LJ Idol Season 7 Week 3 It’s a Trap!
Nov. 19th, 2010 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerTales from the desk of a Star Wars editor
Warning: There will be spoilers for various Star Wars novels and the films up to the end of the New Jedi Order.
Back in the late 1990 and the early 2000, I was working at the offices of Del Rey Books in various capacities. I started as an editorial assistant and worked my way up the editorial food chain. One of the editors that I worked for the entire time I was there was Shelly Shapiro who was the editor of the Star Wars Novels. Another editor I worked for was Steve Saffel who was the editor of the Star Wars non-fiction line. Yes, we had a fiction line and a non-fiction line for Star Wars and I was the point person for both.
We joke at conventions that when you get accepted into the Star Wars family, Lucas Films puts a chip in your head and if you say something that you shouldn’t, your head will explode like they did in Scanners. There are some things that we keep within the family and there are other tales that we have told at conventions. So you may have heard a version of the tales I am going to tell elsewhere and there are a few that I am telling the first time
The Death of the Family Dog
It was decided that with new movies there would be a reboot of the fiction series. There was a meeting of Lucas film folk, Del Rey Editorial, and a number of authors to discuss the over-all arc of the story and to start the breakdowns of the individual pieces. During one of these meetings the alien race was created the Yuuzhan Vong which was named after the restaurant and a tea on the menu where they were.
For the first book it was decided that they were going to do something drastic to shake up the order of things and set the tone for the other books with the death of a major character much beloved in the Star Wars Universe. They went through the list. Luke was out before they even started. They went through the other characters and weighed the pros and cons of each. Bob Salvatore takes the bullet for coming up with killing Chewie but it was more by committee. The only character that they could take out of play without other Jenga blocks fallen was the family dog aka Chewbacca. Which is why he bites it in Vector Prime. Bob still gets flack for this which he takes with his usual good humor.
Amusing Notes from the Ranch
But first a little insight as to how a Star Wars novel is written. The author is given a list of characters they can use, a few things that must be included in the novel, all the work including things still in manuscript form up to that point, and a whole mess of researched material. They make an outline of the novel that is then vetted by both Del Rey and Lucas films to make sure that it works within the structure of the overall story arc and doesn’t duplicate too closely other things in the pipeline already. Once the outline is approved, they are given the green light to write the novel. The manuscript is turned in and Del Rey gives it a going over and send it onto Lucas films for their notes. Notes can be fun and a pain all at the same time. The editorial department has to make sure that the notes going back to the author don’t contradict themselves, which can be harder than you think. Revisions are done and we are back at the races again to get the book out on time.
Notes can create much amusement among the editorial staff. Some of them become in jokes around the office that have a very long shelf life. One that I always liked came in on a manuscript where after one of the main character succeeds after a difficult task the writer wrote, “His face was beaming” as in he was transcendently happy. The note came back from LFL “There is no beaming in Star Wars” which set us off into giggle fits for weeks.
Then there were the notes that went round and round until we could find something to allow the author to do what they wanted. One of the tools that we had at our disposal was a CD-ROM called the Holocron which held all things Star Wars in its groves. It was a spiffy piece of technology that had been created at the Ranch and there were two people at the Ranch who did nothing but keep the official database up to date. I learned how to use that tool very well to help with continuity within the books. My counterpart at Lucas Films and I became good friends over details that we knew that if we didn’t find it, the fans would let us know about it.
However there were occasions where there were things in the films that we didn’t know about until after the manuscript was too far into the process to change. For example, light saber color. Originally we were given three colors a light saber could be. When a manuscript was sent in with someone having a purple light saber, we were informed that we had to stick to the colors seen already. So you can image the groan that came from the Del Rey editorial staff when we went to see the film only to see Mace Windu with a purple light saber and when we went back to the office the next day there was an e-mail from the author about the same subject. After that the colors opened up a bit but not much.
What I gained from working on Star Wars
Well first off, a lot of life time friends. I have become friends with most of the authors that I worked with. Along with my Ranch buddies who are great fun.
I learned a lot about media tie-ins from working those novels. About the attention to detail you must have as an editor because the fans are that much more on top of these things that you would believe. About the sense of humor you have to have about the Internet considering how you can be savaged by fans for stuff that you had no control over. I learned a lot about writing from working on these novels. I learned a lot about putting together books on the details like weapons and armor or starships. I learned how to deal with fans and how to do panels on a subject that I had signed a Nondisclosure Agreement.
I became a better editor because of these books that I worked on. I will always be grateful for my time working in the Star Wars Universe and hope some day to return there.
Warning: There will be spoilers for various Star Wars novels and the films up to the end of the New Jedi Order.
Back in the late 1990 and the early 2000, I was working at the offices of Del Rey Books in various capacities. I started as an editorial assistant and worked my way up the editorial food chain. One of the editors that I worked for the entire time I was there was Shelly Shapiro who was the editor of the Star Wars Novels. Another editor I worked for was Steve Saffel who was the editor of the Star Wars non-fiction line. Yes, we had a fiction line and a non-fiction line for Star Wars and I was the point person for both.
We joke at conventions that when you get accepted into the Star Wars family, Lucas Films puts a chip in your head and if you say something that you shouldn’t, your head will explode like they did in Scanners. There are some things that we keep within the family and there are other tales that we have told at conventions. So you may have heard a version of the tales I am going to tell elsewhere and there are a few that I am telling the first time
The Death of the Family Dog
It was decided that with new movies there would be a reboot of the fiction series. There was a meeting of Lucas film folk, Del Rey Editorial, and a number of authors to discuss the over-all arc of the story and to start the breakdowns of the individual pieces. During one of these meetings the alien race was created the Yuuzhan Vong which was named after the restaurant and a tea on the menu where they were.
For the first book it was decided that they were going to do something drastic to shake up the order of things and set the tone for the other books with the death of a major character much beloved in the Star Wars Universe. They went through the list. Luke was out before they even started. They went through the other characters and weighed the pros and cons of each. Bob Salvatore takes the bullet for coming up with killing Chewie but it was more by committee. The only character that they could take out of play without other Jenga blocks fallen was the family dog aka Chewbacca. Which is why he bites it in Vector Prime. Bob still gets flack for this which he takes with his usual good humor.
Amusing Notes from the Ranch
But first a little insight as to how a Star Wars novel is written. The author is given a list of characters they can use, a few things that must be included in the novel, all the work including things still in manuscript form up to that point, and a whole mess of researched material. They make an outline of the novel that is then vetted by both Del Rey and Lucas films to make sure that it works within the structure of the overall story arc and doesn’t duplicate too closely other things in the pipeline already. Once the outline is approved, they are given the green light to write the novel. The manuscript is turned in and Del Rey gives it a going over and send it onto Lucas films for their notes. Notes can be fun and a pain all at the same time. The editorial department has to make sure that the notes going back to the author don’t contradict themselves, which can be harder than you think. Revisions are done and we are back at the races again to get the book out on time.
Notes can create much amusement among the editorial staff. Some of them become in jokes around the office that have a very long shelf life. One that I always liked came in on a manuscript where after one of the main character succeeds after a difficult task the writer wrote, “His face was beaming” as in he was transcendently happy. The note came back from LFL “There is no beaming in Star Wars” which set us off into giggle fits for weeks.
Then there were the notes that went round and round until we could find something to allow the author to do what they wanted. One of the tools that we had at our disposal was a CD-ROM called the Holocron which held all things Star Wars in its groves. It was a spiffy piece of technology that had been created at the Ranch and there were two people at the Ranch who did nothing but keep the official database up to date. I learned how to use that tool very well to help with continuity within the books. My counterpart at Lucas Films and I became good friends over details that we knew that if we didn’t find it, the fans would let us know about it.
However there were occasions where there were things in the films that we didn’t know about until after the manuscript was too far into the process to change. For example, light saber color. Originally we were given three colors a light saber could be. When a manuscript was sent in with someone having a purple light saber, we were informed that we had to stick to the colors seen already. So you can image the groan that came from the Del Rey editorial staff when we went to see the film only to see Mace Windu with a purple light saber and when we went back to the office the next day there was an e-mail from the author about the same subject. After that the colors opened up a bit but not much.
What I gained from working on Star Wars
Well first off, a lot of life time friends. I have become friends with most of the authors that I worked with. Along with my Ranch buddies who are great fun.
I learned a lot about media tie-ins from working those novels. About the attention to detail you must have as an editor because the fans are that much more on top of these things that you would believe. About the sense of humor you have to have about the Internet considering how you can be savaged by fans for stuff that you had no control over. I learned a lot about writing from working on these novels. I learned a lot about putting together books on the details like weapons and armor or starships. I learned how to deal with fans and how to do panels on a subject that I had signed a Nondisclosure Agreement.
I became a better editor because of these books that I worked on. I will always be grateful for my time working in the Star Wars Universe and hope some day to return there.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 07:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 09:40 pm (UTC)It was fun to look back on it.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 09:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 09:41 pm (UTC)I enjoy passing knowledge on.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 10:28 pm (UTC)This was great to read.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 10:38 pm (UTC)I have a very special place in my heart for the 70s version of these films as well.
I didn't write up my Mark Hamil/Luke Skywalker photo story for this piece but I might tell that tale later in the contest.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-20 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-20 02:53 am (UTC)Any suggestions of Star Wars tie-in novels that you found especially strong? Even as a fan since age 4, I've barely read Star Wars tie-in stuff save the film novelizations (was VERY impressed with Matthew Stover's Revenge of the Sith).
no subject
Date: 2010-11-20 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-20 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-21 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-22 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-22 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-22 03:01 am (UTC)