Interview: Aidan Mason on "The Judas Bargain"

​We decided to celebrate a few of our favorite stories and their writers from 2024, so we asked our friend Plum to do some interviews! And Plum had some fun with it.

​Today Plum is talking to Aidan Mason about his story "The Judas Bargain" from our holiday book "A Christmas Codex", featuring the legendary Christopher Cwej. Enjoy!

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Hello! I am Plum, I am going to be interviewing you via text. [ominous robot voice] Please State Your Name and Story for the Record. 
Aidan Mason, Cwej: The Judas Bargain

What drew you to this series or project initially? 
Well, the fact that it was a Doctor Who spin-off! I’ve loved the series since I was a kid and the fact that it was a former companion made it all the more tempting. Plus I tried to pitch to Cwej before, but it didn’t work out, so when “Codex” was in development I had to jump on it. The fanboy inside of me was begging!


What makes your story different or special? I know that’s a broad question, but work with me here. 
I think what makes The Judas Bargain so special is that it’s an allegory for fandom and their tendency to try and cut things into “canon”. The Slicers are sort of an allegory for people that are so obsessed with canon they miss out on some great stories. It’s a double edged sword really; it hurts the show because you get people saying, “you can’t do that because [insert story here] from 1965 already did it” OR people say, “well, that [insert story here] doesn’t matter, it’s not ‘canon’ and thus not worth remembering” and in the process degrade the hard work it took to make that book/comic/audio, etc. 

Both can coexist and that’s the point I’m trying to make in The Judas Bargain. There’s plenty of beautiful EU stories and there’s great TV stories that contradict the EU and vice versa. Let them all exist. It’s part of the beauty of this universe, the variations it provides. If anything, I’d say that Doctor Who isn’t just a series anymore; it’s a genre. A choose-your-own adventure story, if you will.

I also like to think I have a different tone in some of my stories than you’d say the traditional Arcbeatle tone is. Not incompatible, but I like to think that I have an edge to mine that helps me stand out just a tiny bit. Maybe that’s me just being a silly college student, but hey, it works for me.

Do you plan things out meticulously or write by the seat of your pants and let the characters guide you? Did your writing process surprise you? 
I tend to plan out the skeleton/backbone of a story, all the major plot beats and character arcs. That way when I’m adding the meat of the story, I have a general structure that keeps me from veering off into a tangled mess. It also gives me a lot of room to work in foreshadowing, that’s something I really like to do.

But it also gives me room to improvise if I feel the need to. I can add tons of character moments, deaths for minor characters if I want to, etc, and keep it within the structure I have so it feels satisfying to the reader.

Is there a writer or a creative artist that inspires you? A series? A part of life? 
Tons. Attack on Titan, Doctor Who and related spin-offs (obviously), RENT and Tick Tick Boom, Lord of the Rings Extended Editions, Phantom of the Opera and Star Wars. Oh and the stupid shit people do at my college (university for you Brits).

Oddity keeps me going. What’s something strange and unusual about your work?
I like bolding impactful words, especially if a character’s placing emphasis on it. I guess it’s kind of symbolic of how I like to do my stories; bold and impactful. When I do something I want it to stick, if that makes sense, I want to make it stand out from the crowd. 

Speaking of oddities, I have an exceedingly random question for you here. What’s your favorite colour? No, seriously. This used to be very important when we were young, I have to know. 
Black or green, depending on my mood. Both have a really good aesthetic. 

Writers are often described as having to kill their darlings. Is there anything you had to cut that you wish you didn’t? Anything that didn’t fit quite the way you wanted to?
For Cwej, nothing much was cut. If anything, I’d say more was added between first draft and final draft than cut. That being said, I would’ve liked to perhaps make more mainstream references to the wider universe, but we don’t have the license so it’s a moot point regardless. 

Do you get writer’s block? 
All the time. It’s why I haven’t released a book in like two years at this point. College plus the drudgery of day jobs kinda sap the creativity out of me sometimes. Plus there’s just days that mentally I’m not up for it. 

What’s your dream job? Is it to write a particular thing or is it to do something else entirely?
Just to keep on writing and actually have it be my full-time job. I guess showrunning Doctor Who would be amazing. There’s also a few novels/scripts on the pipeline. Stay tuned!

Do your characters have secrets? Do we know those secrets? 
For The Judas Bargain specifically, I guess the secret is if Dasju survived or not. Like I said in the story, it’s all about what you think is true…

Have you, or any of your characters, seen the 2007 animated feature film The Bee Movie?
You’d have to ask Andy Lane or Hunter O’Connell about our main trio! (laughs) Dasju probably saw it as part of some Old Earth History Class. Maybe it’s enshrined in a future version of the Criterion Collection. TARDIS Wiki editors, this is absolute confirmation that Dasju watched Bee Movie, take note! (further laughs)

 When did you write your first story? Was it when you were young, or was it last year? What do you consider to be your first story? Are you proud of it? 
Well are we talking about published or written? Written would probably be a couple Star Wars fan fictions I wrote in first grade as part of a writing class. Published it’s Aesthetic from Arcbeatle’s very own 10,000 Dawns! And I’m very proud of it, though I think I’d give it another draft nowadays.

How much do you redraft your work? It’s often said that writing is rewriting. How many iterations did you go through to bring us what we see now? 
It really depends on how much a client or story needs it. I think Judas Bargain went through two rounds of edits if I remember correctly.

A27 / the Warsong and Cwej both have storied and detailed backgrounds. How familiar are you with their prior work? Is there another piece with these characters that you particularly enjoy?
Cwej I was decently familiar with, I’ve read a few VNAs and I have the original print of Down the Middle. I actually reread a few of the stories in the anthology before I started writing. Flickering Flame I think is my favorite in the series (apart from mine). Can’t go wrong with an Iris Wildthyme team-up!

Is your story exactly as you imagined it? Is it different?
It’s pretty close to what I imagined. From the beginning this was intended to be in a shorter, “date” format. I think Hunter or Jim/Jeanne, I can’t remember who, said the limit was a certain number of pages. I tried to fit that originally, but then someone suggested it needed an extra scene or two, so I added that in. 

Can the main character of your story defeat seventeen rabid wolves? The wolves are hungry.
Does Dasju or Cwej have a gun? Cwej probably. Dasju on the other hand would probably be wolf chow if he didn’t have a wandering traveler to save him.

Which character do you have the hardest time understanding? The least?
I don’t think I have much trouble understanding them if I’m being honest. I might not know them as deeply as some others here, but I get the general character archetypes. I guess ironically enough it’s one of my own, Kaiden. Him and the Slicers, what made them do this? Maybe I could explore that in another story, if I ever get the chance. 

Is there a message you’d like to tell the world? 
Read The Judas Bargain! Please, I crave validation 🥺

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Read the Judas Bargain Here!