Caitlin asked Jay Sherer:

Timeslingers and Death of a Bounty Hunter seem like they couldn't be more different in both style and audience. Was your process really different for them? How did your goals for these works compare? And do you have a favorite?

Jay Sherer There are two aspects that are the same: the chosen format for each was dictated by a specific need. For TIMESLINGERS, the idea was: How do we write a story for smartphones. This is back in 2005-06, before the iPhone had even been released. When you read it, you can see why it’s written the way it is in that context. For DEATH OF A BOUNTY HUNTER, the question was: How would you do something as close to a film as possible when you don’t have $200MM in your back pocket. And that led us to the full-cast audiobook.

Other than that, they’re pretty different. TIMESLINGERS isn’t meant to be deep. It’s meant to be action-packed and fast-paced. DEATH OF A BOUNTY HUNTER was meant to be far deeper. It literally came from thinking through the issue of reconciliation, shame, and guilt. Of course, we threw Gatling gun arms, secret Occult societies, and all that in there because it’s interesting. But, we were thinking more about: How do you tell a deep story about the human condition in an innovative, fun way?

As far as process goes, Nathan and I tend to work the same way on all our projects. We articulate what we want to accomplish, come up with a plan, and keep iterating until we think it’s ready.

flag