Beginning with a career in software engineering, Andy Weir’s love of science and programming fostered the creation of a webcomic, where the soon-to-be best-selling author first began to publish his stories. 

The author of the beloved sci-fi movie “The Martian” first posted the story on his website, where it quickly became a fan favorite. The story was free and posted chapter by chapter, until he self-published the novel on Amazon for 99 cents to reach a wider audience. 

A month after publication, The Martian cracked the New York Times best-seller list. Four days after securing a deal with Crown Publishing came calls for a movie adaptation. 

With the anticipated release of Weir’s next bestseller, Project Hail Mary, about to hit the big screen, I was able to ask Weir about what the print-to-screen process has been like and what’s to come.

When you first started working on The Martian, what did your writing process look like back then? What was the moment that first made you realize you wanted to write, and what pushed you to take the leap into self-publishing instead of waiting for a traditional deal?

“I always wanted to be a writer. I wrote two entire novels before The Martian (they sucked). I self-published because I didn’t even consider a traditional deal to be a possibility. I had tried and failed earlier in my life to break into writing, so I wrote The Martian as a labor of love and self-pubbed mainly so people could get it on their Kindles more easily.”

Your characters have this mix of wit, problem-solving, humor and awkwardness. Where does that voice come from? Where do you derive inspiration for your funny but grounded characters?

“It’s me, hi. I’m the character it’s me. They’re mostly just based on my own personality. But with my good parts magnified and my flaws removed.”

Were there any scenes in Project Hail Mary or The Martian that you imagined vividly in the book that you thought would be especially tough to bring to life on screen?

“Mostly inner monologue stuff. It’s hard to show that in a film without a voiceover.” 

What has been the most rewarding part of having your stories and characters adapted to film?

“Receiving big piles of money. It’s very rewarding. I highly recommend it.”

As a storyteller, what’s it like to see filmmakers and designers interpret and physically bring to life a world that you originally built?

“I don’t have a very visual imagination. Characters and locations are kind of “blobs” in my mind. So when I see them brought to life in film I just think “Oh, so that’s what it looks like. Okay.” And then that becomes canon in my head.”

Is there a rule you always seem to break—on purpose?

“I break the “show don’t tell” rule more than I should. Drives my editor crazy, but sometimes I just want the information to be in the reader’s mind via one sentence instead of spending a page spoon-feeding it to them.”

Mark Watney in The Martian kept a video log that helped the audience watching the film get an inside look into the character’s inner monologue and thought process. How do you imagine this will be done and incorporated in Project Hail Mary, as a large portion of Ryland Grace’s thinking, problem-solving, and narration was done through his inner monologue in the book?

“I can’t comment on the PHM film. But I can tell you I’ve seen it and fans of the book will not be disappointed.”