Paul S. Kemp Q&A Thread (Crosscurrent spoilers)

KF,

I'm only now kicking around details for the Crosscurrent sequel, so I couldn't answer that even if I wanted to.

 

Hi Paul. I only picked up Crosscurrent the other day and I've been swamped with uni work so I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Since I lack sufficient knowledge to ask an in depth question, right now I'll simply ask which is your favourite? Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi?

 

Thank you, JD.

The One Sith's ultimate motivations are unclear. Wyrrlock told Kell that Krayt had had a Force Vision regarding the station, but the substance of the vision (and what thoughts/schemes it might have triggered in Krayt) were not detailed.

I can't imagine Jaden not reporting back to Luke and the Order.

 

ESB.

 

I'm sure as an author you get asked this all the time, but as you may know there are a lot of budding creative writers in the Star Wars community. So I was wondering if you could enlighten those of us who love to write but don't know what to do with it when we're done.

What kind of path does one take to get to the point of publishing novels, be it your own IP or working in an established universe like Star Wars? What steps in your early career do you feel most established you for later success? How did you come to work in the Forgotten Realms and Star Wars universe? Did they approach you or you them?

Finally, I was wondering what the process of publishing a novel is like. Do you first write the novel and then try to get it published, or do you approach a publisher with a concept and get something worked out first? How does the process differ between wholly original works and working in an established IP?

I know that was a lot of individual questions, don't feel obligated to specifically answer each one, any advice and insight you can offer would be received graciously.

 

I believe he is talking about how Jaden starts with a lightsaber in JKA. Rosh even asks him how he made it without being a Jedi and he says it's a long story.

 

Slaign,

The path is different for each author. Some writers start out writing short stories, submitting them to mags with open submissions policies, and, once published there, move on to write longer works. Some writers write their own novel and pitch it directly to publishers with open sub policies (there are fewer and fewer of these anymore), or start pitching it to agents, etc.

For me, I responded to an open call held by Wizards of the Coast about ten years ago. I submitted a couple chapters of my novel, they liked it, asked me to pitch something for a forthcoming series, they liked that, and off things went (this is how Erevis Cale, my signature character, was "born").

Before I ever did that, though, I hung around on writer's forums, read the blogs of published authors for advice, and joined an online critique group (in my case, Critters, at www.critters.org). All of that was very helpful.

In terms of differences between original work and tie-in work-- typically (but not always), an author completes an original work and then submits it to the publisher for consideration (the process for established writers is often different, as publishers may buy a book off an outline, or a small sample, or the author may have already signed for multiple books). Tie-in work is virtually never done that way. Instead, a writer is selected and then the book is written.

 

Ah! Thank you.

I suppose I could be all cryptic and whatnot here, but the actual answer is: I don't know. As I mentioned above, I haven't gotten into the weeds yet with regard to the CC sequel, so I don't yet know the answer to questions like this.

Might make a nice short story subject, come to think of it.

 

I'll ask one.

Q: So, Paul, what's with that Anzat in Crosscurrent? Some people seem to really dig him, but some people are just wondering what in the Hell he's doing in the book. Isn't he just some extraneous psychic vampire dude? What, we're you trying to get Twilight readers or something?

A: Man, I always get the weirdos. But okay. First, let me say that I'm a firm believer in readers owning my books once their out of my hands. My intent with particular aspects of a novel is relevant only for informational purposes. Each reader actually experiences the novel as they experience it, and my intent is irrelevant to that. That said, here's my intent with Kell:

Thematically, he's the certainty to Jaden's doubt. Given that, he's also supposed to symbolize Jaden's past (remember it was certainty that got Jaden into 'trouble' on Centerpoint) catching up with him.

That's all the artistic rigamarole.

From a plot perspective, he's the stalker archetype who 'interfaces' with the reader but about whom the protagonist is ignorant. He's the sword of doom hanging over the protagonist's head, meant to ratchet up tension and raise the stakes at key moments.

Of course, he's also just an Anzat assassin with an unusual pseudo-religious fixation who is sent by the One Sith (for their own purposes) who later fixates on Jaden.

So, there you have my thinking and intent with regard to Kell. Obviously, that intent translated well for some of you and not well for others.

Oh, and yes, I was using him to get some Twilight readers. Sue me.

 

Hi Mr. Kemp, great to have you here! I loved your novel and have just a few questions:

1) Your Anzati was cool, sadly he did not survive. Can we get more Anzati in your future projects like the Sequel f.e.? Pleaaaase. they are not featured a lot in the EU and not since their first introduction in the Tales of the Mos Eisley Cantina books were they written so awesome like in your novel. Their clone wars comic appearances were good but yours was better.

2) I loved your Force philosophical parts of Jaden. I hope you will get a chance to write more Jedi like that and can develop other characters further that are less represented in other works, or even get a chance at the main characters one day. Though sticking to minor characters is what the EU needs Now to the question: If you could pick one of the countless Force traditions aside from Jedi and Sith, which one would it be and why? Or would you like to introduce a new one? If so how would that one be like?

3) What do you think is missing in the Star Wars EU? What does the EU need, or what should it reduce in favor of what else?

PS: Some parts you wrote in the Research station were creepy. Reminded me of the new star wars horror novel Death Troopers. Loved these parts in your novel and hope to get more like that. Would you write a horror novel?

PS: I noticed in your book caf and vomiting does happen a lot.. (not connected to each other though )

 

at last he did not steal Jaden's girlfriend... though I want Anzati in romance one day in fiction, Jaden needs to get a girlfriend first! Please provide one. Oh and while we are at shipping, Kyp has a secret girlfriend since the New Jedi Order... but it was never shown. Kyp Durron's girlfriend needs to be revealed, please throw that into your sequel somehow!

 

Thank you very much for your reply! It was very informative.

 

The dude was Force-sensitive, right?

I'm also curious as to how closely you worked with John Jackson Miller in developing the stories of the Harbinger and the Omen, and if it was your idea to tie them into your novel?

 

Hello Paul,

I haven't read the book yet (I will as soon as my school reading goes down a bit...), but I've always love the 'time travel' type of stories (I guess that's why Time Machine is one of my favorite books. lol)

Any way, here are my questions:

1) Who is your favorite Star Wars character (film or EU) & why?

2) If Lucas Books came to you & said you had free reign to write a novel with any character in any era, which character(s) & what era(s) would you include in your book?

 

I mean, we only know that he constructed his first lightsaber with no prior knowledge of the Force. Will we discover in a future book how did he manage to do it?

Thank you for your time.

 

Mr. Kemp,


I think I speak for all of us when I say that we really appreciate you doing this and that we hope to see you around the boards in the future!
I have kind of a random question. We see several references to Jaden being bearded in the novel. I was curious as to why you added this to his visual appearance, and (and maybe I'm just a fruitcake on this one)if is an intentional allusion to his own Master Katarn's famous beard??
I would also like to echo a previous question regarding whether the Harbinger plotline was part of the original plan for the storyline, or if it was something that LucasBooks specifically requested you put in.

Thanks alot!

 

Mr. Kemp,

Thank you for the explanation for why Kell was in the novel. I have to admit that I really liked his character and was sorry to see him go. Good villans truly are hard to come by. Why exactly did you decide to kill him? It seemed like he had a lot more to do for the One Sith.

Thank you

 

lol, now the next book is going to be a romance set on Zeltros.

Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions submitted Mr. Kemp.

So this Fhost and Farpoint are near Chiss space then on the edge of the Unknown Regions right? So with that in mind would it be possible to say that it was nearer to Borosk or Comra? Or Agamar?

Could it by chance be under the influence of the Imperial Remnant by chance? We have this wonderful Essential Atlas from Dan Wallace and Jason Fry and I'm just itching to narrow down where Fhost might be a little bit.

 

1. I enjoyed the Anzat too. I guess we'll have to see what the future brings.

2. Tough question. I find the Potentium an interesting approach to the Force.

3. You know, I dig on the EU and, from my perspective, don't think it's missing anything. From a creative standpoint, it offers a lot of opportunity.

And yes, I'd write a horror novel. In fact, I've got a kind of supernatural horror novel circulating with a couple publishers now.

 

In my mind, yes he was Force sensitive. In his mind, however, his ability transcended the Force and was something beyond it. See where that got him.

I initially proposed a spacecraft enduring a relativity malfunction and arriving in the present. At the time of that proposal, I believe the FotJ authors had separately settled on the idea of the Lost Tribe of the Sith being the result of a starship crash in the distant past. I believe (though I'm not 100% positive) that my editor at Del Rey saw a possible connection between the two stories and asked me if I could stick in a second ship that suffered a different fate. I thought -- Hmm, participate even tangentially in FotJ? Oh, hell yeah. And off we went.

I exchanged emails with JJM, Troy, Christie, et al as we ironed out details to make the various stories consistent. JJM (via my editor) sent me some material, and I sent him (via my editor) the sequences that occurred on Harbinger and Omen.

So, yeah, a fair amount of collaboration. Great people to work with all the way around. Made it easy.

 

Zebra,

First, I'm glad you enjoyed Kell.

Second, did I kill him off? ;-)

 

I was using it as a call back to Katarn. I conceptualized Jaden as leaning heavily on Katarn's teachings (as he remembered them) while he went through his crisis of faith, so the growth of a beard seemed appropriate as a kind of homage.

 

Robimus,

I'm sorry to admit it, but I'm a bit out of my depths when it comes detailed galactic cartography, so I don't think I can be of much help. :-(

 

All I can say to that right now is "maybe." I know it's vague and maybe that's a bit frustrating.

Paul

 

All,

I wanted to add something.

You may already have heard that Crosscurrent will hit the Times mmpb bestseller list on 2/14, debuting at #10. In addition, I was just informed that the book has already gone back for another print run. I just wanted to say thanks for giving the new guy a try. I really appreciate it.

Paul