A&A The Official Chuck Wendig Q&A Thread - Chuck's Reponses Posted for 1st Round! (Aftermath Spoilers)

Greetings fellow Litizens!

Chuck Wendig, author of the recently released Star Wars novel Aftermath, has graciously offered to answer questions about his book, which is the opening to a whole new era in the Star Wars Universe and the first major story set in the new canon!



This is a great opportunity for the Literature Forum to get a chance to ask all the questions you've been dying to know about Aftermath and open up dialogue with one of the newest authors to join the ranks of those who have published a Star Wars novel. See below for rules & guidelines:

Rules & Guidelines

1. Post your question(s) in this thread. Please keep them clearly separated and defined.
2. Similar questions will be consolidated by myself & my fellow Lit Mods before they are submitted to Mr. Wendig.
3. Be creative! Chuck has graciously offered his time, so come up with fun, inventive, and in-depth questions.
4. Be respectful. Any questions that are rude, offensive, baiting, or insulting will be deleted from the thread.
5. Users who violate rule #4 more than once will be BANNED. Consider this your first and only warning.
6. This is NOT a discussion thread. This is a Q&A thread, so please keep side conversations about Aftermath to the designated discussion threads.
7. If we get too many submissions, we (Lit Mods) will select the top questions first to send to Chuck. He is very open to answering questions, but we cannot assume he will answer hundreds of them.
8. As Chuck answers questions, the results will be posted in this thread. The title will be updated to reflect that answers are here and the date they were submitted.

Again, I want to stress that this is a golden opportunity for the Lit Forum to get a chance to have some contact with Mr. Wendig. Hopefully he will even consider joining these boards, bringing us back to the days where fans & authors alike interacted and chatted in a fun, safe, informative, and respectful environment.



My fellow Lit Mods The2ndQuest, GrandAdmiralJello, Ulicus, and Point Given & I will be monitoring this thread regularly. We hope you all follow the rules, come up with great questions, and enjoy this unique opportunity!

On behalf of my fellow Lit Mods,

--Adm. Nick

 

How cool is this? Thanks to Mr. Wendig and the mods!

Given that both Aftermath and Lost Stars end on similar notes, with (not sure if I still need to use spoiler tags, but just in case)

Spoiler

Imperial fleets hiding in nebulae waiting for opportunities to strike the New Republic

I'm curious about how much interaction there was between he and Claudia Gray while their respective novels were "under construction." Did they each do their own thing and the Story Group assumed responsibility for making sure the pieces fit together, or was there any planning between them to "coordinate" their endings that way?

 

I'm always curious about how closely Star Wars authors follow the ongoing canon. Aftermath has a number of references to other works, such as Rebels and A New Dawn. Did you do a lot of research and catching up before you wrote Aftermath? Even with the recent reboot, there's still quite a lot of content encompassing the Star Wars saga, was it overwhelming to work in a universe that has such an established continuity?

And thanks to Nick for setting this up, and to Mr. Wendig for answering our questions!

 

If no one minds me submitting a second question, I'm curious about whether Mr. Wendig had a more specific timeframe in mind for the events of Aftermath. We know it's set "months" after Endor, but is it, say, four months after Endor, or six months, or...? (I know his answer will probably be unofficial - from what I've read elsewhere it appears that Story Group decides the timeline placement - I'm just curious about whether he had something specific in mind as he was writing it.)

 

I'm not after details, just maybe a general indicator - will you be following up on the interlude with Han and Chewie heading off to Kashyyk?

(I seem to be in the great minority on this board of really liking those interludes as a way of showing the wider picture.)

 

I would like to know if certain "interlude" chapters will develop into full length stories later on? The mandalorian sheriff on Tattooine for example.

 

I figure I'll ask a few basic questions. I'm sure others will ask about the nitty-gritty details. It's really cool that Wendig is participating in something like this.

Why did you choose to include Sloane?

Will there be interludes in the next book?

 

Cool, I was hoping something like this would happen. Thanks to Chuck Wendig for doing it and to Nick and the other mods for setting it up.

Will you be following up on some of the interludes present in the next novel? I'd like to see quite a few of those characters again, particularly Olia Choko.

When writing the characters, did you picture any particular actors playing them?

Edit: Do you have a favorite alien species from SW?

 

Two droids enter the field of combat: Mr. Bones and Chopper. Which one leaves?

 

Wow, this is a really cool thing. Have to say great job on the book, definitely looking forward to the next.

I read in Insider that most of the book's plot was your own creation. Does this also include the interludes (which were my favorite parts of the book)?

As a follow-up, which interlude did you enjoy writing the most?

 

I'm very interested in hearing about your initial reaction after the first conversation. How were you approached? What did you know before signing on? Just as many behind the scenes details.

 

Does Mister Bones keep saying "Roger, Roger" because Temmin couldn't program the "Roger, Roger" response outta him or did Temmin just like keeping the B1 saying "Roger, Roger"? Also does Mister Bones still kinda sound like a squeaky B1 when he talks or izzat gone too?

 

I've got three that I have been wanting to ask:

1. When writing political leaders like Mon Mothma or military leaders like Admiral Ackbar or Admiral Rae Sloane, do you find yourself even looking for inspirations from real world leaders, past or present?
2. We learn in one of the first interludes that Mon Mothma plans to cut military spending by 90% and devote those resources to other areas, including bolstering the militaries of member worlds, once the Empire is defeated. How achievable is this goal given the state of war? Is it more significant in that it is a goal in of itself? What role do you think the New Republic's federal Starfleet would play in this scenario?
3. Akiva is mentioned to be the first Outer Rim world to join the New Republic. However, well known Outer Rim worlds like Mon Cala are presumably already part of the New Republic. Was this a harmless typo or is Akiva the first "non-Rebel aligned" world in the Outer Rim to join the New Republic?

--Adm. Nick

 

Were there any references to past canon work that you decided to not include in Aftermath?

What was it like working with film characters (Chewie ,Han, Mothma, etc)?

Who was the hardest character to write?

What was it like working with the Lucas Film story group and how much input did they have on the novel?

What gave you the idea of the interludes and how did you decide where they would be set and what would happen in each?

I loved Aftermath and can't wait for Aftermath 2!

 

Endorse.

 

Thanks to all involved in making this happen.

My biggest question: There has been a lot of discussion (and arguing) over what Wedge exactly meant when he said that the Empire's beginnings were in the outer rim. Is this something that will be expanded on going forward in the new canon or is it simply referring to things such as the death star plans coming from Geonosis and the clones from Kamino?

 

I forgot to mention that we will be taking questions until early next week. Probably stop around Tuesday, at which time questions will be tallied, reviewed, and sent to Mr. Wendig!

--Adm. Nick

 

Something to the effect of Sloane being Nu Pelly.

 

Kind of a follow-up to this, but maybe just a rephrasing of the same question--I wonder if he personally views Mon Mothma as making an objective mistake here. A lot of people are assuming this decision leads directly to the FO's existence, while others see it as a positive sign of why the NR is better than the Empire (and, for that matter, the Legends NR). Does he see it as a "yay, democracy!" moment, or an "oh no" moment?

 

• Moving forward with Aftermath 2 and 3, I assume that we're going to be following the same group of characters for the most part. Will there still be interludes in the future installments or was that more just for the introduction of the trilogy?
• There are a lot of references to both The Clone Wars and Rebels right from the get-go. What's your opinion on both shows? Are they part of BDub's watch list as well as yours?
• Also, I heard that you tried to put in an HK-47 interlude and it got shot down. Was there anything else, either in the interludes or in the main story, that was verboten, or did they basically give you a free hand?

 

I was tempted to ask this, but since it ties to Mon Mothma's statement about putting "safe guards" in place (which may be another TFA reference), I didn't. I'll still use this as a question though!

--Adm. Nick

 

I'm just interested in the distinction between "this is a wise decision that may have unfortunate consequences" and "she's wrong".

 

Damn he most really love KOTOR

I have a sneaking suspicion that mister Bones is HK 2.0

Last question for Weding

Since you are Obviously a big fan Of KOTOR which one do you like better KOTOR 1 or 2?

Also when you mention Cut Lawquane in Aftermath is he died or alive by the time of the book?

 

• Are the Acolytes of the Beyond Force-Sensitive themselves?
• Were they part of the Imperial establishment prior to the collapse, like Inquisitors, or just some random civilians with mystic interests?