Abel G. Peña - Writer

[T-bone]

Please welcome Abel G. Peña to the Galactic Senate for a live chat on 02/20/06.

Abel is the author of a number of Insider articles, including Who's Who: The Imperial Grand Admirals in Insider 60, The History of the Mandalorians in Insider 80 and Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous in the current Insider (No 86) together with the soon-to-be-published-on-hyperspace supplement The Story of General Grievous II: Lord of War to be followed by Endnotes for the Story of General Grievous in his blog at the end of the month...

Some of his work can be read in these links:

Featured Blog: Only Sith Deal in Absolutes (http://www.starwars.com/community/news/blog/news20050718.html)

The Dark Forces Saga (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/article/sw20050407a)

Droids, Technology and the Force: A Clash of Phenomena (Hyperspace only) (http://www.starwars.com/hyperspace/member/insideronline/81/indexp7.html)

Abel posts over at TOS under the name "Halagad", particularly in these two threads:

The Story of General Grievous (http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jspa?threadID=243200&tstart=0)
and
The other Imperial Grand Admirals (http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jspa?&threadID=169992)

[T-bone]

Hi Folks - we're going to get started in a few minutes here so hang tight and start sending me your questions via PM.

Thanks and have fun!

[Abel G. Pena]

Hey, folks! I'm all set.

[T-bone]

The GS would like to thank Abel for coming to hang out with us tonight. Remember to PM me or IM me any of your questions and I'll get them posted for you as soon as possible. We'll need lots of questions tonight to keep the man busy so get started.

Welcome everyone and here we go...

[T-bone]

JediFan421 asks:

Mr. Pena, I have a few questions on your story on General Grievous, Unknown Soldier.

First, what ever happened to General Grievous's lightsabers and mask?

[I'll post the second and third parts after this one is answered - T]

[T-bone]

Reminder: remember to refresh your screen and keep an eye out for page changes...sometimes the post will move to another page and you're refreshing the old one...watch the bottom for pagination.

[Abel G. Pena]

Hey JediFan! Thanks for swinging by.

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 08:02 PM
JediFan421 asks:

Mr. Pena, I have a few questions on your story on General Grievous, Unknown Soldier.

First, what ever happened to General Grievous's lightsabers and mask?

Hopefully you enjoyed Unknown Soldier in Insider 86, the first part of the Story of General Grievous. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif As for Grievous' mask, he had at least two of them. The one he used while he was still flesh and blood, which he inherited from his dead pops, and the one armorplast one he carved to stick on the face of his cyborg body.

The original Kaleesh one ended up in the hands of Count Dooku, in the Visionaries comic story "Eyes of Revolution." It's possible Dooks got it back to Grievy, but the Sith Lord didn't really have such a hot opinion of the general, so he might have just trashed it because he could.

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[Abel G. Pena]

As for the mask Grievous carved himself for his droid body, that one has a bit of a story, which ties into the character N-K Necrosis (from the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies) as revealed in the second part of the Story of General Grievous, Lord of War (http://www.starwars.com/hyperspace/member/insideronline/86/indexp2.html). (You can access that if you have a Hyperspace subscription).

The N-K Necrosis experiment basically used Grievous' old cyborg body and recycled it to create a new, droid-killing machine. Obviously, Grievous second mask was still plastered to this droid's body. To make a long story short, Necrosis was defeated and dismantled, and Grievous' mask was illegally sold to a high-ranking Imperial admiral who likes to collect art... i.e. Grand Admiral Thrawn.

The idea was inspired by discussion with the fans on some message boards. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif You can learn the story behind that on my blog here (http://blogs.starwars.com/abelgpena/29).

[T-bone]

JediFan421 asks:

Second, you said that Adi Gallia was killed by Grievous but in Revenge of the Sith, she is killed by clones on Salecumi?

Finally, will you do anymore articles for Insider?

Thanks for your time and May the Force be with You!

[T-bone]

* welcomes Joe Corroney while we're waiting.

Everyone say Hey Joe!

[Joe Corroney]

Hey Joe! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif I mean hi everyone. Just enjoying the chat, keep the questions for Abel coming!

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 08:19 PM
JediFan421 asks:

Second, you said that Adi Gallia was killed by Grievous but in Revenge of the Sith, she is killed by clones on Salecumi?Just a case of mistaken identity. The comic Obsession has Grievous duke it out with Adi Gallia on Boz Pity, and that's where I got the information about her death from. The Gallia look-a-like who bites the dust in Revenge of the Sith is her cousin Stass Allie, who was sort of substituted for Adi back in Attack of the Clones.

Kind of odd switcheroo incidentally. We can have two actors that play Wedge in the same movie (A New Hope), but not two reasonably similar looking actresses play a character with zero lines in two separate movies? Ah well.

(more)

[Abel G. Pena]

What up Joe! Perfect timing...

[T-bone]

Remember - if you have questions send them to me in a PM or an IM (see my bio for IM info). I think we'll get to all your questions tonight if time permits so keep them coming.

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 08:19 PM
JediFan421 asks:Finally, will you do anymore articles for Insider? No question. I'm currently researching like mad for an upcoming Legacy of the Force tie-in, which Joe Corroney will be illustrating. It's tentatively called Vader's Legacy. The project will go into (duh) the legacy Darth Vader left behind after he kicked the bucket, including species he enslaved, his dark side strongholds, and the pupil's he trained in the Force.

I've been told it will appear in Insider #88, so barring a delay like there was with Unknown Soldier, look for it in a couple months. Also, the online supplment to the Story of Grievous has been a hit, so expect there to be another supplement accompanying this piece.

Besides that... there's a good chance Ms. Karen Traviss and I will be collaborating on something in the near future.

[T-bone]

Nathan Butler asks:

In "The Emperor's Pawns," you made an interesting choice to include other characters like Arden Lyn, rather than just Mara Jade, as Emperor's Hands. How did you go about deciding upon whom to include in that roster, and how much concern was there for bringing Arden Lyn (ostensibly a Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat "wannabe") into a more proper continuity context?

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 08:34 PM
Nathan Butler asks:

In "The Emperor's Pawns," you made an interesting choice to include other characters like Arden Lyn, rather than just Mara Jade, as Emperor's Hands. How did you go about deciding upon whom to include in that roster, and how much concern was there for bringing Arden Lyn (ostensibly a Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat "wannabe") into a more proper continuity context?Woah, an old schooler. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif What's up Nathan! Well, I don't take decisions like that too lightly, but in this case the decision was already made for me. When Dan Wallace co-wrote the first edition of the Essential Chronology, his portion of the text stated listed several other new Emperor's Hands besides Mara Jade (and Roganda Ismaren, who was introduced as a Hand in the book Children of the Jedi). So I basically took that as a jumping off point. His list included Arden, Shira Brie (aka Lumiya), and Maarek Stele (from TIE Fighter, also a video game). The guys I introduced as Hands were Blackhole and Jeng Droga.

(more)

[Abel G. Pena]

Video game elements can be tricky to incorporate into continuity. This particularly goes for early Star Wars games in which continuity was the last thing on the developers' minds, but even new games like the aforementioned Star Wars Galaxies produces some real challenges. When using video game characters, I basically try to take them seriously and not just as conventions of gaming and try to figure out how they and their storylines can make the most sense in the GFFA. My most recent shot at this was N-K Necrosis, and before that there was Kyle Katarn and all the villains from the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games.

The approach is basically effective for any EU source that is a little quirky, and that includes children's books like the Glove of Darth Vader and the novel Crystal Star, which I've also tried to incorporate into continuity more fully.

[T-bone]

Master Ki-Aaron-Mundi asks:

Abel-- can you tell us a little bit about how your face became that of Halagad's? Starting at the very beginning, please, including where your interest for the character came from, and when you began using his name.

On the same note, have you written anything specifically for Halagad, or had any influence on his character? D'you know if there is anything new coming out about him in the near or distant future?

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 08:49 PM
Master Ki-Aaron-Mundi asks:

Abel-- can you tell us a little bit about how your face became that of Halagad's? Starting at the very beginning, please, including where your interest for the character came from, and when you began using his name.Hey KAM! Nice seeing you here. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

Let's see. I picked up Domain of Evil at a local used bookstore, and that's when I came across the character. I guess I've always been a sucker for the whole tragedy/redemption storyline, and I can probably blame Return of the Jedi for that. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif When I read Halagad's story, how he was a good but prideful Jedi, and how he was tortured to give away the location of a sizeable portion of the Order 66 survivors, and then went crazy with guilt, I was shocked. How come I'd never heard about such a pivotal character? And what a F'ed up story! it just spoke to me. Couple that with my obsession with obscure factoids, and bada bing. So I made him my AOL screenname, and it stuck (For you EU fans, I actually tried Fenn Shysa, Jodo Kast, and Adalric Brandl first, but they were all taken).

(more)

[Abel G. Pena]

Anyway, Dan Wallace who I've co-written some pieces with (some of which have been in limbo for years!) was working with Pablo Hidalgo on the swan-song HoloNet News edition for Insider 84, and he snuck Halagad Ventor onto a list of Jedi who had survived Order 66. Then Joe, who has illustrated about 99.9% of my Star Wars work, was hired on to do the art for that piece, and he asked me for some photo reference so he could illustrate me as Halagad. I sent him a variety, including one of me in a Zorro hat during Carnival, but he ended up using the one where I looked meanest (http://www.abelgpena.com). I gotta say, it came out pretty awesome (http://www.abelgpena.com/starwars.htm).

(more)

[Abel G. Pena]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>On the same note, have you written anything specifically for Halagad, or had any influence on his character? D'you know if there is anything new coming out about him in the near or distant future?[/b][/quote]

I usually don't spend too much time coming up with storylines or possibilities for charaters unless I find them really striking or I'm working on a project that I know can incorporate them. However, there is one story I'd like to go into. I'm a big Marvel fan, and according to Domain of Evil, Halagad served under Obi-Wan during the Clone Wars. So I'd like to get into a mission about Obi, Anakin, and Halagad taking on a mission to the planet Skye during the Clone Wars, alluded to Star Wars Annual #1.

[T-bone]

James asks:

Can you please ask Abel G. Pena for me what got him first interested in Star Wars and what inspired him to start writing about it in articles for the Insider.

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 09:08 PM
James asks:

Can you please ask Abel G. Pena for me what got him first interested in Star Wars and what inspired him to start writing about it in articles for the Insider.Hey James! The easy answer is that I watched A New Hope as an impressionable kid, and I fell in love with it. Of course, why it still seemed cool after that is a question I don't know the answer to. I fell out of Star Wars for a number of years after the Droids and Ewoks cartoons quit airing on TV, but when the trilogy was rereleased in 1992, something triggered inside me, and I just felt at home. At that point, I couldn't get enough, and I read Heir to the Empire and Dark Empire that same year, and sort of snowballed after that.

As for writing for Insider, well, I've always been a writer, and after this love for Star Wars was rekindled, it just seemed natural to merge the two interests. My first attempts to pitch or submit something to Insider were pretty immature and unprofessional (I didn't even include an SASE but was disappointed when I didn't get a response), but I didn't know what the hell I was doing and didn't anybody who could show me. So I started buying some books on writing and submitting pitches, etc., until I learned how to do a half-way decent job. I submitted to a local publication, and got something in.

Soon after that, I pitched to the short-lived rpg magazine Star Wars Gamer, which was looking for writers at the time, and I sent them a very carefully labored over sample of my work. They rejected it...not especially surprising since it was roleplaying game related in only the slightest sense. But the editor encouraged me to submit something else. And that was the idea for the Emperor's Pawns.

[T-bone]

Suzanne asks:

Is the Jedi Search RPG storyline drawn from any source other than the RPGs or is it entirely original? I ask because apart from Dark Nest I am unaware of any post-NJO items out there and was wondering if it connects with something I've missed...

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 09:21 PM
Suzanne asks:

Is the Jedi Search RPG storyline drawn from any source other than the RPGs or is it entirely original? I ask because apart from Dark Nest I am unaware of any post-NJO items out there and was wondering if it connects with something I've missed...
The "Jedi Search" adventre seed I did for Part 2 (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/article/sw20050407b) of the Dark Forces Saga, which goes into the kidnapping of Kyle Katarn by the missing Jedi Daye Azur-Jamin, whose been corrupted to the dark side. The storyline ties into several loose threads in various sources, among them Daye having gone missing in New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force, his son Tam insisting in "Droids and the Force" (http://www.starwars.com/hyperspace/member/insideronline/81/indexp7.html) that (though a cyborg like Vader) his presumed-dead father Daye is no more susceptible to falling to the dark side than any other Jedi, and lastly the adventure seed "Sinister Alliance" in Lumiya's section of the Emperor's Pawns, in which a rumor is floating around that the Yuuzhan Vong are seeking to ally themselves with the Sith (which is where the female Sith dark sider in "Jedi Search" comes in).

[T-bone]

BootlegSkywalker asks:

Can you please ask the honorable Abel who is favorite Star Wars novel author and Star Wars Comic author is? Also if he has ever thought about writing a comic dealing with any of the adventures he has written about. Thank you.

[T-bone]

(side note - there are some similar questions coming in so don't be offended if yours doesn't get posted... it's probably just asked in a similar form by someone else so keep an eye out.)

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 09:33 PM
BootlegSkywalker asks:

Can you please ask the honorable Abel who is favorite Star Wars novel author and Star Wars Comic author is? Also if he has ever thought about writing a comic dealing with any of the adventures he has written about. Thank you.Heya Bootleg! My favorite Star Wars novelist is probably either Matthew Stover (Traitor, Shatterpoint, Revenge of the Sith) or Daniel Keys Moran ("The Tale of Boba Fett: Last One Standing" in Tales of the Bounty Hunters). As far as Star Wars comics, my favorite is Dark Empire, though Tom Veitch is not my favorite comics writer. That would probably be either Archie Goodwin who wrote a massive chunk of the Marvel comics or Darko Macan, who wrote Jedi Vs. Sith, Chewbacca, and Rogue Squadron: The Phantom Opposition. Macan is sorely overlooked as one of the best Star Wars writers in any medium, in my opinion, and I believe it has to do with the fact that comics aren't generally considered a "literary" medium.

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[Abel G. Pena]

And yeah, I've definitely considered writing a comics book story or two. Joe and I have been wanting to do a Lumiya Vs. Mara Jade comic story since we first brought them together in the Emperor's Pawns. The artwork Joe with them going at each other (http://www.joecorroney.com/cgi-local/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Star_Wars/Star_Wars_Gamer_Art&image=MaraJadeVsLumiyaFinal.jpg&img=&tt=img) was sort of a teaser for our idea. Besides that, I'm pretty interested in exploring a comic on the Mandalorians during the Clone Wars and a slugfest between Boba Fett and Fenn Shysa as a sort of sequel to Twin Engines of Destruction.

So we'll see if we can get any of these projects off the ground in the near future. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

[T-bone]

Nathan Butler asks:

You are known for drawing together odd, almost forgotten facts to create a more intricate background to your tales or explanations. Two questions in that regard:

1. With your Dark Forces Saga articles for WotC, you expanded (delightfully, by the way) on the scenario I'd concocted for SW Tales with Kyle and Jan on Ord Sedra. Was that background of the "Sith search" something you came up with, or is that a hint of things to come, perhaps in the Legacy of the Force series?

2. Are you ever worried that by using so many minute details, you might end up being overwritten sometime by another writer that just doesn't keep up with things quite as much?

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 09:47 PM
Nathan Butler asks:

You are known for drawing together odd, almost forgotten facts to create a more intricate background to your tales or explanations. Two questions in that regard:

1. With your Dark Forces Saga articles for WotC, you expanded (delightfully, by the way) on the scenario I'd concocted for SW Tales with Kyle and Jan on Ord Sedra. Was that background of the "Sith search" something you came up with, or is that a hint of things to come, perhaps in the Legacy of the Force series?Thanks Nathan. I'd actually written the Dark Forces Saga way back in 2001 for Star Wars Gamer, but the magazine went the way of the dodo before it was published. So the Kyle-huntin-Sith storyline goes back to then, when the New Jedi Order was half way done. Definitely didn't know LFL was going to bring back Lumiya in the upcoming Legacy of the Force then. In fact, I didn't even know it when the articles were finally published, and only learned it a month or two later at Celebration 3.

That said, LFL has let me in on a few things about Legacy of the Force, and I'll be picking up this thread from the Dark Forces Saga in the upcoming Vader's Legacy.

(more)

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 09:47 PM
Nathan Butler asks:2. Are you ever worried that by using so many minute details, you might end up being overwritten sometime by another writer that just doesn't keep up with things quite as much?That's definitely a worry, but it doesn't keep me awake at nights, especially because Leland Chee, LFL's continuity editor, is pretty darn good at his job. He tends to keep track of these little things. Not only that, but Dan Wallace always gets his hands on copies of my work, and he's basically of the same mentality as I am. When he writes his Essential Guides, he always tries to incorporate the "big" details from my work. For instance, most of Lumiya's "new" history in the New Essential Guide to Characters comes from my Emperor's Pawns. From there, it made it into the StarWars.com Databank and now everyone's up to date.

[T-bone]

The Broox asks simply:

Darth Tater or Spudtrooper?

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 10:00 PM
The Broox asks simply:

Darth Tater or Spudtrooper?Darth Tater fool, forget about it.

[T-bone]

Sam Kenobi asks:

1) What are some stories would you like to tell; some ideas or theories that are appealing to you that one day might make it into a comic or magazine?

2) What are your favorite Star Wars moments. EU and/or movie?

3) How would someone interested in writing go about getting a job like yours. IE at Insider writing little stories or articles.

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 10:01 PM
Sam Kenobi asks:

1) What are some stories would you like to tell; some ideas or theories that are appealing to you that one day might make it into a comic or magazine?Tons brother. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif There's the above tales I mentioned above, which are mostly comic ideas. But comics aren't my natural medium. I like two short story ideas: Boba as a Journeyman Protector and one about Mace Windu.

The New Sith Wars, the 1000 years of war between the Jedi and Sith, also interests me.

(more)

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 10:01 PM
Sam Kenobi asks:

2) What are your favorite Star Wars moments. EU and/or movie?Surprisingly hard question, actually. The duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan in Revenge is pretty high up there. When Obi-Wan tells Anakin, "I'll do what I must," and Anakin responds, "You will try," that gives me goosebumps. As far as the EU, I really like the duel between Vader and Luke in Splinter of the Mind's Eye. The whole thing just reads surreal to me, another one of those Halagad Ventor moments. I also dig the original Max Rebo Band doing Lapti Nek pre-Special Editions. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 10:01 PM
Sam Kenobi asks:

3) How would someone interested in writing go about getting a job like yours. IE at Insider writing little stories or articles.So this is the hard question. The important thing is this: 1) Be ready, 2) keep your eyes open for the opportunity, 3) don't hesitate to seize it

and 4) when you get rejected, and you will get rejected, don't give up.

By be ready I mean make sure you're doing what writers do: practicing your writing, honing your abilities, which should go without saying, but also reading... reading extensively and various kinds of books. Read classics and read modern, read literature, nonfiction and comics, plays, and scripts. Read stuff from your own country and read stuff other countries have produced. Make a schedule for your writing, commit yourself to a certain number of hours a week during which you will write and write during that time. Or otherwise stare at a blank computer screen during that time. Trust me, your mind will start coming up with ideas. At the same time, you should be developing ideas that are non-Star Wars related, making stories out of those, and submitting them to publications. Get a job with a local newspaper, feel what it's like to publish regularly and see your name in print.

After that... look for the opportunity when you can write Star Wars work. Go to comic conventions and chat with editors, email published Star Wars writers with a nifty question or two, make friends with Star Wars "VIPs" on the boards. None of this guarantees anything, but you're guaranteed not to have a chance in hell if you don't do these things. Further, if you've been getting published elsewhere like we talked about earlier, then when you talk to these editors, authors, and VIPs and by some chance the topic of your writing does come up, these Lucasfilm folk will take you more seriously when they see, hey, this is a published writer! He or she has paid their dues, and know something about pitching, word count restrictions, storytelling, layout format, sidebars, meeting deadlines, the time and energy that goes into creating a good piece of writing etc, etc, etc.

(more)

[Abel G. Pena]

...then be ready when your credentials have zero effect. Be ready when your awesome, terrific, fabulous idea fails to impress this so-called "smart" editor, author, VIP. And be ready for how crappy you're gonna feel if you were riding all your hopes on that one idea (it's good to have several).

And then, get ready to do all of this all over again for as long as it takes to get someone to say, "You know what, that sounds like it could work. Let's try it."

They're sweet words, but they don't come easily.

[T-bone]

Ripley asks:

Since you wrote The Dark Forces Saga, what is your favourite and least favourite game in the series?

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 10:31 PM
Ripley asks:

Since you wrote The Dark Forces Saga, what is your favourite and least favourite game in the series?I'm partial to Dark Forces, but there really isn't a least favorite.

[T-bone]

Arf Maul asks:

Hi Abel! Two questions:

1. Does LFL actually give you access to the Holocron Continuity Database for you to do your research?

2. Your Dark Forces Saga was fantastic. Is there any chance of you doing any other work for the WOTC website in the future?

[T-bone]

(side note - no more questions at this time, please. thanks!)

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 10:40 PM
Arf Maul asks:

Hi Abel! Two questions:

1. Does LFL actually give you access to the Holocron Continuity Database for you to do your research?Not unlimited access. Thing is, I've actually never asked for access. Never felt I needed it. The only time I've seen an excerpt from it was when I was doing work for Fact Files, and that was because the editor thought I needed a place to start. Based on that glimpse, I figured I was just as well off relying on my own info, as well as Dan, Pablo, and the Star Wars Fanboy Association for the odd question. Every now and then I ask Ichee (how Leland Chee's name looks on the edits I get) for info on upcoming products I think will impact my work.

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 10:40 PM
2. Your Dark Forces Saga was fantastic. Is there any chance of you doing any other work for the WOTC website in the future?
Nothing planned for Wizards.com right now, though not for lack of trying. They seem to be concentrating on Minis at the moment, and I haven't been overly interested in that format.

[T-bone]

Master Ki-Aaron-Mundi asks:

Abel, what sorts of stuff have you written outside of Star Wars? Have you written any non-Star Wars novels or stories, published or otherwise?

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 10:51 PM
Master Ki-Aaron-Mundi asks:

Abel, what sorts of stuff have you written outside of Star Wars? Have you written any non-Star Wars novels or stories, published or otherwise?My publishing credits outside of Star Wars are nothing to brag about, to be quite honest. My early publishing credits consisted of (believe it or not) a poem here and there and journalism stories for the University of California, Irvine's newspaper. (I'll let any adventurous types find those on the web on their own). style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif When I started writing Star Wars, my writing career took a sharp left turn. It's only recently that I've been trying to try to go back to non-Star Wars publishing, something I've been longing to do (ironic, I know). My website (http://www.abelgpena.com) and the two new Philodoxer columns (http://www.abelgpena.com/columns) are some of my earliest efforts this year in that direction.

Another is "How I Took On An Empire: My Star Wars Marketing Campaign," (http://starpublish.com/starpublish.com/Award-Winning%20Promotional%20Plans%20To%20Jump%20Start% 20Your%20Branding%20Career%20-%20FINAL.pdf) which is part of an e-book geared toward writers that just became available. You can download it for free at the link above.

[T-bone]

The Broox asks:

Have you ever tied something together in any of your works and then be told you couldn't for one reason or another?

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 11:05 PM
The Broox asks:

Have you ever tied something together in any of your works and then be told you couldn't for one reason or another?Only once. It was in the Emperor's Pawns when I tried to combine the character Blackhole from the early newspaper strips by Russ Manning with the utterly unknown Lord Shadowspawn (who is only mentioned in one throwaway line in the Dark Empire Sourcebook). IIRC, Pablo Hidalgo had already written a background for Blackhole for the Rebellion Era Sourcebook that was radically different from what I had come up with, so they substituted my version with his in the article. Just bad timing.

I've since added quite a bit to Blackhole's lore, and had even included Lord Shadowspawn in one of those projects I co-wrote with Dan Wallace but which is currently in limbo land. We'll see if it comes to light sometime soon.

[T-bone]

Ok - last question folks...from me, as tradition demands...

So, when are you and Joe gonna slip a character named T'bone into the expanded universe on the sly so we can all have a good laugh? I'm thinking cantina owner, myself but you're the "writer." What do you say fellas?

[Abel G. Pena]

Originally posted by T'bone@Feb 20 2006, 11:12 PM
Ok - last question folks...from me, as tradition demands...

So, when are you and Joe gonna slip a character named T'bone into the expanded universe on the sly so we can all have a good laugh? I'm thinking cantina owner, myself but you're the "writer." What do you say fellas?But we already did! He's one of the mantis-looking dudes (http://starwars.wikicities.com/wiki/Image:QymaenRonderuHuks.jpg) in the Story of General Grievous illustration who's about to take a rifle slug in the gut from the general.

[T-bone]

Ooooh that's low...why I outta...I outta...

thank you for being here!

***

I'd like to take this time to personally thank not only Abel but all of the Star Wars fans who came here tonight for this chat. That includes you GS regulars as well as the new folks who came by just for this event. I hope you come by more often and enjoy the site.

Thanks to the moderators for helping set this up and helping moderate, especially Jim Fisher (2BQ).

Special thanks to Joe Corroney for stopping by as well.

Hope you enjoyed the chat and we look forward to seeing you all again at the Galactic Senate.

T

[Abel G. Pena]

Thanks for having me! I also wanted to give a big thanks to everyone who showed up and asked a question or two. It was a blast!

If anyone has a question that didn't get asked here because we ran out of time, feel free to post it on my blog (http://blogs.starwars.com/abelgpena/46) dedicated to this web chat, and I'll answer it there!

Thanks again folks!

Take care,
Abel