Sometimes the secret to turning out a lot of stories, or finding a way to even just finish the first one, is to use a framework. Something you can take apart and study, and practice until you get it right.
Writing BattleTech sourcebook fiction is a finicky business. Much depends on exactly what kind of fiction you’re writing, for which product, and for what intent.
Mike Stackpole invented Galen Cox and wrote him for years, alongside Victor Davion, but I was curious to know what shaped the man who’d one day punch the prince.
What I spend a lot of time thinking about is the world. How might these things all work, if not in a real way then at least in a consistent way. I build a lot of units because of this. Part of that is figuring out how the organization that is a mercenary unit might work. One aspect of that is ranks.
I’d set out to take a favorite faction, move them into a new era, but keep who they were and who they should be. That was my goal. I didn’t know at the time if I could get there.
First, you decide who goes first, then you move, decide if you fall down, then decide who shoots at who, rolls a bunch of dice and see who hits who, and decide who falls down again. Sometimes there’s a fistfight. More falling down. Then maybe someone explodes.
