it. This is polarizing to what the reader derives from Jake after meeting her; seeing instead a woman completely under the control of her trauma, to the point where she doesn’t even acknowledge it as the root cause of her depression. Leaving it to us, as both the reader and a witness to her stories, to help Jake.
Development sketches of the underdogs