Warren Ellis: Q&A Experiment discussion

what resources do you use in researching guns/firearms? how concerned are you with accuracy (factual, not tactical)? apparently neal stephenson had an assistant entirely dedicated to researching/fact-checking gun stuff for 'reamde.'

tangentially related: when is that documentary about you coming out on dvd, by those dudes who did the grant morrison one?

I'm intrigued by what I've read about GUN MACHINE. What got the idea for this novel going?

Now that book publishers get what you see, do you tailor your words to the non-visual space -- the lack of a wordless panel that says paragraphs?

Has that tailoring affected your comics writing?

Does this novel mark a more permanent foothold in prose writing? Do you prefer this media now more than, say, comics or journalism? I know there are more books in the chamber and magazine. Are they your new bread?

What materials did you use researching the NYPD?

I was curious towards the initial conversations you had with Mulholland Books before you started writing Gun Machine. How much of the story \ idea did you already have and how much was fleshed out during those discussions. Did you choose to write GM first because you had a better idea of it than the second one \ because it is more in tone with Crooked Little Vein?

Why aren't you writing science fiction novels?
... or are you?

With some of your work being very good detective stuff, are you looking to create a series starring a particular detective (a la Fell or the like) or are you more interested in writing single book stories?

Thanks for all the work you do.

You've been very open about your writing process, especially how you gather information, take notes, structure a story, etc. You might have answered this with the first book, but when you're plotting the arc does it come to you in discrete episodes that can be told in chunks, or does it flow more organically?

Are there any plans of doing a limited edition of GUN MACHINE like the Subterranean Press edition of Crooked Little Vein?

I'm curious about the television version of Gun Machine. Is it a limited series adaptation? Or an ongoing based on the detective character? Or something else?

Warren wrote: "Bobby wrote: "What materials did you use researching the NYPD?"

I didn't have a great many requirements for that. Which sounds odd, I know, but you'll hopefully see why. Beyond making sure I had..."

Thank you for taking the time out to answer our questions. I appreciate it.

You set most of your writing in the US, yet remain firmly on UK soil whilst doing so. Is this simply a matter of writing for the wider audience, or would you happily do a UK based book/series?

In a lot of your work that I've read, you examine culture and subcultures often-- do you think that aspect is present in GUN MACHINE?

What draws you to the detective story? Fell and Crooked Little Vein are both pretty dark and disturbing is it that it makes getting to those places more engaging or easier?
Do you have any plans to do something more historically based like Crecy?

When an idea for a story hits, is it "Crecycomic!" or "Gunmachinenovel", or does the concept creep in first, then the delivery tool makes itself know as the story develops? thanks.

I suppose it's more a publisher thing but,
What would you thing about adding (not necessarily for free) a kindle copy to the book if it's buy through Amazon?
[With the territorial restrictions it will be useless for me, but I think it could be a nice idea.]

With Crooked Little Vein, I found it interesting that I had been prepped for much of the subject matter by reading your blog. By posting your research links and half-formed thoughts on topics, you let us in on the creative process. Is it a two way street? Do you get something back by sharing your research with the world, or is it just a handy place to keep your notes?

How would you describe the tone of Gun Machine relative to that of Crooked Little Vein?

Hi Warren. Any thoughts on my question last week regarding how and when an idea finds it's medium? Thanks.

Any chance you and Ben bang out a couple new pages of Fell while he works on the Gun Machine trailer?

In your recent LA Times-interview you mention, I think it's the last line .. "I really just got mentally ill when I was writing him.I couldn't do anything else that day if I was writing a scene with the hunter. Once you start seeing in that way enough to be able to write it down, you're essentially useless for anything else, like operating machinery or light switches."

Just curious - how DO you switch out of the huntermode? Do you find it easy to tap back into it?

I'm curious about the magic stuff in the novel. The gun wampum, the huntervision, Mrs. Westover and her vapours are all oddly persuasive. To me, the book is pretty ambiguous about whether any of it was, for lack of a better word, real. It makes an explicit case that the hunter and Emily were simply nuts, but their madness permeates the book so strongly that this presence makes an implicit case that there is something to it, whatever the it that is going on in their heads. And the whole light propagation power map thing is reminiscent of ley lines and magical beliefs in their power.

So, the question - did you write it as nutty beliefs by a couple of characters who just really needed to see a doctor, or did you write it as seeing some kind of actually existing metaphysical... power... thing, that their heads didn't process in a constructive way?

Also, second question. Various characters either grapple with their own possible madness or accuse other people of being insane. What's that all about? If Tallow is insane, exactly what's insane about him? Aside from a mostly-manageable hoarding disorder :D