Tell us a little about yourself.<\/b><\/p>\n
My name is Drew Wagar, I\u2019m 46 this year and by day I work in IT Security; a career heavily influenced at the outset by the 8 bit programming I learnt as a child. I live in rural Kent, not far from Romney Marsh with my wife, two kids, a dog and a cat. Outside of my family and work commitments I write novels. My favourite authors are Anne McCaffrey and Arthur C. Clarke, with Michael Moorcock and H.G. Wells not far behind.<\/p>\n
Have you played Lords of Midnight?<\/b><\/p>\n
I was lucky enough to be given a 16k ZX Spectrum (rubber key model) for Christmas in 1983 and Lords of Midnight came my way in the following year along with the upgrade to 48k \u2013 I still have the box and the cassette! I was 13 at the time and recall playing it for several weeks before I first figured out a way of beating Doomdark. My solution was to run all of the Lords down to Xajorkith and wait out the assault before moving them all back north. I fondly remember parading my armies on the plains of Kor, taunting the Witch-king before I marched in and took Ushgarak. It took a while, but victory went to the free!<\/p>\n
Since then I have now Chris Wild\u2019s wonderful remakes on my Android tablet and laptop, which have allowed me to do a lot of research and familiarise myself with the land of Midnight once more. I\u2019d forgotten quite a lot over the last 30 years, so it was a fascinating experience to go back. I\u2019ve since reread the original novellas too and was quite impressed how well they\u2019ve stood the test of time.<\/p>\n
I did play Doomdark\u2019s Revenge, but for some reason it never quite enchanted me in the same way as the original game. The games after that have passed me by unfortunately, as I had left for university by that point and discovered girls and beer.<\/p>\n
What have you written already?<\/b><\/p>\n
My first published novel was actually a contemporary piece of fiction portraying a battle between a scientific world view and a religious one, seen through the eyes of two very different people who find they have a lot in common.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m most well-known for my Elite: Dangerous novel \u2018Reclamation\u2019. This was a story set in the universe of \u2018Elite\u2019, which I\u2019m sure most of you are familiar with. This was quite a tough assignment in that I wanted to pay homage to the original game of 1984, the sequels and the current incarnation, whilst writing a satisfyingly gripping story.\u00a0 It is, I believe, the most popular of all the official Elite novels. I spent a lot of time working out what the fans would want from an Elite story, and combining that with a story I wanted to tell.<\/p>\n
Since then I\u2019ve been working on my own series of SF\/Fantasy novels (I really don\u2019t like genre classifications!). These are set on a tidally locked world which has been colonised at some distant point in the past, but where the colonists have lost their technology and reverted to a feudal existence. Thus technology seems like magic. The first book \u2018Emanation\u2019 is already out, and the second book in the series is due in the autumn, with the manuscript currently with my publisher.<\/p>\n
And, if you look closely, there are a few Lords of Midnight references dropped into both my Elite book and my Shadeward Saga\u2026 \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
Are you a full-time writer?<\/b><\/p>\n
Alas, no. I would love to be, but writing is an appallingly paid profession unless you hit J.K. Rowling levels of recognition. I have a day job that pays the bills. However, because I commute, I have a reasonable amount of time where I can write (about a working day a week) which means I can crank out a reliable five to six thousand words a week. One day I\u2019ll be able to \u2018retire\u2019 and take up writing full-time, but until then this is a good compromise.<\/p>\n
Money isn\u2019t really the motivation here either, I only want to write the stories I want to read, so am very selective in what projects I take on.<\/p>\n
And the Publisher?<\/b><\/p>\n
Fantastic Books Publishing is a specialist SF and Fantasy publishing house well used to dealing with these types of works and also has experience of game-tie in novels and the fan-bases that surround them. They currently have just under a hundred authors on their books.<\/p>\n
They also have an audio subdivision aimed at converting their catalogue into audiobook form. They also run an annual convention dedicated to gaming, SF and fantasy.<\/p>\n
What makes you want to write a book for \u2018Lords of Midnight\u2019 ?<\/b><\/p>\n
Nostalgia plays a part of course, but it\u2019s not the biggest motivator. Rather like Elite, Lords of Midnight (perhaps due to the minimalist hardware capabilities of the ZX Spectrum and the genius of Mike Singleton\u2019s game design) had a certain \u2018verisimilitude\u2019, something beyond just the game that made you believe in what was happening and care about it.<\/p>\n
There remains an essence to the Lords of Midnight that I still can\u2019t quite articulate to my satisfaction, which sets it apart from the more mundane games of the time. It was bold and grand, taking itself seriously in presentation and style. I remember looking up the word \u2018invigorated\u2019 in the dictionary to find out what it meant! The language was grown up and sophisticated. Tension was cleverly woven in by the use of third person text \u201cHe stands on the plains of Blood\u2026\u201d and by the fear inducing \u201cThe bloody sword of battle\u2026\u201d and \u201cDo you want dawn?\u201d<\/p>\n
It boils down to there being a richness to the story around the game, which hasn\u2019t yet been done justice to. I had the opportunity to do that to my satisfaction with Elite, I plan to do same with Lords of Midnight.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also that little matter of the book that Beyond Software said they\u2019d publish for the original winner of Lords of Midnight. I remember feeling disappointed when I leant that was never going to happen. Well, now it is!<\/p>\n
What kind of novel is it going to be?<\/b><\/p>\n
There\u2019s going to be a bit of trepidation over this and I understand the concern. \u2018Official\u2019 interpretations of classic works, particularly after a long period of time, raise worries over how the original material is going to be treated.<\/p>\n
Firstly it won\u2019t be a quick hack and slash copy of <insert generic fantasy book> skimmed with a bit of ice and with the names changed.<\/p>\n
What I intend to do is write the story of the Lords of Midnight in a way that would be very recognisable to original players of the game, featuring events and situations that players will have encountered during gameplay.<\/p>\n
I also intend to honour the original lore and modify it only in adversity. Chris is acting as the guardian here and, in his words, will keep things \u2018reined in\u2019. We have had to make some modifications, but sensitivity to Mike\u2019s original vision and the fans is uppermost in our minds.<\/p>\n
How did you \u2018get the gig\u2019 ?<\/b><\/p>\n
As befits our social media age, it was a chance conversation on twitter! I was talking with a chap called Tom about Elite and his twitter icon was one of Ice-guard warriors. I recognised it and mentioned in the next tweet that Lords of Midnight was one of my favourite ZX Spectrum games. That was retweeted to Chris. As a throw away comment I said I\u2019d enjoyed writing the official Elite story and that a Lord of Midnight novel would be fun, to which Chris replied with the, rather enigmatic, \u201ccan be arranged\u2026\u201d \ud83d\ude09 It all went from there.<\/p>\n
I hope the fact that I\u2019ve got a proven track record at putting out books, already have a willing publisher, coupled with the existing credentials at having written an official novel for Elite (which traces its origins back to the same halcyon period in the early 1980s) made me a relatively safe bet, though I did write a prologue for the story, to give Chris and the Singleton family a feel for how I would approach the project.<\/p>\n
What you foresee as the biggest challenges ahead?<\/b><\/p>\n
Chris and I have already spent considerable time looking at various problems. I am a \u2018planner\u2019 and I work out the plot of any story in detail before I start writing. No \u2018seat of the pants\u2019 scribbling for me.<\/p>\n
From a writer\u2019s perspective, the biggest issue with Lords of Midnight (and I hope you don\u2019t mind me being a bit brutal here) is that it is a pastiche of Lord of the Rings. Thus the biggest challenge is figuring out a way to write a story which is true to the source material, but can be sufficiently differentiated from what has been written before.<\/p>\n
There a lot of characters involved too, and most of them aren\u2019t very distinct or diverse as represented in the game, another Lord\u2026 another Fey\u2026 ! We didn\u2019t want to muck about with gender like Battlestar Galactica did, but we\u2019ve had a look at what we can do to widen the appeal. We\u2019ve tried to make sure it is in keeping with the spirit of the game, I think people will appreciate what we\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n
Also, the background lore isn\u2019t complete, or occasionally contradicts itself, so we\u2019ve had to close some of the gaps in as sympathetic a way as we can. Chris has already alluded to this on his blog<\/a> \u2013 who are the \u2018House of the Moon\u2019 for example? Where does Corleth come from? We need to figure this stuff out.<\/p>\n How long will the book be?<\/b><\/p>\n I expect it to be around 120-140k words, which is about the same length as \u201cThe Return of the King\u201d by Tolkien.<\/p>\n When will the book be out, in what formats?<\/b><\/p>\n Our plan has the book available for the 21st<\/sup> of December 2017. That, as I\u2019m sure you are aware, is the Winter Solstice itself, the height of Doomdark\u2019s power! That gives me more than enough time to write the story and for the publisher to fettle it into shape. I have other projects which I am working on in parallel, so need to give myself appropriate leeway.<\/p>\n It will be available as an ebook initially, in different formats via the obvious online outlets (Amazon, Google Play, Apple iStore etc). It will also come out as a paperback via Amazon\u2019s print on demand service. We are going to investigate the costs for a limited run of special edition hardbacks too, if there is sufficient demand for them.<\/p>\n Will there be fish-mines?<\/b><\/p>\n You\u2019ll have to wait and see. \u263a<\/p>\n Will there be a Doomdark\u2019s Revenge novel?<\/b><\/p>\n One thing at a time! We aren\u2019t committing to that at present because we want to see how \u201cThe Lords of Midnight\u201d is received. It\u2019s our fond hope that it will generate more awareness for the games, the story and Mike Singleton\u2019s legacy. We\u2019re signed up for a single book at present.<\/p>\n That said, we are building in hooks for a sequel in order to tell the story of the Icemark if the interest is there. We are planning for the possibility that we will have a series of four books collectively called the \u201cChronicles of Midnight\u201d. It very much depends on how successful the first book is.<\/p>\n Will you keep us informed on progress?<\/b><\/p>\n Absolutely. One of the things I found very inspiring when I wrote my Elite novel \u2018Reclamation\u2019 was frequent blog updates on progress, highlighting where things were going well and where issues had cropped up. Having encouragement from fans and well-wishers via social media is a huge motivator for the process of writing a book, which does have its very bad days occasionally! At the minimum I update the word count I\u2019ve reached on my website once a week, which will give you an indication of my progress.<\/p>\n You can follow and get updates in a number of ways. My blog can be found at www.drewwagar.com<\/a> and there\u2019s an option to sign up to a newsletter that will just give you the edited highlights. I\u2019m on twitter – @drewwagar and if facebook is your thing \u2013 facebook.com\/drewwagarwriter<\/p>\n I like to be pretty interactive, so if you have questions, post them up and I\u2019ll do my best to answer them. However, there will be no spoilers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tell us a little about yourself. My name is Drew Wagar, I\u2019m 46 this year and by day I work in IT Security; a career heavily influenced at the outset by the 8 bit programming I learnt as a child. … Continue reading