Lit Lit Exclusive: Dave Wolverton Addresses Fan Criticisms of The Courtship of Princess Leia, & MORE

I liked the novel - and even if I didn't like Han's decision to do the kidnapping - the idea of him "reverting" under stress is a plausible one.

 

YES TO SPACE FABIO.

Personally, though...after the epic feels I got reading that adorable scene with Han and Leia sharing stale rations waiting for fiery doom near the end of LSatSoM, and then seeing this novel, which takes place around 3 to 3.5 years later...words kinda fail me. It also blows my mind slightly that Mon Mothma would think that little of Leia by that point in time. But errrrrrkay.

 

Meh. The big problem with that explanation (well, one of the big problems with that explanation) is that the novel's relationship dynamic between Han and Leia never made much sense chronology-wise. I mean, this is four years after ROTJ. They really should have achieved some kind of relationship stability right now. It doesn't particularly mesh well with later continuity, but even without that, it's just kind of weird.

 

YES TO THIS, so hard; glad to see I'm not totally crazy about feeling this way either.

 

But, let's be realistic.

Everyone has a "rocky point" in their relationship at some time, whether it leads to a breakup or not.

 

I enjoyed the novel, and would actually like to see the author return to rebuild the culture on Dathomir (post-SOD). We've got Ventress and Maul running around, plus any other Nightsister / Nightbrother clans on the planet. I'd also like to see some of these characters in the ST. The introduction of the Nightsisters and Dathomir expanded my view of the Force, beyond just Jedi / Sith - the CW series went even further. I hope to see more, and I'm glad TCOPL laid the foundation for this element of the Force mythos.

 

The Courtship of Darth Maul.

C'mon Wolverton. You know you want to.

 

You gotta best him to bed him.

Actually all it takes is a mean foot massage.

 

So, did you hear?
What?
Darth Sidious threw Darth Maul through a freaking window!
Way I heard it, it was over just a foot massage.
Just a foot massage? Uh uh, it's never just a foot massage.

 

Good news for Darth Maul/Kenobi shippers

 

Though I never bothered with COPL (though I should just for Witches/Nightsisters, or just cuz), I really like Wolverton's enthusiasm for it and Star Wars.

 

There's a sort of sense to it (Han's characterization as explained by Wolverton), it's not completely stupid, but I don't know if I agree with it, I don't know if that's the direction that should be taken. I mean, yeah I guess Jacen could turn to the dark side post-NJO, but I'm not sure he should. Obviously the example with Jacen is so much more specious, egregious and destructive.

Having never read COPL, I find it impossible to be in any way annoyed by Han's characterization in it.

Still, I like Wolverton's attitude and just the way he's honest and humble in his answers.

 

Holy carp, these actually existed? I've always wondered, but pre-internet it's hard to tell.

With a few exceptions, all of the Bantam SW authors seem pretty humble about their work. My guess would be that it's tied to the episodic nature of the era.

 

Thanks for the interview! Great stuff.

I wonder what his thoughts are, more specifically, on TCW taking only the Nightsisters and making them all uniform, no uniqueness. Ditto to who said the thing about Maul being a "Nightbrother." I much prefer the idea of the "good" witches to the Nightsisters, though they are probably both necessarily for complimentary reasons. I didn't like canon basically eliminating one-half of the pair.

Also, he put my complaint (and many others' complaint) about the Han/Greedo scene much better than I ever have... He captured perfectly what that scene originally was conveying. Changing him to shoot second totally upsets the character arc of Han. You're supposed to think he is just a money-driven gun-for-hire with no moral barometer at that point.

 

I can't believe its not butter.

Interesting interview. Han could've been a heavy drinker and it fueld his othello sybdrome. Lucas may of liked the idea of a broken marriage as he went through a few himself or any case estranged relationships and Anakin and Padme always had some conflict going on and off in the movies or series. I never really came across anybody that didnt already know that Han was an outlaw and smuggler type and it seemed like the Rebel Alliance took whatever help they could get even mercenary as they paid him his reward. In the movies it was clear he was hot tempered and self centered but with a heart of gold. He had a conscious behind all the gruff exterior and a loyalty to his friends. He was jealous of Luke, and Luke of Han as there was a competition for Leia's affection starting in ANH. Han didnt find out Luke was her brother until basically end of ROTJ and which which was only really after Leia found out. Han also didnt care for Lando trying to smooth talk Leia not that she fell for the phony charm but Lando was a con artist and criminal himself(gambler ect).

 

Necro thread is necro...

This person has big-time problems with Courtship. For some reason, this is front-page news on Yahoo! right now.

http://io9.com/the-dumbest-thing-the-star-wars-expanded-universe-did-t-1740235732

 

Holy thread revival.

 

Blame Yahoo! for putting it on the front page tonight.

 

still it's a pretty funny rage-read, I haven't read the book since, well, I got the Hardcover 20 years ago so it's a fun recap.

 

Most of those were one-and-done, for-hire projects as an aside to authors' original work--as opposed to the stable of regulars that developed in the '00s with the plus and minuses that entailed--so I think the authors were a lot less ... shall we say ... invested and insular some of those regulars became.

Plus, taking on what was essentially a random tie-in novel in the early to mid '90s, with little expectation it would amount to anything long-term, is a much more relaxed project than jumping into the deep end in 2000 or 2005, where every story has permanent consequences as well as antecedents to be considered, and with rabid fans always on their case and putting them on the defensive in every interaction. (The easy access to authors that the Internet provides is overwhelmingly a boon, and I certainly wouldn't trade it for the olden days, but sometimes that does lead to interactions becoming more personal and stressful than in the days when your closest degree of contact was an interview in the Insider.)

 

Oh wow, I only just read this. I guess I have to thank anakinfansince1983 for my new signature, 1-year-delay notwithstanding