JAMES LUCENO INTERVIEW

Jim Luceno is a veteran Star Wars author. He penned three books in the New Jedi Order series: Agents of Chaos I: Hero's trial, Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse, and The Unifying force. He also wrote Cloak of Deception, a tie-in to The Phantom Menace, and one of the nonfiction guides. His latest work is a Revenge of the Sith lead-in novel called Labyrinth of Evil, which features Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker hunting for Darth Sidious. He is also working on writing a novel set after Revenge, which will be called Dark Lord.

TUCWS: Hello Mr. Luceno, and thanks for taking the time to talk with us. To get things started could you give us some background info—where you're from, where you studied, and who were your past and present creative inspirations? At what point did you decide that writing was the profession for you?

Jim Luceno: I was born in Bermuda, and raised on a series of naval and marine bases in the States until my family finally settled into a working class town outside New York City, half the population of which were our relatives. Like my fellow boomers, I grew up on television, D.C. comic books, and MAD Magazine, all of which inspired me. I first thought about writing when I was twelve, and saw my drill sergeant dad deliver a dose of two-fisted justice to a local guy who had slapped one of my young cousins across the face.

TUCWS: How long have you been a fan of the science fiction genre? What intrigues you about SF versus fiction set in “the real world”?

JL: I started reading Bradbury, Asimov, Clarke and others when I was a teenager, but I didn’t try my hand at the genre until 1985, when I wrote scripts for a TV animated series called “The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers,” which led me into ROBOTECH, which led me into STAR WARS. In fact, I’m more intrigued by the real world than I am by science-fiction.

TUCWS: Tell us about your original stories outside of Star Wars. What are you working on now?

JL: For the most part, my original novels are – or were, since they’re out of print – action-adventure stories set in far-away places, and often based on tales I heard or people I encountered while working as a travel guide in Central and South America and Asia. Now that Dark Lord is behind me – the conclusion of the “Return of the Sith” trilogy – I’m granting myself a sabbatical from writing.

TUCWS: How does it feel to go into a bookstore and see your work on the shelf?

JL: Not as good as hearing one of your songs played on radio, but still a kick. Success, of a sort, has come late for me, so I’m not as over-the-top thrilled as I might have been twenty years back.

TUCWS: If you had not become an author, what do you think you’d be doing now?

JL: A life of crime.

TUCWS: Tell us a little bit about what goes into the production of a novel, from concept to completion. How does the process differ from Star Wars versus non-licensed work?

JL: The process of writing an original novel is much more organic. Characters and story lines grow from seeds that require careful, often passionate nurturing. Franchise work is somewhat deliberate, because you’re working with established characters that inhabit worlds with strict rules. There’s some similarity to writing historical fiction, where a writer isn’t permitted too many liberties. Also, STAR WARS is a collaborative experience, of a sort that is more common in TV series work. Perhaps most important, a STAR WARS writer can’t help but be aware that his or her work will almost certainly be read by several hundred thousand readers, where contracts for original novels don’t come with that guarantee. Finally, courtesy of the internet and the mindset of the hardcore readership, a STAR WARS writer can be sure that many people will weigh in on the work.

Give us a snap-shot of a typical work day for you—any interesting rituals, routines, or motivation techniques? How long does it take you to complete a book on average?

JL: Coming from a background of loud music, carpentry, and travel, I still struggle with getting myself to the word processor, and will typically place as many obstacles in my path as possible. I’ll attack some carpentry project, play guitar, kayak, listen to Howard Stern – all the while berating myself for not writing – and be lucky to make it to the computer by one p.m. I only write every day when I’m actually working on a project, and seldom for more than six hours a day. I spend a lot of time thinking through a book and fattening my initial outline before I tackle the act of “transcribing” it, so I can usually complete a 400-page manuscript in five or six weeks. By then I know the story so well that a second draft isn’t needed.

TUCWS: The obligatory question: what’s your favorite Star Wars film and who’s your favorite character?

JL: As of this writing, my favorite film is Empire Strikes Back. But Han Solo, Obi-Wan, and Palpatine are likely to remain my favorite characters, no matter what.

TUCWS: Were you a fan of the Expanded Universe before you got the gig to write Agents of Chaos? How did you end up working in the Star Wars line?

JL: I was a part-time fan long before I became a professional. Before the original STAR WARS license passed from Del Rey Books to Bantam, Brian Daley and I had been asked to submit outlines for a new line of tie-in novels and other books. IIRC, the plot focused on Luke's attempts to locate other Force-ful beings, and the efforts of a clandestine group of Sidious’ disciples to thwart him. Probably would have fallen somewhere between what Tim Zahn and Kevin Anderson eventually cooked up, but with more emphasis on mythical elements, as opposed to military campaigns. Probably more "fantasy" than SF, as well. Considering where Lucas has taken the film series, we would probably have introduced a whole load of inconsistencies. Although perhaps Lucas had thought through the prequels well enough to have veto-ed our initial ideas.

I spent months working on a book called “The Tao of the Force,” which, in the end, George Lucas nixed, saying that he wasn’t interested in having the Force become a religion. Take note, all you British Jedi. When the license returned to Del Rey Books, Shelly Shapiro hired me to consult on the development of the New Jedi Order series.

TUCWS: After an eBook, a nonfiction guide, and five novels with a sixth on the way, how comfortable are you working in the Galaxy Far, Far Away?

JL: Comfortable but not laid back. STAR WARS and I are not a perfect fit, and even after all those books I’m still trying to get it right. I’ve always attempted to write film-like novels, which prize action and description above all. I’ve also attempted to make the franchise as real as possible by referencing other sources wherever I can – sometimes to the detriment of the pacing – as a means of saying that events created by other contributors to the franchise have meaning and relevance.

TUCWS: So far what has been your favorite book—SW or otherwise—to work on, and is it also the one where you were most proud of the end result?

JL: I’m my own harshest critic, and typically see the weaknesses rather than the strengths. Each book has posed a particular challenge, but Cloak of Deception may be my favorite. Since that one, my assignments have often compelled me to cram as much as possible into small packages, and to tie up many loose ends. Aaron Allston once called The Unifying Force a giant NJO band-aid, so maybe I should be thought of as a kind of STAR WARS EMT.

TUCWS: Do you have a favorite scene or character—SW or otherwise—that you’re especially proud of?

JL: I liked the Grievous-Mace Windu fight atop the maglev in Labyrinth – or at least until I saw Spiderman 2 and watched the same scene unfold!

TUCWS: What did you think of the covers that were done for your SW books? Which is your favorite?

JL: I’ve had no say in the covers. Photos dominate the prequel covers, and those for the NJO books work best in context. I have no favorite.

TUCWS: Who are your favorite SW characters to write? Do you prefer to work with major or minor film characters, or your own original creations? What sort of tradeoff is there between the freedom to develop a background player or original character versus the thrill of writing for a film icon? Do you ever sit back from your screen, look at the writing in front of you, and go, “Hey, I’m putting words in the mouth of Luke Skywalker! How awesome is that?”

JL: I’m a realist about franchise work. Whether I’m writing the major characters or creating new ones I try my best to remain loyal to Lucas’s vision, and have even simplified my native writing style for a more straight-forward one. I think continuity is very important, so I stay on top of the novels, comics, and guides whenever possible. At this point, fifty writers have written Luke and the rest. My chief goal is to make them sound like themselves.

TUCWS: You've worked in several eras of the SW chronology. How is each era different from the others, and how does your approach differ?

JL: I’ve never had the chance to write in what has become the “Bantam era,” but if given the choice between the NJO and the prequel era, I would go with the latter, because it is epic and operatic. The language of the prequels is richer and almost melodramatic. The NJO required more of a real-world approach to the characters, and suffered from having too many storytellers. As villains, the Vong failed to measure up to our earliest conception of them. Early on we envisioned the Vong as having been influenced by ancient Sith. When George said "no way," we began to toy with the idea of an enemy that used its own form of the Force. This enemy was to have remained very mysterious through the entire first year of the series, and been gradually revealed from that point on. Instead, we wound up jumping the gun, and making them too human-like, even under the trappings of organic tech and barbaric religious rituals.

TUCWS: Are the Clone Wars what you envisioned them to be when you first saw Episode IV wondering what Luke was talking about in that conversation with Old Ben Kenobi? What was your initial reaction to watching Attack of the Clones, and how well do you think that it introduced the Clone Wars?

JL: The Clone Wars are very different than what I’d imagined when Brian Daley and I caught the first showing of STAR WARS at a multiplex on Route 4 in New Jersey. I saw the Jedi as an Arthurian or Samurai fellowship, defeated by a more powerful enemy rather than brought down by the machination of one Sith. That said, I’ve enjoyed watching Lucas’s vision unfold.

TUCWS: Besides Labyrinth of Evil, what was your contribution (if any) to the Clone Wars books, comics, games, and so on? Had you been following these tales before you were assigned Labyrinth?

JL: I read the original outlines and manuscripts for the novels and comics, in all their versions, and discussed them with Shelly Shapiro and Sue Rostoni. I also wrote the DK Visual Dictionary for Revenge of the Sith.

TUCWS: When and with whom did the idea for Labyrinth of Evil originate?

JL: When I was commissioned to write a prequel that would focus on Anakin and Obi-Wan, I said that I would like it to be more directly tied to the film than previous prequels had been. A reference to Cato Neimoidia in an early version of the script seemed a good jumping off point, but I still wasn’t sure where to go from there. At a meeting at LucasFilm in January, 2004, I drew up a list of questions for George Lucas, and Lucas’s responses provided me with much more to work with. I went to Mexico to think things through, and while there I happened to see a fellow traveler reading Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October, and thought: “The Search for Sidious.” From then on the central plot for the book began to take shape.

TUCWS: Labyrinth is closely intertwined with the Reversal of Fortune webstrip and Clone Wars Season III animated episodes. How closely did you work with Paul Ens and Cartoon Network to mesh your work with theirs?

JL: Unfortunately there was very little collaboration. I was under the proverbial gun to deliver a manuscript by May, 2004; so, immediately after the LucasFilm meeting, I started working on the outline. I had just received LFL’s approval when I learned about the Clone Wars animated series and about Dark Horse Comics’ on-again/off-again Countdown series. I was fairly dismayed after reading the outlines for both projects. All of us were starting and ending at the same places, but using different roads. Attempts were made to bring the three projects closer in line by divvying up the characters and the various plotlines. Dark Horse eventually ran with what became the Obsession series. But the animated series was more problematic, because it wasn’t going to be story-boarded, let alone completed, until long after my deadline for Labyrinth had elapsed. (The original outline, for example, included a fight aboard the train.) As for Reversal of Fortune, I didn’t even learn about it until much later in the year.

TUCWS: Was George Lucas involved at any stage of Labyrinth? Was there anything that you wanted to include but was shot down?

JL: George was involved to the extent that he provided answers to the many questions I had about Master Sifo-Dyas, General Grievous, Dooku’s allegiance to Sidious, the Prophecy of the Chosen One, the Battle of Coruscant, and more. The Sifo-Dyas background came straight from Lucas, as did Sidious’s words to Dooku before the duel aboard Grievous’s starship. I had already been asked to create a background for Grievous, but I asked George for his thoughts, and was told to think of Grievous as a joint product of the Banking Clan and the Geonosians. Regarding the Battle of Coruscant, in my early outline I had Palpatine being moved about as President Bush was in Air Force One on Nine-Eleven. George said, however, that I should rework this along the lines of what the Secret Service did with Cheney, which was to get him to a hardened bunker. There were many other instances when I asked for his input, simply because I didn’t want to second guess him, or base my plotpoints solely on my read of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. I wish I’d been allowed to do more with Padmé, and to bring Dooku and Anakin within striking range of one another, but to do so would have trampled on lines in the final script. I also had to be very cagey about maintaining the Palpatine/Sidious illusion.

TUCWS: By the time of Labyrinth, the war is winding down, with Palpatine about to drop the heavy end of the hammer on a mostly unsuspecting populace. There is tension between the Chancellor and the Jedi. Coruscant is turning to a police state. Palpatine has the Senate eating out of the palm of his hand. These are common themes in history and many works of literature. Did you have particular source material from which you drew reference? Do you feel that this can be applied to what is going on in the world today?

JL: The political subtext of the prequel films deals with the growth of dictatorships. Lucas has mentioned Caesar and Hitler. Some readers have accused me of including President Bush in the mix, but this is not the case. I borrowed the term “Homeworld Security” from one of the Dark Horse Republic comics, and my play on “Axis of Evil” was not an attempt to draw parallels between Bush and Palpatine, but to pay light-hearted homage to what I consider a very interesting phrase. Personally, I’m more concerned about censorship-obsessed individuals like Tom DeLay and Joe Lieberman -- who even resembles Palpatine!

TUCWS: On a more cheery note, do you plan to hit any conventions or bookstore appearances anytime soon?

JL: I’m going to be out of the country for most of April and May, and have no appearances booked. Perhaps when Dark Lord surfaces in January, 2006.

TUCWS: Final question for now: what advice can you offer to aspiring writers and authors?

JL: One way to get yourself writing is to keep a journal. Early on, I kept a journal that contained not only my impressions and recollections, but also every germ of a story idea. I read voraciously and across the board, paying close attention to the way individual writers approached action, dialogue, and exposition. But I don’t believe that study of that sort is a prerequisite for writing fiction. By way of analogy, some bass players I know learn the instrument by playing parts of their favorite songs note for note, if an effort to understand what can be done with given chord progressions. Others -- notably Flea, of the Chili Peppers -- claims never to have done that; that simply by playing -- which is comparable to simply writing -- he learned what worked and what didn’t, and he developed a unique style as a result. The equivalent would be to write without worrying about accepted grammar, capitalization, punctuation, or spelling – or even about “story.” Just get your thoughts or descriptions on the page, accepting that they can always be refined later. And trust that you will eventually find your voice and your style.

Conducted by Nathan O'Keefe, April 2005

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