It was Memorial Day weekend of 2005 when I saw The Revenge of the Sith. Many Star Wars fans hated the prequels, myself as an exception. I think I got more involved in the story and the music. I saw The Phantom of the Opera movie later that summer. I realized the Phantom was very much like Darth Vader. One line summed it up ...
“The tears I might have shed for your dark fate…grow cold and turn to tears of hate!”
One day a few years later, I had an epiphany. I had enough to create my own characters in
my own setting. Rather than have it be a
space opera, I’d make it into a historical fiction. I loved Regency novels, so I decided to set
it in 1800s England, when it was still ruled by the British Empire. There were many Star Wars characters with
English accents. Plus, many of the movies
were shot in England. I named my protagonist Hope. It was unconscious on my part. I didn’t even think of the title of Ep. 4
when I named her. Hope needed to have
the power of the Force, so I made her clairvoyant. I have an Anakin/Darth Vader inspired
character, in addition to an Obi Wan. Of
course my lead male character, Hunter, is a bit of a scoundrel. I needed to have a little bit of Han in
him.
I look back now and am bewildered how I came up with
all of it. Now here I am in the advent
of The Force Awakens with the release
of my debut novel, which started out as fan fiction. It’s funny how you never know where
inspiration will come from … or where your imagination will take you.
Veronica
Veronica
