Post by buffysmglover on Aug 31, 2007 21:38:11 GMT -5
From www.btvs-angel-authors.moonfruit.com , a SlayAlive Affiliate
B-A-A: What has been the most unforgettable experience for you so far in your time of being an author?
JM: There have been a lot of great moments, so it's hard to pick just one. A stand-out was the time someone from bookcrossing,com had left some Buffy and Angel books, including some of mine, in a San Diego mall for a random stranger to find, and I happened to be there when someone spotted them. It was as much a surprise to me as it was to her, but it was kind of cool to see how excited she was, and to learn that she had read some of my other books and was a fan. I signed the books she had found. That's one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments.
B-A-A: Have you always wanted to be an author? Even when you were a kid?
JM: I have always written, since I was very young. I don't think I expected that I could, or would, be an author, until sometime in my teens. I discovered that I had some degree of talent for writing, and that whatever profession I ended up in would involve books or writing in some way. As it is, it took a long time to become a published writer, with my first short story, then comic books, and finally novels.
B-A-A: What were you feeling when you wrote your first book?
JM: A bit of pressure and a lot of excitement. My first published novel was Gen13: Netherwar, which I wrote with my friend Christopher Golden. It's about a superhero team. Chris and I had both written comics about Gen13, and when a publisher asked Chris to write a novel about them, he asked me to collaborate with him. Then it turned out that he didn't have as much time to devote to the project as he had hoped, so I would have to do most of the work. That's where the pressure came in-it was my first time out, I knew it had to be good, and it had to be done fairly quickly. On the other hand, we split the money proportionately, so that was good too.
B-A-A: What other author/s have you enjoyed working with the most? What was it like working with Nancy Holder?
JM: Every collaboration has been different, but they're all fun. I've worked with Chris Golden, Nancy Holder (and on the nonfiction books, also Maryelizabeth Hart, my wife), Scott Ciencin, and Steve Niles. Nancy is a pro with a lot of experience under her belt, and she's very well informed about the world of Buffy and Angel, so writing with her has always been a joy.
B-A-A: What is the book you believe to be the best book you have written?
JM: I think my adult horror novel The Slab is the best I have written so far, although every book has something in it that I'm very happy with.
B-A-A: Where did you come up with the idea for that book?
JM: The Slab had a mix of inspirations. A place called Slab City, in the Salton Sea region of the California desert, was a big part of it-it's a place where people can carve out swaths of real estate to put campers or tents and live without paying rent or taxes or anything, essentially living in a place controlled by no governmental authority. It attracts some strange folks, as you can imagine. In that setting I put three characters I had been thinking about, veterans of different wars whose lives had been saved, during those wars, by magic. As a time frame I picked the period just after September 11, 2001, because I was writing the book around then and I had some things to say about the way we were responding to the terrorist attacks, as a nation.
B-A-A: When writing a book like The Casefiles (Angel) and The Watcher's Guide (Buffy), where are the best places to look to find all of the information put into books like that? Do you actually watch the seasons of the show and take notes as you do?
JM: We had tapes of every episode (they weren't out on DVD yet), and we watched each episode many, many times. We also had scripts provided by Mutant Enemy, but they were as written, not as aired, so we had to compare each script, line by line, with each episode as it aired and make corrections to be sure that what we put in the books reflected what was actually broadcast. We also interviewed almost everyone associated with the shows, actors, writers, producers, directors, lighting crew, sound crew, hair, make-up, set decorators, drivers, etc. We had to do additional research on locations, other aspects of the productions, etc., but mostly what we got we took from the episodes themselves and the many hours of interviews.
B-A-A: I have a lot of books at home to read before I finally get the chance to read the UNSEEN series or trilogy of books, but what are those books about in your mind? What big problem needs solving?
JM: In the Unseen books, someone is making Los Angeles area teenagers disappear from their homes. It's not just a kidnapping plot, but something much more sinister and dangerous, and it takes Buffy and Angel and their respective crews working together to solve it all.
B-A-A: What is the first Angel book you would recommend to your fans? What about a Buffy book?
JM: Most fans who have expressed an opinion seem to like Angel: Haunted the best. It's a Cordy-centric book, in which Cordelia has a shot at the big time by being a contestant on a reality TV show which requires her and a group of strangers to spend a week inside a haunted house. Since Cordy lives in a haunted apartment and fights monsters for a living, she thinks she's a natural. But things turn bad…
I have only written one Buffy novel, and it was a novelization of three existing episodes, all centering on Xander, called The Xander Years, Volume 2. So I guess I'd have to say that's the Buffy one people should try, but it's not an original novel like all my Angel novels are.
B-A-A: Other than Buffy and Angel, what based on television series or set of books do you enjoy writing the most?
JM: I like writing my own original novels, such as The Slab and the Witch Season series (a horror series for teen readers), of course. I've recently done three books for teens set in the world of Conan the barbarian, and that was fun. The first one, Age of Conan: Ghost of the Wall, is out now, and the next two come out at the end of March and the end of May. I've also just done, for adult readers, a novel based on the TV series Las Vegas, which is a favorite show. That one, Las Vegas: High Stakes Game, comes out in late April.
B-A-A: What books do you recommend for teenagers?
JM: Of my own, definitely the Witch Season series. Anyone who likes Buffy or Angel, or who is interested in witches, drama, adventure and excitement will find lots to love about them.
B-A-A: Did you grow up around many authors or in a wealthy family?
JM: I grew up in a middle class family of readers. We always had books around. Both my father and older brother have done a lot of writing-not books, but articles on various subjects. I don't think I knew any real authors until I was in college, though.
B-A-A: What would you like potential fans to know about you or your books?
JM: I think teen readers should know that when I write for teens, I don't write down-I assume they are intelligent and well read, just as when I write for adults. The differences are in some of the subject matter, not so much in the language or tone or depth of ideas. I've known plenty of teens who are every bit as smart as most adults, and plenty of adults who are less sophisticated than most teens.
Most of what I write has a horror or fantasy element to it (not everything-there's no fantastic element to the Las Vegas novel, for instance, so people should know going in that there might be scary stuff, or strange things happening (always with a reason, though).
B-A-A: Below, I ask that you add anything else that you would like to be mentioned or that you want people to know:
JM: I also write comic books, including a horror/Western series called Desperadoes, and the first two miniseries based on the Angel TV show to be published by IDW Publishing, Angel: The Curse and Angel: Old Friends. Since there are no new Angel novels coming out and no new TV episodes, the only place to get officially licensed new Angel stories is in these comics.
Fans are invited to check my website at www.jeffmariotte.com for the latest news, or follow my blog at http://jeff_mariotte.typepad.com/my_weblog/ for updates several times a week.
B-A-A: What has been the most unforgettable experience for you so far in your time of being an author?
JM: There have been a lot of great moments, so it's hard to pick just one. A stand-out was the time someone from bookcrossing,com had left some Buffy and Angel books, including some of mine, in a San Diego mall for a random stranger to find, and I happened to be there when someone spotted them. It was as much a surprise to me as it was to her, but it was kind of cool to see how excited she was, and to learn that she had read some of my other books and was a fan. I signed the books she had found. That's one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments.
B-A-A: Have you always wanted to be an author? Even when you were a kid?
JM: I have always written, since I was very young. I don't think I expected that I could, or would, be an author, until sometime in my teens. I discovered that I had some degree of talent for writing, and that whatever profession I ended up in would involve books or writing in some way. As it is, it took a long time to become a published writer, with my first short story, then comic books, and finally novels.
B-A-A: What were you feeling when you wrote your first book?
JM: A bit of pressure and a lot of excitement. My first published novel was Gen13: Netherwar, which I wrote with my friend Christopher Golden. It's about a superhero team. Chris and I had both written comics about Gen13, and when a publisher asked Chris to write a novel about them, he asked me to collaborate with him. Then it turned out that he didn't have as much time to devote to the project as he had hoped, so I would have to do most of the work. That's where the pressure came in-it was my first time out, I knew it had to be good, and it had to be done fairly quickly. On the other hand, we split the money proportionately, so that was good too.
B-A-A: What other author/s have you enjoyed working with the most? What was it like working with Nancy Holder?
JM: Every collaboration has been different, but they're all fun. I've worked with Chris Golden, Nancy Holder (and on the nonfiction books, also Maryelizabeth Hart, my wife), Scott Ciencin, and Steve Niles. Nancy is a pro with a lot of experience under her belt, and she's very well informed about the world of Buffy and Angel, so writing with her has always been a joy.
B-A-A: What is the book you believe to be the best book you have written?
JM: I think my adult horror novel The Slab is the best I have written so far, although every book has something in it that I'm very happy with.
B-A-A: Where did you come up with the idea for that book?
JM: The Slab had a mix of inspirations. A place called Slab City, in the Salton Sea region of the California desert, was a big part of it-it's a place where people can carve out swaths of real estate to put campers or tents and live without paying rent or taxes or anything, essentially living in a place controlled by no governmental authority. It attracts some strange folks, as you can imagine. In that setting I put three characters I had been thinking about, veterans of different wars whose lives had been saved, during those wars, by magic. As a time frame I picked the period just after September 11, 2001, because I was writing the book around then and I had some things to say about the way we were responding to the terrorist attacks, as a nation.
B-A-A: When writing a book like The Casefiles (Angel) and The Watcher's Guide (Buffy), where are the best places to look to find all of the information put into books like that? Do you actually watch the seasons of the show and take notes as you do?
JM: We had tapes of every episode (they weren't out on DVD yet), and we watched each episode many, many times. We also had scripts provided by Mutant Enemy, but they were as written, not as aired, so we had to compare each script, line by line, with each episode as it aired and make corrections to be sure that what we put in the books reflected what was actually broadcast. We also interviewed almost everyone associated with the shows, actors, writers, producers, directors, lighting crew, sound crew, hair, make-up, set decorators, drivers, etc. We had to do additional research on locations, other aspects of the productions, etc., but mostly what we got we took from the episodes themselves and the many hours of interviews.
B-A-A: I have a lot of books at home to read before I finally get the chance to read the UNSEEN series or trilogy of books, but what are those books about in your mind? What big problem needs solving?
JM: In the Unseen books, someone is making Los Angeles area teenagers disappear from their homes. It's not just a kidnapping plot, but something much more sinister and dangerous, and it takes Buffy and Angel and their respective crews working together to solve it all.
B-A-A: What is the first Angel book you would recommend to your fans? What about a Buffy book?
JM: Most fans who have expressed an opinion seem to like Angel: Haunted the best. It's a Cordy-centric book, in which Cordelia has a shot at the big time by being a contestant on a reality TV show which requires her and a group of strangers to spend a week inside a haunted house. Since Cordy lives in a haunted apartment and fights monsters for a living, she thinks she's a natural. But things turn bad…
I have only written one Buffy novel, and it was a novelization of three existing episodes, all centering on Xander, called The Xander Years, Volume 2. So I guess I'd have to say that's the Buffy one people should try, but it's not an original novel like all my Angel novels are.
B-A-A: Other than Buffy and Angel, what based on television series or set of books do you enjoy writing the most?
JM: I like writing my own original novels, such as The Slab and the Witch Season series (a horror series for teen readers), of course. I've recently done three books for teens set in the world of Conan the barbarian, and that was fun. The first one, Age of Conan: Ghost of the Wall, is out now, and the next two come out at the end of March and the end of May. I've also just done, for adult readers, a novel based on the TV series Las Vegas, which is a favorite show. That one, Las Vegas: High Stakes Game, comes out in late April.
B-A-A: What books do you recommend for teenagers?
JM: Of my own, definitely the Witch Season series. Anyone who likes Buffy or Angel, or who is interested in witches, drama, adventure and excitement will find lots to love about them.
B-A-A: Did you grow up around many authors or in a wealthy family?
JM: I grew up in a middle class family of readers. We always had books around. Both my father and older brother have done a lot of writing-not books, but articles on various subjects. I don't think I knew any real authors until I was in college, though.
B-A-A: What would you like potential fans to know about you or your books?
JM: I think teen readers should know that when I write for teens, I don't write down-I assume they are intelligent and well read, just as when I write for adults. The differences are in some of the subject matter, not so much in the language or tone or depth of ideas. I've known plenty of teens who are every bit as smart as most adults, and plenty of adults who are less sophisticated than most teens.
Most of what I write has a horror or fantasy element to it (not everything-there's no fantastic element to the Las Vegas novel, for instance, so people should know going in that there might be scary stuff, or strange things happening (always with a reason, though).
B-A-A: Below, I ask that you add anything else that you would like to be mentioned or that you want people to know:
JM: I also write comic books, including a horror/Western series called Desperadoes, and the first two miniseries based on the Angel TV show to be published by IDW Publishing, Angel: The Curse and Angel: Old Friends. Since there are no new Angel novels coming out and no new TV episodes, the only place to get officially licensed new Angel stories is in these comics.
Fans are invited to check my website at www.jeffmariotte.com for the latest news, or follow my blog at http://jeff_mariotte.typepad.com/my_weblog/ for updates several times a week.