Internally, the writers divide up this season of Bookburners into four phases. Each phase is four episodes long, and every writer writes one episode per phase. I mention this in part for people who find process interesting and in part to help explain what's going on to anyone who got to episode five and thought, "Hey! Shouldn't it be Max's turn again next?" (Rest assured, he'll be back.)In larger structural terms, this means that "The Market Arcanum" the first episode of phase two and the beginning of our season's second act. Which is a pretty exciting position for me. We've spent four episodes getting Sal at least somewhat comfortable with the situation in Rome, and now I get the first shot at giving her (and our readers) a glimpse at the larger world of people and magic beyond the bounds of the Society and Team Three.
As a writer, there is something really fun about taking two characters who we like a lot, and who the readers (hopefully) sympathize with, and then putting them in a situation where they have to play nice, even though they are surrounded by people who wish they would just shut up and die.Not a nice thing to do in real life, but that's why writing is often more fun than real life.Behind the Scenes:I give various answers when people ask me who my favorite Bookburners character is. They are all more or less true, but in the end, one of the fun parts about telling an ensemble story with a group of very talented writers is that none of us have to pick favorites. We all get to write everyone and I really do love all of our children equally. That being said, from very early on in the process, Brian was the group's de facto authority on Father Menchú. Brian has spent time in Guatemala, of all the writers he is the most conversant with the history and politics of the region. And so, naturally, we all agreed that when we wrote the episode that featured Menchú's backstory, it only made sense that Brian would be the one to write it.To this day, I am not certain how it wound up assigned to me. For the record, I've asked him, and Brian says he doesn't know how it happened either.And so, I did my research, wrote a first draft, then sent it to Brian and asked, "How horribly wrong did I get this?" He gave me his notes and I smoothed out the rough places from there.I'm not sure if authenticity is an applicable adjective in a story about demon infested books, but Brian was invaluable in helping me ground Menchú's experiences in a recognizable reality. Responsibility for any errors that remain is mine.
