Babel Clash

So  Morgan’s asked a bunch of questions, and they’re great questions, so I’ll answer them as a  post.

I imagine that writing a tie-in novel is a little bit like driving someone else’s car.  You’ve been given the keys, but you know that you’re going to have to give them back.  How do you make the tie-in novel feel like your own?

Well, I don’t know how other media writers feel, but when I start writing the story can’t be anything but my own. The fact that I didn’t create the world or the characters in it doesn’t seem to make any difference. I think that might be because I only go after media tie-in work connected to worlds and characters that I’m already in love with. There has to be a pre-existing relationship between me and the characters. I doubt that I could write a novel about a franchise (ick, hate that word, but it’s the only one that fits) that hadn’t already engaged my emotions. I mean, I watched Atlantis and I enjoyed Atlantis but I never clicked emotionally with Atlantis the way I clicked with Stargate, so I could never write an Atlantis novel. At least, not one where I felt I was being honest and truthful to the characters and their lives. Likewise there are many tv dramas that I enjoy but can’t imagine writing fiction based on them because they don’t have the dangling threads which snag my attention. The stories I write that are based in worlds I didn’t create come about because I feel there’s some kind of ‘unfinished business’ to do with the characters that hasn’t been explored yet. So I play with that.

When signed on for a tie-in novel, do you get a peek behind the curtain into the larger plans for the brand?  Assuming that the Star Wars narrative is going in a fixed direction, how much information are you given to make sure that your story keeps the narrative on track?

I think that very much depends on the franchise you’re working in. For example, because my Star Wars novels are set in the Clone Wars cartoon era I was sent the first season of scripts to read, so I could see where the story was heading and also use some of the cartoon work as a springboard for my own. So my first Star Wars novel, Wild Space, intersects with a couple of Anakin-centred episodes of the first season, and the next two — a two-parter story! — feature a returning character from the cartoons. On the other hand, with Stargate, I’m not aware that there was any conversation like that between the writers and the showrunners. Of course, Stargate’s not in production now so the writers have a freer hand, and 2 books were set back in earlier seasons so the direction thing wasn’t an issue.

Cool questions, Morgan! If anyone’s got any more, I’m happy to blather on!

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