Thunder from Fenris is in the can!

Boy, what a busy day yesterday! I was down in London with Christian Dunn for the recording of my first ever audio story - Thunder from Fenris.

A 5.30am start (at least when I stirred from my pit to get ready for the booked taxi) and an 8.45pm finish (by the time I got back through my door, comfy slippers on and the last two episodes of Heroes season four to watch on BBC2 - yes, I hung in there until the end: I'm obviously a TV masochist or something) has left me pretty drained, I don't mind saying.

Just by way of a little insight, the actual recording day was around eight hours - roughly 9am-5pm - and generally consists of the writer (me, in this case) and editor (that'll be Christian) sat in the directorial suite with script in hand, listening to the actor go through his lines and weave his magic over the microphone with director and sound engineer guiding and monitoring proceedings respectively.

It's a team effort and, as always, we were surrounded by total pros.

Toby Longworth (who folks will hear voicing James Swallow's excellent Heart of Rage in the not-too-distant future) really delivered for us (and me, I suppose) again with a stellar performance. He had three Space Wolves to nail and he had them down from minute one. Three very different characters; three very distinctive but wonderfully rendered and wholly apt voices. I couldn't have been more pleased.

Easter egg - check out a character called Thorgard in the production and see if you can tell where Toby drew his inspiration from. Great stuff.

Toby Longworth put through his paces on the script...

Ably steering the directorial helm was Jason Haigh-Ellery (Jason runs Big Finish Productions, the audio company that BL works with to produce their audio books - real experts in their field) whose guidance was exemplary and knowledge helped really coax the script into life (oh and huge props to both Toby and Jason for their timely and astute script advice - all part of the creative process).

Our sound engineer, and who pretty much looked after us all on the day, was another Toby, though this time a Mr Hrycek Robinson (I know, I know with that first name he could be a Space Wolf, too!). Always very, very safe hands and wonderfully hospitable.

Jason Haigh-Ellery (left) and Toby Hrycek Robinson work their magic from the other side of the microphone.

Were also joined by David Richardson, BL's principle liaison with Big Finish and a producer himself, who works very closely with the audio books editor to ensure we get the audios done, on time and to schedule.

Being on the other side of the fence, as writer instead of editor, this was a new experience for me and I felt extremely privileged to have been a part of the process during the recording as it was fascinating and exciting from this new point of view.

I'm hoping fans will love Thunder from Fenris as much as I did writing it, and will get the same level of enjoyment I did from hearing it immortalised into audio. I've yet to hear the music and fx edit (we recorded the rushes on the day, and another sound engineer will now be set to work adding atmospheric music, bolters, zombie noises and so on, and generally cutting the whole thing together).

A tiring day, but a great day. I'm told we'll see copies fairly soon (a month or so to give time for editing, reviewing and duplication into CD format) and the audio itself will be released at UK Games Day, I believe, and then later on in Games Workshop stores.

New website launch is imminent...

As of tomorrow a change is coming...

Yes, that's right, the website update for Nickkyme.com as mentioned in a previous post is happening tomorrow - 13th May.

It's likely the site will be out of commission for a bit, in order to transpose the blog over and make sure all the widgets and doodahs (yes, you can tell I'm web literate, can't you...) are fully functional.

Rest assured, I'll will return anon and papa will have a brand new bag, so to speak.

The home page is the blog, so you'll have even easier access to my ramblings, plus, as I get the hang of it, there'll be lots of other updates and tasty nuggets for folks to get their teeth into.

Remember: tomorrow, May 13th.

Final post for the old site is coming right up. Just a little something about Thunder from Fenris...

Wowed by Wolverine

There's an old adage: don't believe everything you need. Never has that been more true regarding the overly harsh reviews I've read of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

In a previous post, you may have read I was umming and ahhing over whether or not to shell out the spondulaks and go and see this latest X-Men movie due to the less than luke warm reception it's been getting from movie critics and geeks masquerading as critics.

Well, I did (thanks, Steve - you're wisdom guides me as ever, sir). For what it's worth, I thought it was great. Sure, not Oscar-winning, not critically-acclaimed, not even superior to X2 great, but still a fun and action-filled fight-fest (go me with all the alliteration) that had me thoroughly entertained for two hours. So there were a few plot holes; so what. They weren't that glaring and you hardly noticed with all the cool action going on. There were loads of great cameos - you could literally play 'name the X-Man' at one point, and some nice one-liners from ol' mutton chops.


The opening to the movie, charting Wolverine and Sabertooth's careers (pre-Weapon X) over no less than four major wars was stunning and so well shot - it possessed a real gravitas and atmosphere for me that left its mark just as indelibly as one of Wolvie's adamantium claws. Great stuff - it really was.

Let's remember something here: this is an X-Men movie in name only. It is. When you think about for a moment. It's a Wolverine movie, which is a completely different ball game if you ask me. Levelling critique at something because it wasn't what you expected, frankly is a little lame. Fault of the marketing teams, the trailers, the misleading titling prefix or your own erroneous beliefs - it doesn't matter. This was a movie about Wolverine, plain and simple. It's not about any of the other ancillary characters, so no need to bemoan their lack or otherwise of screen time - it's Logan's film; it's his story. He's an ace character, so get over it.

I thought it built well and the narrative kept me interested between the fights.

I'll concede, there were a couple of moments of ropey CGI, which had me a little baffled (why, when the other X-Men movies managed Wolverine's claws just fine?), but nothing that detracted too much from my enjoyment.

Scott Summers a bit of a push to be around for this movie? Hmm, I'm not so sure. In the movie, Wolverine and Sabertooth got shipped out of Vietnam when? Well, it could have been as late as 1975, when the war ended (or there or thereabouts). Wolverine then joins Weapon X and starts killing and subjugating warlords all over South America, Africa and any other foreign hellhole that would have them. This could've been another couple of years, maybe more. So that leaves us at 1977. So then Wolverine goes AWOL, done with the killing etc, etc, and hangs out in Canada for another six years - 1983, then. Scott Summers could've been as young as fourteen when Sabertooth goes after him, which would make him about 31 when X-Men comes in (the movie). That's no so unreasonable is it? I didn't think it was.


Let's not analyse too closely here - it's a comic book movie, it's supposed to be far-fetched and stretch the boundaries of realism and plausibility (even if that means a dubious 'adamantium bullets won't kill him but will wipe his memory' shtick - I've read worse).

My issue here is that I, as a comic book fan (oh, and hang continuity by the way - at least all the mega-detailed stuff - how are you supposed to pay homage to decades worth of character background in two hours?), I might have not gone to see this movie based on some pretty harsh critiques (two/two and a half stars - no way). I'm glad I listened to reason and went to make up my own mind (thanks for lowering my expectations, though, oh gurus of film and comic lore). It just goes to show you that your critique is all that really matters. And sure, I appreciate that this is all reviews can ever do: offer us a, sometimes, well-considered opinion and then allow us to make up our own minds. Dangerous territory, though, if you don't have the determination to follow your own beliefs.

Look, I won't bang on any further. Go and see for yourself what you think of this film. Personally, two stars (or the slightly less committed half - ugh!) suggests poor quality to me and that's just not a fair assessment of this movie - the criteria is all wrong, folks, it really is.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is no best-movie ever, but it's actually a very cool film about a very cool character with loads of action and some awesome character cameos (Gambit deserves a special mention - potentially show stealer right there...). Go see it!

Super Hero Complex

Colour me conflicted.

I've just been browsing the likes of IGN and Empire.com and seen A) the reviews for X-Men Origins: Wolverine and B) the latest game play video for Batman: Arkham Ayslum.

I'll not preamble, I am bloody gutted that Wolverine seems to have attracted such appalling reviews (I'm talking about the verdicts, not the standard of writing and analysis). Two and a half stars seems to be the norm, comparisons to Electra have been made - holy shit, that it seriously bad news.

I had tentative hopes for this movie. The trailers looked good, a bubble of optimism was slowly building that Wolverine might not be a steaming pile of horse crap. Am I to be swayed by such damning indictments then; should I believe what I read in Empire (the magazine that stunningly, and somewhat notoriously, gave Attack of the Clowns - ahem - Clones, a frigging 5-star review - sheesh!)? I have to pause... take a breath. Remember Kymey, they gave the awesome Iron Man a fairly lame three stars, they might have got it wrong with Wolverine...


Then why is there a niggle at the back of my head telling me otherwise? Why is my crap-o-meter (everyone should have a crap-o-meter by the way; they're invaluable for avoiding costly fanboy optimism for movies/games/TV shows that you really want to be good, but deep down know are shit) veering into the brown quadrant?

I had planned on seeing this movie tomorrow, on heading over to the local multiplex and await silver screen pleasure in super hero form. My enthusiasm abruptly dampened by the lacklustre reception it's received, I'm contemplating awaiting Wolverine on DVD. What to do, what to do?

I said to myself, I said, 'Kyme: this movie might stink, it might - there's always a chance - but if it gets three stars, like Iron Man did, I'm going baby'. So at two and a half (man, do I hate half star reviews - commit damn you, commit!), what decision do I make. Well, I'm not ready to consign Wolverine to the Elektra pile (it has got to be better than that). Even X-Men: Last Stand (although easily the weakest of the three and massively disappointing) wasn't that bad. It was bearable comic book fair, it was. Honest it was.

To top that all off, I've just found out that the video game tie-in is actually good! Am I living in some weird backwards/bizarro world or something? Isn't the movie supposed to be great and the game meant to suck? I blame the credit crunch on this strange state of affairs, I really do. (Still, if the movie is a load of ass, I can always buy the game, right?)

Well, you know what: I can't decide whether to go see it or not. I'll sleep on it and let you know tomorrow. If my review starts with expletives (apologies for the abundance of those in the post, I'm feeling foul-mouthed and vehement about all this) or weeping then you'll know I've had a bad experience. Man, am I hoping that Empire has it wrong (again...).

On the opposite side of the super hero coin (a la Harvey Dent's good heads/bad heads) is the latest video for Batman: Arkham Asylum. Upon stumbling on this, denial and despair was mixed with belated joy - this new combat video where the Dark Knight throws down against Bane looks awesome!


The hype has been steadily increasing over recent weeks for this latest run in for the Dark Knight on consoles, and hopes are high. It's too early to get really excited yet, but it does look like the dog's nether regions. The Bat's fighting moves look pretty cool, varied and authentic if a tad clunky (something that has bothered me about the footage I've seen since day one - begone crap-o-meter, begone: don't show your stinky face here, sir!). And who doesn't want to go toe-to-toe with Bane, huh?

It's well worth heading over to IGN to check this out. First, you're treated to a bit of butt-kicking, Dark Knight style, on some clown-faced perps (doubtless, musclebound hoods of the Joker's), then old Bane comes lumbering into view, bereft of mask and vest but rippling with brawn. He tosses Batman through a wall, even seizes him in a trademark 'Bane will crush your spine' type move before it cuts out and you're left to wonder if the game will be as good as it looks to be.

Fingers crossed then that this will restore my faith in super hero adaptations, be that to video game or to the silver screen.

Writing in different mediums

Today is the start of a short break from work for me, just to recharge my batteries etc. And as I'm now done with both Salamander and Thunder from Fenris, I can have a little breather from intensive writing too. I do plan on working on some synopses and I might start fleshing out a short story (as you should always try to write something everyday if you want to hone your craft, in my opinion), but nothing too draining.

Given all this free time, I figured it was high time I did a little blogging. Apologies for my absence of late and the shorter nature of my more recent posts; sometimes it difficult to fit the little blighters in. I often think to myself 'ooh, I could blog about that', but then I'm knackered at the end of the day due to Shakespeare waking us up in the small hours (he can open the downstairs doors and the door to our bedroom - he'll happily batter his way in and run under the bed, making a lot of noise scratting and chewing generally), or Louise's snoring the night before (sorry, Lou) and I let it slide.

Bad me.

There's a few things on my mind at the moment and one of those has sprung from writing my first audio story.

Regulars to the blog will know Thunder from Fenris is a Space Wolf audio written for the Black Library and my first foray into this medium. Besides paring down your style so that the flow works for a spoken medium, there's also the matter of turning the story into a script for the purposes of the actor.

This means adding in direction and atmosphere for the opening of your scenes; attributing dialogue and narration, so the actor knows which is which and who is speaking before they speak; it also means removing any extraneous material such as any modifiers/descriptors for speech: For instance, there's no point in writing 'he mumbled' or 'he bellowed' for the actor to read; they'll be bellowing, mumbling etc in their delivery, rather you just need to add some direction (if you feel it's necessary; a lot of actors will use their own theatrical instincts to decide how a character my say a line - certainly the context and description in the story beforehand should assist and guide them in this). Anyone who's ever bought a script book or seen one will know what I mean with this adaptive process.

Now, I'll confess, I submitted this as a short story, straight up and down, and my editor reworked it. I actually felt more comfortable working that way; writing the story as straight narrative, rather than moving straight into script format - I was concerned the latter approach my stifle me creatively or provide a mental stumbling block. Not that I haven't done it before - I have. I've scripted audio books and adapted novels into scripts before. It's actually a very interesting process once you've got the words down. I had considered going back to Thunder from Fenris and reworking that too, but in the end I thought I was too close to it to make any qualitative judgements wholly objectively, plus the looming deadline (and with the edits for Salamander to write) sort of precluded it.

Poor excuse, I know, but I'm sticking with it.

Seeing the script in the flesh, so to speak, it was really interesting to see the minor tweaks and amendments that had been made. Visually, of course, it was very different - a short story of some 10,000 words broken down and re-worked as an 80 something page document, spaced out with directional notes, character 'parts' and segregated narration. It's so, so different from writing standard prose and offers additional opportunities for a writer to practice and articulate his or her craft.

For one thing, script writing definitely lends itself to dialogue. Generally speaking, a lot of these types of scripts (action, sf) need plenty of it to keep the story going. It also allows the actor to try on some different voices and some drama to go along with atmosphere generated by music and sound effects. Got to say, I am really looking forward to attending the recording for Thunder from Fenris. We work with a company called Big Finish who are simply superb at this kind of thing with top quality directors, producers, sound designers and a cadre of great actors. I certainly feel that my work is in very good hands indeed.

I recommend anyone try and have a go at adapting their written work to script format, I think you'll be surprised at the level of engagement and analysis required to make it work. It can also highlight issues of style that you might want to work on or just allow you to practice a different style.

Ever thought about modifying your short story to a film script for instance? During my academic years, training for an HND in Media Production that would precede my degree, I did some work adapting chapters from the excellent sf novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (incidentally, I totally love this book - it's one of the reasons I decided I wanted to be a writer - thoroughly recommended and very, very slickly done). This was an enlightening process, for the rigors of such a task are surprising. There's a lot you can do, a lot of tricks and quirks you can pull writing prose, that you can't do in film - and visa-versa of course. It highlighted to me the importance of scene setting, visualising your characters and, ultimately, dialogue. Again, I would totally recommend this process. Even thinking about your prose in a visual way, as it was a movie is no bad practice to get into. Remember though, even the biggest effects-laden blockbuster can fall flat on its arse if the story sucks and the characters are dull - you have been warned...

Something George Mann and I (my uber-boss and fellow author, as it happens) were discussing yesterday leads into the subject of different writing mediums - specifically comic books scripts. Much like a film script is as different again to an audio script (though there's crossover), the same is true of comic book scripts. Again, this is something I've had a crack at it in my time and it was interesting, discussing this subject with George, how comic book script writers can approach the process so differently.

My experience is pretty description heavy discourse detailing panels, flow, dialogue, scene setting - the whole works - but George was telling me how some script writers merely describe the scene very loosely - a conversation between two characters, for instance - and allow the artist to interpret the flow, panels and how it will all work.

One of the most interesting aspects of the comic books script process for me (again, this was me dabbling during my HND - in retrospect, what a bloody awesome course that was), was the whole panelling thing. The decision of how to divide your comic book page in terms of its panels really affects the pace, flow and how it is going to be read. It also might place constraints or free up the artist, according to how dense your pages are. It was one of the things that really fascinated me, like suddenly I was having to think it three dimensions instead of two. Not only must I consider the story, the characters, the dialogue, the locations, the scene; I must also take notice of the pace through panelling, where and when the panels falls and how that effects the story telling.

For instance, if I want a big one-page splash, a reveal or a great piece of action, then if I'm working in comic book medium of a double-facing page, then I need to be sure that splash appears on a left facing page (generally speaking, an even one), for maximum impact. The same is true for huge, double-page spreads - that would have to start on an even and end on an odd numbered page, otherwise the whole thing is screwed up. There's just that little bit of extra awareness needed to set things up and have them pay off as you intend. One of my favourite spreads in a recent graphic novel is from the Ultimates: Grand Theft America and the massive multipage, gatefold battle spread - simply awesome!

It really got me thinking about writing in different mediums and dusted off some old skills that I'd forgotten I had. I recommend anyone give it a go and just see how it makes you think differently about writing and flexes those writerly muscles in a different direction.

Right, off to get some coffee...