Somebody else’s blog, somebody else’s universe…
by danabnett on Jan.19, 2010, under Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill
Wow, this is a bit like checking into a fancy hotel. Will you look at this blog? It’s got decorative side motifs, for goodness sake! It’s not like being at home in your own blog. Everything’s so clean, and there are mints on the pillow…
I’m Dan. Hello. Morgan and the Babel Clashers have invited me to sit in for a week or two, to chat about writing and invention and so on. Let me introduce myself up front: I’ve been working for over twenty years, and I’ve written knocking on for forty novels and a considerable number of comics. In the world of American comic books, I often collaborate with Andy Lanning and, as DnA, we have spent the last three years writing Marvel’s cosmic books (that’s things like Nova, the Guardians of the Galaxy, War of Kings and Annihilation). Before that, we worked on Legion of Superheroes and Resurrection Man at DC, the Authority and Majestic for Wildstorm, and a (ginormous) bunch of other stuff.
In the UK, I write a lot for 2000AD and, amongst other things, I have both created and written the series Sinister Dexter and Kingdom. As a novelist, I’ve written some Torchwood and Doctor Who books (and original audios for the BBC), a Primeval novel, and a LOT of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 books for the Black Library.
It’s those 40K books, especially the Gaunt’s Ghost series, the Eisenhorn and Ravenor books, and the Horus Heresy, that I’m particularly known for, I suppose. Just like when I write for the Marvel or DC Universes (or Doctor who and Primeval), when I write for 40K, I’m writing in somebody else’s universe.
This is called licensed or tie-in work (except in comics, perversely, but that’s a distinction we’ll get to later). People can be a bit snooty about tie-in fiction. This snooty-ness is most commonly expressed in the question “Why don’t you write proper books?” (variations on this theme include substituting the word ‘real‘ for ‘proper’).
Well, mister, the answer is… actually quite complicated. Let’s start with the grease and overalls part. Writing tie-in fiction is often good, steady, reliable work. The flow of work does not depend upon the ups and downs of your own “brand”, it depends on the health of a big franchise like Star Trek or Superman. Big franchises are always looking for talented, professional writers to write their tie-in books, and in these credit crunchy times, no one should be sneering at good, steady work.
Besides that, it’s fun. As your job of work, you get up in the morning and think up ideas for Doctor Who (or whatever). What’s not to like?
There are other real pleasures: the pleasure of engaging with an eager and enthusiastic audience, for starters. And you’d be very wrong to think that just because it’s ‘tie-in’ fiction, it’s easier to write. You create your own world, you set your own limits; you take a job in somebody else’s universe, there’s a ready-made standard. People care. People will KNOW when you get something wrong.
I’ve thought about all of this from time to time, particularly in the last year or so. My most recent releases (not counting the third, gigantic Gaunt’s Ghost Omnibus, The Lost, and a Doctor Who audio read by a certain Mr D. Tennant), were the thirteenth Gaunt’s Ghost book, Blood Pact (a Warhammer 40K book, just so we’re clear), and a novel called Triumff, from the Harper Collins Angry Robot imprint. You’ll have Triumff in the States very soon. It’s a rollicking alternate history fantasy, and I’ll talk about it more later in my stay here.
The reason I mention it now is, because it’s mine. It’s a ‘real‘ book. A ‘proper‘ book. I invented it all. For the first time in almost forty novels, I wasn’t working in someone else’s Universe.
So I’ve had a real opportunity to compare and contrast. Which is better? Which is harder? Are they just different? Do you use different muscles for writing one than you do for the other? Which is the most rewarding? I’m going to try find some answers, and helping me (and providing many answers of his own, no doubt), will be the mighty Graham McNeill, a fellow 40K veteran. Graham and I have collaborated on the world-shaping front, especially on the Horus Heresy books.
I don’t know if I’m going to successfully answer any of those questions, or any other questions, or any questions that you out there might care to throw at me (go on, you know you want to!). But you know what? Damn it, over the next two weeks, I’m going to give it a shot, and I’m not going to be sidetracked until–
Oooh! A minibar!
Related posts:
- My own private universe Today, I was going to talk a little bit about the other side of the equation: working in your own universe instead of someone else’s. In the spirit of Graham’s excellent advice yesterday, I’m doing that whilst listening to someone singing in French. I’ve really enjoyed reading what Graham has...
- And our next guests… Thank you once more to Naomi and Claudia. It was a treat to welcome you both to Babel Clash. I’m pleased to welcome our next guests, Dan Abnett & Graham McNeill. Both are veteran writers of Warhammer novels and comics. Dan also writes for Marvel Comics, and his work includes...
- Hi, I’m Dan, and I’ll be your God-Emperor of Mankind It was recently announced that the luminous Michael Moorcock would be writing a Doctor Who novel. In the press release, he said that this book was “not a tie-in”. Later, presumably after people had coughed quietly and politely behind him, he issued another statement correcting the (I’m sure quite genuine)...
- England, my England The universe of my novel Triumff existed in my head for about two decades before I got it into a printed form. It didn’t take that much longer to reach publication than my 40K books because the universe took so much more time to design, but the contrast is useful...
- Not the end So I guess we’re at the packing your suitcase and waiting for a cab to the airport stage of our visit here at Babel Clash, and I’d like to echo what Graham said last night: we’ve had a splendid time, it’s been great meeting you all and chatting to you...
January 19th, 2010 on 1:09 pm
On the topic of your Tie-in fiction for Games Workshop i think you have made a great job of exspanding the background in new directions that the game fluff just don’t cover. All those blood pact army’s you have inspired and forcing people to find out what Auspex actully means lol keep up the good work. Oh and nice blog. Also dose the zing… thingy work on here?
January 19th, 2010 on 2:07 pm
Thought i’d drop by and say hello, and ask the burning question on everyone’s lips…………………….is Lijah Cuu innocent?
The interview you did for black libary (which can be found on youtube) was fantastic , any chance you could elaborate on this anymore?
Right gonna have a look round this website as i am intrigued!
See ya …..Big
January 20th, 2010 on 4:58 am
Thanks, Rich. The Blood Pact is a good example of the sort of thing I’ve added to the 40K Universe, ie finding creative room in someone else’s universe for myself. And you’re right - there are some fabulous custom-made miniatures armies out there (a Google search will probably find pics for anyone interested, unless someone knows of a good link?). “Zing!” (a triumphant flourish which has become ‘the thing you do when you manage to post the first comment’ on my website) quite clearly works here, as you’ve done it. Kudos.
Big - thanks for bigging up my YouTube casts without me even having slip you any cash. Big…bigging up… you see what I did?
January 20th, 2010 on 5:31 am
Is las fire blue or crimson? Only in death cover depicts it as blue, however it has been described as crimson by other authors.
Could Ravenor encased in a dreadnaught single-handedly turn back the tides of Chaos?
Why does psyker activity manifest an ozone smell?
Why do loxatyls smell like mint?
January 20th, 2010 on 6:05 am
I was going to ask about world-building. Does writing tie-in fiction compromise your ability to world-build and if not, how do you get around it. Are you ever concerned that by not doing this part of the work your imagination will seize up or does it just leave more world-building ideas for your indie work?
January 20th, 2010 on 6:07 am
Hello Dan. I’ve started listening to your ‘The Last Voyage’ audio CD. I understand it was the last thing David Tennant did in the role of the Doctor. Pretty cool!
Anyway, on the issue of other people’s universes and characters, Big’s post got me thinking. I think you’ve said before that in the rewrite of your Gaunts’ Ghosts book ‘Honour Guard’ the character Lijah Cuu unexpectedly appeared, and in that series of books your characters sometimes end up doing things you don’t expect of them. As if they are alive, I suppose. Is this the same when you’re writing something like Doctor Who, or is there necessarily more artifice involved in writing for the voice of the Doctor, a character who comes to you pretty much fully-formed already?
M
January 20th, 2010 on 6:09 am
Darn it! Why does Adelie get to be pink? I wanted to be pink! Instead I got a taupe portcullis thing. I wonder if I’ll get it again? Only one way to find out…
January 20th, 2010 on 6:10 am
SNARL!
M
January 20th, 2010 on 7:47 am
Adelie - good question, and one I’ll explore in more detail this week. In (very) brief), I think I’m probably still world-building even when I’m in someone else’s pre-built world. World-building is a process that extends right down to the smallest component. Also, yes - it does otherwise leave more ideas for my indie work.
Frank - the color of las-fire varies depending on the type and quality of the crystal lens used in the focusing ring, localized atmospherics and lighting conditions, and the species-origin of the las-tech involved. Generally, it’s laser-colored. It may also depend on the author’s mood.
Encased in a dreadnaught, Ravenor could probably give the Eye of Terror a bad case of conjunctivitis.
Psyker activity actually generates a prodromal aura in the temporal lobe, it just appears to smell like ozone.
Loxatyls are very particular about oral hygiene.
Matthew - glad you’re enjoying the audio (available now, people). Yes, you’ve hit upon something there. Characters I’ve invented have often felt like they’re taking on lives of their own. Cuu the best example, but there are others. They have decided their own actions, and even made decisions about life and death. I guess with a pre-existing character like the Doctor I am just consciously more careful and controlled. I keep checking a mental playbook to make sure I’m getting him ‘right’ rather than trusting the Force. Man, was that a mixed metaphor. BTW - many congratulations on the phrase ‘taupe portcullis thing’.
January 20th, 2010 on 11:49 am
World building is a crucially overlooked aspect, even in tie-in fiction, as I can attest in my writing of Mechanicum. I’d gotten a third of the way through the book and the pace was maddeningly slow, to the point where I was beginning to think I had a flawed concept of a novel. Talk about blaming the tools… Anyway, I went right back to scratch, building the world, it’s geography, its hierarchy, its relationships with the outside world in mind-numbing detail. And from then on, the words flowed and it became a joy to write. As a writer, you need to know how your world works, inside and out, back to front and in every single one of the ten dimensions. Even if 90% of that development never sees the light of day, it’s important that I know it. That way I can convince you that it’s a real place with a beating heart and a life of its own that goes on even when you’re not looking.
January 20th, 2010 on 1:01 pm
I think the significance of Mechanicum– and Titanicus, for that matter– in terms of world-building in the 40K context has been largely overlooked so far (probably because hobbywise, since the decline of Epic at least, the Mechanicus and the Titan Legions aren’t generally regarded as 40K ‘armies’ at present).
Either book is a good example, though: the Mechanicus is a huge and vital component of the 40K mythos, yet for 20 years hardly anything was actually published regarding how it WORKS– especially regarding the nuts and bolts (tee, hee) of its integration with the Imperium and the wider galaxy. That’s an entire new subdimension to the 40K universe, at least as far as the readership is concerned.
Just goes to show that “tie-in” fiction DOESN’T necessarily equal the sort of derivative variations-on-a-theme by which certain literary snobs like to dismiss it.
January 21st, 2010 on 1:26 am
Graham - Your work on world-building Mechanicum really paid off. Personally, I find your Mars to be one of the most absorbing places in the 40k universe, and it certainly felt like it had a beating heart. Or mechanical pacemaker. But it’s the blend of realistic world-building and more abstract prose that really worked for me. I liked the contrast between the grounded realism of the Martian environment and the quasi-mythical nature of the Dragon. I know the concept of the Dragon and its chaining got a bit of flak from some readers, but it appealed to me in the same way that a passage from the original 40k rulebook did. I think there were a few lines in there about the Emperor taking Horus by the heel and casting him into the abyss. A little bit of poetic mythicism doesn’t go amiss (particularly given the Miltonic quality of the wider Horus Heresy story arc, if sredni will excuse me a little literary snobbishness), and I like the idea of the Emperor at least remaining mysterious and legendary, now that the Primarchs have been revealed in full and realistic detail. I might have a chat with you and Dan about this further at BL Live, particularly with regard to the eventual conclusion of the Horus Heresy series. I personally would like to see some of the enigmatic and grandiose nature of the Emperor and his deeds retained, at the same time as providing a satisfyingly meaty and realistic final showdown.
And Dan - Swap you my taupe portcullis thing for your slime-green Celtic cross squiggle?
M
January 21st, 2010 on 5:05 am
I never understood any of the ‘flak’ folk gave the Dragon stuff in Mechanicum. I mean, how can they find it hard to believe that the Greatest Psyker in the Galaxy would find it impossible to defeat a weakened entity to whom psychic powers are anathema?
Or that he couldn’t just open a warp gate to Mars and construct a psychic prison with the power of his mind? Dr X never had so many folk giving him a hard time. He’s only human, and look what he can do…
As you say, a lot of the Heresy legends have that mythical quality, and a bit of poetic floweriness never goes amiss when you’re dealing with gods and a ten-thousand year old epic. Long may it continue!
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Medias
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