Tales from the Lore Mines: Researching And Writing For A Series of Books (Part 1) (Patreon)

Hello! Plenty of folks have asked for a bit of insight into how I kind-of go about something like an episode of AdRic. More people wanted to see a full script, but I know DAMN well that if I put one of those out there that some Abominable Intelligence program would start mimicking me in one way or another. Bad enough that the dancing cactus in my room says everything I say but at a higher pitch, but that’s the cost of having one as a roommate I suppose.

So, I just wanted to take some time to give you all a little sample of some of the things I do when I work on some scripts. This entry is going to be specifically about writing a series of episodes about a series of books. A trilogy, even. In fact, I might separate this into three parts as well just because it would be a fun thing to talk about over a longer period of time, so long as folks are interested!

First thing’s first: I read the books. Yup. You heard it here first. I read. If I write about it, it means that I read it and looked into it myself. Obviously, with a series of books this is a bit more narrow scope-wise because the books serve as the primary sources, so I don’t need to hunt down additional books, short stories, White Dwarf issues, things on long-dead websites, Imperial Armor volumes, etc. etc.

When it comes to reading, I personally prefer to read something physical if I have it. This is 100% a personal preference on my part, particularly when it comes to something more research based because I am able to take a physical book and throw in a bunch of bookmarks or what-have-you so I physically can see where chapters end or where important markers are on things that I’m working on. Sure, it can be done digitally as well, and I do use eBooks plenty of times as well, but those are less fun to eat when I’m done researching. Sometimes the books are only available reasonably in an audio format, and in those instances I tend to listen and write more notes as I experience the books, which is a little more dificult for me personally, but we all sufer for work I suppose.

Now, again, this is all personal preference and not reflective on what I think is a “legit” way to experience any form of reading. In my opinion, listening to a book while driving around and going about your day or reading an eBook on your phone is as valid as sitting with a big ol’ leatherbound book in front of a fireplace. So long as you’re experiencing a book, that’s what matters to me, as reading is a great joy of mine and I am happy when people do so. Now, if you are reading a book over someone’s shoulder at a library or trying to run an eBook through a Smart Fridge, then we might have some words.

The Process of Active ReadingThanks to a very long personal history of doing research for things as well as reviews for books, magazine profiles, and other fast-paced things, I’ve really honed in on active reading techniques that allow me to work while I read without it really obstructing the experience. So, as I read, I will keep either a notebook next to me or a text document open, and at the end of each chapter I will write generally like a paragraph or less summary of what happened in the chapter, mostly in some shorthand. It doesn’t have to be fully accurate, nor does it have to make a lot of sense. It’s more of a checkpoint so that when I go through and structure stuf, I know where to go.

While doing this, I make note of some gut-punch reactions I had without digging much further. Sometimes this can be a real low hanging fruit joke, or it can be a passage that may serve as a real good quote for the lads to read that I should circle back to. For example, while reading Godblight, this was my summary for Chapters 2 and 3:

2- Preparing to interrogate Daemonhost. Felix concerned about this. Knows the whole deal with Remo. Guilliman has council of librarians. Concila Psykana. And Eldar with same name as the half-eldar from Rogue Trader. Neat-o. Daemonhost is terrifying, tests Guilliman (GOOD QUOTE HERE?). Daemon connected to Tzeentch. Q&A goes well-ish. Godblight hint. Breaks bonds, gets past tensed. Now knows Mortarion’s plans better. Grey Knight big mad.

3- Cherala & Odious “kids that look real old” on Nurgle planet. Traverse “Stink Forest” (Your Mom Joke?). Essentially about life on Daemon planet. Something appears that they think is neat. uh-oh. Tzeentch stuf. Crystal head explosion a’la Scanners. The War in the Rift has arrived.

See, nothing super special here, but enough for me to go back and really hone-in on it when I get through with putting things together.

Structuring the TimelineSpeaking of, the next thing I do after I finish the summaries of the chapters and I try to suss out a good timeline of events. Now, the general flow of a grandiose 40K novel is its shifting perspective each and every chapter. Which, for Godblight in particular, is very much the case for a good portion of all 43 chapters. If I was to explain the events of the book in 100% sequence with how it read, the perspective shift every second paragraph would be borderline nauseating. This is, after all, not a book report of a podcast, it’s a good ol’ chat about a subject.

So, I go through the chapters and see which ones I can put together for the sake of a consistent story without shifting too many perspectives and giving everyone a headache. Still using Godblight as an example, I combined the sections that were focused on Justinian/The Novamarines into one segment and the Crusade/Mathieu into another and explained one and then the other. Chapter-wise, Justinian’s perspectives were 21, 24, 27 while Mathieu’s were 20, 22, and 26.

Of course, this only can happen so long as it doesn’t break continuity of the story. If I truncate something and it involves a chapter where it’s the aftermath of something I haven’t explained yet even though it technically already happened a few chapters before what I’m explaining, then it just throws off the groove entirely. Sometimes this truncating can be done over the course of episodes in the case of a dedicated series like this one.

The best example with this is the presentation of Mathieu in the first episode. From the drop, I knew I was going to present him as normal and reasonable as possible to set the tone a certain way about him, especially considering the intensity of the second book when it comes to his backstory and his actions. So, even though Mathieu using the shock device in his PP in the first book, I wanted to lead with it in the second episode so that the drop had a bit more weight to it. With a dedicated trilogy of books, I think it’s safer to assume that someone is going to experience all three of the episodes around them, so I feel as though sequential story telling works even if some things are slightly moved around without breaking the continuity or the flow. Obviously, if I opened up the first episode with Guilliman meeting the Emperor after being revived, that would’ve been a nightmare and would’ve fucked up the entire thing, but a movement of something in an “oh by the way” manner I think sometimes can have some impact, especially in lieu of a “previously on AdRic” thing at the beginning of each episode of an elongated series.

Trimming the Fat (and the Bolter Porn)Of course, a novel like the ones in this series are particularly dense with lore, and it makes it dificult to trim things down across the board. Trimming down is, unfortunately, necessary for a show like AdRic, and just because something doesn’t make it in doesn’t mean it’s “forgotten” or anything like that. Things end up being cut for time a bit, and that’s kind-of how the cards fall. If the show were more of a narrative show without banter or other asides, then sure, you could fit virtually everything in, but this is not the case. I think of it like a chat with friends that are passionate about the same thing and have gotten together to teach everyone else something they had learned. If it’s too firm with the pacing, it’s not a lot of fun. If it’s too of-the-rails, then nothing gets covered.

So, I have to consider it when it comes to explanations, summaries, and at times removal of a thing or two for the sake of pacing. I do my best to preserve as many relevant and important things as possible, and it’s mostly Glup Shitto collateral. Sometimes there’s a bit of a lay-up ofering wise when it comes to stuff that can be summed up a bit quicker. In Plague War, we had two full chapters dedicated to a Knight that ended up getting sloppy (the bad ending). Obviously, this was here for something I’ll explain in a second, but ultimately it didn’t add too too much to the story that was trying to be written, so I was able to sum that up in about half a paragraph without it throwing off the groove.

The BIGGEST thing by and large that gets trimmed is, you may have guessed it, the quote unquote “bolter porn” in 90% of 40K books. Now, the reason why this gets glossed over is simple: summing it up is doing it a disservice and it kind of sounds silly doing so. Think about a particularly intense war movie or series that you’ve watched that’s full of explosions, gun fire, carnage, and harrowing tales of the conflict. Now, imagine sitting down at a bar and explaining it to someone. You will kind of sound like this:

I made a joke about this specifically during the Nachmund Gauntlet episode where I described the Sisters of Battle and the Night Lords fighting with jump-packs like “Bricky sitting cross legged on one of those mats with all the car streets on them while wearing a propeller hat and playing with his Night Lords and Sisters of Battle toys” and they proceeded to make airplane noises and pew pew pew sounds after.

Essentially, it can feel like that when trying to fully explain it, and it’s strictly because the battle sequences in most Warhammer fiction are meant to be experienced first-hand by the person who is reading it. It acts as its own primary source conflict-wise, and it really engrosses the reader in the setting moreso. If nothing else, summing it up as “and then there was an explosion, two people died, and someone reloaded their gun, and they went over the top, and then and then and then” is doing it a disservice.

Generally when there’s a harrowing war sequence, I try my best to find one quote that can sort-of sum up the scope of the battle best so that the feel is presented with the actual text, as that’s a bit preferable. I think when it’s explained that there’s a war going on at one point, one would immediately assume “they’re probably shooting one another, and there’s probably casualties and terrible things happening on the battlefield” regardless of if it’s spelled out explicitly. Especially in 40k. Otherwise, I do my best to focus on major moments in a conflict OR if something ridiculous happens. Guardsman shooting a demon? They better be. Guardsman crashing a tank into a Great Unclean One and stabbing it in the head? That’s going RIGHT in the episode for SURE.

Wrapping Up for Part 1I think this might be a good place for me to stop with part one of this insight. The next one will be more dedicated strictly to the writing process and the final one will be about how I wrap things up for it to go live! Thank you all for the kind words and the requests for some insight into how I go about things, and I hope you enjoy this little peek into the lore mines!