1. Due to the increased amount of spam bots on the forum, we are strengthening our defenses. You may experience a CAPTCHA challenge from time to time.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Notification emails are working properly again. Please check your email spam folder and if you see any emails from the Cantina there, make sure to mark them as "Not Spam". This will help a lot to whitelist the emails and to stop them going to spam.
    Dismiss Notice
  3. IMPORTANT! To be able to create new threads and rate posts, you need to have at least 30 posts in The Cantina.
    Dismiss Notice
  4. Before posting a new thread, check the list with similar threads that will appear when you start typing the thread's title.
    Dismiss Notice

How did the Novels come about and how were they managed?

Discussion in 'Star Wars: Books & Comics + Legends' started by Keri Ford, Jul 22, 2018.

  1. Keri Ford

    Keri Ford Clone Commander

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2018
    Posts:
    68
    Likes Received:
    125
    Trophy Points:
    292
    Credits:
    674
    Ratings:
    +156 / 8 / -2
    I understand that the original novelisation of a New Hope was actually released prior to the movie but was based on the script, but I'm interested to know how all the novels came about and how they were managed. Did Lucas have to approve novels? Did George have any input, did he suggest story lines? Were the story ideas pitched to him? Did they have to be have a level of consistency with one another and the films? Are there any good online articles about the way the novels were managed?
    I'm just starting to read the novels and I'd be interested to know how they developed, thanks in advance.
     
  2. srg

    srg Force Attuned

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2016
    Posts:
    1,422
    Likes Received:
    7,819
    Trophy Points:
    15,917
    Credits:
    5,840
    Ratings:
    +9,072 / 28 / -7
    From what I know, Lucas cared mainly about novelisations and wasn't involved in majority of the novels, especially those that happened after RotJ. He considered them their own thing, separated from the movies. And apparently he didn't like them. Recently I read a quote where Lucas said that stuff like Luke getting married, Emperor being cloned etc. wasn't true to his vision. Sorry, I don't have the source... I'm sure other people will link something on this subject.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  3. Too Bob Bit

    Too Bob Bit Jedi Commander

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2018
    Posts:
    632
    Likes Received:
    10,329
    Trophy Points:
    91,117
    Credits:
    3,375
    Ratings:
    +11,195 / 9 / -2
    As I recall, there was an equivalent to the Star Wars story group, although only for overseeing the EU. It may have even just been one person.

    Anyhow, this video might help shed a little light:

     
    • Like Like x 1
  4. Keri Ford

    Keri Ford Clone Commander

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2018
    Posts:
    68
    Likes Received:
    125
    Trophy Points:
    292
    Credits:
    674
    Ratings:
    +156 / 8 / -2
    Many thanks, good video, that all makes sense I have found those key quotes:

    “I don’t read that stuff. I haven’t read any of the novels. I don’t know anything about that world. That’s a different world than my world. But I do try to keep it consistent. The way I do it now is they have a Star Wars Encyclopedia. So if I come up with a name or something else, I look it up and see if it has already been used. When I said [other people] could make their own Star Wars stories, we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have two universes: My universe and then this other one. They try to make their universe as consistent with mine as possible, but obviously they get enthusiastic and want to go off in other directions.” – George Lucas, from an interview in Starlog #337

    "I’ve left pretty explicit instructions for there not to be any more features. There will definitely be no Episodes VII-IX. That’s because there isn’t any story. I mean, I never thought of anything! And now there have been novels about the events after Episode IV, which isn’t at all what I would have done with it. The Star Wars story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader. That is the story. Once Vader dies, he doesn’t come back to life, the Emperor doesn’t get cloned and Luke doesn’t get married …”

    It's interesting Lucas seemed happy to let the EU expand as it would, I'm still interested in finding out about the EU story group/person. But it's interesting there are the thoughts that Lucas had about how things would progress from Episode 6, I understand he did eventually build an outline for that, there is what happened in the novels and comics and what happened in the ST and they're all different and we know by far the least about what Lucas actually envisaged.

    I quite like how there are these different versions and am amused that Lucas didn't read the novels, but he did consult the Star Wars encyclopaedia.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  5. Too Bob Bit

    Too Bob Bit Jedi Commander

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2018
    Posts:
    632
    Likes Received:
    10,329
    Trophy Points:
    91,117
    Credits:
    3,375
    Ratings:
    +11,195 / 9 / -2
    I dug up these pages after a quick search over at Wookieepedia, a page about the EU and a two names linked with keeping an overview of continuity. Of the two, Sue Rostoni is the main name I specifically remember:

    Star Wars Legends - a page devoted to the history and development of the old expanded universe.
    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Legends

    Sue Rostoni was "executive editor and fiction and comic editor at Lucas Licensing. In her role at Lucas Licensing, Rostoni was responsible for the maintenance of the printed Expanded Universe."
    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sue_Rostoni

    Allan Kausch also gets mentioned as "continuity editor at Lucasfilm"
    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Allan_Kausch
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Great Post Great Post x 1
  6. Keri Ford

    Keri Ford Clone Commander

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2018
    Posts:
    68
    Likes Received:
    125
    Trophy Points:
    292
    Credits:
    674
    Ratings:
    +156 / 8 / -2
    Thanks a million for that, it is exactly what I was looking for, I'm off to give it a read through.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  7. Lord of the Rens

    Lord of the Rens Gatekeeper & Avatar Maker

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2015
    Posts:
    2,878
    Likes Received:
    28,288
    Trophy Points:
    154,367
    Credits:
    18,268
    Ratings:
    +32,050 / 130 / -50
    Anyone research who akshually wrote the first Star Wars from the Adventures of Luke Skywalker novel?


    It was credited to G. Walton Lucas, back in the day.


    Ghostwritten by ADF.
     
  8. Jaxxon

    Jaxxon Green Space Rabbit

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2017
    Posts:
    1,089
    Likes Received:
    14,351
    Trophy Points:
    146,617
    Credits:
    11,728
    Ratings:
    +16,062 / 29 / -4
    There's an absolutely fantastic book called How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor, and he writes alot about how the books came about. You have the earlier books like the New Hope novelization and Splinter in the Mind's Eye, which really came out because a Star Wars sequel wasn't for sure. But the EU really kicked off with Del Rey and the Timothy Zahn books. Chris Taylor gives alot of interesting info on the vision for the early novels and the restrictions that Lucas put on Zahn. For example, Zahn couldn't resurrect any dead characters, and he couldn't touch the Clone Wars era.

    Originally, the plan for the EU books was to have big "event novels" like the Thrawn trilogy, each one given the space to be well-written and expansive like an episode of the film trilogy. I wish that vision would have lasted.
     
    • Like Like x 1
Loading...

Share This Page