Ask the Authors (Fandemonium)

[Elite Anubis Guard]

Meh. I've always wanted to go Skydiving. Been scuba once.

[Gate Geek]

Just ordered Halcyon today!! Squee!! It's been a long wait.

So any ideas when Exogenesis is to be published now?

[sonny1]

Just ordered Halcyon today!! Squee!! It's been a long wait.

So any ideas when Exogenesis is to be published now?

October

[Elizabeth Christensen]

October

To expand slightly on that concise response , I think the plan is to get Karen's Alliances out next to keep the alternating SG-1/SGA pattern going, then Exo after that -- and the usual goal, barring any influences beyond Fandemonium's control, is a book a month.

Very glad to see that Halycon's finally hit the streets! I plan to read it, as well as Sabine's latest, after I finish my current draft; if I get them now, they'll just be tools of procrastination, and I don't need any more of those. Minesweeper's bad enough.

[Gate Geek]

October

ACH!! Too long a wait! I guess I'll have to start on all those SG1 books then.
Any one in particular I should start with?

[KarenMiller]

To expand slightly on that concise response , I think the plan is to get Karen's Alliances out next to keep the alternating SG-1/SGA pattern going, then Exo after that -- and the usual goal, barring any influences beyond Fandemonium's control, is a book a month.

Yup, I'm next!

I'm starting to get excited! Wheee! I got the galleys a little while ago, it looks like a proper book!

And huge congrats to James on the release of Halcyon. I'm very much looking forward to reading it asap.

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

Do you find yourselves tempted to incorporate elements of each other's stories in your WIPs?

Do you find yourselves developing a sort of internal canon? Or is there someone on board who tends to say, "Sonny you can't write along these lines because that's too close to Sabine's reality," sort of thing.

Kind of like a dis-continuity expert?

And, yes, this shows that I haven't read your books, yet. I'm waiting for their NA release so I don't have to mortgage the farm to own them.

[Elizabeth Christensen]

Do you find yourselves tempted to incorporate elements of each other's stories in your WIPs?

Do you find yourselves developing a sort of internal canon? Or is there someone on board who tends to say, "Sonny you can't write along these lines because that's too close to Sabine's reality," sort of thing.

Interesting question. Can't speak for anyone else, but in my view, the goal of the novels is to fit into the larger series canon such that, if a reader so chose, he or she could interpret them all as events within the series just like episodes. (Of course, we can't do anything in the novels that affects series canon, but that's a given.) In that sense, we're all playing in the same reality/universe/whatever.

When Sonny and I started The Chosen, there wasn't any SGA novel continuity to work with yet, but we did name a random scientist in that story who popped up again in Exogenesis, and there is a vague reference or two from Chosen in Exo -- nothing that will be noticeable to anyone who hasn't read the first one, but a teeny-tiny attempt at tying things together, the same way we reference events from episodes. For one thing, Atlantis is a limited expedition; they don't have an endless supply of personnel to wander in and out like they might on Earth ("turning on the Marine spigot," as my husband labeled it on SG-1), so we figured a few of the same names should show up now and then.

You never know -- once I get my hands on Halcyon, it might get referenced later on ...

[Elite Anubis Guard]

You guys should get Tom over here so I can ask about those damn bookmarks! Lol.

I've only just got SotF which I'm enjoying, it's nice having a different time. Most of 'em so far have been S7/8 with the exception of 2 and 4. It's a nice break from the usual.

But now for the question. Have any of you considered doing earlier Sg1 novels with some Atlantis characters in? Like McKay or Grodin before they went to Atlantis?

[Gate Geek]

Yup, I'm next!

I'm starting to get excited! Wheee! I got the galleys a little while ago, it looks like a proper book!

And huge congrats to James on the release of Halcyon. I'm very much looking forward to reading it asap.

Any possiblilty of posting an excerpt and the cover of for us in the near future?

Thanks.

[HollyScott]

Wow, I'm tremendously late to this party; Sonny just gave me the heads-up about the thread. So many interesting questions!

Some quick answers, and apologies for not getting the quotes attributed properly; I'm just starting to navigate the forum's interface.

First forays into SG-1, and previously published writing: I've been a Stargate fan for over five years, and a writer for longer, but I hadn't seriously considered submitting work for publication until Fandemonium's open submission period came along. So this novel was my first publication. This answers the question, also, of how I got involved with writing for Fandemonium; we submitted a proposal, which was later chosen for development, and SIREN SONG evolved from that initial synopsis.

Is it difficult to stick to show canon? -- no, not really. Our novel deals with a scenario which I think some fans feel simply couldn't have been show canon, because of the aftermath of it. However, the caveat to us was that the reset button has to be activated at the end of the novel, and so it was; nothing was done that could not be undone, and nothing was explicitly contradicted by events in the show. I think the more daunting issue is writing for a show with 'open' canon, where anything we write could potentially be overturned by later canon events. That makes it a bit tricky to pin down what to focus on in a potential plot.

How involved are we in each other's novels? -- well, in our particular case, not very. *g* Sabine was our copyeditor, and of course Sally is our publisher, but I didn't know any of the other writers before our novel was accepted for publication.

Rough estimate of the time from acceptance to publication -- If I recall correctly, we were notified that Fandemonium would like to work with us in April of 05, and the novel was actually published in Feb 06.

What show aside from SG-1 would we like to write about? -- Hmmm. At one time, I would have said Trek, but the field is glutted with Trek novels now, and I'm not sure I have much to offer that'd be new and fresh. Supernatural, perhaps. That would be fun.

How do we make sure we get our American English correct? -- Easy; I'm an American.

What relationships do we particularly enjoy writing and why/is there any character that's difficult to write? -- I love writing the entire team, but particularly Jack and Daniel, because their friendship is the core of the show to me. I also love Teal'c's relationship to each of the team, and of course it was such fun to write Aris, Jack and Daniel relating to each other. Sort of. *g* Sam is probably the most challenging character for me to write, and I think she may be the easiest for my co-writer.

If we were ever asked to write an episode, would we do it? -- oh, yes. Yes indeed. I'd certainly give it my best shot.

Have we considered doing earlier SG-1 novels with Atlantis characters? -- there are so many minor SG-1 characters to play with, McKay included, that I'd be surprised if they don't pop up eventually. There's also Lorne, who appeared in season seven of SG-1, I believe.

[KarenMiller]

Any possiblilty of posting an excerpt and the cover of for us in the near future?

Thanks.

No, thank you! I appreciate the interest.

If you go here:

http://www.karenmiller.net/thebooks.html

you'll see the excerpt. No cover yet, sadly, we're still waiting for MGM approval.

[KarenMiller]

Interesting question. Can't speak for anyone else, but in my view, the goal of the novels is to fit into the larger series canon such that, if a reader so chose, he or she could interpret them all as events within the series just like episodes. (Of course, we can't do anything in the novels that affects series canon, but that's a given.) In that sense, we're all playing in the same reality/universe/whatever.

Yeah, I'm in this camp. I feel the focus of the novels needs to be the common frame of reference, which is either SG or Atlantis. We don't have the time or accessability to read all the books in progress, and we'd drive ourselves nuts trying to cover all those bases while trying to write our own stuff. As far as contradicting each other, we have our Supreme Overlord (lady?) in Sally, who keeps an eye on each spinning ball and makes sure we're not treading on each other's toes.

But still, we get overlap. I was still writing Alliances when Siren Song came out, and when I got my copy I was amazed to see that Holly had done what I was doing -- focusing some attention on Jacob and Selmak. Fortunately it all hangs together, I wasn't required to rewrite stuff so I didn't mess up Holly's book, but eeek!

[sonny1]

As writers, we’re all different, and all coming at this from slightly different angles. Because SG-1 is a well-mapped world, most of us have worked from the POV of expanding on stories and personal fallout/consequences of certain episodes. This allows us to work with established elements to create new stories without treading in canon. That’s actually harder on one level than creating entirely new elements, because it means trying to incorporate previously established elements in a cohesive and yet entirely new story. In my case, I used established Mesoamerican mythology and a von Daniken approach to the ‘cult of alien gods’ concept, and I had specific permission from MGM to use certain elements like the Furlings. (Bear in mind that MGM scour our novels with a nit comb before they are given final approval).

In the Atlantis world, because The Chosen was written very early on, in order to prevent from inadvertently treading on future canon we needed to create an entirely new world that, while it *could* exists within the framework and known mythology of the Pegasus Galaxy, was built from the ground up. Having said that, there are bound to be overlaps in all stories, because humans are a reasonably predictable bunch, and tend to act in certain ways. And because this is an SF not a fantasy world, the tech and science must also operate in established and clearly definable ways (or else why would we need Carter and McKay to explain it ?). While we used the emotional fallout from The Eye, and Rodney’s receiving the gene therapy as a springboard to the story, I think we wrote about 20,000 words on creating an entirely new culture, the socioeconomics and functioning of the tech, weaponry, battle tactics and so forth, ie, worldbuilding #101 before actually starting on the novel. In other words, using a slightly different skill set in writing.

Exogenesis was different again in that we had a better understanding of the Ancients, and more elements to play with. For that reason although we had the ideas for The Chosen and Exogenesis simultaneously, it was better to wait until season 2 to flesh out Exogenesis.

I doubt I’d personally go back and work on stories set in earlier seasons, because the ideas I’m developing now need to be set in season 10 and season 3 respectively, as they incorporate situations and characters only seen in those seasons. But, you never know...

[Gate Geek]

No, thank you! I appreciate the interest.

If you go here:

http://www.karenmiller.net/thebooks.html

you'll see the excerpt. No cover yet, sadly, we're still waiting for MGM approval.

SQUEE!! Thanks for the link. I just read it and sound good!! I have just begun my venture into the realm of SG-1 books. I look forward to reading it.