Keep it on the Rails! – SWBTF #17

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Welcome back to Star Wars Beyond the Films!

This week’s discussion is about Star Wars publishing.

Is it better having a series written by one author, co-authored, or multiple authors?

Mark tries out a new recording room this week, and Nathan keeps outing himself this month.
What is you stance on the big series?
Has Del Rey dropped the ball? Did they go the wrong direction after the New Jedi Order? Mark explains why he feels the NJO was a success and that Del Rey needs to go back to a well thought out series.

Did Legacy of the Force not do well because the authors didn’t pick up each other’s stories? Did it leave the reader feeling disconnected? Nathan says the unthinkable… INTERCHANGABLE!?!!!
You hosts take a quick look at certain author’s trends. Lucenopedia, Zahn’s Thrawn/Mara, Karen’s Mando=centric, Stover- too deep to think and more. They mentioned Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Meh.

They focus on the FotJ series and the styles of each author. Does the post NJO suffer from a Denning thick direction? Or does this strengthen that end of the era having one author being the backbone of the plots?
They touch on closing stories. Bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, did Denning hit a homer? Or did he bunt? Fans seem to have varying opinions on this.

Nathan touches on the WARS series, the direction the writters take with that series, and how it plays out.

When authors pick up on elements from one story and use those in the next you feel like the story is connected. One author vs co authors argument is that they focus on whether a reader can tell when the author shifts during the story. Nathan explains the process of story writing in Star Wars when he wrote his Tales story.

Do co-authored books constantly evolve as a series is written? Do ideas generate as the writing team works? This could for some plots to be forgotten about as the story progresses.
Do authors different perceptions hurt the story? Some of the plots and story-lines seemed to be dropped in LotF when the authors would swap out from book to book.
Is it a failure to have a series with a villian not plotted out? Do the stories need more planning and a little thing called an exit strategy or not? Was Jacen Solo’s story sacrificed on the alter of publishing?

Is there more pay off in a larger series or a smalle one? Should authors spell things out? Should things be left so wide open that multiple answers can be seen? Though this could cause fan fights across fandom.
Should series be released closer together? Does the long gap between hardcovers HURT series?
NJO: One series? Or an Era set with standalones, duologies and trilogies?

This week’s topic makes both hosts want to pull their hair out.

Can multiple author trilogies work if each focuses on separate points of views? For instance one takes the Jedi, one takes the Sith, and another takes the Empire/Galactic Alliance. Could that work?
Mark rants his irritation with Del Rey’s choice to “not do large series” due to the last two, nine book series success ( or rather lack there of). He feels they made the wrong call, or drawn the wrong conclusion from the complaints about those series.
Plans for books, no matter how well planned, take the right author to bring them to life.
Is a solid plan, or a free flowing idea creating process better? Who’s to say?
Who green lights new changes that over rule older plot elements in the EU saga?
Quality control has no control these days, it would seem. Is this the plan?!
Mark hopes they avoid the villian of the week stragety, or place some bigger series in eras that are not well explored.
Did the fans who were vocal about disliking larger series scare Del Rey into giving up on what COULD be a winning strategy?
One off adventures that play into a larger story- this is ONE example of successful story planning.
Sometimes happy accidents happen when a character grows into a main element.
Should Del Rey start planning now for a EPIC large story come the 40th anniversary?
Does having a plan matter to you? Are fans divided on this?

Nathan calls out Zahn over the planning of Mara and Luke’s marriage all along.
J.I.N.O…. Mark is starting to understand that he’s Jacen In Name Only, a concept that drove him nuts, but now…. perhaps it’s more dead on then he originally figured.
“Derailment” it would seem is the biggest offender to most fans. Be it character, over all plot, what ever, keep it on the rails!

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