20 replies to this topic

[The Admiral]

Now's the chance to ask Raymond Benson that question that you've always wanted to ask him! COMMANDERBOND.NET has an exclusive Q&A Interview with Raymond Benson lined up for next week. The only difference in this interview, compared to others, is that you ask the questions.

You can post your question's at this thread for me to ask him. I'll look at all the ones that I have received on Saturday 11th, and select the best ones to ask him.

Alternatively, you can email me your questions to [email protected].

All questions must be received by me before Saturday the 11th of August (next Saturday).

[Boldman]

Another one

The new version of 'The Bedside Companion' - is it updated in any way? New books added, old entries edited?

[Boldman]

How long does your contract last for?
Have you written any other non-bond novels? Any unpublished? I heard you wrote a novel before you started writing for Bond.

[Blue Eyes]

Okay guys, just thought I'd tell you this. Not all questions can be used due to restrictions we have to face. We can't ask all the questions, sadly. And some we have to reject for various reasons.

One reason is that we already know the answer. For instance. Zencat. Your question about Bond 20. I've already spoken to Benson about this.

Basically it's a totally seperate contract to the one that contracts him to do novels such as Never Dream Of Dying for Glidrose. How it works is EON approach him (usually Barbara Broccoli) and ask him to write the novels. They dont' have to approach him, they could approach anyone they wanted. I think they choose him because liek 99% of real Bond fans, thye approve of his work.

So there's ya answer

[bridge]

question: what do you feel is your best and your worst?

glad to see you all here.

[The Admiral]

More questions!! There's loads, but I'm not complaining.

Keep them coming in.

[zencat]

Okay, here's 10 more! (I'll shut up now.)

1. How do you feel about the current direction the Bond films seem to be going, i.e.; storylines that are much more personal?

2. What do you see is the primary difference between your Bond and the cinematic Bond?

3. Do you picture in your mind a particular Bond actor when you write? If so, who?

4. We all have ideas for a Bond book or film

[The Admiral]

Great questions Zencat!

Keep the questions coming in

[zencat]

Dave,

Here

[The Admiral]

I've added them to the rest of the questions I have. It's important that I do get all of your questions before next Saturday, as I need to sort out on Saturday morning the best ones to ask him.

[dent]

OK, here's some questions-
Do you watch the Bond movies?
Do you know any other Bond writers ie John Gardner, Christopher Wood?
How do you research your novels?
Have you had any ideas which the publishers (or you) have scrapped?

[The Admiral]

Thanks Zencat!

[zencat]

GREAT news, Dave. I gotta say, CB.N is really becoming THE Bond website.

[Boldman]

1. After you quit, who do you think would be the best choice to replace you?
2. How do you research your novels?
3. Don't you think you went a bit OTT with your 'love' scenes in NDOD?

[Jim]

1. Have you ever thought of being a bit more adventurous with the narrative structure (see FRWL/YOLT)? The books are a bit "filmy" at present.

2. Would you/ are you permitted to kill a major character (ie Q/M/Moneypenny)?

3. Have you considered making Bond the "villain" ie that he is proven to be doing more damage than he is preventing?

4. A "proper" cliffhanger a la FRWL/OHMSS/YOLT, maybe?

5. Have you considered creating a completely new "regular" character - just strikes me that most of the SIS characters have remained the same (save for the female M). JG had "Q'ute", successful on the whole; is there one in the offing?

6. Bringing back Mathis and Draco in NDOD didn't really work for me, I'm afraid; wouldn't it be wiser to leave the Fleming charcters behind. After all, some of the Fleming books are set in a definite time. There hasn't been enough continuity through all the novels and the films for this to be terribly convincing; also concerned that it's a turn-off for those who aren't Bond fans.

7. On the same point, who are you writing the books for? Bond fans or the wider public?

8. How old is your James Bond?

9. Are there any Gardner characters or incidents you would bring back/ continually harp back to?

10. You're not tempted to put Bond in a (yikes) SAAB, are you?

11. Explain please the discrepancy in NDOD where Bond's claimed ignorance of the film world means he doesn't know who Tylyn is, but later in the book he saves the lives of a number of increasingly obscure film folk because he recognises them?

12. You're not really expecting us to believe that a wartime British admiral had a daughter called Haley, are you? Can't you drop the Americanisms?

More soon

[Blue Eyes]

Keep the questions (especially the non hostile ones ) coming

[Jim]

Sorry, a little bit hostile towards the end there. Carrying on....

1. Which comes first, location or story?

2. John Gardner accepted that he didn't always have an ending planned for his books, and oftentimes it showed (I'm not expecting you to comment). However, on the basis you have a plan, have you found youself changing the plan half way through? If so, which book and what did you change?

3. Ever been tempted to have Bond do something catastrophically unheroic e.g by accident kill the girl?

4. Was the similarity between the boat chase in NDOD and TWINE film intentional? If so, why? I accept that it may be a joke about the Bond films in general.

5. Are your film adaptations intended to fit in with the remainder of the series?

6. How much longer is your contract?

More when I think of them

[James Page]

Firstly I'd like to congratulate Raymond on the excellent trilogy HTTK, DS and NDOD.

Q: Would you like to see a common thread run throughout the next few Bond movies, to bring some continuity back into the series? Connery had the luxury of playing against SPECTRE, a factor that I'm sure made his stint as Bond all the more memorable. Do you think a similar mini-series within the series would be a good idea? (e.g. to smooth the transition to a new Bond if Brosnan retires, similar to when Lazenby stepped in).

Cheers,
J

[Jacques Nexus]

I've got some to ask:

1. You always have an outline of your next adventure put together before you scout locations. How do you figure it all out ?...Do you have any general tips for fan fiction writers on how to construct narratives from A to Z ?.

2. Fleming relied on his wartime experiences when he wrote his novels. What's your source of inspiration from one novel to the next ?.

3. Have you thought about returning any of the Fleming heroines, aswell as any of your own for future adventures ?.

4. Three out of five of your novels feature locations which are British hotspots. Will this policy return again in future ?.

5. The movie title "TSUNAMI RISING": any connection with your next novel ?.

6. In ZER0 MINUS TEN you introduced the concept of SINGLE-0 agents. Will that come back again one day ?.

7. In DOUBLESHOT you began proceedings just moments before the climax. In NEVER DREAM OF DYING you gave Yoshida a cameo. Are there any more innovations such as these in store for readers in future ?.

8. In NDOD you stated, "...the battle and PERHAPS the war is over"...does this mean the Union could still return in future ?.

9. Have you ever thought about doing just for fun, a one-off way-out story ?...a mad scientist scenario ? or the old style 'mega villain inside a hollow volcano' type of thing ?.

[zencat]

Looks like you've got some pretty good questions to pick from. Any more?

[Jim]

Here's another one (sorry if this is beginning to bore everyone)

1. Many moons ago in an edition of 007 magazine (this is how sad I am; many apologies), you wrote a l'il piece the thrust (oo-er) of which was "Let's talk about sex" (baby) and somewhere buried in the tome was the comment to the effect that you couldn't imaging Bond "doing that", presumably a reference to (blush, look away mother) masturbation. Never Dream of Dying, the Bond girl (sorry, forgotten her name) appears to administer executive relief to Jamie (as t'were). What changed your mind?