Buffy The Vampire Slayer

[15:28] —Simon— Welcome to SaveAngel.org’s live chat with author Keith R.A. DeCandido. Thank you to our virtual audience for joining us.

[15:29] —Simon— I’ll go ahead and put the questions up, one at a time, as Guido has sent them to me...

[15:31] —Keith— For the record, I’ll type "GA" (for "go ahead") when I’m finished with my answer, so you know to put up the next one.

[15:31] —Simon— Excellent suggestion.

[15:30] —Simon— Question From Shiai: Was Simon & Schuster looking for a Spike-centric book when you pitched Blackout, or did you have to make the case for giving Blondie Bear the spotlight in his own novel?

[15:31] —Keith— Actually, it was never pitched as a Spike novel, it was pitched as a Nikki Wood novel. My interest was primarily in telling the story of the cool chick we saw in "Fool for Love" and "Lies My Parents Told Me."

[15:32] —Keith— In general, the folks at Simon Spotlight were looking for more off-the-beaten-path novels — which is also why they did GO ASK MALICE — in addition to more traditional fare, so this was right in their wheelhouse.

[15:32] —Keith— Amusingly, I only got to pitch BLACKOUT because I was already talking to the editors about an ALIAS novel — which I wound up never doing.

[15:33] —Keith— But the idea of pitching it as a Spike novel didn’t really come up until after I’d finished it and I saw the cover.

[15:33] —Keith— GA

[15:33] —Simon— Thanks, Keith. As a sidenote, the questions and answers will be logged and available later for review

[15:34] —Simon— This question is from Guido:Keith, you’re a New Yorker and Blackout is, of course set in New York in 1977. I grew up in New York and your book is very authentic in capturing what was going on at the time. The City seems to be a character in itself with attitude to rival that of Spike and Nikki. Was that your intention?

[15:34] —Keith— Abso-friggin-lutely.

[15:35] —Keith— I love New York, I love writing about New York.

[15:35] —Keith— And this was particularly fun, because I was writing the New York of my childhood. I was eight years old in 1977, and this was a =huge= nostalgia trip for me.

[15:36] —Keith— I’ve written some other fiction — two Spider-Man novels, a DOCTOR WHO short story — that take place in contemporary New York, and one of the things I loved with those was bringing out the character of the greatest city in the world.

[15:36] —Keith— The next novel I’m writing — which is a tie-in that I’m not allowed to discuss in detail yet — is going to take place in the Bronx, and I’m eagerly looking forward to that.

[15:37] —Keith— My absolute favorite comment on BLACKOUT was from SFX magazine’s review, which said you could see the steam from the subway grilles.

[15:37] —Keith— That was just cool.....

[15:37] —Keith— :)

[15:37] —Keith— GA

[14:40] —Simon— As a quick follow-up:

[14:41] —Simon— How did the Son of Sam era play in your memories, as a child, in shaping the type of writing you wanted to do, particular for this novel?

[14:42] —Keith— Honestly, I have very little memory of the Son of Sam murders beyond a vague recollection that they happened. But my dominant memories of ’77 are mostly the Yankees’ pennant race and the blackout and a few other personal things.

[15:40] —Keith— But I thought the paranoia inspired by the .44 kller was the =perfect= backstory for a tale about that era’s Slayer.

[15:40] —Simon— The next question is from Scott, who’s here as Buffyverse

[15:43] —Simon— "You have a great deal of experience translating characters from one medium (tv,movies,comics) to another medium-prose. What are some of the difficulties you encounter in doing that and how do you deal with them?"

[15:43] —Keith— Cunning and guile, mostly.

[15:44] —Keith— The most difficulties are usually found when you’re early in the life of a property — e.g., when the property being tied into and/or the license to do books based on it are relatively new.

[15:44] —Keith— At that point, everyone’s trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

[15:45] —Keith— It’s much easier to work on an established line like STAR TREK or BUFFY than it is to, say, write the first FARSCAPE novel.

[15:45] —Keith— GA

[15:45] —Simon— Question from Shiai: Did you feel compelled to consider Doug Petrie’s "Nikki Goes Down" (from the Tales of the Slayers graphic novel) as canon for you to adhere to?

[15:45] —Keith— Not after I read it, no.

[15:45] —Keith— God, where to start....

[15:46] —Keith— First of all, that character didn’t =look= anything like Nikki. No black woman in the 1970s had hair like that.

[15:46] —Keith— That was a 1990s hairstyle.

[15:46] —Keith— Secondly, the NYPD of the mid-1970s was not what you would call a model of racial integration. I’m sure there were =some= Asian cops, but I guarantee that none of them were heading up major task forces.

[15:47] —Keith— Or if they were, they were specifically related to areas like Chinatown.

[15:47] —Keith— I found myself unable to draw a line from that story to the young woman we saw on BUFFY or with my own knowledge of New York in the 1970s.

[15:48] —Keith— GA

[15:49] —Simon— (from Guido: I grew up in Brooklyn and Queens, and remember the same things.)

[15:49] —Simon— As a followup from Scott (Buffyverse Forever): How much freedom did you have in developing Nikki Wood?

[15:49] —Keith— Quite a bit, actually. As long as I was consistent with what we got onscreen.

[15:50] —Keith— So her Watcher had to be Bernard Crowley, Robin had to be four when Spike killed her, she had to wear the leather coat, etc.

[15:50] —Keith— Beyond that, though, I was given fairly free rein.

[15:51] —Keith— By the way, and this relates to the previous question, I did ask my editor about whether or not I needed to be consistent with either "Nikki Goes Down!" or with "It’s All About the Mission," Nancy Holder’s TALES OF THE SLAYER short story with Nikki.

[15:51] —Keith— If I had to, I would have, but my editor was okay with me going my own way, especially since those two stories contradict each other.

[15:52] —Keith— So I was pretty unfettered, as long as I was consistent with "Fool for Love" and the entire seventh season.

[15:52] —Keith— GA

[15:51] *** gman has joined #saveangel

[15:51] —Keith— (GUIDO’S HERE! WOO!)

[15:51] —gman— I’m in.

[15:51] —gman— I can’t believe it.

[15:51] —buffysmglover— YES!

[15:52] —Simon— And I’ll pass the baton back to Guido. (and get off the phone)

[15:54] —gman— Great to be here.

[15:54] —gman— Thanks, for your patience folks.

[15:53] —Simon— Guido’s timing is excellent, as the next question is his...

[15:54] —gman— Keith, all the characters in this book are interesting. You even have "henchman" vampires talking about normal things like baseball. Very much in the spirit of Joss Whedon. I think Moses is a tremendous villain. As Spike’s character is inspired by London punks, is there an inspiration for Moses "Reet" Weldon

[15:55] —Keith— Yes, actually — Reet was inspired by Moses Gunn’s character in the SHAFT! movies, Bumpy Jonas.

[15:55] —Keith— He was the Harlem gangleader. Reet’s given first name was a deliberate homage.

[15:55] —Keith— GA

[15:55] —gman— Excellent.

[15:56] —gman— I had music in mind when reading the novel.

[15:56] —gman— Music of that era.

[15:56] —Keith— Heh. :)

[15:56] —gman— Buffysmglover you had a question to ask?

[15:57] —gman— Thank you, Keith.

[15:57] —buffysmglover— Yes.

[15:58] —buffysmglover— um first a comment

[15:58] —gman— Go right ahead.

[15:58] —buffysmglover— still typing my question 15:58] —gman— Sure.

[15:58] —buffysmglover— Comment: You mentioned Reet was based off the character in the SHAFT movies. BtVS Magazine Issue 28 actually says, "You’ll learn far more here than by renting out SHAFT on DVD." in their GRAVE REVIEW of Blackout!

[15:58] —Keith— Yeah, I saw that, and was amused.

[16:00] —buffysmglover— They gave you four stakes, even though they mentioned that Blackout wasn’t in the same league as GO ASK MALICE. In your own opinion, was Blackout a better format than Malice, or does it even matter?

[16:01] —Keith— I’m not going to argue with anyone who says MALICE is better than BLACKOUT, because MALICE was, in my opinion, a fantastic piece of work, and I’m more than happy to play runner-up to it.

[16:02] —Keith— I think Robert’s book was more ambitious. I was telling a traditional Slayer adventure, just with a different Slayer (and a less happy ending), whereas Robert was really digging into Faith’s psyche.

[16:02] —Keith— GA

[16:04] —Shiai— All that talk about NYC back in the day has me wondering, Keith...have you read "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning"?

[16:04] —Keith— Yes, I have read that book, though I didn’t read it until after I’d written BLACKOUT. I have to admit to being less than impressed with it. For one thing, he got the time of the blackout wrong (he was off by an hour). And for another, I just don’t think the book held together as well as the author wanted it to.

[16:05] —Shiai— I’ve yet to read it, but the whole subject seems fascinating.

[16:05] —Keith— Having said that, it was still an entertaining read, in part because both the "Bronx Zoo" atmosphere of the Yankees and the mayoral race are both inherently fascinating stories.

[16:05] —Keith— They’re apparently making a movie of the book, which could be interesting.

[16:06] —Keith— It was a helluva time, really, and I think I only captured a small part of it in BLACKOUT. Definitely a fun era to explore.

[16:06] —Keith— GA

[16:06] —gman— This was another question from Shiai: Are you interested in trying to tie some of your own work into continuity established in other Buffy novels?

[16:07] —Keith— Already have done. There’s a brief mention of the events of PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW in BLACKOUT, and my upcoming BUFFY novel THE DEATHLESS makes use of some of Faith’s backstory as established in GO ASK MALICE.

[16:07] —Keith— GA

[16:07] —gman— Scott did you have a question?

[16:08] —Buffyverse— Yeah. Do you have any plans to write a Buffy or Angel comic arc in the near future?

[16:11] —Keith— I’d love to, in theory. In practice, the BUFFY comics from Dark Horse are almost entirely focused on the season-eight stuff, so that’s pretty much closed off to me at present.

[16:11] —Keith— I’ve talked with IDW about some ANGEL notions, but nothing’s really gotten off the ground yet.

[16:11] —Keith— GA

[16:11] —gman— Tim you had another question?

[16:11] —buffysmglover— yeah, Why title it BLACKOUT, when the actual blackout is dealt with briefly?/[b]

[16:13] [b]—Keith— Honestly, I thought it would play a bigger role when I proposed it. It just didn’t work out that way in the writing. The buildup wound up being more important, and since the blackout was a surprise, it was hard to build up to properly.

[16:13] —Keith— But it’s still an evocative title, and it still fit, so we kept it.

[16:13] —Keith— GA

[16:13] —buffysmglover— thanks

[16:14] —Simon— As a general question, Keith, you’ve written novel adaptations based on a number of genre titles. Of interest to our many creative fans is how you got started in fiction writing?

[16:14] —Keith— In a very bizarre way. *laughs*

[16:14] —Keith— You ask any ten writers how they got started, you get twelve different answers.

[16:15] —gman— From the same writer? lol

[16:15] —Keith— My particular story is pretty unique.

[16:15] —Keith— My particular story is pretty unique.

[16:15] —Keith— Back in 1993, I took a job as an Associate Editor for SF/Fantasy at Byron Press.

[16:16] —Keith— Shortly after I started, BP acquired the rights to do novels and short stories based on Marvel Comics superheros. We went in with Penguin Putnam to copublish them under their Boulevard Books imprint.

[16:16] —Keith— The license kicked off with two Spider-Man titles: a novel by Diane Duane called THE VENOM FACTOR, and a short story anthology called THE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN (this was six years before Marvel debuted their comic of the same name).

[16:17] —Keith— At the time, I was doing this with my boss, Senior Editor John Gregory Betancourt.

[16:17] —Keith— Diane’s novel was done, and we were putting the anthology together.

[16:17] —Keith— Now the cover for the anthology had already been done, and we had most of the stories.

[16:17] —Keith— The cover was a very nice image: Spider-Man in the middle, with four of his regular villains taking up the four corners: Dr. Octopus, the Vulture, the Lizard, and Venom.

[16:18] —Keith— We had a Dr. Octopus story.

[16:18] —Keith— We had a Lizard story.

[16:18] —Keith— We had a Vulture story. In fact, we had two.

[16:18] —Keith— We didn’t have a Venom story.

[16:18] —Keith— Now this is 1994, when Venom was at the height of his popularity.

[16:18] —Keith— Remember what I said earlier about how the early days of a license are the hardest? This was a classic case. We had sent six different Venom proposals by six different authors.

[16:18] —Keith— Marvel rejected all of them.

[16:19] —Keith— Finally — and we’re beyond the 11th hour by now — we cry in supplication: "what do you want????"

[16:19] —Keith— They send us a sentence.

[16:19] —Keith— John and I write the story ourselves.

[16:19] —Keith— Because it was way too late to rely on someone else to do it.

[16:19] —Keith— So I wrote a draft, gave it to John, he tore it apart and rewrote it from scratch, then he gave it back to me, and I tore it apart and rewrote it from scratch.

[16:19] —Simon— That was SPIDERMAN: VENOM’S WRATH?

[16:20] —Keith— Simon: no that was my short story "An Evening in the Bronx with Venom."

[16:20] —Simon— Aha.

[16:20] —Keith— Or, rather, John’s and my short story.

[16:20] —Keith— That was my first fiction sale, and it came about because we needed a Venom story for the anthology. *laughs*

[16:20] —Keith— There are parts of that story that I know John wrote. There are parts of that story that I know I wrote. There are some parts where I haven’t the first clue.

[16:21] —gman— lol

[16:21] —Keith— I know I wrote the fight scenes. John writes =awful= fight scenes. :)

[16:21] —Keith— GA

[16:21] —Keith— (Why does it just figure that =that= was the longest answer? :) )

[16:21] —gman— As you wrote the novel, were there any unexpected turns that the story took? Did you always intend for Drusilla to be in it?

[16:22] —Keith— Something to keep in mind with tie-ins is that you always have to write a detailed outline first.

[16:23] —Keith— I wrote a 15-page outline of the plot for BLACKOUT before I started writing a single word. And yes, Dru was always part of it.

[16:23] —gman— I was wondering because she showed up pretty late.

[16:23] —gman— Especially for a heavy-hitter like her.

[16:23] —Keith— Well, she wasn’t there for the first fight between Nikki and Spike that we saw in "Lies My Parents Told Me." And I thought the plot worked best this way.

[16:24] —Keith— Besides, Dru is =incredibly= difficult to write.

[16:24] —Keith— GA

[16:24] —Simon— Well, I expect one saves Dru for dessert...

[16:24] —buffysmglover— I have a question

[16:24] —gman— Go ahead Tim. Then I’ll ask Scott and Shiai.

[16:25] —buffysmglover— Would you ever consider writing with a cast member of Buffy, like Chris Golden and Amber Benson? Possibly a Buffy novel? Who with?

[16:25] —Keith— It’s not something I’ve ever given any thought to. I certainly wouldn’t be averse to the notion.

[16:25] —Keith— GA

[16:26] —Simon— Keith, I want to thank you again, as you’ve been very considerate and patient this afternoon.

[16:26] —gman— Yes, thank you.

[16:26] —Keith— Not a problem.

[16:25] —gman— Do you have another question, Scott?

[16:27] —Buffyverse— Yes. What are the differences between writing a tie-in novel and editing a tie-in project like Tales of the Dominion War?

[16:27] —Keith— Well, writing and editing are two separate and distinct, though related, skills.

[16:28] —Keith— And editing an anthology is a whole ’nother thing on top of that, where you have to coordinate several different authors, figure out the best order for the stories to go in, and keep track of a lot more things.

[16:28] —Keith— All for a book that won’t sell as well as a novel, so you wonder why we bother. *laughs*

[16:28] —Keith— But anthologies are fun.

[16:28] —Keith— But writing and editing use different skills.

[16:28] —Keith— Writing is focused on creation; editing is focused on molding and shaping and improving.

[16:28] —Keith— I hope that helps.

[16:28] —Keith— GA

[16:31] —gman— Do you think the future is bright for Buffy novels?

[16:31] —Keith— Nothing lasts forever. Right now, just the fact that there are still BUFFY novels, long after the show has gone off the air, is a =tremendous= accomplishment.

[16:32] —Keith— Beyond this, I honestly don’t know. It’s something Simon Spotlight will look at when it comes time to renew the license. If the books are continuing to make money, they’ll keep doing them.

[16:32] —Keith— I have no idea how they’re selling, honestly, so I can’t really answer.

[16:31] —Shiai— After "The Deathless" in April and Chris Golden’s "Dark Congress" in August, the December Buffy book hasn’t been announced. Do you have any plans to pitch another book for the franchise this year?

[16:33] —Keith— Regarding what Shiai asked, I actually have a couple of pitches in right now. We’ll see what happens. Either one of the pitches would be =huge= fun to do.

[16:33] —Keith— GA

[16:33] —buffysmglover— May I ask a follow up to that?

[16:33] —Keith— What’s the followup, buffysmglover?

[16:34] —buffysmglover— Keith, would you still consider doing things like this and being part of what would have helped Buffy go on when the books end?

[16:34] —Keith— I’m not sure what you mean. *confuse*

[16:34] —buffysmglover— Interviews and chats revolving around the show

[16:34] —Keith— Oh. Sure!

[16:35] —buffysmglover— after the books stop coming?

[16:35] —Keith— Been a big BUFFY fan going back to the movie, and my official connection to the franchise goes back to 1998.

[16:35] —Keith— Heck, I’m still willing to do stuff for FARSCAPE. ;)

[16:36] —Keith— GA

[16:36] —buffysmglover— Great!

[16:36] —Shiai— I’ve got to say, I think it’s people like Keith still keeping involved in all of this that’s helping to keep Buffy alive.

[16:36] —buffysmglover— I agree.

[16:36] —gman— Yes. Thank you, Keith.

[16:36] —Buffyverse— I agree too.

[16:37] —gman— The novels are more in keeping with the spirit of Buffy than comic books.

[16:37] —Keith— Well, my STARCRAFT: GHOST novel NOVA just came out. It’s based on a videogame that was cancelled, bizarrely enough, but I’m quite happy with the book, and you should check it out.

[16:37] —gman— I’m going to check out Articles of Federation.

[16:38] —Shiai— (Hmmm...is the mirror universe KRAD clean-shaven? ;) )

[16:38] —gman— And we’ll help get the word out.

[16:36] —Keith— Anything else?

[16:36] —Simon— Excellent. And, the standard close: What future projects do you have coming out?

[16:37] —Keith— In February and March, Pocket Books will release two STAR TREK trade paperbacks under the general title of MIRROR UNIVERSE.

[16:37] —Keith— Each book will have three short novels — ENT, TOS, and TNG in the first, DS9, VOY, and NEW FRONTIER in the second.

[16:38] —Keith— I’ll be doing the VOYAGER segment: THE MIRROR-SCALED SERPENT, which will be in Volume 2 in March.

[16:38] —Keith— BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: THE DEATHLESS will be out in April.

[16:38] —Keith— I’ve got tie-in books coming out in June and August that I hope to be able to announce soon.

[16:38] —Simon— Wow! You’ve been busy.

[16:38] —Keith— I’ve got short stories in several anthologies:

[16:39] —Keith— "Life from Lifelessness" in DOCTOR WHO: SHORT TRIPS: DESTINATION PRAGUE, which will be out in the spring.

[16:39] —Keith— "A Clean Getaway" in PANDORA’S CLOSET in August.

[16:39] —Keith— And, assuming it’s approved, a story for the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION 20th anniversary anthology THE SKY’S THE LIMIT in October.

[16:39] —Keith— Also in October, I’m doing a TNG novel called Q&A, which will be the ultimate Q story.

[16:40] —gman— Ah Q.

[16:40] —Simon— Great title.

[16:40] —Keith— And I’m editing a DOCTOR WHO: SHORT TRIPS anthology of my own called THE QUALITY OF LEADERSHIP, which will be out in the spring of 2008.

[16:40] —Shiai— How do you keep this all straight in your head?!? LOL

[16:40] —Keith— My fiancee, Terri Osborne, came up with the Q&A title.

[16:40] —Simon— Kudos to her.

[16:40] —Keith— I’ve also got an essay coming out in WEBSLINGER, a BenBella Books "Smart Pop" collection about Spider-Man in March. My essay’s called "Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man," where I spell out why Spidey is cooler than Supes.

[16:41] —gman— Well, yeah. That’s true.

[16:41] —Keith— I think that’s everything I can talk about. :)

[16:41] —Simon— Ok, that definitely is worth a read... as its one of the cornerstone discussions of comic society.

[16:41] —buffysmglover— kewl

[16:41] —Keith— I hope to be able to announce the June and August books by the end of the month.

[16:41] —Keith— One’s a game tie-in, one’s a TV tie-in.

[16:41] —gman— Keith thank you for your time, patience and great stories.

[16:42] —Keith— You’re very welcome!