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Jeff Mariotte, staking his claim with Angel.
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I found that Jeff Mariotte isn't one to just wait for miraculous things to happen. An accomplished writer and businessman, he's made his mark in Comics, Buffy the Vampire Slayer novelizations, as a contributing writer in the Watcher's Guide series of companion books and now in his own Angel Novels. Jeff found he always wanted to write -- after he got over a few things. He explains, "Once I got past the stuff of wanting to be a private detective. At one point, I wanted to be a St. Bernard dog but I couldn't quiet figure out how that would work. But, from junior high or high school on I always wanted to write." Jeff definitely has a sense of humor. Achieving his goals was a bit difficult, since he had a few delays, but not of the demon kind, luckily. Jeff's first job in the publishing business was rather low-key to say the least. He sold comic books, which helped fuel his love and passion for comics. "One thing I did in college was work in a comic book shop for a while. It was my first job, selling comics at night and after school and now I'm a big a big fan of comics." He got to know his books, which helped later when he began writing for the industry. "One of the comics I collected then was called Kull, the Conqueror. It was drawn by a guy named John Silver, who coincidentally, I'm now working with on the newest Death Rider series that I'm writing. So, it's really cool." Jeff is also the creator of Desperadoes and Countdown, two formidable comics.
Writing ended up being a life long objective. "I always have worked toward that goal. When I got out of college I worked for a shopping center for a while doing maintenance," he explains, "and in my spare time, in my little maintenance office, I would write. I still have a book that I wrote then that didn't sell. After that, I went to work in a bookstore. I think it's 21 years now that I've been a bookseller." While books are his love, the bookstore chapter was part of a fiendish plan to becoming a writer but most importantly to getting published! "I have been selling books for years and years, decades and that was because I loved to read and I love to write but also because I was thinking, 'If I get to know a lot of writers then I'll also get to know editors and publishers and maybe I can get writing work that way.' So all along I have been writing as well as selling books." Jeff sold a short, science fiction story in the late eighties to an anthology called Full Spectrum. "For a long time that was my only Fiction sale, then I started doing comics. I've been writing comics for the last six or seven years. Since then I've been pretty busy with the novels and occasional comic work, but I really prefer novels."
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Jeff's goal had always been to be a novelist. In the publishing business, it's tough to get a hit unless you're Harry Potter or if Oprah reads it. He worked for a bookstore chain in La Jolla, California that enabled him to be neck deep in literary communities, specifically in mystery, science fiction and horror--right up his alley. Jeff began his own bookstore specializing in said genres, believing that the demand would exist. Most of us book lovers understand that instinct. Mysterious Galaxy focuses on fantasy and horror genre. He believed that here was a large enough market for it and he's been right up to now. Experience in the business of books got him in touch with the likes of Buffy author Nancy Holder. Currently, his wife, Mary Elizabeth runs the busy store while Jeff writes. "It's really growing and keeping us busy. I'm not there very much but Mary Elizabeth is there a lot. In fact, she's there right now-there's a signing going on." Jeff's original belief paid off. He became acquainted with our golden boy, "I wrote a book with Christopher Golden called Gen Thirteen: Netherwar. It was a novel about some of the comic book characters that Wildstorm produces." The novel, Generation Thirteen: Netherwar that was released many moons ago in June of 1999, is a novelization of teenage super powered superheroes that must stop a Hellgate from opening in Las Vegas. He continues, "We got together and then, I think a year later, the Buffy editor at Pocket Books, Lisa Clancy was looking for someone to do the Xander novelization and Chris recommended me."
Eureka! He wrote The Xander Years, a novelization of episodes The Pack, Go Fish and The Zeppo. This novel was released last April. A novelization is based on episodes, which are more restricting than writing an original novel because the dialogue and plot are already set. Jeff describes his experience with writing his first Buffy book., "Adapting those was a lot of fun and I got to put in my own kind of back story stuff in between stuff to connect it all." He adds, "I did good enough on that that they were willing to take a chance on some original Angel stuff. So that's mostly what I've been doing since." In contrast to a novelization, an original work, which Hollywood Noir falls under, is exactly that, an original novel, not based on an episode. The novel depends entirely on the writer. The road from idea to actual book takes less than a year, barring any unforeseen delays. How does a writer get inspired? "It's coming up with the original idea; however one comes up with an idea. That's pretty much the conscious or subconscious part of it, where you see something or you think something and you go, 'Oh, that's an idea for a story.'" On a more down to earth level he explains, "I just take a walk by the beach and hope for the best -- that usually seems to work for me. A lot of long walks by the beach and I work out my plot problems."
Let the Watchers Beware!
Jeff was one of the few lucky writers to work on The Watcher's Guide II. As many of you may know, this compendium of the Buffyverse is one of the most complete and detailed works for the series. WG II was a catalog of every episode plot, character profile and little known facts about seasons three and four of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The writers, Nancy Holder, Maryelizabeth Hart and Jeff, who compiled all of their research had an-all-you-can-see pass behind the camera. "That was really fun. We were on the set watching them shoot. We were in the makeup trailer with James Marsters [Spike] when Todd [McIntosh], was putting a bullet wound on him -- in one episode when he got shot he had a wound on his shoulder," Jeff explains. "We stood around and chatted with him the whole time he was getting this put on. We got to watch filming going on, got to go out to the location where the Initiative was and then some exterior fight scenes at night in the woods. That was back when Sophie [Crawford] was Sarah's [Michelle Gellar] stunt double and we got to chat with her and Jeff Pruitt (Stunt Co-ordinator) about the stunts they were doing and the equipment they used to make them flip around in the air. It was just an incredible experience."
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This wasn't the only thing that Jeff came away with from working on WG II. "What really impressed me about being on the set and meeting all these people, is that it really is one of the best crews in the TV business today. The people that they've got doing these things are among the very best at their craft. Like the make-up people," he offers as an example, "they don't just get the first make-up guy that comes along. They get Todd MacIntosh, which is about the best there is and he trains his crew people. So they've collected a bunch of people who are just really, really good at their job and they all love the show and they all treat each other like a big family. This place is really ruled by love and an interest in doing a really good job." As fans we know that this is clear and shows through from watching each episode, not to mention, how Joss and crew are always willing to listen to the fans. I showered praise on the Watcher's Guide and Jeff was happy, responding positively. "Good, I'm glad. We were concerned that if there was too much [information] that people were going to be overwhelmed by the amount of stuff and some of the interviews went really long. Not everything is in there," he admits with regret. The labor involved in the creation of such an encompassing work is immense as he reveals, "We probably did a hundred hours of taped interviews with everyone that we could get our hands on, from the truck drivers to the costume people and we had total access to this stuff. It was really great."
Jeff is concerned with satisfying the fans and he should be because fans of Angel and Buffy are the most dedicated. He re-tells what happened recently, "I was out at a bookstore on this last Tuesday evening picking up some magazines and I saw a girl and a young guy out on a date and she saw a Buffy magazine and she says, (Jeff imitates girly voice), 'Oh, my God! It's Tuesday night we have to go home! Buffy's gonna be on!' I didn't realize it was a re-run episode Tuesday or I would have told her, 'Relax. You've probably seen it three times.' We both laugh, knowing we've all seen it somewhere. At this year's Buffy Posting Board Party, Jeff was not among the mix because he had to attend a mystery convention in Alaska of which he was part of a panel, "It was just unfortunate that it happened the same time as Alaska happened." Jeff was truly bummed.
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