White Scars HH novel to be written by Chris Wraight

[Kol Saresk]

Just sharing some good news...well, at least it's good news to some of us :P

Long overdue in my opinion

 

When are the White Scars going to turn up?

Chris:

There is no way that the White Scars aren’t going to get their story told, and it’s something that has been given a lot of thought. Watch this space for more details!

click here for original

 

Shadowhawk: Any plans to tackle the Horus Heresy? And what faction, event, character would you like to explore next?

 

Chris: Nothing that’s ready to talk about, I’m afraid. In terms of future projects in general, I’ve got High Elves, Space Wolves and White Scars all on the horizon.

click here for original

Are you sure you aren't reading too much into it? He's asked whether he's writing any HH books, and says he can't say anything, but then freely admits to writing something on the White Scars in the very next sentence. To me, that could just mean that he's writing a White Scar book, just not a HH one.

Pretty much sums up my opinion. There will be a White Scars HH, but he won't be writing it. He'll be writing 40k White Scars because that is what he picked. He says that he has no plans to tackle the Heresy, but he is tackling White Scars. Just not in the Heresy. Whether it is personal preference or because someone beat him to the punch, the world will never know.

 

It's good to be informed about the process but

preferring to write a 40k White Scars novel instead of 30k one would still be weird IMHO.

I think "frustrating" might be a better word. If BL continues to ignore HH White Scars, I'm sure it will be for sound reasons (White Scars don't sell, no authour has a genuine desire to tackle them etc.). However, I believe at least some of Mr. Wraight's upcoming work featuring the WS will be set in the Horus Heresy.

 

He answers the White Scars question on the Horus Heresy Q&A page. I'm pretty sure he's going to be writing a HH work featuring them. The other authours are all talking about factions they've written about/are going to write about.

I don't think they're being ignored. It might just be like few of the authors are sure what to make of it. Look at The Hunt for Voldorius. Several Raven Guard, Alpha Legion, White Scars and general fans were upset with how the Chapters and Legion were portrayed in that book. Ironically none of the complaints I've heard have ever been about the storyline. But something like that will most likely put most authors on edge when looking at who to pick. I'm sure more than a few people who read Deliverance Lost were expecting the same Raven Guard. I know I was, but that's because I liked the portrayal. Instead I got something better, I saw the birth of that portrayal. It will most likely be similar to the White Scars. The author will be nervous about how the fans receive the portrayal of the White Scars, not the actual storyline. Of course, view of the storyline is going to suffer because people didn't like one little detail.

 

So an author has picked it up. He admitted that when he said that their story will be told. When asked if he was participating in writing any Heresy novels, he said no. Which would mean that he is not the author who picked up the tab for Heresy-era White Scars. And he said that he wasn't participating in writing out the Heresy because he has future projects. He lists three: High Elves, Space Wolves and White Scars. Since he said no to Heresy writing, we can also exclude seeing any 30k Space Wolves. At least from him.

 

To me, this could mean one of two things with the earlier interview of him saying that he may or may not be writing about Horus and may or may not be writing about Khan. Either he is leading everyone one. Or he is and in which case he lied or slipped in this interview. Actually there is also a third possibility: He got beaten to the punch. he may have wanted to write 30k WS. But someone beat him out to it. And a fourth one: the projects he already mentioned having may have prevented him from writing it.

 

Basically we know two definites: Someone is writing a White Scars novel. And he said it isn't him since he said that he is not tackling the Heresy. That might be temporary. When he finishes his current projects, and if the Heresy is still going(most likely since it has another five years to go) he will join up later and maybe then do the White Scars. But he isn't doing it right now because he said so.

[Kol Saresk]

Intentional Double Post.

 

It can also be loosely reffered that since his answer was "Nothing that's ready to talk about." that he is indeed writing a HH novel. Or planning to. It could be White Scars, it might not be. It might be a while before we see them. Food for thought.

[b1soul]

Pretty much sums up my opinion. There will be a White Scars HH, but he won't be writing it. He'll be writing 40k White Scars because that is what he picked. He says that he has no plans to tackle the Heresy, but he is tackling White Scars. Just not in the Heresy. Whether it is personal preference or because someone beat him to the punch, the world will never know.

What do you make of this? A flashback in a 40K novel?

Shadowhawk: What are you looking forward to the most in terms of your own work for 2012?

 

Chris: Getting back to writing about dragons, and writing an encounter between two gentlemen, one of whom may or may not be Horus, the other of whom may or may not be the Khan.

 

I don't think they're being ignored. It might just be like few of the authors are sure what to make of it. Look at The Hunt for Voldorius. Several Raven Guard, Alpha Legion, White Scars and general fans were upset with how the Chapters and Legion were portrayed in that book. Ironically none of the complaints I've heard have ever been about the storyline.

Andy Hoare it just not a skilled writer in my opinion. His Savage Scars is also quite underwhelming.

 

It will most likely be similar to the White Scars. The author will be nervous about how the fans receive the portrayal of the White Scars, not the actual storyline. Of course, view of the storyline is going to suffer because people didn't like one little detail.

Is the gist of what you're saying "the WS are tough to write because they're very unexplored"?

 

he said that he wasn't participating in writing out the Heresy because he has future projects.

He did? All I read was

Shadowhawk: Any plans to tackle the Horus Heresy? And what faction, event, character would you like to explore next?

 

Chris: Nothing that’s ready to talk about, I’m afraid. In terms of future projects in general, I’ve got High Elves, Space Wolves and White Scars all on the horizon.

 

Basically we know two definites: Someone is writing a White Scars novel. And he said it isn't him since he said that he is not tackling the Heresy.

Could you quote this mate? I must've missed it

[Kol Saresk]

Before we get started on this, you missed some of post. Pulls the whole thing out of context.So here is everything in context.

 

I don't think they're being ignored. It might just be like few of the authors are sure what to make of it. Look at The Hunt for Voldorius. Several Raven Guard, Alpha Legion, White Scars and general fans were upset with how the Chapters and Legion were portrayed in that book. Ironically none of the complaints I've heard have ever been about the storyline. But something like that will most likely put most authors on edge when looking at who to pick. I'm sure more than a few people who read Deliverance Lost were expecting the same Raven Guard. I know I was, but that's because I liked the portrayal. Instead I got something better, I saw the birth of that portrayal. It will most likely be similar to the White Scars. The author will be nervous about how the fans receive the portrayal of the White Scars, not the actual storyline. Of course, view of the storyline is going to suffer because people didn't like one little detail.

 

So an author has picked it up. He admitted that when he said that their story will be told. When asked if he was participating in writing any Heresy novels, he said no. Which would mean that he is not the author who picked up the tab for Heresy-era White Scars. And he said that he wasn't participating in writing out the Heresy because he has future projects. He lists three: High Elves, Space Wolves and White Scars. Since he said no to Heresy writing, we can also exclude seeing any 30k Space Wolves. At least from him.

 

To me, this could mean one of two things with the earlier interview of him saying that he may or may not be writing about Horus and may or may not be writing about Khan. Either he is leading everyone one. Or he is and in which case he lied or slipped in this interview. Actually there is also a third possibility: He got beaten to the punch. he may have wanted to write 30k WS. But someone beat him out to it. And a fourth one: the projects he already mentioned having may have prevented him from writing it.

 

Basically we know two definites: Someone is writing a White Scars novel. And he said it isn't him since he said that he is not tackling the Heresy. That might be temporary. When he finishes his current projects, and if the Heresy is still going(most likely since it has another five years to go) he will join up later and maybe then do the White Scars. But he isn't doing it right now because he said so.

You also missed this one.

Intentional Double Post.

 

It can also be loosely inferred that since his answer was "Nothing that's ready to talk about." that he is indeed writing a HH novel. Or planning to. It could be White Scars, it might not be. It might be a while before we see them. Food for thought.

 

What I said was that yes, in an earlier interview, he gave the strong impression that he was writing something for the White Scars in HH. But in his more recent interview, all he said was that the White Scars will have their Heresy story told. So that means someone is writing it. But he then says that he doesn't have plans to write any Heresy novels at the moment. Or at least nothing that can be talked about. Read my second post. It explains the possibilities on this. So yes, I agree that something with the White Scars is coming up. But if he is the only one doing the White Scars, then it will be a while before we see it because it isn't even ready to talk about yet. It might be like the Dark Angels miniseries with one author starting it, another picking up the second and so on so forth.

 

All I'm saying is that he probably(not a certainty, a possibility) will not be the first author to tackle the White Scars, not just because they are unexplored but because general fan opinion of Savage Scars and The Hunt for Voldorius based solely on the portrayal of the White Scars characters rather than actual problems with the story. When something picks up a negative vibe because the fans saw X and expected why and instead GW and BL gave A, it makes it a touchy subject to broach.

 

Like the Chaos Codex. What GW was going for, was a decent idea. What GW gave, was a bad thing. So people look at any possible Codices and simply say "Don't be like the last one." because they expect any Codex made along the same lines will be exactly the same. That is the current problem with the White Scars. They aren't Genghis Khan enough. Or Mongolian or whatever stereotype has been fitted to them.

 

Now, we do know that he is tackling White Scars for 40k. We can say this because he said "No Heresy, but White Scars are in my immediate future." So that is a thumbs up. That is solid-set-in-stone-fact. Now, for Heresy White Scars he does say that someone is writing them. So combining the two statements means that whatever we see from in in the Heresy arena, will be a while in coming. Probably next year at the earliest. So if he is the first author to give the White Scars any attention other than Rob Sanders in The Serpent Beneath, then next year is the earliest we can expect a book and it may or may not include Horus. However, I believe November and December are still open for what books are going to be released. So someone else might get something in there. We might see a short story in Shadows of Treachery about the White Scars. Unless someone already has a list of the short stories and who the main characters are that disproves this. That short story might be what Chris Wraight is talking about.

 

But I ask you this. We know that he said that when he goes into writing about a specific group of Space Marines, he bases his portrayal off of what is already there and simply builds on it. With the Space Wolves, he based them off of Dan Abnett and William King's portrayals. So what are you going to do when he portrays them using Andy Hoare's portrayal as a template? Are you going to dislike it because it is a portrayal that you don't like? Or are you going to actually read the book for what it is and judge it accordingly?

[DIDM]

Are you sure you aren't reading too much into it? He's asked whether he's writing any HH books, and says he can't say anything, but then freely admits to writing something on the White Scars in the very next sentence. To me, that could just mean that he's writing a White Scar book, just not a HH one.

 

So he'll waste his time writing a 40k White Scars book while there is a yawning chasm about White Scars in Horus Heresy? That's a misusage of resource.

 

That's not really how it works. It's not a pool of employees to be allocated work they have to do, to maximise some imaginary efficiency. It's authors choosing what they want to write, and a publisher publishing them. George R. R. Martin choosing to write other things between books in his bestselling series isn't a misuse of resources, it's an author wanting to write other things. No one owns him.

 

 

yea

 

 

a funny thing is a lot of material for stories come from thoughts while writing other things

 

 

it's like cross pollination

 

 

a writers brain is a very finicky creature that enjoys wandering a LOT

 

 

and I also enjoy your writing style sir, thanks for sharing it with me

[b1soul]

then it will be a while before we see it because it isn't even ready to talk about yet.

Not ready to talk about could mean he hasn't even started writing it. It could also mean he has started writing it but isn't ready to reveal any details

 

because general fan opinion of Savage Scars and The Hunt for Voldorius based solely on the portrayal of the White Scars characters rather than actual problems with the story. When something picks up a negative vibe because the fans saw X and expected why and instead GW and BL gave A, it makes it a touchy subject to broach.

If a new White Scars book says Christ Wraight on the cover and not Andy Hoare, I doubt fans would be expecting a bad book

Andy just isn't a good writer. I have nothing against him personally, he seems like a cool fella, but his writing is mediocre at best

 

That is the current problem with the White Scars. They aren't Genghis Khan enough. Or Mongolian or whatever stereotype has been fitted to them.

I don't know if that's the general complaint, but Dan Abnett's portrayal of them in Little Horus, though brief, is very good (and it has that Mongol flavour without being "stereotypical")

 

So what are you going to do when he portrays them using Andy Hoare's portrayal as a template?

Andy Hoare failed at execution. His writing skills are simply not up to par. There's nothing wrong with his concept of White Scars. As long as Chris Wraight doesn't write like Andy Hoare (which he doesn't), the novel will be a lot better

[Kol Saresk]

If that's truly your opinion then I applaud you because that means you judge a book by the book. But most fans do not. Like someone else was saying, they love the Alpha Legion. But their behavior during Vraks, The Hunt and there was another title but I can't remember it, were not AL actions because they didn't live up to the stereotype. The thing is, The Hunt is a bit of a misnomer. It is only the final moments of the hunt, not the entirety of it. And I admit that I was disappointed by that fact. But otherwise I was okay because I took it from that fact and read it that way. A bit more stealth than necessary was used in the hunters' actions for my opinion, but when it's two SM Companies versus unknown number of AL and Traitor Guardsmen, can't blame them. But the majority of fans read this book and went "The White Scars aren't Mongolian enough. The Alpha Legion aren't sneaky enough. The Raven Guard aren't hit-and-runny enough. I don't like the book." That's all I'm saying that the majority of the fans will sit there and judge it that way. Some people who read KNF were expecting McNeill's Ultramarines, not Dan Abnett's "Theoretical/Practical" and because they're expecting Andy Hoare's White Scars because that is what they read, that is what they are expecting.

 

And yes, like you pointed out, he could have started writing it. But even if we assume that the White Scars project that was mentioned right after "No HH projects that are ready to talk about" is a HH project, he still has two other projects that do not yet have release dates set up. So it is going to be a while. November and December are the only two months on the BL website that don't have items already slotted to be released. I take that back. Up to January of next year has slotted items. Now, I might be mistaken and something can be added in those months. But the only item with Chris Wraight's name on it that is right now known to be released in those months is Wrath of Iron. So it will be a while before we see it and it is simply a matter of patience before we see it. But in that time, someone else might pick up a short story or two and write about the White Scars. We might see them in Shadows of Treachery.

[b1soul]

...

Well, hopefully we won't have to wait too long. On some other 40K sites, the vibe I get is people are quite interested in a White Scars novel...as long as it's not writen by Andy Hoare :P