Here's a little fun back story about #starwars Episode II. When I first started seriously writing books, my goal was to write for the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The very first book I wrote was a novel length prequel to SW Ep 2. I naively thought I could just send it off to the editors of Del Rey Books and that would be it. I'd be on my way to fame and stardom. (1/-) #IanWatchesStarWars

Obviously that's not how it actually works, and the editor I contacted politely said so. She couldn't accept unsolicited work. I had to be invited to write for them. So, in my continued naiveté, I asked what it took to be invited. She said I had to be popular and write in a style that would appeal to fans of the SWEU. Some authors might have given up at that point, but I took it as a challenge. (2/-) #IanWatchesStarWars

So I set aside my Star Wars fanfic (which is what it really was) and wrote my first superhero novel, which eventually became Just Cause and the first book in what is now a 24+ book series, the Just Cause Universe. It's popular. And it's definitely written in a style that would appeal to SWEU fans. The SWEU editors still haven't reached out to me, though. Their loss is my gain. (3/-) #IanWatchesStarWars

Would I write for them now if they asked me to? I would honestly have to think it over. I love my superheroes and have even invited a few select authors to create material for the JCU. If the Star Wars people reached out to me, I might take pity on them to say they had to write stuff that would be popular and enjoyed by JCU fans. 😜 (4/-) #IanWatchesStarWars

As for that novel-length SWEU fanfic? I eventually edited it and rewrote all the Star Wars references out of it and published it as a pretty dang good space opera, called Assassin. If you're curious, you can find it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D9Y7CJQ It's not Star Wars, but I'm winking pretty broadly the entire time. They're NOT Jedi, they're Watchmen. *wink wink* (5/5) #IanWatchesStarWars #cosobooks #cosowriters #WritingCommunity