Author: terribleminds (page 170 of 454)

Note: none of this post represents my publishers or the Star Wars universe, and I have literally no special knowledge or power in this regard. All the opinions below represent me, not Del Rey, not Lucasfilm or Disney. Just little old me.

Hi, Expanded Universe / Legends fans.

It’s me. Your pal, Chuck Wendig.

If your emails and tweets and YouTube videos about me are any indication, you care very little for me, and that’s fine. I wish you’d be a little nicer about it, but hey, you do you.

I wanted you know that I saw that thing you did with the billboard, and really, it’s pretty cool. It got you press. It’s a way to demonstrate what you love in a fairly positive way. It shows the power of crowdfunding. One could argue that you might’ve made the same impression or better if you organized the money to go to charity (Force For Change, after all, is a Star Wars-based charity), but what do I know? Thing is, what you did is pretty nifty and it shows the collective power of an engaged, interested fandom.

I talked about this a bit on Twitter yesterday, and I have been accused now and many times before of somehow being a Legends-hater (also: a prequel-hater, apparently). I don’t hate the prequels and I don’t hate Legends (or what was once the Expanded Universe). I loved Zahn’s novels and Stackpole’s, though I never really read much deeper than that because, well, for me, there were other books to read. I didn’t want to be reading Star Wars novels only, and I was a pretty diverse reader across genres. But some folks were and still are fairly deep into the Legends/EU line of stories, and those are stories that linked books and comics and games in a not-quite-canon-flavored way, and that’s honestly kinda great. I want to tell you that I get it. I understand why you want more. Stories have power over us. Star Wars in particular is a storytelling universe that has really enveloped our own — this is pop culture that has threaded its way into our narrative DNA. It’s part of us. The EU came up at a time when we thought we weren’t getting more Star Wars stories. That universe seemed dead, inert, done-zo, and suddenly here comes the start of a whole new universe of stories. Where once there were three movies, suddenly there were dozens — eventually hundreds — of books. And comics. And games.

That single bulk of narrative material outweighs most other universes. One could argue that it even outweighs what we get with the films, at least in terms of sheer storytelling girth. Some of the books were great. Some of them, nnnyeah, okay, maybe not so great. But it was a huge legacy, a massive obelisk of material, and it was worthy of worship.

And then, it came crashing down.

That universal lineage, that massive branch of the Star Wars storytelling tree — it broke off, fell to the ground, and you feel like Disney woodchipped it and shoved the splinters in a box marked “Legends.” Some books ended up cancelled. Some games, too, maybe even comics. Fade to black, and then the curtain parts again and now there are new movies and new books (ahem, Aftermath), and they either ignore the Expanded Universe stories or they pick ideas and characters from them to use now or later.

I get it. It’s the same feeling when a TV show you love gets canceled (looking at you, Firefly). Or when one of the big comic companies takes an entire universe and ends it, or changes it, or reboots it. Shit, I get pissed when Target stops selling a cereal I like, or I discover that a t-shirt or sneaker I like is discontinued. Sneakers, I mean, shit, if Nike or Reebok release a sneaker and you wear it and you like it, next season that sneaker is already on a burning trashpile in the Pacific Ocean and replaced with the next upgraded model and that model sucks because it’s not the shoe you jolly well fucking liked in the first place, and now your brand loyalty for that company is cut off at the knees because they stopped making the thing you like.

So, let me just say: I support you. I hope you get what you want. I have literally no power to make it happen. And I’m sure they wouldn’t hire me for the job anyway because if they hired me to write the Expanded Universe at least a half-dozen of you would probably burn down Disneyland. But I’m all for more stories in the world, and I’m certainly all for more Star Wars stories. Here’s me. Giving you a thumbs-up with a big smile and a glint of hope in my eye.

But, of course, I have some caveats.

The Caveats

1. If it does happen, I’d expect it to be a limited series. “One last trilogy” sort of thing. Again: I have no insider information in this regard, and I have no reason to believe this is even happening. I’m just saying, if it does happen, I would expect it to take the form of a bone thrown in your direction rather than a revivified Legends directive.

2. It also probably won’t happen at all. You need to prepare yourselves for that. The reasons it probably won’t happen are many. For instance:

a) It takes a lot of ecosystem to fire up a new publishing line, and that’s sort of what’s happening here. It takes staff, it takes money, it takes time out of a publishing schedule. Publishing is slow. It’s already understaffed. I speak from experience. This isn’t a case of JUST FLIP THE SWITCH AND BRING BACK LEGENDS. Mountains need to be moved.

b) Right now, Disney has a pretty sweet thing going, and seeing them switch gears — even temporarily — would surprise me. The new movie did huge numbers. The books are selling well — and despite some who want to assure me that Aftermath did not sell well, it, ahh, it really did. It sold big. It lingered on the bestseller charts. I have a very small royalty percentage compared to my other books (most tie-in work offers you no royalties), and even with that truncated royalty, I just got a royalty check that was bigger than some of my advances. I don’t say that to brag (okay, humblebrag, maybe), but just to clarify: the book sold well and continues to sell well even now. So, it’s hard imagining why Disney would have interest in suddenly returning to stories that don’t connect to the larger narrative.

c) That larger narrative is actually part of the problem for Legends — it’s quite a big deal that, at present, everything coming out regarding Star Wars is connected. That’s not true really with anything else, I don’t believe, at least not at this scale. It is all, relatively-speaking, “canon.” To suddenly introduce these other stories that aren’t connected opens Disney up to branding confusion. People yelling at them on social about how they thought Han and Leia had only one kid and is Rey actually Jaina and wait is Kylo and the Knights of Ren in these books and HOLD UP IS MARA JADE REY’S MOM. You’re fans, so you understand the difference. But the average reader doesn’t see the difference. They have a limited view of canon and think that if they pick up a new Star Wars book it’ll probably connect to the movies or the other new books. When that fails, that creates disappointment.

d) It bears repeating: Disney probably wants to avoid branding confusion. At all costs. At least until all the movies are out and that part of the story has been told.

e) You may not have the numbers to demonstrate support for the continuation of Legends. The Indiegogo campaign had 146 backers and raised $4,784. No small feat and really cool. But 146 people is not enough to support a line of books. And 1,146 people isn’t enough. And maybe, 11,146 people wouldn’t do it, either. They want to sell 100,000 copies of a book.

f) A lot of “fan-demanded” projects actually don’t earn out. Serenity eventually made it on DVD, but in the theater, was a bomb. When a TV show comes back based on fan demand, it often ends up getting canceled again anyway because the reality is, core fandom isn’t enough to support big meaty narrative universes. Fandom by its nature represents the most excited members, sure, but most big properties thrive on non-fans — people who don’t want to read 100 other books to understand this one they just bought. Narrower, niche properties can live on the support of fandom. But Star Wars is not a narrow, niche property.

3. If it doesn’t happen, I might encourage you to summon peace with that reality. There does come a point when your energy can best be spent elsewhere. Share your love with other great stories, even if they’re not inside Star Wars. This isn’t me smacking your hand and saying JUST GET OVER IT, LOSERS. But it is vital to recognize the reality that you neither own nor control this stuff, and you still have hundreds of great Legends stories that you can still enjoy. That’s huge. And I know it’s not fair, but life is frequently full of unfair things and part of our skillset as human beings is how we inoculate ourselves against disappointment.

4. Also, hey, you can sorta take ownership and control of the Legends continuity through the power of fan-fiction. Fan-fiction informed me and I don’t look down it. Nor should anybody. It’s a great way to be creative and also continue exploring a narrative universe that either left you behind or you left behind. It allows you to continue engagement with that world. So rad.

The Final Caveat

Many of you are nice and passionate. Thanks for being fans — if not of mine or my work, then of Star Wars in general. It’s a universe under a big, big tent. That’s a good thing.

Sometimes, though, in fandom, passion becomes tainted — shot through with the sepsis of frustration. And further, sometimes fandom attracts people who are, mmm, maybe not the finest specimens of humanity, and when that happens, harassment occurs. As it has occurred amongst the Bring Back Legends movement.

You need to get your house in order.

What I mean is, harassment is not a good way to get what you want. It is, in fact, a very good way to be dismissed. It is a great way to be seen as bullies. And nobody wants to give you more Legends if the way you get it has been by protracted campaigns of harassment or even by rogue members of your campaigns and Facebook groups demonstrating very bad behavior. Some other fans who operate fansites have felt harassed and bullied (for instance: this post at Tosche Station). I’ve seen it in person. I’ve seen it online. I’ve seen what happens at the Star Wars Books public Facebook page (and whoever runs that page has the patience of the saint and is hopefully paid a merciful six figures). Threats to spoil The Force Awakens came out of an Expanded Universe group. This is not unknown. It is real.

I know I’ve been on the end of harassment — not just for the content of Aftermath but sometimes because I am somehow held responsible for having ended the EU, or because I’m not Timothy Zahn or because I supposedly hate Legends, or, or, or. I get emails. People tweet angrily at me every week. I get hate and harassment flooded in my direction just because I wrote a book. It’s not awesome, and it’s certainly not endearing. The public relations manager of the Indiegogo campaign for the billboard made this video about me, which — *whistles* — I don’t even know what to say about that except I hope he’s okay. It is not his only video of… dubious content.

It’s not fun. It’s not funny. It’s harmful to your cause and to the victims who endure. And I know that it’s #NotAllLegendsFans, but that doesn’t really salve the sting of harassment that both fans and professionals have felt.

I hope you get more books. Sincerely. I cheer you on. More stories is more goodness.

I also hope some of you stop your worst behaviors and your worst members. Because they have dominated this conversation and poisoned your efforts from within. It’s time to grow up and be better. Demonstrate your desires with love and outreach, not hate and spite. Even if that doesn’t get you what you want, it at least keeps the slate clean and ensures that nobody feels harassed.

Best of luck.

Elsa Sjunneson-Henry is a bonafide bad-ass, and she doesn’t need Daredevil’s skills to do it. Elsa writes a lot on the subject of disability and diversity, and here, she’s going to teach us sighted oundaolks a thing or two about what blindness is and how you might tackle the subject in your stories. Note, you can ask her followup questions in the comments, but please don’t ask her to critique your manuscript or characters. (Unless you’re willing to pay her for the job, in which case: ask away.)

* * *

So you want to write a blind character? But you’re not blind? You’re wondering how on earth you’re going to do that?

Maybe you went and researched things at the National Federation for the Blind (NFB), or you called up your local lighthouse chapter, or you stopped a random blind person in the street, or you found me on Twitter.

Anyway, you tried to do your research but it’s not quite clicking. Well, I get a lot of questions on Twitter.

I don’t have time to answer Every Single Question that comes along my Twitter timeline, so instead of doing that, I’ve polled some of my writer buddies (and ganked some of my favorite questions from Twitter) to give you an overview! Because I’m nice or something. Who knows.

Hey, if you’re blind, how are you using twitter? Or this blog?

Okay let’s talk about me as a small case study. I’m blind in one eye, I can see out of my left eye…. Ehhhh, okay. Not great, but it’s good enough for government work fiction-writing work. I wear reading glasses and use the internet like everybody else.

Some of my blinder friends use screen readers or text to speech software to post their Tweets and blogposts. Because the world has adapted to us in a really neat way.

I do have a dragon though. Well, I have Dragon anyway, it’s a text-to-speech software program that is trainable!

So blind people just see darkness right?

NOPE. Here’s a fun factoid for you! Two percent (2%) of the TOTAL blind population is completely blind. The rest of us see on a scale of blindness. For example, you’ve got people like me who are legally blind because of one eye being blind and the other is low vision. I’ve met people who are blind in one eye who lead their lives like fully sighted people. They sometimes have things like Coloboma. (They can drive cars, y’all, I can’t do that. It’s not fair. More on that later.) ANYWAY, it’s possible to be blind and still SEE STUFF. Sometimes it’s blurry, sometimes blind people can’t see color, sometimes it’s all dialed down to seeing things within the radius of a toilet paper tube.

You get the idea. Being blind or visually impaired is on a spectrum of not seeing, rather than being a static condition.

So you were blinded by a tragic accident involving either fireworks or spilled chemicals?

For the last damn time, I am not Daredevil, okay. I’m blind because rubella in utero sucks and that caused me to end up blind (congenital cataracts), deaf and with a congenital heart defect. I’m not sure what the exact statistics are, but I know a lot more people who were born blind or went blind in childhood than who went through a tragic accident involving, I don’t know, 0464.

Okay, I don’t know anyone who was blinded because of 0464. I’m not even sure that’s a real chemical compound.

Point is, diseases like retinitis pigmentosa, or rubella, conditions such as albinism, or cataracts are likely responsible for the majority of blind folks out there.

I have met a couple people who were blinded by a tragic accident, but it’s not really heroic or anything, frankly it’s just horrifying. I mean YOU imagine having a piece of a coke bottle driven into your eyeball on impact with the ground.

Yes, that last sentence was to see if you can stomach reading about eyeball trauma. If you can’t maybe stick to nontragic narratives around disability. Frankly, more blindness narratives that aren’t about how HORRIBLE being blind is would be super awesome.

So you wear sunglasses right?

Me personally? Oh god no. My ability to see in the dark is so terrible that wearing sunglasses impairs my ability to use nifty tricks I have like looking for shadows to see stairs (because I don’t have depth perception.)

But some people do! Mostly if they have severe light sensitivity as a result of their condition which causes blindness! Some folks are also embarrassed by the way their eyes look – not because they should be, but because society tends to tell people that cataracts or other “different” eyes are scary. More on that in a minute. Sunglasses definitely aren’t an indicator that someone is absolutely 100% blind.

So do you have a guide dog?

Adaptive devices are really personal, and I think when you’re writing a blind character, it’s important to consider how they would want to engage with the world.

I don’t have a guide dog because I don’t qualify for one. I’m too sighted. Instead, I carry a white cane which gives me all kinds of feedback on the world at my feet. I’ve also taken Orientation and Mobility classes to learn how to navigate with my limited sight. Most blind people have taken Orientation and Mobility not matter what adaptive device they use. A guide dog is a highly specialized dog whose only job is to keep you safe, it’s a big responsibility for both the handler, and the dog. Not everyone wants that.

So you don’t have a guide dog, you’re not REALLY blind, do you use braille at least?

Well, I am really blind. Like I said earlier, blindness is on a spectrum. But no, I don’t use braille either. I mean, I guess I use it a little because I learned the numbers so I can tell what floor I’m going to in elevators (most elevators are really dark!) and that’s it. Braille is very expensive to print as it requires heavy paper, and I don’t know many people who use it these days for much more than navigating public signage. This is part of why I didn’t like the most recent Daredevil series – Matt Murdoch doesn’t have that kind of money for either the number of canes he needs, or for the amount of braille he’s printing.

Is that thing real? That “let me see you” and then the touching someone’s face thing??

In a romantic context, sure! But I don’t know of any blind folks who do that on a regular basis, and we certainly don’t go around pawing people’s faces for context. In a corollary to this, yes. Blind people date, have sex, get married, all that kind of stuff. Assuming that your blind protag isn’t a sexual creature is a HUGE mistake. Also, insinuating that a blind character can’t get married or have a partner because they’re blind reinforces that stereotype, which is super frustrating for those of us who are blind, and happily married. Our partners aren’t saints for being with us.

What are some social cues blind people might struggle with? Like looking someone in the eye?

Okay here’s another socialized thing. I have a hard time looking people straight in the eye because as a kid my peers had a hard time doing so. My eye creeped people out. Some people. Enough of them that it started to matter. Also, when you turn your head to not look someone in the eye, I can hear that and the sound is different.

Be polite and treat blind folks the way you would anyone else. That goes for in your writing too.

So you can’t echolocate?

Well, I personally can’t because I’m deaf-blind. But there are people who can! Like Daniel Kish. If you want to write about blind people who can echolocate, I suggest listening to this Invisibilia (Link: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/544/batman) podcast, though I’d say remember that while Kish might think all blind folks can echolocate, I totally disagree with that assessment from where I sit.

Man, sighted people come off sounding like dicks when you talk about this.

Here’s some stuff you can NOT do in your stories in order to make blind people look less like helpless creatures in the eyes (sorry) of your readers. Try not to have blind people getting help all the time, it makes us look like we can’t take care of ourselves. You know what would be really great? In your futuristic settings, give blind characters’ self-driving cars! (DO THIS FOR REAL, PLEASE. I WANT ONE.) Give your blind characters (and really any disabled characters you write) personal autonomy. Not all of us have it, even I have to ask for help frequently, but let your characters ask, not be given it without request.

So what are some tropes I shouldn’t write about blind people?

I’m so glad you asked this! For selfish purposes, I suggest you read my piece in the upcoming anthology Upside Down from Apex Publishing. My story is about the Blind People Are Magic trope! But really. Blind psychics, blind people who “aren’t really blind” (see Daredevil) or blind people who see ghosts are all pretty played out at this point. Also, blindness, especially the way that blind eyes like mine look, are used as a shorthand for evil or untrustworthy characters. Cataracts don’t need to be shorthand for creepy!

Really, what I want you to know is that blind people are people. Blindness isn’t a shortcut for personality. A blind person won’t be any nicer or meaner than a sighted people, they won’t be more or less likely to join up with the Dark Side of the Force.

Write blind people who are frustrated fourteen-year-old girls who want to fight the system, write blind people who are high ranking CEO’s ready to take down the world for their own profit, write blind people who are smart or who aren’t. Write blind folks who can ride wyverns, or who can ascend mountains with their trusty guide direwolves.

Write blind people who are whole and real and, well…..

People.

* * *

That is a bee-fly. It is not a bee, but rather, a fly that looks like a bee. Can you blame the fly? Flies are ugly little raisins. Bees are awesome. Everyone loves bees. If you are a fly, try to look like a bee instead. Bees get honey. Flies get turds. There’s your life lesson. Don’t be a fly. Be a bee. The end.

I’ve randomized 20 titles using this generator.

You will pick one (or random roll with a d20 or random.org number generator).

It will be your title. You will use this title to write a ~1000 word flash fiction story, and you will then post that story at your online space and drop a link to it in the comments below.

Ready?

YOUR TITLES ARE:

1. The Time and the Nail
2. Boys and Bones
3. Blondie’s Southern Rabbit
4. The Touch Will Come Second
5. Music-Box Earth
6. The Gun of Crow
7. The Forty-March Punch
8. The Hung Legion
9. Comb’s Dear Nightmare
10. The Present Will Be Infernal
11. Islandborn
12. Guardless
13. The Mesa Room
14. Two Skulls
15. The Revolt of Dorothy
16. From the Unseen Departed
17. The Metainsect
18. The Heist of Song
19. The Body Will Not Be Dimensional
20. The Gray Nothing’s Scar

Ah, Alex Segura. Author. Editor. Publicity genius. Raconteur. Rocket surgeon. Four dogs in a trenchcoat. What hasn’t been said about him already? Alex has a new book out — Down the Darkest Street, the next Pete Fernandez mystery — and he wanted to stop by and write a blog post about his experiences here, and of course he’s also a new father so the first draft of his blog post was printed out and mailed to me… and it was mostly just pictures of him staring awake into an iPhone camera late at night while a child wails over his shoulder, shellacking his neck with white baby frothpuke. Thankfully, his second draft was better. So, here he us, talking about the role of author, new father, and guy with a book out. How do you balance it all?

* * *

We’ve all been there. Hunched over our laptops, hitting refresh on our book’s Amazon ranking/Goodreads score/Bamboozle status. It’s a week before your novel is out and you’re stretching, STRETCHING for anything you can do to move the needle that one, tiny bit to get it over the hump. To give it that one extra inch of visibility that’ll help it succeed. Another guest blog? Another sponsored post? What will Reviewer X say? Maybe I should email my agent about that one thing….or my editor?

The events have been booked. The interviews have happened. The blurbs have been collected. You’ve done the Twitters and Facebook’d yourself silly. So you sit in a dark room and stare at your screen. You jump as your email signals a new message. You groan when you realize it’s a coupon code for Costco.

Pre-book anxiety’s a killer, huh?

A piercing shriek cuts through our dark apartment. I speed-walk to the bedroom and try to help my wife soothe our seven-week old son back to sleep, hopeful his zzz batting average is higher tonight than it had been earlier in the week.

Oh, right. We just had a kid. Forgot to mention that.

I knew going into 2016 that it was going to be a big, challenging time. I’d finally found a home for my mystery novel series with the wonderful folks at Polis Books. They were not only putting out my new novel, but re-issuing my first. Two books in a year? Ok, I got this. Two books on top of a pretty intense day job promoting and editing comics? I got this, seriously. Two books, intense day job and a baby.

I got this?

I’m going to fast forward past all the stuff you should know already: I love our kid, he’s amazing and cute, the first time he smiled melted my heart and it’s been insanely stressful and exhausting. I’m not speeding by this because I don’t think it’s important – it sure as hell is – but because all of that kid stuff? All the late-night wake ups, the doctor visits that are routine (to them, not you), the rage that comes when your only clean footsie has buttons not a zipper, the barrage of advice you get from everyone – from your closest relatives to the guy at your coffee shop – all of it adds up. It’s intense and each thing, good or bad, feels huge.

Because it’s important. Capital “I” important.

While I can make glib remarks about bringing three babies into the world this year, that’s not true/fair and a disservice to the kid, who is the only actual human we’ve brought into existence in 2016. So, my point is – “Baby Important” puts “Book Important” into super, hyper-focused perspective.

I don’t mean that in a holier-than-thou BOOKS ARE BENEATH ME way. Not at all. Silent City and Down the Darkest Street – those books have my heart in them. I first put pen to paper on my debut almost 10 (!!!!!) years ago. Getting them published has been a long, winding journey – one a lot of authors, I’m sure, can relate to. There’s a lot of me, my life and my ups and downs in there. They’re important milestones for me. Their success is, of course, important to me. But they’re not Baby Important.

What kind of perspective does having a tiny, 12-pound human that depends on you for its survival bring, you ask?

The kind of perspective that allows you to realize when you’ve done enough. You’ve set the plates and utensils on the table and prepared the food. All you can do now is sit back and watch people eat your meal. The perspective that allows you to take a breath, step back and let the chips fall where they may. The books are written.

Like Delilah Dawson said in this very inspiring series of tweets – there’s no top of the mountain when it comes to writing/publishing. Even if I write the bestselling-est of bestsellers, I’ll probably write another book after that, no matter what. The writing, for me, is something I have to get out and process and create. It’s going to happen anyway. I need to write. Would it be great to get billions of people to read my books? Hell yes. But those are the possible perks, not the targets.

And while I can’t say I don’t read reviews, refresh my rankings or spend more time in my email inbox than is probably healthy, I do it less frequently now. Not because I don’t care, but because I’d rather put my phone down and play with my kid.

HAHAHA – wait, you thought it ends there? Not quite. The writing stuff never stops, even when the promotion phase is complete. Case in point? I’ve got a third novel in my agent’s hands and half of a fourth screaming at me to finish. That might SOUND like it’s good – but it also means there’s a lot of writing work to be done, like revisions, copyedits, you name it. The beat goes on. And while taking care of Pete Fernandez, my series character, is nothing like trying to raise a newborn – they are definitely two things that need constant upkeep, in their own way. It’s just about finding the right perspective – and balance.

I hope they get along.

* * *

Alex Segura is a novelist and comic book writer. His Miami crime novels Silent City and Down the Darkest Street – featuring washed up detective Pete Fernandez – are out now from Polis Books. You can find him at www.alexsegura.com or on Twitter @alex_segura. He also edits THE SHIELD from Dark Circle Comics – co-written by some guy named Wendig.

Down The Darkest Street: Indiebound | Amazon