This blog tends to err more on the side of my professional life and updates on my book projects. Seeing as though I’m currently going through the process of trying to find an agent for my next novel, there really isn’t a whole lot that I can say is going on right now with that. My next novel has been through a few rounds of revisions and I’m pretty happy with it, but for right now I’m testing the waters of traditional publishing after a few years of growth as a writer.
What’s funny is that I also am finishing up a first draft on another novel. This one is still science fiction, in a broad sense, but more closely in line with post-apocalyptic fiction. It’s a story that I started working on back in 2004 as a group project of sorts, only to start it over again a few years ago. I really never saw myself doing much with it, but my wife read what I had at the time (which was about 10,000 words) and kept asking me when I was going to do more with it. Eventually that became my “distraction” when I needed a break from the Terminus Cycle follow-up and now I’m just about done with the first draft of that. Crazy, right? So I have essentially two books just about ready to roll, which I’m excited about. Whenever they happen.
Anyway, what mostly got me to sit down and write tonight was that I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens tonight. Going into it I was a bit torn, mostly because Star Wars has such a long, strange history. I’m not overly nostalgic or emotional about a lot of things, which can be a good thing, but also kind of a bummer to some people. I see a lot of the stuff that comes out pandering to my generation, hoping to loop in our kids into our depressing downward spiral of nostalgia with movies, toys, video games, apparel and everything else. Star Wars is perhaps the most toyetic and mass-marketed franchise in the history of man.
While that isn’t always an indicator of quality, it usually is a red flag that something might be worth skipping out on. Yet Star Wars, for all of its flaws and my complicated love/hate relationship with it, lives on and still endears me to this day. That’s something special, indeed. Even after the prequel trilogy (ugh) still hanging around the neck of the franchise like an albatross, hopes were incredibly high for The Force Awakens.
Even the trailers felt more like Star Wars than the prequel trilogies ever did, which was a big deal. The removal of George Lucas from the equation almost seemed key into bringing the series back to its past glory and beyond. I’m a firm believer that it’s possible to respect George Lucas and still find him to be more of a plague on the series over the past 20+ years or so.
Sure, JJ Abrams can take a lot of the credit for bringing the Force Awakens to life, but what was really exciting to me was the return of Lawrence Kasdan, a writer who is just as responsible for those great memories that we all have from Star Wars as George Lucas as. Initially brought into the Star Wars universe when George Lucas handed off the framework of a script to Leigh Brackett, who then passed away, Kasdan was brought in to finish the script for Empire Strikes Back. He quickly became the silent thread holding the whole thing together. While A New Hope was fine, in retrospect a lot of the problems that we all find in the prequel trilogy were also a part of Episode IV, just in smaller doses.
I’m not overly fond of publicly criticizing other writers, but George Lucas isn’t a particularly great writer, especially when it comes to stuff like dialogue, human emotions, characterization and pacing. Kasdan was able to bring the characters to life further in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and I’m really not sure why he wasn’t brought in for the prequel trilogies. Lucas handled the writing for The Phantom Menace on his own, collaborated with Richard Hales on the second prequel and then wrote the third on his own. Needless to say that simply didn’t work out.
Kasdan’s return, along with JJ Abrams and Michael Arndt put together one hell of a film in this that blended together nostalgia with new characters seamlessly. The new characters were center stage and their stories all felt important, while the older characters were there to add weight to their struggles. There was enough fan service to keep the old fans happy while still telling a new, valuable story and kicking off what should be a great series of films.
This movie was as close to flawless as a Star Wars film could get, which says a lot about it. Star Wars has never been overly weighty or grounded that much in reality, instead having more of a grand, sweeping fairy tale that has enamoured multiple generations. The story here definitely had weight, but there were also comedic moments worked in that fit the story, added depth to the characters without being as overt as some of the stuff that Lucas attempted to work in, showing that a deft approach at humor will always work out better than trying to bring in an animated comedic figure like Jar Jar Binks. The effects also felt a lot more in line with the aesthetics of the first trilogy, still feeling modern and fresh without having that overly polished, super CG look that a lot of films have.
Like I said before, I’m not an overly emotional person and I do get bothered by stuff like people trying to outdo each other with how hardcore of a Star Wars fan they are. I’m not the type of person who is going to show up at a premier like this all dressed up in a costume or being animated about much, but that’s just how I am. I’ve been a fan of these movies since I was a kid and have most likely seen the original trilogy dozens, if not over a hundred times now, as well as partaken in my share of merchandise sales. Hell, I’ve got well over $1,000 in Star Wars Legos lining my office right now. Still, you won’t find me publicly declaring myself THE BIGGEST STAR WARS FAN or anything like that, nor will I be changing my social media profiles with Star Wars images. That being said, there were quite a few times throughout the movie where I felt myself tearing up, stuff like the opening credits roll, nostalgia stuff or even some of the story points.
Maybe it was just being so damned happy that something Star Wars was finally working out, that it was finally getting the respect and attention that it deserved. This movie made me feel like a kid again and not just some analytical jerk looking for plotholes. There was definitely some magic in this film, which I can’t say for any of the prequel movies, which even on rewatches are incredibly difficult to sit through.
Oddly enough, 2015 has been a very good year for triggering what nostalgia is left in me, with Mad Max: Fury Road and Star Wars: The Force Awakens both coming out in the same year, both reviving long-dormant series that I grew up obsessed with, and both delivering far more than I could have ever imagined that they would. Hell, I’ll even take James SA Corey’s The Expanse being made into a show on SyFy and that show not disappointing as a win.
Seriously, if you enjoy science fiction and haven’t been up on your reading over the past few years, check out The Expanse on SyFy. Really, really good stuff. Stick through for the first four episodes, trust me, it’s worth it.