Gears of War fans may not know Karen Traviss by name -- but they do know her work. Her novel,
Gears of War: Aspho Fields explored the franchise's deep back story and showed us what happened after the events of the original Gears.
This Tuesday (7/28), Traviss' second Gears of War novel "Jacinto's Remnant" hits store shelves. We sat down with the author and talked about her book, working with Epic, and just where the Gears universe is headed.
XBFF: Were you a fan of the Gears of War series before you wrote "Aspho Fields?"
KT: No, I knew nothing about it, and if I'd been an existing fan or even familiar with it, then I could never have touched the books. I was approached to write it, I asked Jerry and Mike at Penny Arcade what they thought of the game (they're friends, so I can do that without explaining why I want to know...) and then, when I finally found clips of the cinematics online, I remembered the Mad World promo and how much impact it had on me. I didn't even realise that was Gears at the time. But from that cold start, I knew it was a class act and that I could really work with that property. I agreed to do it, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made.
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The original Gears of War preview, which Traviss cites as an inspiration
The nuts and bolts of writing a novel based on a game are very different from playing it, which might sound obvious, but it isn't - even for experienced writers. I've seen people try to write games-based novels by sticking to the levels and gameplay detail, and in my opinion it doesn't work. It comes across as wooden and contrived. You can see the strings. It's almost like a walk-through. I swear I can spot writers who've come from RPG backgrounds, too, because they have this love affair with adding powers in some form or another, which can play havoc with dramatic tension. (Learn from comics, folks, and make sure your superhero has narrow but well-defined powers and big flaws.) That's fine if your audience is RPGers, but books have to appeal to a very broad audience, most of which is made up casual readers who want a reader's experience, not a player's. There's a fine balance between putting just enough elements of gameplay into a novel to create the same "feel" of the universe and not letting it dictate the whole structure and dynamic of the novel. Novels are about characters, and the plot is what characters do - which you can extrapolate easily once you know the cast well enough.
" I happen to think games are the highest form of storytelling, because they're multi-sensory and non-linear..."
XBFF: In "Aspho Fields", we saw how Marcus and Dom met, as well as learned more about little known Gears characters and backstory. When working with such a big license, how much freedom do you have in creating the story? Was Epic very protective over their story and characters or were you given free rein over The Gears universe?
KT: In licensed work, the spectrum of working practice is vast. You can get anything, from the license owner who won't tell you what's coming up in the original property or even speak to you - you get third-hand messages via the publisher, or lobbed through your window wrapped around a brick if you're really lucky - right through to the owner who brings you into the creative team, involves you, and gives you every freedom you can possibly want. Epic's at one far end of that curve - they're totally open, totally team-minded. I work directly with Rod, Cliff, and Mike. Plus if I have bizarre questions, like where the controls that aren't shown in a 'Dill might actually be located, I can talk to the concept artist. In fact, we work so directly that the publisher doesn't get involved with the book until the manuscript is finished and Epic has signed it off with me. That's very unusual in this industry.
Epic has an instinct for knowing just how much is necessary as a foundation to build on - less is always more - and how much is fluid or disposable. That's impressive. It's not something you can teach. You either understand that on a nuts-and-bolts storytelling level or you don't.
Take Aspho Fields as an example. The battle was mentioned in the first game, but it's just one line from Carmine. Epic said, "Okay, you tell us what you think the battle was all about. We think Carlos got killed. How do you see it?" I work backwards from the cinematics - get to know the characters, and work out how they came to be who they are, what happened to them, what shaped them, why Marcus is a hero but really doesn't want to be reminded of it. A whole book came out of two words from Marcus - "Not really" - because those two lines of game dialogue were so revealing about the characters. Gears is packed solid with clues like that. Epic cheerfully admit they don't always notice if they're doing it, but that's because they have a gut-level, almost unconscious understanding of character and story.
XBFF: Gears of War 2 ended with Delta Squad setting off the light-mass bomb and all but destroying Jacinto. Where does the new book pick up? Where do we find Delta Squad?
KT: Jacinto's Remnant starts from the scene where Gears 2 ends, with the Ravens flying away from Jacinto. In fact, the prologue - the first proper scene, because there's a quick recap of the second game's storyline right at the start in the form of a report from Hoffman - is from Cole's perspective in the Raven as he's looking down at the destruction. So this book is going places you can't even guess, unlike a pure prequel like Aspho Fields where you already knew what happened from the first game.
XBFF: Dom finding his wife Maria in the Locust internment camps was one of the most emotional moments in gaming. How has the tragedy effected Dom in "Jacinto's Remnant?"
KT: That was a great scene, and not just the final moments between Dom and Maria. Marcus's reaction was as perfectly portrayed as any flesh-and-blood actor could have managed - from facial animation to voice to direction to sheer dramatic timing. That was a stunning piece of cinema. It shows CGI has come of age. And all the physical symptoms visible in Maria - that was so perfectly accurate that I was able to show the scene to a friend in the medical profession and get a diagnosis off it. I'm not joking. It was that carefully done, that good - seriously, how many people notice that level of detail? No game needs to be that good. That's how much dedication and sweat goes into Gears. How can I not love and respect that?
"You get to see the birth of the chainsaw Lancer. Come on - it wouldn't be a Gears book if I didn't get some Lancer love in there, would it? "
If you spend ten years looking for the only woman you've ever loved, living for the day you find her, and then you have to blow her brains out on the last day of the war, then you're not going to take two Tylenol and wake up feeling fine the next day. Dom is hit hard. Any normal human being will be messed up for life by that, even if they learn to deal with it. Dom has also lost his kids, the rest of his family, and most of his friends. He's no stranger to bereavement, and he's surrounded by equally bereaved people, but this is a whole new level of pain. So the Dom whose eyes you see through in the book is going through the full gamut of emotions that hit us when we lose someone, plus fifty per cent - because he's had to kill what he loved most. Even if he knows that was the only decent thing to do, it won't feel like that for a long, long time - if ever.
XBFF: The big question after playing through Gears of War 2 revolves around Adam Fenix and his whereabouts. How much do we learn about Marcus' father in "Jacinto's Remnant?"
KT: Well, you'll learn a lot more about what Adam got up to in the run-up to the Hammer of Dawn deployment fourteen years before. (We're at the end of 14 A.E. when the book opens, which is roughly fifteen years after E-Day.) He's effectively the father of the device - the COG might have stolen the basic technology from the UIR, but it's Adam Fenix who's tasked to make it work, and as Sera finds out, it works very well indeed. Some of my favourite scenes to write were those between Prescott and Adam Fenix, ostensibly Chairman Slimeball versus Professor Conscience, but it's not like that at all if you peel back a layer. Fascinating. And because I've been taking evasiveness lessons from Prescott, I've answered your question without answering it. Got to admire that man. Oh, and one bonus snippet - you get to see the birth of the chainsaw Lancer. Come on - it wouldn't be a Gears book if I didn't get some Lancer love in there, would it?
XBFF: We couldn't help but notice that a book with the title "Gears of War 3" set to release in early 2010. Is this just the working title for a third book or the first sign of a third game in the series?
KT: I'm writing a third book at the moment. That's all I can say about it. Remember, Epic know where I live. And Cliff really does have a Lancer.
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