SPEAKER 1: Hey, everyone.
Welcome to our talk today.
We have here Timothy Zahn.
TIMOTHY ZAHN: Hello.
SPEAKER 1: He is the author
of his latest novel, "Thrawn."
You've also written a bunch
of other "Star Wars" novels,
including "Heir to the
Empire," and you said over
50 short stories and
novellas at this point?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: Well, over
50 novels, 11 of them--
"Thrawn" is the 11th "Star
Wars" novel-- over 50 total,
and something over 100 short
stories and novelettes.
SPEAKER 1: Wow.
Cool.
TIMOTHY ZAHN: But I've
been at it since 1980,
so you know, I've
had time to do this.
SPEAKER 1: So we have
a bunch of questions
from Googlers for you today.
The first question
we have is, having
written for both the old EU
and the new Disney canon,
were there any
noticeable differences
in how much creative control
you had over the official "Star
Wars" continuity?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: Not a
lot of difference.
When I started with
the "Thrawn" trilogy,
no one had been allowed to write
post-Return of the Jedi before,
so I had a very clear canvas.
And I could basically
suggest what
I wanted to do to Lucasfilm,
and at that time, Bantam.
And they would tell
me, yes, this is fine,
or this may be
encroaching on something.
But I didn't have to worry
about running into anybody else.
I think Dark Horse
Comics was doing
a series at the same time, but
it was a pretty clear canvas.
As time went on and more
authors got involved,
the canvas started
getting filled in,
and there were dangers of
running over each other's toes,
duplicating what
everybody else was doing.
I think there are two, possibly
three, different versions how
Han Solo got the Millennium
Falcon from Lando Calrissian,
with slightly different
dates on all three of them.
So at some point, Lucasfilm had
to make the call to say, OK,
this is the official one.
The problem back then was
that we had the publishers
and we had the
comic book people,
and we didn't know what
each side was doing.
It took Lucasfilm a
few years to get up
to speed on monitoring
all of it as well--
also in games and
all the other stuff
that was coming out as well.
Now, since the change to
legends and official canon--
I think they hate the word, but
we're stuck with it, canon--
the Story Group is in place
that is overseeing everything.
So unlike the old
days when nobody
knew everything
that was happening,
Story Group knows everything.
They know what comics
are doing, what
the movie's going
to be doing, the TV
shows, novels, et cetera.
So for example,
with "Thrawn," there
were a couple of cases
where I got a note back.
OK, TIE fighters don't exist
at the beginning of this book,
but they will come into
service part way through.
So at the beginning, use
this kind of starfighter,
and then you can add in
the TIE fighter later on.
So they help me keep
within continuity that way.
And they also, in
the other direction,
walk on character in
one of the chapters--
they came back.
This character's name
is very similar to one
that's going to be
used in another project
in the near future.
Can you change it so
there's no confusion?
Yeah, absolutely.
Search and replace--
easy enough to do,
but I wouldn't have known.
I don't even know what part of
the story of the "Star Wars"
saga this is coming at, but
again, they know everything.
So it frees me up
to write what I've
been authorized to write and
not worry about the details,
because there are people down
the road who will catch that.
- Cool.
How do you feel seeing
"Thrawn" on "Star Wars Rebels?"
Would you ever want to see
him on the big screen in one
of the live-action movies?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: You're
joking, right?
Absolutely.
[LAUGHTER]
No, I was flabbergasted when
I got the news that "Thrawn"
was going to be in "Rebels."
I think they've done a
terrific job with him.
How many of you have
seen "Rebels" all the way
through season three?
How many of you have not
seen it and are going to?
OK, so no spoilers, people.
But I think they did a great job
capturing not only the essence
of who Thrawn is,
but also the meta,
how he interacts with the
politics, the military,
his enemies, et cetera.
I'm looking forward
to seeing what they're
doing with him in season
four, which has been announced
as the last season.
I don't know where they're
bringing him, but we'll see.
Again, though, you also
have to remember-- people
who are nervous
about this, remember
that these guys Dave Filoni, the
Story Group, all these people
grew up with the
old legends books.
They grew up in the '90s with
the "Thrawn" trilogy and all
the others.
They are going to
be careful with it.
They love this stuff.
They are going to be cautious.
They're not going to change
anything they don't have to.
And Leland Chee, the
Keeper of the Holocron,
the man with the utterly amazing
memory for everything Star
Wars, said something
a few years ago
that I've always remembered.
This was before the sale,
before new movies, et cetera.
He said, everything in "Star
Wars" is somebody's favorite.
So the point of
that was, we don't
want to change something-- we
don't want to kick something
out of existence just
because we don't like it.
We are only going
to do something
like that if it's necessary for
stories that we want to tell.
So for example, they glossed
over the whole early days
after "Return of the
Jedi," in the call
for "The Force Awakens."
On the other hand,
Chewbacca's back,
so Vector Prime
either doesn't exist
or else, when they threw that
moon at Chewbacca, they missed.
[LAUGHTER]
Well, it's easy to do.
How many of you has ever tried
throwing a moon at somebody?
Yeah, it's not as
easy as it sounds.
So they are picking and
choosing what gets relegated as,
no, this didn't happen.
Everything else that
they haven't overwritten
is, kind of, still there.
It's often in the shadows.
They could bring it in
any time they wanted to.
So people will be able
to cheer the calm--
I have to give this speech
every convention at least
once, so you guys are
getting a preemptive.
SPEAKER 1: If you could change
anything about the Star Wars
canon, even things from the
movies, what would you change,
and why?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: I would
probably change how
Anakin fell to the dark side.
All the pieces were ready,
but it seemed too quick
when it happened.
I would like to see a little
more manipulation by Palpatine,
a little more hesitation,
or a little more--
after he's agreed--
questioning, not sure,
two steps forward, one
step back type of thing.
I think it happened
a little too quickly.
And it's a pivotal moment
in the "Star Wars" saga,
and I would like to have
seen that a little bit more
played out.
SPEAKER 1: "Thrawn" was
the first appearance
of the alien Chriss race which
went on to become popular
in the expanded universe.
What was it like to
see your creation
spread through "Star Wars"
more by other authors?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: It was exciting.
It can also be frustrating,
because a friend
coined a term, out-of-character
experience, when someone
has taken a known character and
done strange things with them.
Some authors do better
with characters or races
I've created.
Others don't do as well.
I try to avoid taking
other writers' characters
for that very reason.
I don't want to get them wrong.
The popularity of the Chiss has
been, kind of, amazing to me.
I don't play the online game,
because A, I don't have time,
and B, I suck at it.
But I've been told
that the Chiss are
very popular in that game,
as characters for the players
to play.
So I'm not quite
sure what it is.
I assume it's the legacy of
Thrawn, that if Thrawn is cool,
all the Chiss are cool,
so let's play a Chiss.
But when I finish a book, I
don't know if it's any good.
I don't know if anybody's
going to like it.
I know it's the best I can do,
but I know all the plot twists,
all the character arcs, all
the story arcs, all the jokes.
I can't assess it.
I have to wait until
readers get it and read it,
and then they make a decision.
So while I hope characters
like Thrawn and the Chiss
capture the imagination, there's
no way I can know about it.
Suddenly, we are getting echoes.
So it's always very
gratifying, but it's always
unexpected as well.
SPEAKER 1: Cool.
Are there any personal
favorite characters
you'd like to see return
to canon from the EU,
such as Mara Jade, Talon Karrde,
Gilad Pellaeon, et cetera?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: Yup, all of them.
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah, let's go ahead and just
address the Pellaeon issue.
A lot people weren't happy that
Pellaeon is not in any book.
Spoilers!
I think the thing
a lot of people
liked about Pellaeon
in the "Thrawn" trilogy
was the relationship
with Thrawn.
The but the Thrawn in
the book, "Thrawn,"
is not in the same situation.
He's not in overall command
of pretty much everything
imperial.
He is an up-and-coming officer.
He's dealing with superior
officers, some of who
recognize his potential,
others who just don't like him,
period.
You would not have that
dynamic that you had
before in Thrawn and Pellaeon.
Even if you brought
Pellaeon in here,
there didn't seem to be
any point in changing
that dynamic just
to shoehorn Pellaeon
in, which is why I
created Eli Vanto, who
is our point of view, our
Doctor Watson, the readers'
point of view into the saga.
As different dynamic,
one where now he's
going to grow, change along
with, and follow Thrawn's path,
he gets to do it as
well, whereas Pellaeon
would have been a superior
officer at this point.
It really wouldn't have worked.
But I would like to see Pellaeon
come back in at a proper time.
Obviously, Mara Jade--
people have been nagging
about that since, about,
a minute and a half
after "Thrawn" was revealed in
the London celebration trailer.
I think, about, the fourth
question that came up
was about Mara Jade.
And Filoni said, yep,
we knew this was coming.
Patience.
We'll see what
they do with that.
I think the popularity
of Thrawn in "Rebels"
and hopefully the
popularity of the book
will induce people
at Lucasfilm to start
looking at other characters
that are popular among readers.
Can we bring these
back and make them
popular for the general
"Star Wars" fan?
Remember, the readers
are a small subset
of overall "Star Wars" fandom.
And they needed to balance the--
OK, the readers really
want Thrawn back in,
but everybody else doesn't
even know who he is.
Can we make him a
compelling character again
and introduce him to all of
these other fans as well?
So we'll see what
they choose to do.
I'm ready anytime
they give me a call.
Yeah, I can have an outline to
them in, oh, three, four hours.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm inspired.
SPEAKER 1: What
kind of research do
you do before you write a book?
How long do you
spend researching?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: I do as
little research as possible,
because I'm lazy.
Typically, I do whatever
is needed at the time.
If I am in a "Star
Wars" book, if I
am about to go to some planet,
I will pause the writing,
look at the "Star Wars Atlas,"
cross-check with Wookieepedia,
and see if these
things will work.
So I do the research in bits
and pieces as I need it.
Sometimes, I need to do
something at the beginning,
but most of the research
is as I go along.
And again, as much of it
as I could make up and not
have to go into real
science, the better.
SPEAKER 1: Cool.
So you write a lot of short
stories in addition to novels.
Do you prefer writing
one more than the other?
Or how are they different?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: It's the
difference between a mural
and a little cameo.
Short stories have to
be very tightly written.
There's not a lot of time,
or there's not much time
for character development.
You can't do a lot
of plotting in it.
I'm of the opinion that there
are stories that are just--
every story is naturally
its own length,
that there are some ideas that
are short story ideas, some
that are novels, some
that are trilogies,
some, you know,
"Wheel of Time"--
what's a 10?
Dectology?
Something like that.
But when I get an
idea, generally,
at this point in my career, I
know how long it's going be.
For example, one of my short
stories 15, 20 years ago
was called "The
President's Doll."
The idea came to me as two
words, voodoo acupuncture.
Instead of you getting
the pin stuck in you,
the doll gets the
pin stuck in them.
OK, that is not going to
support a whole novel's worth,
but it was a great
short-story idea,
whereas something like
"Thrawn" or "Sibyl's War,"
the new series coming out
and starting next month--
that's at least a
trilogy, maybe five books,
depending on what
Tor wants from that.
"Thrawn" has a couple
of books for sequels,
pitching ideas to Del
Rey at this point.
Actually, Del Rey is interested.
The ideas are wending
their way through Lucasfilm
to make sure I'm not,
again, stepping on something
that I have no idea
is even out there.
- Cool.
Thank you.
One of my favorite things about
reading Thrawn as a character
is watching him make
decisions in warfare
that seem counterintuitive, only
to see his plan come together
in victory, sometimes
against insurmountable odds.
How do you orchestrate these
pieces of strategic warfare?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: I'm not
sure counterintuitive
is the right word.
Obscure, may be a better one.
In a lot of ways, writing
battles and such with "Thrawn"
is like writing a mystery.
You start from your endpoint
and work your way back.
Or OK, I know this is going
to be your initial setup,
and then you start playing
chess against yourself.
OK, this is the enemy's move.
Turn the board around.
OK, here's Thrawn's
move, and turn it around
for the next one.
And a lot of the battles
work out that way
as I'm writing them.
OK, we need a clever thing
here for the bad guys.
Let's see, this would work.
How is that going
to be countered?
And they just work
their way out.
And along the way,
I usually come up
with the obscure or
not-quite-noticeable facts
or details that Thrawn can pick
up that other people might not,
and then use those in building
the scene of the battle
or whatever.
SPEAKER 1: Cool.
What books have you
read recently or are you
reading right now?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: The book at home--
I read paper books at
home, I read on a Kindle
when I'm on the road because I
don't have the pounds to spare
for regular books.
The book I'm
reading at home is--
I think the title
is just "D-Day."
It's the story of all the
details of the Normandy
invasion.
What I'm reading
on Kindle right now
is, I'm going through my
complete collection of Sherlock
Holmes once more,
because those are fun.
SPEAKER 1: What made you
want to write sci-fi,
and what drew you into
writing for "Star Wars"?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: I always
was a sci-fi fan, always
read a lot of science
fiction-- some fantasy,
but science fiction
was what I liked best.
Working on a doctorate in
physics, in November 1975,
I watched a bad TV show.
I turned it off and I said, I
could write better than that.
[LAUGHTER]
So over the next two
weeks, in my spare time,
I wrote a story which
was pretty abysmal
but it showed how much fun it
was to write and finish stories
and such.
It was "The Invisible Man" with
David McCallum, by the way,
if anybody wanted to know.
I like David McCallum,
I liked him in "The Man
from U.N.C.L.E.," and
I liked him in "NCIS,"
but you've got to give the
guy something to work with,
even him.
So my adviser was
out of town a lot,
and the project was not working.
In fact, there was
a fatal flaw in it
and we didn't know at the time.
I started writing
in November '75,
and sold my first
story in December '78.
I sold my second
story in July of '79,
the day I found out my adviser
had died of a heart attack
the night before,
leaving me with,
as I said, a project that
was never going to work.
So I worked with a new professor
on new project for a semester,
and discovered I
couldn't write and do
a new project at the same time.
I had time, I just didn't
have enough mental energy.
I was having more
fun writing than I
was with this new project.
They'd also said, by the way,
two years, eight to 10 hours
a day, six days a week,
and you can probably
get your doctorate.
I wasn't sure I wanted to
invest that much time anymore.
So in December of '79,
I quit the department
and started working
full-time in 1980.
I started make a living in
1984, for those of you who
might be thinking about that.
[LAUGHTER]
Don't give up your day
job, especially a day
job as this one.
"Star Wars" was one of those
completely out-of-the-blue,
platinum-platter type of things.
In 1988, Lou Aronica, who
was head of Bantam Spectra,
contacted Lucasfilm, suggesting
that since George wasn't doing
anything more with
Star Wars, that Bantam
would like to pick up the saga
after "Return of the Jedi."
The letter languished
for about a year,
about that same time the
Lucasfilm people were
considering restarting
their adult fiction line
and looking around
for a publisher.
The two came together, Bantam
and Lucasfilm made a deal,
Bantam's editors were
asked to find an author,
they made up a short list,
Lucasfilm decided they liked
my style best, and I had a
November of '89 phone call from
my agent with the
understatement of the decade--
Tim, we have a very
interesting offer.
The two kickers of
that story are--
first of all, my editor
almost didn't suggest my name
at that Bantam
meeting, because I
had three books under
contract and she told me later
that she didn't want me getting
sidetracked with media stuff.
I think that was her terms.
The other kicker is, I'd
been with Bantam books
at that point for a
grand total of six weeks.
We had just left Baen Books,
because they couldn't afford
what my agent was going to ask.
And actually, Russ and I had
a couple of conversations.
He almost took me to Tor Books
because one of the editors
there really liked me,
and he thought, you know,
we could probably
get an extra 5,000
in advance for a
book out of Tor,
but I think Bantam is where
you really should be right now.
Little did he know.
[LAUGHTER]
So all the pieces just came
together, and the rest, 1991--
by the way, nobody knew
if those books would sell.
Nobody knew if "Star Wars" fans
were even out there anymore.
Well, this is '91, the
last movie was '83,
and the fans were very
quiet, because there's
nothing to glom onto.
So of course, they were quiet.
When "Heir to the
Empire" hit the stands,
the first spring was
gone in a couple weeks.
They were scrambling to, A,
print more copies, and B,
make more deals with
Lucasfilm for more books.
They ultimately did 12 more,
wound up, I think, like, 15.
Bantam's contract ran out, Del
Rey outbid them for the next,
and the book's been
with Del Rey ever since.
But nobody knew if the
"Star Wars" fans were there,
and they were, and still are.
And "Star Wars" is bigger,
brighter, and prettier
than ever, like Emerald City.
SPEAKER 1: Cool.
Do you hope we'll see
more of Eli and the Chiss?
TIMOTHY ZAHN: Let's see.
The short answer is, yes.
The long answer is, yes, please.
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah, again, I have
two sequels pitched.
Now, we're going to have
a little bit of a problem,
possibly.
My son pointed out that we have
the original "Thrawn" trilogy.
If I do two sequels
to this book,
that's another "Thrawn" trilogy.
His solution is, I
sell three more books
and make a "Thrawn" tetralogy.
So I'll have the "Thrawn"
trilogy, "Hand of Thrawn"
duology, and the
"Thrawn" tetralogy.
I mentioned this to the
editor a few conventions ago,
and she turned to one of the
other Del Rey people and said,
see how smoothly he does that?
[LAUGHTER]
So we will see.
I got at least two more in mind.
We'll see if the
market is interested,
if Del Rey's interested,
if Lucasfilm's interested.
There are always more stories
to be told in "Star Wars."
That's the great thing
about "Star Wars."
It's such a big galaxy.
There are always more
stories to tell--
pick new characters,
you know, meld them up
with older ones and such.
It's a wide-open universe.
It was always very
wide-open, with a lot
of stories to be told.
And it will continue to be
that way, and in the meantime,
we've got more movies.
We've got more TV shows,
we get more books,
we get more everything.
And lightsabers are cool.
What can I say?
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER 1: Thank you
very much for your time.
TIMOTHY ZAHN: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
