June fan art showcase
Plus, Children of the Storm, Temptation of the Force and the infamous High Republic whiteboard!
Hello, hello, hello!
I am up to my neck in writing a short novel! 20,000 words in four days so far. Thud!
I'm sure you'll forgive me if I don't write much for this week's newsletter, mainly because I think if I do my fingers might fall off and I'll have to write tomorrow's words with my nose, toes or exhausted author's tears!
BUT, the good news is that a picture is worth a thousand words, so this gives me a chance to showcase some of my favourite High Republic fan art of recent months.
As always, I'm always blown away by the talent out there in the fandom. The fact that folk spend so much time creating art of our characters means so much to me. If you need a reminder that love creates while hate tears down, here it is.
Let's scroll!
And that's just a small sample. Please keep sending me fan art. You can tag me on Instagram or post links in the comments below. It really does make my day!
NEW BOOKS
Staying with the High Republic, Temptation of the Force by Tessa Gratton came out yesterday and has it all! Intrigue! Romance! Action! As I said on Instagram, it's my favourite book in the series so far. Tessa was born to write SW!
Oh, and Children of the Storm is also out, collecting the first four issues of The High Republic Phase 3 from Marvel comics, written by me and featuring the art of Ario Anindito, Jim Towe, Marika Cresta and more!
Check out the links here for where to buy Temptation of the Force and here for Children of the Storm!
ASK ME ANYTHING
It's been a bit of a High Republic newsletter, so let's stick with the Golden Age of the Jedi for a couple of questions.
First up is subscriber, McKenzie Selwyn:
Last week, you talked about your first week brainstorming the High Republic at Skywalker Ranch. Do you ever regret writing 'dinosaurs' on that whiteboard? What was that all about anyway?
Ah, yes... the famous whiteboard. Some might say infamous!
If you don't know what we're talking about, then you, my friend, have made exceptionally good choices in your life.
But to explain...
The first thing we did in our very first session was brainstorm things that we:
a) Love about fiction.
b) Love about Star Wars, and:
c) Want out of our Star Wars fiction.
Words started flying about, as captured in a promotional video for the project, which showed the board early in the process before it was absolutely smothered in words left, right and centre.
We had no idea how much certain corners of the fandom would obsess over this board... analysing it... making assumptions about it... In fact, I would say that more time has been spent online talking about this board than we actually spent working on it. It was just one in many, right at the beginning of a brainstorm, a leaping-off point rather than an end in itself.
The main problem for some folk seemed to be that 'diversity' appeared twice: once in the column about things we love in our fiction and once in the column about things we hope to include in our version of Star Wars. Okay. It's all personal choice at the end of the day, but for me Star Wars, like all good fiction, should be as diverse as the world we live in, more so in fact as Star Wars is supposed to be larger than life. And if we believe Star Wars is a world where people accept that a fish can be an admiral then I think we can also assume that those same people will except each other no matter the colour of their skin, their gender, their sexuality, their ANYTHING! If the good people of a galaxy far, far away have no problem with diversity, then why should we? At the very basic level, it makes storytelling more interesting, and we all want interesting stories because stories rule!
And, yes, then there are the dinosaurs. Yes, every now and then strangers shout at me online because of the dinosaurs. In fact, more people shout about the dinosaurs than diversity. What were we thinking? Why weren't we taking this seriously?
But do you know what we were... we were taking it incredibly seriously. This was a daunting experience, and we were easing ourselves into it, using the brainstorming to create a safe environment that we could work in... and someone made a joke!
That's right, a joke.
One of the team, Daniel José Older, had just written a book about dinosaurs and was, understandably, incredibly excited about them. He mentioned them a lot, not in relation to Star Wars but in relation to everyday life. It became a joke, so when the question of what we'd love to see in Star Wars came up, someone—not Daniel—shouted out 'dinosaurs'. We laughed, we wrote it down, and we moved on. Because this is what happens when you're working together on a project, when you're trying to build a team. You make jokes. You laugh. You play.
Play is great. It opens up creativity like nothing else. Don't believe me? Check out Light and Magic, the amazing series about ILM on Disney+. Those people played. They played hard. And they created magic.
So, no, I don't regret dinosaurs being written on the board. Looking back now it reminds me of a great week working with great people that led to seven years of great work. Seven years and counting.
Although there probably should've been more dinosaurs thinking about it!
Phew, that was a long answer. This one will be quicker.
JMJ asks:
Is Brother Rrkak from THR Phase 3 issue 8 a Mist Weaver?
Yes!
Told you it would be quick!
If you want to ask me a question, you can leave it in the comment section below or use my handy AMA form!
THAT'S ALL FOLKS
And now I must get back to writing those words!
Don't forget to check your inbox for another Perfect Sunday on, well, Sunday.
Until then, as always, look after yourself and each other.
