Just a random assortment of things today --
1) Heading to Denmark in mid-March for a one-day story meeting -- going to lock down 2008 and decide whether 2009 will be a stand-alone story or part of a 2009-2011 trilogy, among other things. I am headed out a day early to meet with the BIONICLE web producer.
2) Working on BIONICLE Legends #8: Downfall. For the sake of variety, I am writing the book backwards -- epilogue is done, working on the last chapter now.
3) Much has been made on BZP of the proliferation of topics complaining about BIONICLE and its direction. Actually, what there is a proliferation of is people saying there is a proliferation -- as many veteran BZPers can tell you, this happens every year and has since 2003 or so, and it is not confined to BZP or BIONICLE fandom. Most fan bases react to anything new with initial suspicion/dislike, until they get used to it and find the positives. I got asked by the BIONICLE brand manager if she needed to be concerned about some of the topics here, and I told her no, not at this point -- sometimes, BZP angst does go hand in hand with lower sales for a line of sets, but most times it does not.
4) Making my first school appearances this spring -- a BZPer wrote me a letter as part of a school project, and it turned out his school is nearby to where I live and work. So I told him if the school was interested, I would come in and speak. I heard from them a month or so later, very nice people, and we arranged two engagements in April. Normally, I do book signings at stores or things like Comic-Con, but have not done a school before. Might be interesting.
Back to work -- if I do my job right, Bionicle Legends #8 should be the most emotionally wrenching BIONICLE book I have ever done. I am purposely writing a vague description for Scholastic to use so they don't give away the major plot points on their site months ahead of time.
Greg
News And Notes
Posted by GregF on
By the way, what you said about the angst on BZP is completely true, too many people make up their minds too quickly.
SZ
Greg
Anyway, hope it all goes well at the meeting, and the book turns out well. Here's a question: do you listen to music when writing? And what kind? (and do you work at home or in your Enfield office?)
nice updates. Hope you can blog more....
-CF
Haha, just kidding. I'm sure your plot isn't anything like mine.
Yeah, unlike almost everyone here, I look for the positives in the new year story.
Heartwrenching bionicle book? sounds cool. cant wait.
BK
Sincerely, Inika101
My own vote would be for 2009 to be a one-year story -- the advantage of a trilogy is that it would mean LEGO was committing to BIONICLE at least through 2011, which would be the 10 year anniversary. So if we do a trilogy, it needs to end on a really big note for that anniversary year.
Greg
I think this story arc is summing up to be a really good thing, and I look forward to the rest of the books for this story arc. Keep up the good work Greg, because its a really great thing that just keeps getting better!
A stand alone story in 09 would be cool, but a story arc would be cool too. So it's really just a choice.
I myself am working on a 2 1/2 hour movie based on my own creations, and have been told by many kids on bzp that my models should be sets.
For example, BZP has close to 35,000 members, many of whom were into BIONICLE as far back as 2001. Well, we sold 7 million Toa canisters in 2001 -- so even if you assume everyone who bought one bought six, that still means well over a million BIONICLE purchasers even back then. That's a pretty big number. Over 1.4 million people get the comic book every other month. So you can see how 35,000 pretty much has to represent a small fraction of the fan base.
Greg
(and thanx for the comment. Freelance? I though Lego was paying you to produce the novels)
-CF
Essentially, the way the deal works is that Scholastic has licensed BIONICLE and EXO-FORCE from LEGO for books -- and for every book sold, they give LEGO a royalty. So it's a good deal for TLC, because other than the salaries of the people who have to approve the books in Denmark, they don't have to invest a lot of money and they get regular revenue in if the books sell well.
It's the same sort of deal that TLC has with Lucasfilm for Star Wars. Lucas doesn't pay our designers to do the sets -- we pay them a royalty on whatever sets we sell.
Greg
-Omi
(P.S., i love your blog!)
im just wondering greg once this story ark is over are we going to focus on the nuva again because i do miss them. I think a one year story would be better for 2009, then have two year story arc trying to awaken mata nui it would be a wonderfull way to finish bionicle on it 10th anniversary with mata nui finally awake (if it finshed after its anniversary)
~GM~
Greg