Tim Waggoner talks about the biz of tie-in writing over at Writers Digest.
Christopher Golden, bestselling author of The Ferryman and Strangewood, has written "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"-related books, and novels based on the "Angel" TV series. He’s witnessed first-hand the problems some writers—even good ones—have constructing a story within someone else’s guidelines. "I’ve also seen a lot of god-awful tie-ins," he says, "which would seem to indicate that some writers think it’s a lot easier than it actually is."
Lee –
You may have covered this before, but do you feel that TV writers, if they were so inclined to write a prose novel, would be more predisposed to the idea of tie-in writing? To clarify – tv writers always have to come in and write to someone else’s template and characters – and rewrite their voice to the voice of the show. Tv writers are constantly rewritten and stories are broken (for the most part) as a group in order to maintain a consistency.
Thoughts?
Bill,
You may be right. I know a few STAR TREK writers have written tie-ins and, of course, it’s common for screenwriters to write novelizations of their movies (David Selzter’s THE OMEN comes to mind, which was recently re-released to coincide with the movie).
Lee