Jo Graham and Melissa Scott talked with us about Stargate Atlantis Legacy series - their love of the show, the Wraith, and the complications of writing across long disntances…

Can you tell us in a nutshell what the Legacy series is, and how it came about?

Melissa: It's mostly Jo's doing. *g* But in essence, I'd say it's a virtual "season six" - carrying on the story of the Atlantis characters from where the series left off. That make sense to you, Jo?

Jo: One of the things that's very exciting about it is that it's a true continuation -- no reset to zero. In other words, things will be different at the end of the series than they were at the beginning. Characters will grow and change, and their jeopardy is real. There's no assurance that everything will be put back neatly where it was. In fact, it won't be put back!

Melissa: Yeah, that's a major point for me, too. It's exciting to have some leeway. To be able to let the characters be changed by the stories.

Jo: The characters will grow and change, their relationships will change, and the scars will be real.

What were the challenges of that, of writing a story that moves the characters beyond what we've seen on screen?

Jo: It has to feel like Stargate Atlantis. It has to grow organically out of the events of the show. Fortunately, there were some wonderful things to hang a plot on. So many interesting questions were raised and not resolved in episodes like Remnants and The Gift, in Submersion and Outcast and The Queen. To name a few of my favorites!

Melissa: Staying true to canon while at the same time moving forward with new ideas, new themes. As Jo says, there are lots of things that were explored a little in canon, and then never resolved. Being able to take those dangling threads and weave them into something that continues what the show was doing - that's the fun part.

The first book, Homecoming, sees the team return to Pegasus - will all the familiar characters be back, and can you tell us a little about what they'll be facing?

Jo: All the familiar characters will be back. And yes, they're returning to the Pegasus Galaxy. But in the months they've been gone, things have changed. A new Wraith queen has emerged and she's gone a long way toward unifying the Wraith under her command. Already she's started destroying human inhabited worlds in the most vicious culling anyone has experienced since the First War. So this is by far the most serious challenge they've ever faced.

Melissa: One of the things that was most fun for me was working in everyone, making sure that we were able to bring in Chuck in the control room, for example, and still keep the story moving forward.

Jo: And we do mean EVERYBODY! It felt like Homecoming had a cast of thousands!

Melissa: Yes!

Jo: Jack O'Neill has a meaty part in Homecoming, and while Sam Carter is a cameo, we'll be seeing a lot more of her in The Lost. We even have Dr. Lee walk through!

The fact that you're fans of the show is really evident in the writing.

Melissa: I hope so! I'm a huge fan myself, and being able to extend story - it's a fan's dream as well as a writer's pleasure.

Jo: I love the show, and I hope that love comes through. I think all of us care about all the characters. There's no character bashing here, and I think everyone gets a fair share of 'screen' time.

Melissa: We're certainly trying to keep it balanced, to make sure everyone gets their share - and, as Jo said earlier, to make it feel like Stargate Atlantis.

So are we in for some cliff hangers, or is each book a discrete story?

Jo: Lots of cliff hangers! It's all one long plot arc, so the things that happen in one book lead into the next, like a multi-part episode. Like, for example, Letters From Pegasus, The Gift, and The Siege Part 1-3.

Melissa: Though each book has a complete plot to it. It's just that sometimes there's a little kick at the end....

The Wraith are very well developed in the books, you go into a lot of detail about their culture and origins. What did you draw on to establish those ideas?

Melissa: So much of it was implied in the show, really. For me, it was a matter of looking at those episodes, taking the information given, and putting it together in ways that made sense. For example, the social structures that are likely to arise from a single queen leading a hive of warrior and scientists - plus, of course, drones - are all hinted at. We just took that and wondered how the warriors - blades - and the scientist/technicians - clevermen - would interact, who would have status.

Jo: One of the things we talked about was the sex imbalance. When you have many many more males than females, how does the society deal with that? It's very Elizabethan in some ways, these gorgeously attired blades circling around their queen. The court intrigue, the competition, and the subtle politics of it all.

Melissa: Yes. Everyone is competing for the queen's favor, and she is absolute ruler.

Reading Homecoming, there's a lot of texture and it's very visual. There are great details about their clothing and its fabric.

Jo: Funny that you mention the clothes! The circuit board embroidery is taken from the real embroidery on the season four team jackets, where it implies something important about each character! Teyla's has sleeves of a different material, John's is a bomber jacket, and Sam's has the same stitching as the headpiece of Ra from the SG-1 credits.

Melissa: Another thing that seems clear in canon is that the Wraith see a slightly different spectrum of light, so that we can assume that the ships the human characters see as dark and gloomy are actually better lit, more brightly colored.

Jo: Shades of black, to the human eye. But actually to a Wraith it all appears in jewel tones.

Melissa: We drew on that to build up a picture of a society that takes care with individual appearance. And I think the Wraith do care about how they look. It all has to be done with grace, with style, not just thuggery. Look at the time they have to spend on their hair!

Jo: All of the Wraith are beautifully dressed, even the commando in The Gift.

There is something sumptuous about the Wraith. They're not just bad guys - it makes them more sympathetic as characters. Was that your intention?

Melissa: I think it says something about the society to start with, that each individual has a great deal of pride at stake in his adventures. That it matters that they look their best, and presumably also act their best, by Wraith standards, when they are dealing with outsiders.

Jo: That's continuing the plot arc that started in Common Ground. Are the Wraith people? It's a really important question. Because if they are, then what? Do our heroes commit genocide? And if they don't, how is this war with the Wraith ever going to be resolved?

Will we see that question resolved?

Melissa: It's a complicated question, but I think a resolution will be achieved. I'm not sure that means the question will ever be fully resolved, or if it can be.

Jo: I'm not sure it can be. Not in a lifetime, certainly. But our guys have to do the best they can -- that's all anyone can do -- to carry the banner proudly in their own time.

Melissa: They have to make some profoundly difficult choices, and certainly the characters themselves aren't sure of the best way to fix this problem. But they will get to a workable place - not perfect but, as Jo says, they're doing the best they can. The series raised some big questions about exploration, alliance, politics, questions that don't have easy answers in the real world. Nobody on Atlantis is going to find this easy.

There are three of you working on this project, how did you all get involved with it?

Melissa: I'd been following the progress of Jo's first SGA novel, STARGATE ATLANTIS Death Game, and getting seriously hooked on the series, to the point of beginning to talk idly with Jo and Amy Griswold about what a 6th season might have looked like. And then Jo had this fabulous idea.... *g*

Jo: Amy is a long-time fan writer in a number of fandoms, including SGA and SG-1.

Melissa: What's been really neat is the way our styles have meshed - really, all of us.

And can you explain how the collaboration process works? What are the mechanics of writing a book together?

Jo: We all have different favorite characters , and so we kind of divided things up by point of view characters so that each person is being written by someone who loves them a lot. And we each usually write the pov scenes for "our" characters. My main four viewpoints are Teyla, John, Sam and Radek, for example.

Melissa: And I tend to do the Wraith, John, Ronon, and Radek. Plus others.

Jo: Amy writes Ronon, Rodney, Radek, Lorne, and Jennifer.

Melissa: And certain parts of the plot are more exciting to one person than to another, too, so we try to make sure each of us gets the sections we're most enthusiastic about.

Do you write your scenes and email them back and forth? You don't all live close together...

Jo: Which makes some of the action sequences very challenging. For example, in the end sequence of The Lost, there's the team, there's the space battle, and there's the Wraith. So we have pov from Rodney, John, Ronon, Teyla, and Sam -- all in one sequence. All of those pieces get put together, like cutting back and forth from camera to camera.

Melissa: Yes! Challenging is a fair word. In one action section in Allegiance, in progress,, Amy and I laid out the specific events that had to happen - 8 in all, I think.

Jo: In terms of mechanics, we post each piece friendslocked on livejournal so we can all see it. That way we each have a working draft at all times with constant real-time feedback. And of course the books have to mesh with each other. Right now we're writing Allegiance and Avengers simultaneously.

Melissa: The only thing that doesn't get posted straightaway are some of the action sequences, where we'll build it up - because there are so many pieces to put together that there are going to be corrections and changes in the sequence - and only post it complete.

It sounds really complicated, but also a really dynamic way of writing.

Jo: It's really dynamic and also fun!

Melissa: Having the immediate feedback really makes a difference, I think. It gives you a sense of progress. And, yeah, lots of fun!

Jo: And we have a small number of early readers to keep us honest, and to tell us if we're not making sense.

Melissa: The hardest part so far has been making sure we remember to set up things that are going to happen two book further in.

Jo: Sometimes it's complex, like when something in Avengers refers to something in Allegiance that hasn't been written yet!

Melissa: Well, Stargate has always done a lot with time travel/warped continuities.... It seemed to fit.

You've both written original novels. What made you want to write something like this - tie-in fiction?

Melissa: It's the show itself that grabbed me. I'm excited to get to write in this universe, and it's an opportunity that one doesn't always get.

Jo: I tell hero stories. I tell stories about good people struggling in a world full of dangers and contradictions. STARGATE ATLANTIS is a modern hero story. It's a privilege to write such beloved characters that are so important to so many people.......

Melissa: And Jo's right, it is a privilege. It's a fascinating universe, and to get to play in it, to get to write these characters - yes, a privilege.

You're both fans of the show, so you know that SGA fans are passionate about it! Are you prepared for the fan response to decisions you make in Legacy?

Jo: I think we're aware that we're not going to please everybody. Fans are passionate about the future they want for these characters, and what we do won't fit everyone's vision. And that's ok. That's what fanfic is for -- an infinite number of possibilities. We've tried to tell a good story that's true to the characters and the universe, and especially to the mood and style of Stargate ATLANTIS. I think most people will like it a lot!

Melissa: Much as I wish I thought everyone everywhere was going to love everything about Legacy, I know there are people who will wish we had done things a differently - no matter what we actually do! But what I hope readers will see is that we respect the show - that what we've done is true to Stargate Atlantis.

Jo: I do think that people are going to get excited about these books! I think that there will definitely be some waiting on tenterhooks for the next installment.

Melissa: I think the stories are good - I think they're Atlantis stories.

There's huge respect for the show in these books, and I know people will be on tenterhooks!

Melissa: Thank you! Those cliffhangers.... *g*

There is still some talk about an Atlantis movie, if that were to happen it would most likely create a different future for the SGA team. How would you feel about that?

Jo: It happens! Many of my favorite Star Trek novels were jossed by later movies, and I love them anyhow. I'm happy to be in distinguished company with A C Crispin, Diane Duane and Jean Lorrah!

Melissa: Yeah, that's the risk you take in doing any tie-in project - and there's always yet another alternate universe!

When the readers close the book on the first in the Legacy series - Homecoming - what do you hope they'll be thinking and feeling?

Jo: OMG we have to wait until February!!!!!

Melissa: *g* Which is that much worse than waiting till next week, but the book will have been longer....

Jo: I hope they'll be thinking that this is what they wanted -- a new beginning, a new adventure, the team doing what they do best, back where they belong.

Melissa: I'd like them to have the kind of satisfaction that they got from the show itself - that the story is continuing, as Jo said, back where they belong.

Find out more about STARGATE ATLANTIS: Homecoming and download the first chapter to read here.