November 2016 – Q&A

This is a compilation of questions that have been emailed and messaged to me recently.

If you want to ask anything, you can post a comment here or get in touch through the contact page (and newsletter subscribers can just reply to any of my emails).

I’ve been posting Q&As for a few months now, so if you’ve found this one interesting, you can look back at previous Q&As here.

On Facebook Andrew asked: Would you ever consider writing a book on how to write a book?

I am considering collating my best writing advice posts into a self-published book – maybe next year – but I have no idea if there would be any interest beyond my own satisfaction! [if anyone has any thoughts / feedback on this idea, please let me know in the comments]

Connor replied to the newsletter (in reference to this submissions opportunity I mentioned in the newsletter): Thank you for giving us information on the submission window. However I was just wondering if you have any tips for writing space opera, since I’ve never heard of it before now.

I wouldn’t be too concerned about the badge ‘space opera’ – it really means sci-fi that is about space-faring, colonised worlds, interstellar travel, possibly with aliens; rather than something set on Earth, near-future, small scale. So big on ideas, adventure, world-building. It could be ‘hard’ and realistic or more toward the fantastical but it should be a world-hopping story.

Alberto asked on Facebook: Hey Gav, was working on the story on a game like Deathwing a new experience to you? Is it any different than working on a novel?

Working on Deathwing was not quite new, as I helped script the Mark of Chaos video game so I have seen how the process works before. With Mark of Chaos, I was involved from the inception of the story, though there were lots of decisions to be made as the game came into being and various parts of the plot were changed or cut to accommodate the evolving gameplay. On Deathwing much of the game structure and plot, and characters, were already in place when I was brought on board so most of my work was taking what was there and weaving a suitable tale around those resources.

Novels can be a bit of both. Some, like the Legacy of Caliban books, are pretty much all my story, though they use characters from the game, obviously. Others, like The Beast Arises and Horus Heresy, have some of those elements dictated by the ongoing series. When we get to something like Curse of Khaine, the narrative was wholly set out by the Games Workshop background material.

The other major difference is that video games work is more like audio – mostly dialogue and script-work rather than novel prose.

Arron emailed me with: With that being said, as Black Library and its respective Authors are on a roll with the Horus Heresy Primarchs series, I was just wondering/ hoping/ praying that you will be the Author to write on behalf of Corax’s story. As I believe no other Author would do Corax justice especially after all of the work you have put into him and his legion. I understand if you’re not allowed to confirm this as truth, but perhaps just a slight wink?

Thanks for those kind words, I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my work on Corax and I’ve had a good time developing the story of the Raven Guard. I think there are many more great stories we can tell from the history of the Legion, including Gate Forty-two, but at the moment I am leaving that to others. Having written quite a lot about Corax and the Lion I am of a mind that other authors should have a chance to write about them. Not only will this bring fresh ideas to these characters it gives me time to work on other Primarchs! In fact, I am currently writing ‘Lorgar – Bearer of the Word’.

Danny replied to the newsletter: Thanks for the newsletter it provides great insight.

Do you know if Black library are planning to release The Thirteenth Wolf as a novella? I have always been fascinated by the 13th company and think it would look great in my novel collection or will I have to start an audio drama collection as well.

I think you should try the audios, they really are a different experience to reading, making great use of voice actors and sound fx to bring the stories to life. With that said, I expect to see The Thirteenth Wolf appear in print at some point – audios of that length are equivalent to a 10,000 word short story so maybe in an anthology. That might be quite some time away though.

Thibault asked: Bravo for Angels of Caliban, I liked it immensely. It is is really a good and rich book that provides interesting bits of insight about the past of the Legion. I hope you will be the author of the Lion Primarch book. If you are, could you please avoid writing half of the book about what happens on Caliban at the same time? These irredeemable traitors take too much space in the Dark Angels books. Meanwhile, we hardly get to know the Legion and the Primarch. On the loyal side, no characters are really developed. It is all for the traitors.

I am currently not planning to write the Lion for the Primarchs series (nor Corax) as I would like to take a break and tackle one or two others instead – I’ve already written a lot about them and it’s time to give somewhere else the opportunity to provide a different approach.

However, I think it’s important to remember that what happened on Caliban was a direct response to the Lion and his personality, and through exploring the relationships and affect he had on Luther, Zahariel and Astelan we see a different side of him and his Legion.

I also disagree that those on the Lion’s side of the story have not been developed. The Lion himself has had plenty of ‘page time’ as well as the emergence of Paladin Corswain, and characters have been further explored in Angels of Caliban such as Farith Redloss and Holguin.

Dave asked on the blog: I bought the audio [The Thirteenth Wolf] the moment I saw it and love it. You say above [in this blog post] the storm contained the 13th company and state there are 50 marines. Are you saying the 13th were a very small great company? I can understand this given they were initially considered too old to become space marines and many would have died undergoing the process.

Hi, thanks for buying the audio. I don’t think a single Stormbird would carry the entirety of the company, just the ‘Old Guard’, Bulveye’s veteran cadre.

If you want to ask anything, you can post a comment here or get in touch through the contact page (and newsletter subscribers can just reply to any of my emails).

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