Hello and welcome to this Track of Words guest post, where today I’m delighted to welcome back Thomas Parrott, whose third Tom Clancy’s The Division novel – Hunted – is coming out in January from Aconyte Books (completing the Operation: Crossroads trilogy)! Tom has kindly contributed a thought-provoking article discussing the journey he’s been on with this trilogy of tie-in novels, which begins with 2022’s Recruited before continuing with Compromised (also 2022) and then onto Hunted, which is out in just a few days (at the time of writing this). I’m always fascinated by writers’ experiences working on novels and series, so to me this is an intriguing exploration of the realities of working on this sort of project, and the work that goes into it!
***
Thomas Parrott: Welcome, Track of Words fam. This isn’t my first visit to the site, and it’s always a pleasure to be here. Thank you to Michael for the space.
So, in discussing what post I could write for my part of the Advent Calendar, Michael suggested I get into what it’s like to write a trilogy for a universe you don’t own. Especially, in my case, where the first book, Recruited, was also my first novel publication. (Not the first novel I wrote, nor the first novel I sold. Long story.)
Allow me to set the scene a little. I got the offer in 2021, coming off of one of the roughest times in my life. Mid-pandemic wasn’t a good time for anyone, of course, but things were not going well for me in a lot of ways. To say I was excited at the prospect of work is perhaps underselling it.
In all honesty, I would have leaped at the chance to write anything. It was practically surreal, then, to get the offer to write a tie-in on a major gaming franchise. I assured them that while I was not extremely familiar with the setting, I would do whatever I had to do to hit the ground running.
And that would be necessary. The situation was not ideal. It’s no secret I was not the first choice to write the series. The original author had been forced by circumstance to bow out. The concept was already pitched and approved, and the publication deadlines were closer by the moment. What was needed was someone to turn a page into a novel, and quickly.
I set to work. One (very flattering) question I’ve been asked a lot is how I hit the target on the aesthetic and feel of the Division universe. The answer? Boringly, hard work. I received some reference documents from the studio, but that wasn’t enough to just dive in with. Instead, I sat down and watched over a hundred hours of fan videos. I played the game. I did everything I could, in other words, to immerse myself in not only how the game presents itself but also how the fans saw it.
I think that’s one of the big differences between tie-in work and creating your own worlds: the inheritance. When you’re writing your own novel, you decide what the world looks and sounds like, and there is no one to gainsay you. (Well, people will try because that is the nature of the world. Especially on social media. But those people are silly.) When you work in someone else’s playground, a passel of expectations come with it.
There are layers to this. On a very official level, your manuscripts will pass through IP approval. The custodians of the world will go over what you’ve created, and probably use a fine-toothed comb to do it. Nothing will reach publication that they have not reviewed and given the green light. It’s a whole additional round of edits, even after your editor has done her work.
Then, when you’re done with all of that, the fans will get their hands on it. Because that’s the thing about a pre-existing franchise: it has fans. They are, in fact, your main customer base. They’re not your fans, though. You are the intruder here, the interloper putting your slimy paws on the thing they already love.
Am I overstating the nature of this for the sake of humor? Why, yes, yes, I am, but there is definitely truth to it as well. You could write whatever you want, and the company can approve what they like, but if the fans never get on board you’re sunk still in the harbor. Does the massive investment in watching fan videos make more sense now? I need to see the world through their eyes, and understand why they love it, if I’m going to do my job well.
Details matter. I believe this firmly in most of life’s aspects, and tie-in writing more so than most. Even if someone is not a stickler making notes on everything you do, every bit you get right adds up in the back of their mind nonetheless. As an example, at one point I had a character use a sticky bomb available in the game. I spent longer than I’d like to admit combing through videos to get the sound exactly right. Is anyone likely to grab that little detail specifically? No. But in conjunction with all the others like it, it coheres into a sense of verisimilitude.
Enthusiasm is also something you can’t fake. I have sometimes described part of my process as ‘discovering my inner fan’. Sometimes I’m very lucky and I get a property I am already familiar with and a fan of. Other times, I come to it with a clean slate. If that’s the case, my job is to find a way to fall in love. I’ve told this particular story before, but for The Division, the moment came when I grasped the haunting depopulation the world had suffered. 90% of the population, if you are unfamiliar as I was.
Now, that’s not cheerful, I admit, but it is compelling. It is a world with a definite stamp on it, the kind that shapes characters and gives birth to stories.
Of course, there was another level of complexity to the task laid before me. Even from the beginning, the hope was that Recruited wouldn’t be a one-off. My new editor was very casual about it at the offset. “Oh, we’re hoping this will be a trilogy.” I had a harder time remaining cool and collected at the prospect. Writing a trilogy was a bucket list item for me.
So how do you write something so grand? The answer, as with so many, ends up being prosaic: you write the books one at a time. That’s not to say I didn’t plant some early seeds in the hopes of growing them if I got the chance. The truth is, though, a book is itself a sizable task. If you keep your eyes on the horizon too much, you’ll lose sight of the road in front of you. When writing Recruited and then Compromised, the most important thing was writing them. I could not afford to weaken the current project for a pay-off that might never come.
Might never come? That’s correct. In all areas of publishing, there are no promises. We all knew we wanted to do a trilogy, but there was a lot of ground to cover between here and there. The world is an unpredictable place. If Recruited was nothing but a first act, and we never got to make the others, it would be painfully disappointing. So, each part had to be satisfying unto itself.
In the end, I handled this as best I could by embracing The Division as a living world. Each novel gives us a window into their ongoing lives. With this tone in mind, we know we are never going to get “the whole story”, because that’s not how life works. Nothing is ever truly done and neatly tied up with a bow. But we can travel with our characters and watch as they learn and grow and change.
I kept a pocket full of hopes for the future, but when writing I focused on a developing now. The key was characters that did not stay static. Evolution, as in nature, has no set goal in mind. It simply adapts to the circumstances. It is the essence of flexibility, and the story I was telling would need that.
And of course, because this is tie-in work, my own plans were not the only moving part in this machine. I was very fortunate to have good collaboration with the narrative designer at Massive, Lauren Stone. She was enthusiastic about the books, and about weaving them into the greater story. This was a massive blessing in many ways, not least of which is it’s obviously more fun for the fans to have a story which crosses mediums and connects with the game they love.
It did, however, require significantly more back and forth. Lauren is fond of saying that constraints breed creativity, and she is correct. Would it have been easier for both of us to work blind to each other, with no exchange? Absolutely. Would it have made for something anywhere near as fun and engaging as what we produced? Certainly not.
So here we are at the end. (Both of this article and of the trilogy.) Hindsight being what it is, it would be easy to get hung-up on things I might have done differently. Truthfully though, I am not the same at the end of my journey any more than my characters are with theirs. Just like them, I have grown and changed thanks to the challenges put before me. Ultimately, I’m satisfied with the three books I created.
And if you have read along, or if you get to in the future, remember all of these things are just a window on a moment. My hope is that you enjoy traveling with us for a ways, and maybe if we’re lucky we’ll see you again around the bend.
***
Thomas Parrott grew up reading science fiction and fantasy. This was compounded by the discovery of video games and tabletop roleplaying, leading to a life of dealing with the mundane while dreaming of dragons. He has written Isha’s Lament, The Test of Faith, and Loyal to the End, all for the Warhammer 40,000 setting, as well as short fiction for Arkham Horror and KeyForge anthologies.
***
Thanks Tom for writing this great post, and huge congratulations on the publication of Hunted and the completion of the Operation: Crossroads trilogy! Check out the links below if you’d like to read Tom’s previous Track of Words guest posts and my reviews of some of his previous releases, otherwise I’d encourage you to get your orders in now for your own copy of Hunted!
To Judge A Book By Its Cover – Thomas Parrott Guest Post
Cover Reveal: Recruited by Thomas Parrott
Thomas Parrott reviews on Track of Words
Hunted is out in audiobook, ebook and US paperback on the 2nd January 2024, with the UK paperback following on the 28th March – check out the links below to pre-order* your copy:
If you enjoyed this article and would like to support Track of Words, you can leave a tip on my Ko-Fi page.
*If you buy anything using one of these links, I will receive a small affiliate commission – see here for more details.