Welcome to Marvels and Monsters on Track of Words, a brilliant guest post written by the fantastic Cath Lauria. With not one but two novels from Aconyte Books coming out in early 2023, each in a different IP, I asked Cath if she would be interested in talking about what it’s like writing stories in multiple universes, and what the similarities and differences are. The resulting article offers a really interesting insight into the life of an SFF author and the experience of writing IP fiction, and a few hints about what to expect from Terror World and Silver Sable: Payback when they arrive in 2023. Cath’s writing is always full of energy and enthusiasm, and that comes through here in a real sense of hope and excitement for next year, which I love!
Enough of me though, over to Cath…
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Hi there! Happy December to anyone who’s reading this, and thanks to Michael at Track of Words for asking me to write an article for this year’s Advent Calendar. At the end of what’s been a remarkable year for me professionally, I’m heading into 2023 full of that fun “so excited I might faint and/or throw up” sensation for what comes next. It’s wild how often that feeling is a part of my adulthood – that’s what happens when you throw your hat into the professional writing ring, I guess. You vacillate between joy and anxiety and outright terror for extended periods of time. Good thing I enjoy that sort of ridiculousness, but why am I so full of vim and vigor right now? Let me share!
First up, releasing on January 3rd, is my first non-Marvel IP novel, Terror World. I wrote this for CMON Games – the Zombicide: Invader line specifically – and it was a huge departure from the norm for me. Terror World is my first genuine horror novel, as well as my first lengthy IP foray outside the deep well that is the Marvel Universe and into the boundless potential of…space zombies. Yeah, that’s right – I got to write about SPACE ZOMBIES. Time to call my mom up to brag, then make sure I leave instructions about this being engraved on my tombstone because I don’t see how it gets any better from here.
That’s only slightly facetious of me. I was a dreamy kid who wanted nothing more than to be left alone to read, please just let me read, I don’t care about food or television JUST LET ME READ! Then I got into writing and fell into a black hole of enjoyable introversion that I’ve yet to fully emerge from, and I’m perfectly fine with that. I’ve always been most attracted to speculative stories, anything that promises a break from the everyday world, and through some mystical confabulation of working my ass off and getting some truly lucky breaks, I’ve ended up in the position I am today – writing about magic, marvels, and monsters on a regular basis.
Aconyte, my IP publisher and the go-between for authors and companies that are looking for novelizations, does a great job of mediating the creative process between two often-opposing sides. No two properties are exactly the same, not even when they fall under the same umbrella (i.e. Marvel Heroines, Untold, Legends of Asgard, etc). That said, I’ve definitely noticed some distinct differences between Marvel and CMON when it comes to getting to the final product.
I started this journey by writing two Marvel novels in a row – Elsa Bloodstone: Bequest and Black Cat: Discord – before branching out. For Marvel, the pitching process was pretty straightforward, the synopsis was carefully scrutinized, and the actual editing by their people was meticulous – which it has to be. That universe is HUGE, and they needed to make sure I wasn’t screwing it up. I get it. I’d be protective too.
Writing for another IP was a great reminder of the fact that nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is set in stone when it comes to publishing. The pitch process for Terror World (not the original title, btw – I was calling it Zombicide: Dark Resurgence until I was *ahem* corrected) was…rocky. I had to scrap several generations of work to hone in on an idea that caught their attention, and by that point my confidence had taken a nosedive. I’d proven I could write for Marvel, but the Zombicide line is a whole other beast. I wondered if I’d overstepped my own bounds. I mean, I first cut my teeth in romance – pretty far from horror, although not as far as some people think. What the heck did I know about writing terror in space?
On the other hand, thanks to my early romance experience, I can take criticism – constructive and otherwise – like nobody’s business. I got the synopsis approved, got to work on the novel, finished it and waited anxiously for CMON’s edits, and got—
Six comments. Over eighty thousand words and they wanted me to fix six things.
Six. Things.
It’s the shortest edit I’ve ever gotten. A lot of that is due to my fabulous in-house editor for this book, Gwendolyn Nix, but still. It felt kind of like I was cheating. Here’s hoping I don’t get angry emails from readers pointing out huge plot holes, because at this point, *shrug*.
I went straight from Terror World to Silver Sable: Payback, and it was like stepping back into my own house after a long day of running around outside doing errands. Starting the book was a little harder than I was used to, probably because I still had zombies on the brain (speaking of, hey Marvel – can we do that?). So I decided to take advantage of that and lay a mention of Zombicide into Silver Sable’s book, because it turns out you can make YOUR OWN EASTER EGGS when you write books like this!
My Marvel books all reference each other – heck, Silver Sable’s book has Black Cat as a major supporting character, so they more than reference each other, they directly interact. A lot of us try to refer to each other’s Marvel books as well – I’ve worked in mentions of Domino and, of course, Dr Doom’s shenanigans in the trilogy he’s got going. It’s fun for me and for readers in the know, and a reminder that there are a lot more people out there doing this kind of work and I should READ THEIR BOOKS if I want to stay on my toes, because a lot of what they do is excellent.
I’ve got another Marvel book in the works (which I can’t talk about yet because, haha, I want to live) that will be overflowing with in-jokes and asides for those who’ve read beyond the basics. Not just with other books, but with the comics as well. You can’t fit EVERYTHING into a single novel, but if you’re me you can certainly try!
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Cath Lauria is a Colorado girl who loves snow and sunshine. She is a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, suspense and romance fiction, and has a vast collection of beautiful edged weapons.
You can follow Cath on Twitter @author_cariz.
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Huge thanks to Cath for writing this great article and agreeing to share it here as part of the 2022 Track of Words Advent Calendar! I hope that has got you excited about Terror World and Silver Sable: Payback – I know I can’t wait to read both upcoming books.
Check out my reviews of Elsa Bloodstone: Bequest and Black Cat: Discord, and my interview with Cath discussing Elsa Bloodstone: Bequest.
Terror World is due out in global ebook and US paperback in January 2023, while Silver Sable: Payback is due out in global ebook/US paperback in March 2023, both from Aconyte Books. Check out the links below to pre-order both books:
*If you buy anything using any of these links, I will receive a small affiliate commission – see here for more details.
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