Ask Steve Perry

[steveperry]

I still drop by from time to time.

[Corporal Hicks]

Any plans for another novel?

[steveperry]

Any plans for another novel?

Not in the A, P, or AvP universe at the moment. Got two other books working, and another one past those I need to  get to first.

[Undeadite]

Oh, Ive got a question. With Darkhorse introducing new AvP comics, would you consider writing story lines for them, or maybe adapting them into novels?

[Kimarhi]

If he starts writing moviescripts, I imagine novels will take a backseat for a little bit.


How is the screenwriting going btw?

[nexus]

Hey Steve,
gotta say my favourite of your books is Prey.
and i just finished reading Turnabout.
now dont get me wrong i loved it, could'y put it down and i think it would be a brilliant base for a Predator 3 Movie.

my question is, what made you decide not to have the Preds point of veiw in this one.

[Corporal Hicks]

I don't think their novel POV is as tense or suspenseful as the movies vision POV.

[steveperry]

I wanted to use a Predator's VP. The folks in charge didn't want to go that way. Their bat and ball, their rules.

Down the line, once i get caught up, I would be okay with the notion of going back into the A, P, and AvP universe. They are good people to work with at DH, and I like the universe.

[Alienseseses]

Here's a question.

I have a plot for an AVP story, but I can never get myself to write it down. Any tips on this?

[SM]

What's stopping you?  Time or motivation?

[Cetanu]

How do you actually say "yautja"? How is actually pronounced?

[Alienseseses]

What's stopping you?  Time or motivation?

Motivation, really. I have this whole thing, 3 act thing, in my head and i can't bring myself to write it.

[SM]

Obviously, Perry-san would have more experience with this, but whenever I have to write anything I just jot down the basic sequence of events in a bullet point treatment, then use that as the starting point for the first draft.  Might just be really broad points and the whole thing takes up only half a page, but at least you've got something down and can move on from there.

[Corporal Hicks]

I use the same method. That way you've at least got the sequence of events and what you basically want to do but with the freedom of being able to expand what you want to write. I hate doing detailed outlines/treatments. I feel like the creativity and fun is being all used there.

[steveperry]

Write a treatment, which is movie-speak for an outline. Keep it short, and do it as if you are having a beer with a buddy and telling him what the story is. Doesn't have to be formal -- "Okay, so this ship carrying some kind of terraforming robot crash-lands on Earth, and the robot is damaged. It thinks it has arrived at its destination and kicks on, and starts changing the atmosphere, making the Eatrh into a place better suited for Predators than humans ..."

Like that. Should be able to do it in fifteen or twenty pages.

As for yautja, we always pronounced it: "yah-oot-jah," no accent on any of the syllables.