Aaron
Allston Chat
Transcript from 8/31/99
Organized by Echo Station Outposts Ithor and Tyra
Moderated by Cory Mickelson of Outer-Rim.Net
Hosted by Echo Station at www.echostation.com
<UberJedi> hello Mr. Allston
<Tyra> hello
<Allston> Howdy, Uber, Tyra, all.
<mowmaw> is this being saved as a transcript ?
<Allston> I'm ready. Fire away.
<Tyra> Welcome everyone to Aaron Allston's chat
<UberJedi> <Eskimo> Hey Aaron remember me? If you were to write a seperate story based on one of your characters to give them a backstory who would it be?
<Allston> Eskimo: I sure do. One of my SW characters? Hard to say. There's a lot about Elassar Targon I didn't get to go into in SOLO COMMAND. He'd be a fun one, I think. (GA)
<Tyra> How long have you been a Star Wars Fan?
<Allston> Tyra: Well, I was 16 when I read the SW novelization -- saw the movie soon afterwards. The book didn't do much for me, but the movie blew me away visually. Since then -- May of 1977. (GA)
<mowmaw> do you like to play the x-wing games ?
<Allston> mowmaw: Not really. I'm not all that fond of flight sims, even SF flight sims; they're all right, but I tire of them quickly. Give me a story instead. <g> (GA)
<Tyra> Have you read the other Star wars Books?
<Tyra> or should I say all of the Star wars books?
<Allston> Tyra: A bunch of them, yes, but not all of them. I've probably read about a third or fourth of all the SW fiction published -- chiefly the novels that pertained to characters or timeline points I was dealing with. (GA)
<mowmaw> Have you been asked to write more SW books ?
<mowmaw> and would you like to ?
<Allston> mowmaw: No, I haven't. I suspect that it's because Del Rey had already done a lot of the assigning of NJO novels before my X-Wing novels became well-known. (more)
<Allston> And, sure, I'd be happy to write more. But I'm also happy to have a break from SW fiction for a while; I'm writing an urban fantasy (SIDHE-DEVIL) and a military-SF novel in my own universe (MONGOOSE AMONG COBRAS) in the meantime. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Mike> Do you have ideas about writing novels based loosely between the Prequel films?
<Allston> Mike: Sure. I sort of created a back-door for myself to that time period with the mention in SOLO COMMAND of Shalla Nelprin's father. He'd be a convenient hook into the time period. But that's only one period of many I'd like to play with. (GA)
<mowmaw> whats your favorite Sci-fi / fantasy novel/story ?
<Allston> mowmaw: Tough call. When I was a teenager, it was probably the Pern series. Since then, I've grown away from Pern and don't really have a favorite these days. (GA)
<Tyra> Who is your favorite SW character?
<Allston> Tyra: In the films, probably Han Solo, though one reason I like him so is the amount of exploring left to do in his character. Actually, my favorite "character" is the setting rather than any individual person. (GA)
<UberJedi> <corran> where do you get all of your technical info?
<Allston> corran: Lots of places. I scoured the Essential Guides, the Encyclopedia, Slaviczek's guide, a lot of the West End Games material, the Incredible Cross-Sections book, the old blueprints (released in the mid-1980s), etc., while writing the Wraith novels. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Urza> Were you concerned that people wouldn't get the joke at the end of Chapter 1 in Starighters of Adumar reguarding Hobbie's last name?
<Allston> Urza: No, not really. Any inside joke I put into a novel has to stand on its own for readers who don't have the inside information. Someone who isn't aware of the Klivan/Klivian situation will read that and think that it's just a detail about his life -- it won't be a "Oh, they're making a joke that I don't get" sort of situation. (GA)
<Tyra> Did you like E1?
<Allston> Tyra: I liked portions of it, but I was also left with the realization that I wasn't really the target audience. (GA)
<mowmaw> What dd it feel like to go to skywalker ranch ?
<Allston> mowmaw: Heh. You'll have to ask that of someone who's been there. Mike Stackpole and some of the other NJO writers apparently went there to discuss the NJO launch, but I haven't been there. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Eskimo> Who (besides yourself of course) is your favorite Star Wars author?
<Allston> Eskimo: It would have to be Zahn and Stackpole, but I'm not going to say in which order (I present them in this order because it reflects their respective release dates). I've enjoyed bits from other writers as well. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Garnet> Having spent time pulling out my hair while trying to plot out a recon mission in my own fanfic, I've gained a lot of appreciation for how hard some of those Wraith mission scenes must have been to plot out. How much of that goes into outline form before it gets onto the manuscript page?
<Allston> (Is this afw's Garnet? Hi!) The missions weren't plotted out in detail in the original outline, but when it came time to write them, I did tend to work up rough maps, resource lists, etc. for the respective sides. (more)
<Allston> I do generally feel the need to plot things out in some detail in order to keep from tripping myself up. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Urza> Aaron: Can you tell us yet if Wedge and Iella are going to tie the knot? =)
<Allston> Urza: It's my understanding that will do at some point, but I don't think I'll be the one to write about it -- if anyone does, it should be Mike. (GA)
<mowmaw> are there any chances of a Wraith Squadron comic series ?
<Allston> mowmaw: There hasn't been any discussion of it so far. To be honest, I've been too busy even to approach Dark Horse about such a project. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Eskimo> In the game X-Wing Allinace people have made missions based around your novels. How does that feel to know that someone would do all that work based on your novels?
<Allston> Eskimo: Well, it's certainly very flattering. I hope they're enjoying themselves with those missions. It's actually going to be harder for the designers to get the missions balanced than it was for me -- I had to worry less about play balance. (GA)
<mowmaw> which x-wing novel that you have writen is your favorite ?
<Allston> mowmaw: Hard to say. STARFIGHTERS OF ADUMAR works better as a standalone; SOLO COMMAND gets more into several sets of difficult emotions. If forced to choose between them, probably ADUMAR. (GA)
<mowmaw> was star wars just another project to you are was it something else ?
<Allston> mowmaw: It was more than just another project. I never would have accepted it had it been just a money proposition. There aren't that many licensed universes I feel any affinity for; Star Wars is one of the few. (more)
<Allston> (Buffy, Indiana Jones, and maybe a couple more are also on the list.) But I do somewhat prefer doing my own original fiction to writing in the Star Wars universe. I'm just happy that I've gotten to do both -- that's a double victory. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Eskimo> What was your reaction the very first time you were contacted to write a SW novel?
<Allston> Eskimo: Well, I got the word during a phone call from my agent. When talking to my agent, I always force myself to remain calm and sober. It was after I hung up that I could dance around and make all sorts of "Yee-haw!" noises. <g> (GA)
<mowmaw> what do you think has made star wars so popular over the past 22 years ?
<Allston> mowmaw: I think it's sort of a "something for everyone" thing -- a literary buffet. Some people really identify with specific characters. Some have an attachment to, even if they don't recognize it intellectually, the cultural assumptions on which Lucas built his script. (more)
<Allston> Some people were blown away by the fact that extremely sophisticated SF vistas could now be filmed realistically. Some people just found the universe a compelling one. I tend to fall into the last two categories. (GA)
<Tyra> Any suggestions for upstart SW authors?
<Allston> Tyra: Yes, indeed. Write your own original works first. Get published as a standalone novelist. If you look at the writers tapped by Bantam and Del Rey so far, you'll see that all got their starts doing original work first. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Eskimo> What is your favorite scene from the 4 movies?
<Allston> Eskimo: Hard to say. Probably in ESB, when Luke learns that Darth Vader is his father, and his reactions to it. It's essentially the scene in which he stops being a whiner and becomes a man. Good stuff. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Yud> Do you prefer using a computer/typewriter or writing by hand like Mr. Lucas?
<Allston> Yud: I've been using word processors since 1984. Love 'em. I have three computers, various sizes: One a desktop, one a laptop, and one a palmtop, so I can write anywyere. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Eskimo> Did you get the chance to see the script for TPM before it was released like some of the original actors did? Or were you waiting with the rest of us to see it in the theater?
<Allston> Eskimo: I was in line the first day. (And believe me, in central Texas in late May, that was an experience.) No, I never saw the script beforehand, though I didn't avoid spoilers -- spoilers don't tend to ruin such things for me. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Urza> Aaron: What's your favorite part from the SW books you've writen.
<Allston> Urza: I'm not sure I have one favorite part. In WRAITH, it was Wedge's letter to Ackbar. In IRON FIST, Face's last scene with Ton Phanan. In SOLO COMMAND, Lara's recording to Myn. In STARFIGHTERS OF ADUMAR, most of Chapter 7. One scene from each novel. <g> (GA)
<UberJedi> <Eskimo> Do you ever draw sketches of characters/new ships when writing a book so you can better describe them?
<Allston> Eskimo: I actually introduce very few new ships, though it sometimes seems like it, since I draw some fairly obscure ones from the West End Games supplements. (more)
<Allston> But, no, I don't sketch them out, or characters -- I'm almost totally devoid of artistic talent. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Yud> How did you feel when Luke becomes a Jedi, and then the story suddenly ends? Does that bother you as much as it does to me?
<Allston> Yud: It didn't bother me until the novels began to emerge. It bothered me then because the movies suggested a real direction for Han and Leia but not one for Luke. (more)
<Allston> And when, in the novels, Luke began waffling between romantic interests introduced by different writers, when he seemed to take weird steps backwards and forwards in his Jedi abilities through the years, well, that's the result of that uncertainty. (more)
<Allston> I have a feeling that, since the NJO novels are sort of plotted out as a single continuity, this will be less of a problem in the future. (GA)
<Tyra> Did you know Luke Skywalker is to marry Mara Jade and if so what are your reactions?
<Allston> Tyra: No, I was surprised when it happened. But I was very pleased. For the powers to be to allow Luke to settle down with someone is a real sea-change from what I was just talking about. He's no longer adrift, no longer left hanging by the lack of definition of his future at the end of RotJ. So I was happy. (GA)
<Allston> Er, perhaps I didn't answer Tyra quite correctly. I did know before tonight, certainly. Just not before the Zahn novels emerged. <g>
<UberJedi> <Eskimo> Do you think the actors were well chosen for TPM? If not who would you replace and with who?
<Allston> Eskimo: I thought the cast choices were largely good. I've liked Liam Neeson and Brian Blessed for a long time, and thought that Ewan MacGregor was very credible as a young Alec Guiness. (GA)
<Tyra> Did you think the romance between Anakin and Padme was a little odd?
<Allston> Tyra: Well, it wasn't really presented as a romance yet -- just an attachment. (Perhaps it was different in the novelization; I haven't read that yet.) I didn't think it was odd, just insufficiently defined. (Perhaps it would have been odd if presented in more detail, <g>.)
<Allston> GA
<UberJedi> would you be interested in doing a novel that takes place *before* the prequels? if so, what time period?
<Allston> UberJedi: I can't think of a specific era that appeals to me set before the prequels. Perhaps a novel that spans several time periods and deals with a single theme, such as discovery of important knowledge about the Force, for example. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Garnet> If you get the opportunity to write more books in the SW universe, do you think maybe you could find a woman deserving of Wes Janson (and vice versa)?...*evil grin*...(and yes, this is afw Garnet <G>)
<Allston> Garnet: I'd be happy to try. Janson deserves to be hit with a woman who is his opposite number -- someone equally loony and irresistable. I think, though, it would have to be a Janson novel, not just a subplot in another novel. (GA)
<UberJedi> <Eskimo> If you were living in the Star Wars universe and were force adept, would you rather be a Jedi or Sith?
<Allston> Eskimo: Neither! Both groups evidence organizational traits, some of them tyrannical, that I don't appreciate... and there's no evidence that having force sensitivity obliges you to join a group. I fear I'd be some sort of outsider. (GA)
<mowmaw> Last call for questions.
<UberJedi> <Garnet> Once I recover from that great mental image of Aaron in a Darth Maul costume, I'd like to ask him about his plans for Dragon*Con 2000. <G> I saw on your website that you're planning to attend...are there any specific events (panel discussions, etc) planned yet? Hubby and I are thinking about going.
<Allston> Garnet: No plans yet. I was on several of the Star Wars panels at the 1999 convention, and you can be sure that most of my events in 2000 will be on the SW track. (more)
<Allston> I'll post my schedule as soon as I know more -- http://www.io.com/~allston/apprsked.html -- but I haven't even sent in my pre-reg form or guest questionnaire yet. <g) (GA)
<mowmaw> I would like to thank Mr. Allston for chatting with us tonight as well as everyone for attending !
<Allston> Glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
<Tyra> Thank you Aaron for coming this was great
Click here for transcript of the subsequent unmoderated chat with Mr. Allston
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