We have an exclusive interview with the author of two of the three original Halo trilogy novels (First Strike and The Fall of Reach) , Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, Signal To Noise, A Signal Shattered and many other outstanding books, Eric Nylund . Eric answers burning questions about his latest novel, Ghosts of Onyx, give us a little preview of his up coming work, Mortal Coils and publicly admits he visits Evil Avatar.
Here's a snippet:
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EA: You wrote Crimson Skies: Case of the Phantom Prototype (great book, btw) for Microsoft. Had they approached you at that time to also pen the first Halo novels or was it Halo first, Crimson Skies second? In either case, how did you get involved with Microsoft?
EN: Crimson Skies first, Halo after that. How did I originally get involved with Microsoft? Well, I was writing full time – that is to say I would get up early and write for about four hours and then spend the next eight hours playing video games. I decided I should be getting paid for that, too. I first got involved with Crimson Skies when I told Jordon Weismann (of FASA fame--then working at Microsoft) that I was bored. He walked me down the hall to meet Eric Trautmann who put me to work writing serialized web fiction for the new Crimson Skies website.
We really appreciate Eric taking time out of his busy schedule to talk to us. Thanks, Eric! And, yes, for those who are wondering Amazon has Eric's books available.
EA: You wrote Crimson Skies: Case of the Phantom Prototype (great book, btw) for Microsoft. Had they approached you at that time to also pen the first Halo novels or was it Halo first, Crimson Skies second? In either case, how did you get involved with Microsoft?
EN: Crimson Skies first, Halo after that. How did I originally get involved with Microsoft? Well, I was writing full time – that is to say I would get up early and write for about four hours and then spend the next eight hours playing video games. I decided I should be getting paid for that, too. I first got involved with Crimson Skies when I told Jordon Weismann (of FASA fame--then working at Microsoft) that I was bored. He walked me down the hall to meet Eric Trautmann who put me to work writing serialized web fiction for the new Crimson Skies website.
EA: Outside of Master Chief, do you have a favorite character in the Halo novels? If so, why is that one your top pick?
EN: Dr. Halsey. I dig the chicks with big brains.
EA: You've really managed to capture the absolute love and dedication between men and women who serve together in combat. In Ghosts of Onyx, there have been moments of tears for me (Former US Marine) when you describe the sense of loss the Spartans have when one of their team falls. What sort of research did you do to nail so well the emotional camaraderie of a military combat unit?
EN: I’ve never had time while working on any of the Halo novels to do much research. I’ve read the Gunny Hathcock bio, Band of Brothers, and Dick Winter’s (even better in my opinion) Beyond Band of Brothers. Other than that I used my imagination.
EA: Are the Halo books the most successful video game books ever?
EN: They could be. I’m not sure how the Splinter Cell novels are selling, but they have also made the New York Times Best Seller list (kind of hard to compete with Tom Clancy’s name on the cover…).
EA: What do you think about other books based on games like Splinter Cell, Diablo or WarCraft? Have you been approached by other publishers to work on novels of their games?
EN: To tell you the truth, I have not read many video-game novels. I’ve picked up a few, flipped through the first few pages and wasn’t interested. Recently (at my request) people have sent me recommendations for good video game novels. I’ll be checking them out soon. I’ve been approached once or twice before to work on other v.g. novels, but the properties just weren’t as interesting as Halo.
EA: You've written a number of novels (including Signal to Noise and A Signal Shattered) that have nothing to do with Halo; universes of your own creation. How did you get your "big break", as they say, with your original works?
EN: I sold the first novel I ever wrote (Pawn’s Dream). I was very lucky because while I had reached how to write a novel, I was blissfully ignorant of the business end of publishing. Had I known the odds, how hard it was to find an agent, let alone a publisher, I probably would have never tried.
EA: Is it easier or more difficult to write in a universe that was game created versus one that you've created?
EN: It’s apples and oranges. In someone else’s world you have to worry how your story fits with every other part of the intellectual property (other games, novels etc), but you don’t have to worry about reinventing all the people, places, and things in that universe. On the other hand you have the opposite problem with original works: there are no complex continuity issues, but you have to invent everything from scratch.
EA: What is your proudest writing achievement so far?
EN: I always feel that I grow a little with every work…and this time is no exception. Finishing Ghosts of Onyx with its own unique challenges (mainly continuity issues) is pretty high up there as far as achievements go.
EA: Can you give us a little sneak peak on your Coming Soon work, Mortal Coils?
EN: Mortal Coils is a contemporary fantasy about two kids who find out their parents aren’t exactly who they think they are. It’s for the people who grew and enjoyed reading the Harry Potter series…but have grown up and now have tastes a little more sophisticated and much darker.
EA: Stephen King has said that he hates the question, "Where do you get your ideas?" So it's seems we must ask you the same: Where do you get your ideas?
EN: My best ideas come from good old fashion hard work. I’ll get an idea the normal way anyone gets ideas—only then I examine them, figure out what’s clichéd, what’s working and what could be better. This process sometimes takes years before I feel an idea is good enough to write about.
EA: What is your writing process? Do you seclude yourself away for months at a time or do you have a set time of day that you work and then go about life's other routines?
EN: I get up every day at 4:15 AM and write until 7:30. Three hours is a lot of time to do nothing but sit and write.
EA: You and your wife, Syne Mitchell , are both writers. Does this lead to battles of the ego (with you sleeping on the couch, perhaps) when you both have titles releasing at the same time? Or do you try to split up your writing projects so that you both get your time center stage, so to speak?
EN: No, no battles. The publishing business is so mercurial that we’ve never had the luxury of scheduling our release dates. We’re just pleased that we have release dates!
EA: What is your favorite of her books?
EN: The Changeling Plague.
EA: Let's switch gears to another title you've recently had a hand in, Gears of War. You are credited as the "Writer" under the heading "User Experience", credited with text in the Collector's Edition Art Book and are given "Special Thanks" in the credits. How involved were you with the overall creation of the storyline of GoW?
EN: Story consultant.
EA: What exactly does a writer for User Experience do?
EN: On a given day a “UX” writer might write a game manual, be a story doctor, give advice on how to best integrate story with current game design, hand off files for localization (translation), write a glossary of terms for our foreign producers, flag issues that might cause legal or geopolitical problems and hand them off to a team of lawyers , write game script and combat chatter, sketch out character bios, write an “Art Of” book, consult on voiceovers, help cast voice actors, direct actors, plan the story arc of a mega-blockbuster game franchise, make coffee, and help deliver a baby.
(just kidding about that coffee thing)
EA: I'm sure people are wondering, after the question above, if and when there will be a Gears of War novel telling the fantastic backstory that is evident in the game and if you will be involved.
EN: That’s entirely up to Epic Games; they own the rights to the intellectual property.
EA: A lot of people who read Evil Avatar like to write so what advice would you give them about the craft?
EN: Do your best work every time you write. I poured my heart into the Halo novels (I really felt for those kids Spartans in Fall of Reach and Ghosts of Onyx). You never know who’s going to read what you write, or where it will take you.
EA: You mentioned in the email discourse you and I had in setting up this interview that you were a reader of Evil Avatar. How did you find the best gaming site with attitude on the net and what keeps you coming back?
EN: Gee—you mean not everyone knows about Evil Avatar?
EA: One final question: Evil Avatar has a weekly podcast covering the world of gaming we all know and love. What would it take to get you on as a guest? We'd love to have you on the show.
EN: I try to avoid live interviews these days, because everyone asks difficult-to-answer questions like how does Ghosts of Onyx relate to Halo 3? Usually Microsoft PR gets involved and it becomes a huge hassle.
The big Halo universe questions I am sure you are looking for had to be run through the Bungie PR machine for proper answer formatroning (hey, that's a word). We'll update the interview as soon as we get them.
When you ask him "What exactly does a writer for User Experience do?" there's a typo in his answer where he says "layers", which should probably be "lawyers".
Great interview btw. It's too bad that he wouldn't be a guest on the podcast.
The first Halo book was rather poor in quality, the 2 others tho, were good scifi reads.
I wonder about the release of other Halo books, considering how uptight Bungie and MS are with their IP, i don't see this series going anywhere significant if Mr. Nylund is not allowed to take some exciting plot liberties concerning the the Halo universe.
The first Halo book was rather poor in quality, the 2 others tho, were good scifi reads.
I wonder about the release other Halo books, considering how uptight Bungie and MS are with their IP, i don't see this series going anywhere significant if Mr. Nylund is not capable of taking taking some exciting plot liberties concerning the the Halo universe.
Not "capable" or not "allowed"?
And thanks for the catch on the lawyers typo, Codicier. There's always one that gets missed!
__________________ I still think that my great grandma thought I was working at a porn shop until I told her it was security. - re: to working at Wackenhut Security cppcrusader
lol I wasn't trying to question your opinion, btw. I was just looking for clarification.
__________________ I still think that my great grandma thought I was working at a porn shop until I told her it was security. - re: to working at Wackenhut Security cppcrusader
lol I wasn't trying to question your opinion, btw. I was just looking for clarification.
Oh, i respect Eric Nylund as a writer. I just couldn't put my thoughts into words accordingly.
As i said, i think the major obstacle the Halo series of books has, is the strict "follow the Halo Bible" mentality at Bungie. If you look at the Stars Wars expanded universe books, it all started to get exciting again after Chewbacca was killed off, i think Eric Nylund needs that kind of artistic freedom to move his books forward, because hes already proven that hes a capable scifi author.
Anyways, i have ghosts of Onyx preorder at amazon, hopefully it will prove a good read.
Just read The Fall of Reach this weekend for the first time. Nice interview, and thanks to Eric Nylund for doing it. It's up there with Thera Awakening (the included novella with StoneKeep, still have it) as one of the best video game books made.
And Kem0sabe, you may want to mark that Star Wars bit with a spoiler. (ie black text)
Your right, its been out since October. Strange that Amazon.co.uk hasn't emailed me any notice of shipment. I never bothered to check that out as its been a couple of very hectic months since this summer.
Good interview, wonderful writer. I own all of his Halo books, the Crimson skies one, and I'm now interested in picking up his other works as well. He actually sounds like a really cool guy.
The first Halo book was the only book I’ve finished in 12 years. Good stuff. Nice to know he reads Evil Avatar.
I also find it interesting he gets up so darn early and writes for only 3 hours a day. The getting up early thing is something that both the other published authors I know do as well. One of em gets up that early (4:30am), the other gets up a bit later.
