Thanks to the Phantom Menace

Writing can be an interesting thing. You can come up with a great idea, start to write it, feel good about it, and ultimately end up hating it. That was the case for me when I first started to write Celestial Saga: Dawn of the Seekers. I thought that I had a great idea, I enjoyed coming up with the story, but when I sat down to write it, I started to like it less and less. I felt myself getting depressed with the story I was writing and finding no enjoyment in it. I had no idea why. I could picture the entire thing in my head yet putting it on paper was becoming a growing struggle.

There were many nights where I sat looking at my laptop only managing to write a paragraph or two. The story that was swirling around in my head wanted to be told, only it wasn’t working out when I tried to tell it. As the questions continued to plague me as to why this was happening, I could not for the life of me figure it out. I was writing what I wanted, a gritty war story that was on the darker side of things. That is after all how you are supposed to tell a war story, isn’t it?

One night I decided to start another rewatch of the first six Star Wars movies. At the time there were only seven Star Wars movies, but I’m not sure if I was aware that the Clone Wars movie existed at the time or not. Anyway, as I closed my laptop, popped my popcorn and sat down to start the Phantom Menace, that’s when I realized what my story was missing.

Fun.

This particular copy of the Phantom Menace had an amazing menu where scenes from the movie rotated in panels. As I watched Anakin Skywalker race in his podracer along with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn taking on Darth Maul, the entire Prequel Trilogy played out in my mind. With Star Wars, you can tell a dark story, but you can still have a bit of fun while doing it.

In that moment, I reexamined Celestial Saga: Dawn of the Seekers in my head. What I had was good, just not for the introduction to a brand-new universe. I decided to set what I had written off to the side as the opening served a sequel better than a first entry. I started to formulate a new idea and what Dawn of the Seekers is today largely started to take shape. I was able to tell a war story while having some fun along the way. Even looking at the sequel, Shadow of the Emperor, which contained the original opening to Dawn of the Seekers, I was still able to have fun while telling a darker story.

I know I’ve mentioned this on the blog before, but I wanted to take some time to say thank you to the Phantom Menace. If it wasn’t for that fateful night looking at the menu for the movie, the Celestial Saga would not be what it is today. Not to mention there’s a chance that it may not even exist today. I could still be looking at a screen having only added a paragraph or two to the first draft of Dawn of the Seekers or I may have given up writing entirely.

I guess I’m writing this to also share that the moral of this story is to make sure that you are having fun with what you are writing. If you are having fun writing it, readers will have fun reading it. Of course, you may be writing something on the dramatic or horror side where fun is not involved, so in that case enjoy what you are writing. That feeling will show in your writing and others will be attracted to it.

Star Wars has been a huge part of my life and looking back at times like this shows me how much of an impact it truly had on me. So, thank you to George Lucas, thank you to Star Wars, and thank you to whoever designed that menu for the Phantom Menace. Without any of those things, Celestial Saga: Dawn of the Seekers would be a lesser story.