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The Lightsabre Interview A C Crispin
Welcome to
Lightsabre. We're excited and thrilled
to have as our guest the writer of the Starbridge
novels, Sarek and the Han Solo series A C Crispin. Q -Ann, welcome to
Lightsabre. A -
Thank you very much for inviting me to participate. It's always fun to
talk about Star Wars! Q - What are your
major influences as a writer? A - As a young reader I was
very influenced by Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and those
great old Holt-Winston books with the rocket on the spine, books with titles
like "Rocket Jockey," "Stadium of the Stars,"
"Danger, Dinosaurs!" and "The Year that Stardust
Fell." I read every one I could get my hands on. As I grew older, of course, I began to read
the classics. My favorite authors there are
Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Tolstoy. And I also read and love the
work of Anne Tyler, Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters, Margaret Atwood, and
so many others I can't name them all. These days in science fiction I read C.M. Cherryh, Lois McMaster Bujold, George R.R. Martin, Greg Bear, Vonda McIntyre,
and many other well-known writers. Q - Which of the six
films stand out as your personal favourite, and why? A –
I always loved the second film released the best -- The Empire Strikes
Back. I thought it was great at combining character growth and change
with the action we all love in Star Wars. And of course Han Solo and Lando are prominently featured. I loved the
interplay between the two! Q - Tell us something
of your career. How did you begin as a
writer and how did you end up taking this career path? A -
I started writing seriously for the first time back in 1978 when I had an
idea for a Star Trek book. I wrote the book, rewrote it five times, and
eventually submitted it to Pocket Books. It was published in
1983. The title was Yesterday's Son. I later wrote a sequel to it
called Time for Yesterday. When my first book was released, that
coincided with downsizing in the government agency I worked for, so I decided
to try my hand at writing for a living. It worked out pretty well. Q - How did it feel
continuing the adventures of Han Solo, such a well-defined and popular
character? Was it a major challenge
or just another job? A- Han Solo was always my favorite character, ever since I saw "A New
Hope" the very first night it opened in When I first was asked to do the Han Solo
trilogy, I spoke to the Lucasfilm rep to discuss what kind of storyline they
wanted me to pursue, and I mentioned (mostly kidding) that I thought it would
be a good idea for the trilogy if I could have lunch with Harrison Ford in
order to discuss Han Solo's "history" and character
development. The Lucasfilm rep laughed and said, "Nice try!
We'd ALL like to have lunch with Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
<grin> Writing the Han Solo books was, of course, a job
for me, and it was indeed a challenge. Lucasfilm said I couldn't use
Darth Vader, or the Emperor, and that I couldn't say much of anything about
who Han actually was. His past had to remain pretty much a mystery,
even to him. And yet, he had a relative, Thracken
sal Solo, and somehow I had to come up a way to
explain how Han found this relative and yet still knew nothing of his
parentage. That was indeed a challenge. I applied myself to finding out as much as I
could about the Star Wars universe. I read all of the books that had
been released up till that time, except for the young kid's books. I
looked at them briefly, but they didn't seem to relate much to my assignment,
since they mostly had to do with adventures of Han and Leia's
children. It was also a challenge when Lucasfilm said I
couldn't say anything about how Han and Chewie
first met. I went back to them on that and pointed out how that just
wouldn't work. I mean...I could give Han amnesia? That sounded
silly. So LFL realized that wasn't
feasible. We ended up compromising...I was told it was okay
to summarize how Han and Chewie met, but I
couldn't have that action happen "on camera," so to speak. There were a lot of challenges involved in trying to write books in
the SW universe while remaining faithful to the continuity of the
universe. Of course, since I wrote the books, the continuity has
changed because of the subsequent film trilogy, but that was nothing I could
control.
Q - In your opinion,
what makes for a good book? A - I feel a good book has an exciting adventure, and that the main
characters grow and change. If a character remains static during the
action of a book, then the book just isn't compelling in the same way.
Writing tie-in fiction is a really big challenge, for that reason,
because the characters aren't supposed to grow and change...they're supposed
to remain pretty much at the end as they were in the beginning, at least in
most cases. I was lucky with the Han Solo Trilogy, because
it was a given that Han at 19 was going to be a much different person than
Han Solo at 29. So I was allowed to have the characters grow and
change. I
don't think I could have handled a project of that scope without LFL bending the usual rules so I could do that. Q - How would you
like to see the Star Wars books continue? Would you like to see both the
prequel and original era’s continue, or forge ahead as they are beyond the
New Jedi Order and into the future? A –
To be honest about it, I
haven't been keeping up with the Star Wars novels since I wrote mine.
If I were ever to write another, I would have a lot of catching up to
do! I think I'd like to see authors free to create new characters
that could have more growth and change, with the original characters or their
descendants perhaps having cameo roles. I'd also like
to see the books go more towards the science fiction end of things,
as opposed to fantasy. It's a big universe, lots of fascinating
races and worlds. I'd like to see the Star Wars universe exploring
"strange new worlds" to borrow a phrase from another
media franchise. <wink>
Q - You've established
your skills in novels, but if you had the choice of what you were good at in
another field, what would it be? A –
I would still be young
enough and fit enough to be a world class equestrian. I'm a good rider,
but I'd love to be someone who could compete on an international level. Q – You also have a
career as a very popular writer of Star Trek fiction. What are your thoughts on the differences
between the two franchises and the state of Star Trek today? A - I haven't written for Star Trek since
1992 or 93, so I am way behind in that universe, too. I liked Next
Generation, and I enjoyed Deep Space Nine, but I wasn't crazy about Voyager,
and I actively disliked Enterprise because of the way the Vulcans
were portrayed -- scheming, lying, emotional...well, those weren't the Vulcans I'd come to know and love! I love the Star
Trek fans. Every year I go to a Star Trek convention called Shore
Leave, and its great fun. I haven't had nearly as much contact with
Star Wars fans. I confess that I'm getting rather curious about the new
film they're shooting, since I am a Heroes fan, and I've seen the actor
(Zachary Quinto) that will be playing Spock.
I'll probably go and see that. Q - Would you like to
return to that galaxy far, far away? A - With the right project, sure.
I've always said I'd like to write Princess Leia's backstory as a nice big thick novel full of intrigues and
glimpses into the early days of the Rebellion. I like doing backstories, and I'm actually becoming sort of known for
being able to do them well. Q – Your career has
certainly been a success – the licensed novels like Star Wars and Trek, V and
Alien Resurrection along with the popular Starbridge
series and the Exiles of Boq'urain
trilogy have certainly kept you busy. What
do you foresee in the future for yourself outside of the Star Wars
universe? More fantasy? A - I was just hired by
Disney to write the first Pirates of the Q - It's been a great
interview, and thanks for being our guest on Lightsabre. Just one final question. Han Solo, Spock and Jezzil
are locked in a room. Han has his wit
and charm, Spock his logic and Jezzil his warrior’s
cunning. Who would get out of the room
first and how? A -
Jezzil would get out first, because he can
do magic. Using magic, he can lift the bolt and slide it back, or cause
the tumblers in a padlock to click to the "open" position. As
long as he can visualize the type of lock, he could open the door. |
