SPOILER Chuck Wendig - Aftermath (Journey to The Force Awakens)

I'm in the middle of Lost Star now, and it's shaping up to be one of the best EU books, hands down, as well as one of the better books I read in general in quite a while.

 

Not sure if people have seen this. IGN analyse the Aftermath Epilogue and who the Fleet Admiral may be. Probably best not to read this unless you've finished the book. You have been warned!

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/09/11/3-theories-about-star-wars-aftermaths-mysterious-ending

 

Does anyone know anything about the Narquois? They make an appearance, or at least a pair of them do, in Aftermath. There is no other forum related to this topic, or at least the word does not come up with anything in the search return. Also, not much on Google except the line from Aftermath.

 

Aftermath is decent. I have read almost every star wars book out there and I always find myself on a reading binge when starting a new star wars book with few exceptions, this was one of them. The imperial plotline was the most interesting but predictable. The TFA hints were few and far between. The former Imp loyalty officer was the best character in the book. The thing is this book was not only confusing but forgettable, the only characters name I remember is Norra and Sloane. Whereas with Zahns series the characters and plot stuck with me.
I read that Wendig had only 45 days to write the book and it shows. To tell you the truth most of the new EU books have been pretty subpar, my favorite so far was New Dawn.

Also is it just me or is Mon Mothma kind of an idiot? From what I can gather from this confusing book the civil war is still in full swing although the Empire is on the run and Mothma wants to cut 90% of the military!?! No wonder by TFA the Empire has had a resurgence and the NEw Republic has become the Resistance. I get giving up the emergency powers but wait until the war is over and there is some stability before mothballing your fleet. They haven't even taken coruscant yet from what I can tell.

 

Mon Mothma doesn't plan to reduce the military until the conflict ceases, however it will still leave the New Republic in a bad place when inevitable reprisal comes.

Yeah, if he had a limited window to work with I can see that creating a few problems. Does anyone have a link to anything talking about him having such a short period of time to write the book? I've looked around and I can't seem to find anything referencing the time frame to write the book.

 

Yeah, I just found a quote from him to this effect in his response to a rather scathing, ad-hominem-laced post from a commenter named Helen on Wendig's own site here:

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/09/07/star-wars-aftermath-reviews-news-and-such/

Now, I do have to say, some of my initial benefit of the doubt starts to crumble a bit 'round the edges when I see him getting rather defensive about the fact that he almost always writes his books in about 45 days. I had assumed that this was an artificial time limit imposed on him by LFL and Del Rey's publishing schedule. But apparently Wendig is just one of those writers who cranks out his books like Chris Christie gnawing his way through a table full of calzones.

His defensiveness carries over to criticism of his writing style:

"Plus, my writing style isn’t for ALL THE PEOPLE. I’m the first to admit that. But it is what it is, and I can’t change that now."
​

Not to take a swat at the guy behind his back or anything (because I have no axe to grind here whatsoever) but I've gotta call bantha poodoo on this one. A professional writer who can only write in one style? Speaking as a professional writer myself (though admittedly not a novelist) I have to change up my writing style all the time depending on the job. The notion that a writer has one style and one style only and "it is what it is" just doesn't ring true to me at all.

 

Interesting, here's the comments mentioned for other reader's context:


Helen

Chuck, this is the first book you’ve done that is selling to people outside your small, social media audience that thinks you do no wrong. What you’re witnessing are reviews of your writing from people who don’t know you and have no interest in lying to you about the quality of your work. I’m sure it’s tough to swallow, but stop being such a baby about it. There is no attack against you. Maybe a few people posted bad reviews, but if you think the 200 or so one star reviews on the book are fake and written by people with an agenda, you’re delusional.

How many times have you told writers not to respond to bad reviews, yet here you are crying and responding to bad reviews under the BS premise that it’s a coordinated attack. If it were an attack, you’d notice a spike in one star reviews on your other books too.

Grow up, Chuck. You wrote the book in 45 days and it reads like it. Now you have to deal with the repercussions of your decision. The book is being poorly reviewed because it’s honestly a terrible book.

Here's Wendig's reply:

terribleminds

Reply

Helen,

I’m going to let this comment through to respond to it, even though it was particularly rude and, frankly, I should’ve let you tumble helplessly into the SPAM OUBLIETTE.

Here’s the thing:

I wrote most of my books in about 30-45 days. Some books take a little longer — up to 90 — but I write very, very quickly. I write this way because I’ve been a professional writer now for over 15 years. And many of those years I have acted as that rara avis, a professional FULL-TIME writer.

All of my books have an overwhelmingly positive review. That’s not because I have some army of lying, obsequious sycophants at my beck and call (oh, if only). BLACKBIRDS has over 300 reviews and has sold *tens of thousands of copies.* The reviews are largely positive. The reviews for all of my books are largely positive. Which is why publishers keep publishing me. My first novel was out in 2012, and you’ll note that AFTERMATH is my 14th published novel. I have several more on the way.

So, when AFTERMATH popped up on Amazon and *immediately* began to garner a flood of one-star reviews, that’s a bit interesting, don’t you think? Are some of them legitimate? Sure, obviously, of course. Lots of folks are going to dislike the book. It’s a big book with big expectations and there is simply no way to please everyone. Plus, my writing style isn’t for ALL THE PEOPLE. I’m the first to admit that. But it is what it is, and I can’t change that now. Further, it doesn’t explain the surprisingly massive effort to give the book one-star reviews — an effort that is easily glimpsed by looking at how much attention the reviews are getting. Meaning, bad reviews are marked HELPFUL and negative reviews marked UNHELPFUL in the dozens. That’s not just people who feel like they read a bad book and want readers to know. That takes effort. That takes coordination and something far greater than displeasure over the book.

By the way, you refer to the “repercussions of my decision.” Which apparently you think are negative? They’re not. I have been hired to write two more books based on the strength of the first book. And — and! — this book is selling through the roof. The negative attention hasn’t stopped that and, in fact, has only given the book more press.

As to me writing a terrible book? I didn’t. I didn’t write a terrible book. Is it good? I’ll let other people decide that. But I know how to write. I didn’t suddenly forget how after 12 novels and over a decade of freelancing. I may not write to your liking, and the book may not be the book you wanted, and that’s entirely fair. You are free and even encouraged to Not Like Things. I don’t like all kinds of things. But I might suggest being a bit nicer about it and also tempering your dislike with the recognition that it is an opinion and not, in fact, objective reality.

May the Force be with you, Helen.

— c.

Interesting indeed.

 

Sorry I actually chose colors that I thought weren't offensive, I'll change em again though.

 

Eh. I liked it. I admit I wasn't into it until about halfway, but once the characters began to gel as a unit, the narrative gained the momentum to match the pace and style of the writing.

As for the writing itself, again it took me a bit but only because I was so accustomed to the pandering middle-school prose of Kevin J Anderson and his acolytes. I'm happy to admit that I gave up on the EU many years ago thanks to KJA. I was embarrassed to read his books. They were formulaic and insulting. I will also admit I'm not a huge fan of the Thrawn trilogy either. When it was new it was the next best thing to an official continuation of the story. With the context of a couple of decades, they haven't held up especially well.

I happily give Aftermath a 7.5 or maybe even an 8, with the primary failings being leveled against Disney and the story group for not giving us more of the Big Picture. But if you ditch your preconceived notions about what this book should be, and just forget about the EU altogether, it's actually a solid read that stylistically nestles right into old school Star Wars.

 

I am curious as to the rating system people are using. Are people rating based on the standards of a Star Wars book, are they rating it using the standards of a mass market entertainment novel like a Clancy or a Patterson or what have you, or are they rating it with the idea that a 10 is a literary masterpiece in the vein of a Faulkner, or Twain or Hemingway? Because some of these ratings seem absurdly high, if you are rating the novel based off of the first two categories then I understand but disagree with the rating but if its the latter category then, just wow.

 

I would imagine most are rating the book in comparison to other SW novels(that's the standard by which I rate them), which are themselves often compared to other mass market novels like those written by authors like James Patterson. I highly doubt that most SW fans even consider their favorite SW novels on par with genuine literary classics.

 

Okay, I thought so thanks for the clarification.

 

Well, different strokes. Right? I'm not sure I understand the point. I don't enjoy Faulkner. Is it wrong that I'd enjoy one of these books over one of his? We may disagree, but there's no reason for the condescension.

These ratings are for Star Wars books. So consider them to be ratings for Star Wars books.

 

Sorry not trying to be condescending like I said I have read just about every star wars book and enjoyed the vast majority. I teach at a university and when I bring up the star wars EU books to my colleagues they act like I'm wasting my time which is annoying so I don't want to give off that vibe.

 

The last two questions were the most interesting to me.

Question #22
Do you have any plans to reintroduce any characters from the old Expanded Universe in the next two books?

Chuck - Not at present, but never say never.

Question #23
A lot of posters asked about the mysterious fleet admiral. Any insights subtle hints you can provide on the character and your inspiration for him?

Chuck - *evil laugh*

 

Came across this custom Mister Bones B1 droid action figure. I must say this is how I imagined him. Well done, don't you think?