129 replies to this topic

[Jim]

That's what I was kind of thinking about when I made my comments. He is on the other side of it now; Benson has moved on, and that's cool. We all have to move on with our craft at some point.

As for me, no, writing my fan fiction did not kill my love of Bond, if anything is made it stronger because I could appreciate what Fleming, Amis, Gardner and Benson had to do. It also gives me an outlet for making Bond who I want him to be.

As for Benson, when he wrote The Bedside Companion he covered all aspects of the pheonmenon, pretty much, and he said all that could be said at that point. When you have done that, and then wrote some Bond novels yourself, where do you go from there?

Like the man said, you look back on it with fondness, and you go on to the other side.

Er... um....

OK.

So it's not just "chucking some words at it and hoping they'll stick"? Works for me.

Craft?

[zencat]

Working on Part III and I could use question from a fan on DOUBLESHOT.

Any takers?

[Qwerty]

Working on Part III and I could use question from a fan on DOUBLESHOT.

Any takers?

If no one else minds, I have a question/comment:

DoubleShot is one of the most interesting Bond novels in my opinion. The one thing though that, I suppose in my opinion, is that the plot and Bond are talked about more often than the rest of the characters, which I thought were quite excellent. I'm wondering what Mr. Benson has to say was his thought process on creating Domingo Espada and Hedy & Heidi Taunt. Were they based on anyone or any past charcter specifically? And how did he want them to come off in the finished novel.

Thanks.

[Genrewriter]

I'd also like to know at what point it was decided to make the Union trilogy an actual trilogy.

[zencat]

Working on Part III and I could use question from a fan on DOUBLESHOT.

Any takers?

If no one else minds, I have a question/comment:

DoubleShot is one of the most interesting Bond novels in my opinion. The one thing though that, I suppose in my opinion, is that the plot and Bond are talked about more often than the rest of the characters, which I thought were quite excellent. I'm wondering what Mr. Benson has to say was his thought process on creating Domingo Espada and Hedy & Heidi Taunt. Were they based on anyone or any past charcter specifically? And how did he want them to come off in the finished novel.

Thanks.

Thanks Qwerty. I already asked a Hedy and Heidi question, so I made yours specific to Espada.

And I'm pretty sure RB answered your question, Generwriter, in Part II. I believe he said he came up with the idea of doing a trilogy after he had completed the outline for HTTK. I was curious to know how the trilogy worked contract-wise, seeing as HTTK was book #3. Unfortunately, an author can't talk about what's specifically in contracts.

[Qwerty]

Sounds fine Zencat, I've always felt the villains and girls are least talked about in Doubleshot.

Thanks.

[Simon Bermuda]

Very interesting stuff, with several illuminating (and sometimes depressing) insights into the modern publishing world.

Quoting Benson: "Hey, I

[Bond_Bishop]

Very intresting interview

[zencat]

PART III is up now.

[Mister Asterix]

[zencat]

[quote name='Mister Asterix' date='8 April 2004 - 07:36']

[DLibrasnow]

LOL....I wonder if they will ever release a compendium of the benson short stories?

[Genrewriter]

Great stuff as always, very insightful.

[DLibrasnow]

Bring it on Zencat!

[Qwerty]

Um, yeah! That short story should reach the light of day, I want to read it!!

Once again, as always, an interesting an informative interview Zencat!

So many interesting points, the bullfighters, the Moonraker-esque ending, the location scouting for all the novels, really interesting!

Looking forward to the next part!

[zencat]

Thanks guys.

[Icephoenix]

Cool. Very Cool. I'm with Evan, I want to see that short story, I don't care how bad Raymond thinks it is! (Everyone says that about work they do )

[Qwerty]

Exactly Icephoenix, and it would add more to making a compilation of his short stories even better!

[Blofeld's Cat]

RAYMOND BENSON'S BOND MEMOIRS

RAYMOND BENSON'S BOND MEMOIRS

RAYMOND BENSON'S BOND MEMOIRS

RAYMOND BENSON'S BOND MEMOIRS

Talk it up guys. This needs to be published!

[Qwerty]

Talk it up guys. This needs to be published!

Oh yes, the information so far that we have gotten on his involvement with the literary Bond franchise, I'd love to see it all together, with even more great information from these interviews for example!

[brendan007]

These articles have been really great stuff, well done to zencat. Cant wait for part IV

[zencat]

I think members are really going to dig Part IV because it's all about the movies. It will be the last part.

[Qwerty]

The novelizations, I feel are sorely underrated. I get a blast out of reading The World is not Enough and Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day is great too, but I loved these first two!

Can't wait for it!

[zencat]

I know the least about the novelizations so I'm looking forward to this part as well.

FYI: At the suggestion of someone over at MKKBB, I've added a general "spoiler warning" to all parts of this interview. I should have done this from the beginning. Sorry.

[Triton]

zencat, I have the following questions about the novelization process, if it isn't too late to ask:

At what point in the script writing process did Eon Productions provide Mr. Benson with a copy of the James Bond screen play?

Did the novelization process begin after a final shooting draft of the screenplay was created and approved? or, due to time constraints, does the novelization process have to start earlier with a first or second draft of the screenplay?

Is there much communication with the filmmakers informing Mr. Benson about script rewrites and other changes made during filming?

Did Mr. Benson need to make research trips to the sets and the locations in order to create the novelization?

How much assistance did Mr. Benson require of the script writers and the filmmakers in order to write the novelization?

Did Mr. Benson see a rough cut of the film to help him with the novelization process? Was he sent production dailies?

Does the novelization need to be approved by the filmmakers and the studio? Who approves the novelization?

I presume that you have already thought of most of these question zencat. But I thought that I should ask them if there is sufficient time to have them answered in Part IV. Feel free to rewrite and rephrase these questions.

[zencat]

Thanks, Triton. I have asked some version of most of these, but there are a few here that I hadn't thought of and I will use. Thanks, man.

[Loomis]

Looking back (as always, with 20/20 hindsight vision), I think us fans were pretty "lucky" to have Benson as novelisation writer as well as continuation novelist. I was pretty down on Benson's novelisations in the past, but he really did do a very good job, particularly (IMO) with TOMORROW NEVER DIES. Imagine if they'd given the novelisations to some couldn't-care-less hack with no enthusiasm for Bond whatsoever. Could have been much, much worse.

[Triton]

I don't have an opinion of the novelizations because I have never read them. I do wonder though if Mr. Benson had any difficulty fiting the events of the films into the James Bond literary continuity.

Particularly, I am interested to know if the Q in the novelization of Die Another Day is Major Geoffrey Boothroyd in the literary continuity or if he is another character.

I would be curious to know if Mr. Benson had any challenges in reconciling the film continuity with the literary continuity while writing the novelizations.

For example, the films still use MI6 while the novels call the organization the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), formerly MI6, and the undercover James Bond in the films still works for the fictional Universal Exports which if I remember correctly in the later novels became Transworld Consortium and then Microglobe One.

[mccartney007]

Particularly, I am interested to know if the Q in the novelization of Die Another Day is Major Geoffrey Boothroyd in the literary continuity or if he is another character.

Excellent question!

[Triton]

Although I presume that Mr. Benson would answer with "No comment", I wonder what his opinion is of the new series of novels featuring the adventures of a thirteen-year-old James Bond. Probably best not to ask him this question, but I am still curious about his opinion.