Star Wars: Aftermath Author Offers Scathing Response to Criticism of Gay Characters

[Karadalis]

Oh? A dragon age 3 in star wars?

How come one only learns about "critisism" of gay characters in books, games and movies by people lashing out against said critisism in an overblown manner? If no one heard about said critisism arent you making a mountain out of a molehill?

How many times has the book sold and how many critical comments have there been?

Furthermore if it was only critisism and not outright hate speech there is no reason to lash out so violently. Something these ultra progressives never seem to learn is that you cant simply shove "diversity" down a fandoms throat.

Not only that but authors and companies have to remember who it is that buys their books. Is there a huge gay following worldwide? No? Then why exactly are you shoving gay characters in your book? Because you want to "teach" people its okay to be gay? Ever thought about the possibilities that people dont want to be tought a "valuable" lesson when reading a damn star wars book?

Answer: RL politics and idealouges

And people do NOT want RL politics and idealouges in their fiction

Im afraid if you shove in ultra progressive nonsense out of nowhere into your book it simply becomes unbelievable, especialy if same sex relationships have never been really a thing before.

If you want to introduce a gay couple or character to the story because its important for the story... go for it.

But if you do a dumbledore just cause the ultra progressives demand it... expect to be critizised by the people WHO ACTUALLY BUY YOUR BOOK!

You are writing star wars fiction for crying out loud! NOT Gender studies in space!

Again though: If it fits well into the overall story and is more then some lame attempt to gain applause from the ultra progressives (*cough* hugo awards *cough*) then go for it... but by all means please write the characters in a way that they will be remembered for more then simply "being the gay".

 

[Aetrion]

I think people are more bothered by what it does to a story when the writer tries too hard to make the homosexuality of a character into a story point than by the idea that some characters might be gay.

For example: Let's assume Luke Skywalker was gay, and the writer wanted to make sure we know he's gay. When does Luke's sexuality ever come up in the movies? He mentions Leia is beautiful in Episode 4 when he first sees her, Leia kisses him and he seemingly enjoys it in Episode 5. So, let's assume those two scenes were changed slightly. Maybe in his conversation with Han Solo in the Ewok village he could have said "She's my sister, and i'm also gay." But at that point Luke being gay wouldn't be any more of a storypoint than Luke being straight, so that isn't good enough to get diversity points.

In order for the movie to actually show us that he's gay he would have to have some kind of love interest. Of course we wouldn't want to just introduce a random side character purely to serve as Luke's lover, so it would have to be another character. So who could Luke get gay with? Han Solo? Then Han Solo would have to be gay, so the whole love story between Han and Leia would go out the window. Maybe Wedge Antilles, who was Luke's old buddy from Tattoine? They could have had a relationship, hence why Luke misses him so much, but he dies in Episode 4, so if we really want to hammer home the gayness of our hero we need to start a new gay relationship by Episode 5. Luke never actually meets Lando until Episode 6. Gay Yoda would just be weird as hell, not to mention he's ancient and dying. Gay Vader doesn't make any sense.

The whole story just comes apart at the seams when you want to make "Luke is gay" into a story point, because "Luke is straight" was never a storypoint. The vast majority of the story in absolutely no way relates to people's gender, race, sexuality or anything else like that, and trying to bring those things to the foreground would require huge changes to the story to accommodate that.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

then we share a similar sense of humor, and was purely coincidental.

We good fam, just noticing a connection

A connection that of course leads to....

THE ILLUMINATI

 

[jurnag12]

While I disagree with the notion that gay characters are inherently pandering or don't have a place in the Star Wars universe, this just seems like a situation with dickheads on all sides.

Right. I'm gonna be that guy.

The phrase " Star Wars Author" is innacurate. Star Wars authors are people like Allison and Stackpole who actually built the universe. Wendig is a up and coming bandwagon-jumping sycophant who's never written a sci-fi novel before Disney tapped him for the EU [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/tag_author.cgi?31+29798url].

It's the publicity game. None of these people care about you except for the fact that you might be buying their books.

Allow me to counter That-Guy for a sec.

Chuck Wendig is an author. He has written a Star Wars book. He can accurately be described as a Star Wars author.

Now whether he's a GOOD Star Wars author is an entirely different but also mostly subjective matter.

 

[Karadalis]

While I disagree with the notion that gay characters are inherently pandering or don't have a place in the Star Wars universe, this just seems like a situation with dickheads on all sides.

Right. I'm gonna be that guy.

The phrase " Star Wars Author" is innacurate. Star Wars authors are people like Allison and Stackpole who actually built the universe. Wendig is a up and coming bandwagon-jumping sycophant who's never written a sci-fi novel before Disney tapped him for the EU [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/tag_author.cgi?31+29798url].

It's the publicity game. None of these people care about you except for the fact that you might be buying their books.

Allow me to counter That-Guy for a sec.

Chuck Wendig is an author. He has written a Star Wars book. He can accurately be described as a Star Wars author.

Now whether he's a GOOD Star Wars author is an entirely different but also mostly subjective matter.

Would be more fitting to say that he isnt a sci fi writer, since he aparantly never has written sci fi before.. wich begs the question why he had been choosen for the book instead of much better candidates.

But yeah, having written a star wars book now does technically make him a star wars author... for all the good that does to the star wars franchise. But since this is disney.. and the mouse wants its moneyz... if his book doesnt sell they will simply hire a different writer me thinks.

 

[Phil the Nervous]

While I disagree with the notion that gay characters are inherently pandering or don't have a place in the Star Wars universe, this just seems like a situation with dickheads on all sides.

Right. I'm gonna be that guy.

The phrase " Star Wars Author" is innacurate. Star Wars authors are people like Allison and Stackpole who actually built the universe. Wendig is a up and coming bandwagon-jumping sycophant who's never written a sci-fi novel before Disney tapped him for the EU [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/tag_author.cgi?31+29798url].

It's the publicity game. None of these people care about you except for the fact that you might be buying their books.

Allow me to counter That-Guy for a sec.

Chuck Wendig is an author. He has written a Star Wars book. He can accurately be described as a Star Wars author.

Now whether he's a GOOD Star Wars author is an entirely different but also mostly subjective matter.

Would be more fitting to say that he isnt a sci fi writer, since he aparantly never has written sci fi before.. wich begs the question why he had been choosen for the book instead of much better candidates.

But yeah, having written a star wars book now does technically make him a star wars author... for all the good that does to the star wars franchise. But since this is disney.. and the mouse wants its moneyz... if his book doesnt sell they will simply hire a different writer me thinks.

I was expressing my distaste for the removal of literature because Disney thinks it's a good business decision. Wendig being a star wars author is as much a matter of perspective as him being a bandwagon-jumping sycophant.

The important part is where he strawmans the "most prominent" movement (a facebook page containing people who are angry about the elimination of the EU) into "They're just hating on gays" (which, despite getting most of the article apparently consists of one book review)

Gonna soapbox for a second.

In large-scale communication, the most efficient way to address a legitimate and potentially damaging concern is to ignore the main points and focus on a fringe or outlier. As long as you can keep the public focused on this outlier, it becomes the new focus of the debate.

Soapbox off

I'm genuinely upset about this. Entertainment's been shoved to the lowest common denominator for years now and there's no way in hell an author should be rewarded with publicity for playing the social game instead of writing good books.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

I think it should boil down to why the author decided to include gay characters and a gay protagonist. Was it because it he thought it would make his story better? Or was it included just to make a point?

So what about characters who are gay just because fuck it and no other reason. I don't agree that when you make a gay character for no other reason than the fuck of it you're pandering. you just like for your characters to be gay and if it's pandering but it's a good written character is it still bad? That's like saying a black character must have some kind of authentic black heritage in there back story or he's not a good character.

I haven't read the book but what you said was kind of irritating to me. I hate the fact that this seems to be a book you need to follow when you're writing a minority and if you're not following it than you're a sjw/bigot.

Making a character gay for no reason at all can make a story better. It adds something to the character...which normally works to improve it. That's how Borderlands 2 handled gay/lesbian characters: they were just thrown in and no special attention was drawn to them or their sexuality. They were treated the same as every other character, and that is the key.

Janey Springs in the Pre-Sequel! was handled entirely different: she hits on a female PC and makes her sexuality plain...like she (and by extension, the writer) thinks it makes her special. Thing is, it doesn't make her more special or politically correct, it makes her annoying. She comes across like she was thrown in to say "Look at me, I'm a lesbian, I've filled the minority quota for this game!" This trait does nothing good for the character, and only serves to drag her down.

A good writer has to avoid the trap of making a minority character look like they're trying too hard..and this is a trap that writers who are trying to please the social justice crowd just can't stay out of.

Still, again, I haven't read the book, so I can't make a judgement. But people who pander to the social justice front very frequently make their characters overblown and annoying in stating their sexual preferences. And the author looks as though he's trying to be politically correct, judging from his response to criticism. I'm not saying this is always what happens, but it does happen distressingly often.

 

[Fox12]

It sounds like everyone here is kind of an asshole.

This.

The real travesty is that he wrote in present tense voice. I do find it funny that the new expanded universe fans are fighting with the old expanded universe fans. It's like a schism in a religious group or something.

 

[Gennadios]

Three gay characters in one book? Well, people of similar minds tend to congregate. It's entirely possible that this is fiction aimed at gays set in the Star Wars universe.

Are people really butthurt that they can't enjoy a single probably non-canon story set in their fictional universe of choice? Do they want everything that is Star Wars tailored for their own consumption? Do people actually go out and read everything?

Anyway, Three gay people congregating seems like the most plausible piece of fiction this decade. More so than, let's say EAWare player characters somehow managing to find exactly two straights, two bis, and a gay on every single adventure.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Escapist, Escapist, Escapist...we've been over this before.

This is not news (hell, it borders on *shudders* celebrity gossip). This is an editorial. PLEASE label it as such.

And you were doing so well, too...

I read a short preview Disney offered as promotional material, and I gotta say I wasn't impressed. The writing was stilted and boring, and no amount of LGBT representation (or tokenism) will ever rectify that. Looks like the new EU is going to suffer from the same quality control issues that plagued the old. It doesn't help that the author's vehement response will only polarize things more. Now valid critiques of the book will be drowned out by cries of "homophobe!"

To be fair, I'm pretty sure the "Alliance to Preserve the Expanded Universe" consists of rabid fans of the old, pre-Disney EU. Nothing will ever please them short of Lucas buying Star Wars back from Disney and restoring the old EU to "canon" status (which ain't gonna happen). Take it from a guy who's tried reasoning with these people in various comment sections. Even suggesting the potential pros of the new EU will have them hurling "No true Scotsman" fallacies at you faster than you can say "Thrawn."

EDIT: Just Googled them, and I guessed correctly. Hell, here's one of their official logos:

Yup, it's Chewbacca's Majora's Mask death from that awful Yuzzhan Vong series. That's seriously what you're going with, guys? One of the most divisive and fucking stupid moments in the entire EU?

I do find it funny that the new expanded universe fans are fighting with the old expanded universe fans. It's like a schism in a religious group or something.

Indeed.

And you want to know the really stupid part? All of this could have been avoided if the bigwigs at Lucasfilm adopted Star Trek's far more sensible approach and deemed everything outside of the official films and television shows as apocrypha.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Well white guys do have a near monopoly of whining about stuff online.

On that note, I don't think Star Wars was really the best place for liberal propaganda on sexuality.

I take it you've never been to Tumblr,Offworld,Jezebel/Kotaku/(pretty much any Gawker site).
Star Wars can be inclusive if it wants to, the problem, as stated already, is tokenism.
If it's not doing the characters justice as actual fully rounded characters, then it's failing on both fronts. Look at the Gen Zed cartoon, it fights stereotypes with stereotypes. Bad idea.

Pretty much this. Any cultural product can be inclusive, but inclusivity implies realism. The number of gay characters in the book matters less than how they're represented. If "being gay" is their sole descriptive point, you have a problem on your hands. Borderlands 2 handled this issue expertly by making it the domain of one-off comments or basic phrasal structure. The end result is Sir Hammerlock and Taggart's relationship, for instance.

 

[StatusNil]

Why must they put this Star Wars stuff in my gay novels? It seems so forced. "Maurice" didn't have any, and that's why it's a fan favorite.

 

[Rosiv]

Just as an aside, the author said there was, "an Latino man", but do Latinos exist in the star wars universe? Is there an earth with a Latin american population or some other explanation? I can understand black, because that describes skin color. I suppose the author could of gone with the concept of latino ~~ brownish dudes, seems a bit of an oversight though.

 

[EyeReaper]

Huh.. getting a sense of Deja Vu here. Just cross out "star Wars" and put in "Legend of Korra". Seemed just as childish for the creator to lash out then too.

But I do like that whole "Your train of thought is going to become extinct" as if no one should ever dare question why a certain character is in a work of fiction. I also like how the author agrees with a stupid hashtag.
#BAMHEADJOB.

 

[UmberHulk]

Wait their were gay characters in Star Wars Aftermath? Maybe I'm an idiot or just really bad at reading, but I didn't notice any gay characters in the story.

 

[Mikeybb]

"The bad guys all look like white guys, too" Sooo, the exact same as the OT, barring aliens?

I still hope there's very English accents all round for the first order too.
It may be a stereotype, but it's a very Imperial stereotype and one that harkens back to the original trilogy.
There's also a little bit of odd pride in sharing said accent.

OT: All I really wanted to know was if the book was good or not.
It was always going to be a tough crowd waiting for him and following expectations of something like the Thrawn trilogy being produced was always going to be a hard act to follow on top of that very protective and still smarting defunct EU audience.

All that doesn't matter now though.
Some nerf herder and his compatriots have started squawking like troop of Kowakian lizard monkeys.
Poop is flying everywhere.

I guess I could just buy the damn thing and figure it out for myself when it hits paperback.

 

[Ukomba]

Chuck Wendig is a F***ing liar. The criticism of his book is because it sucks. No one for the side that supports the EU cares about gay characters. In fact, The EU had Gay characters 16 years ago and no one made a big deal about it. Chuck is just screaming bigotry as an excuse, and because MEDIA will just accept it without question. The way he's using homosexuality as a shield is actually quite disgusting and bigoted and I'm shocked sites like this fall for it.

Hey Jared Jones. If you want to get some information from the pro-legends side of things, I'd be willing to talk to you any time. Don't let this turn into another #GamerGate thing.

 

[Ukomba]

I think it should boil down to why the author decided to include gay characters and a gay protagonist. Was it because it he thought it would make his story better? Or was it included just to make a point?

If someone is including gay/lesbian characters for no other reason than diversity, the story usually suffers for it. It's the difference between Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! One of them included gay/lesbian characters because the writers thought it would help the story. The other was included for the sake of "diversity"...in other words, to simply make a point. Judging from the author's reaction to criticism, I'm gonna guess Star Wars: Aftermath is going to fall into the later category without having read it. Still, I'll reserve judgement until I read it (if I read it) but this whole affair doesn't reflect well on the author.

it's a fabulously gay Nyan Cat meteor with a rainbow trailing behind it and your mode of thought will be extinct.

this doesnt paint him in a good manner.

I'm inclined to agree here. This makes the author come across as one of those holier-than-thou SJW types who doesn't tolerate differences in opinion. That...was unnecessarily inflammatory.

Given his reaction to valid criticism was to immediately claim homophobia, I suspect he included gay/lesbian characters specifically to protect him from the bad reviews he knew were coming. The way he's trying to capitalize on it is really sarkeesian-esk.