How did this writer from Montana get to be among the chosen few to receive such a dream assignment from Bantam Books? One reason could be that some of her science fiction books including Firebird, Fusion Fire, and Crystal Witness could be classified as "space operas" akin to the Star Wars genre. The heroes of these stories tend to be strong Princess Leia type females, who can perform down-to-the-wire rescues and face heart-stopping space battles. So the editors of Bantam Spectra books called Kathy Tyers, and she joined the privileged ranks of the writers of the Force.
Kathy, how long have you been a writer?
I started writing and illustrating my own picture books when I was seven years old. When I was in junior high and high school, a friend and I wrote stories together. I didn't start writing again until I was out of college, and a full-time mom. My son Matthew was a self-starter who could keep himself entertained for hours with books and LEGOs. So I took advantage of that and started writing a story for fun and sent it off to my high school friend, a chapter a week, until the story was finished.
What was your first published book?
I started writing science fiction in 1983. Firebird, my first book, was published in 1987. I've had enough luck for at least four people. I submitted Firebird to three publishers, and it sold to the third publisher, Bantam Spectra. They liked my work well enough to publish three more of my books including my first serious science fiction, Shivering World.
When you were assigned to write The Truce at Bakura, did anyone give you guidelines on plot or characters?
Betsy Mitchell, associate publisher at Bantam Spectra, and Editor Janna Silverstein assigned to me a time frame to take place right after Return of the Jedi. I was asked to involve all the characters in one location, not to have them all going off into different parts of the universe. They wanted "a great big all-the-gang-together adventure with the fate of the galaxy at stake."
As far as other guidelines, there is no printed series bible for the new Star Wars' books, but I was told that the three Star Wars movies were sacred writ. Everything else is good and useful background, but when it came to referencing the characters' personalities, the real history, shades of meanings of what had been said, I tried hardest to be faithful to the movies. And it's real "tough" doing my research with a bowl of popcorn and notepad. I took several pages of notes while watching the films. I jotted down characteristic expressions, things that Han would say, for instance, or the way that Leia would speak and gesture.
Which of the many published Star Wars books and source materials proved the most useful?
Of the various Star Wars saga books, I ended up using the books from West End Games (the various Star Wars Sourcebooks), most often. They had some very useful information; the maps of the Millennium Falcon, for instance. I studied them carefully, for in the book I want to make sure the characters turn left into the fore hold, if that is the correct way. It is important to be consistent and to get continuity. You are creating the illusion that you are writing about real people in a real world, and I don't want to break that spell. I dislike being jarred out of my reading experience by continuity mistakes.
Truce at Bakura is dedicated to John Williams, who wrote the musical scores for the Star Wars films. I assume, then, that you listened to his Star Wars music while writing?
How is writing about George Lucas' characters different from writing about your own characters?
Challenging. I am not just working with one other person's character. For example Luke Skywalker is five parts George Lucas and five parts Mark Hamill. So I want to create someone who is faithful to both, but who also can move in the confines of the plot I am writing. This is tricky, but in some ways it is easier because these other people have done a lot of the characterization work already. I simply have to be attentive to what they have done.
I think that many good writers are good mimics. Whether it is a matter of following the examples of other writers' sense of plot, structure or characterization, we all learn to write well by reading good literature and reproducing in our own way what we absorb.
What can you tell us about the new characters that you put into the plot?
There is an ambitious evil Imperial governor, Nereus, and two major charac?ters, Dev and Gaeriel. Dev Sibwarra is a human who was taken prisoner by aliens at the age of 10. He is 15 at the time of the story, and he's been brainwashed by hypnosis drugs into serving these aliens, the Ssi-ruuk. They intend to take over the human universe, beginning with the Imperial planet, Bakura. Dev tries hard to serve the Ssi-ruuk but they mistreat him. He is very much an abused person, but he is also strong in the Force and dreams of becoming a Jedi Knight.
I also created Gaeriel Captison, a young Imperial Diplomat. Luke falls head?-over-heels in love with her. I always felt that Luke was short-changed in the movies. I know there are valid reasons for keeping our hero right down the center line of heroism, but the poor guy must get lonesome. Gaeriel sparks the Force in Luke in a way that makes his whole being resonate when he is around her.
How do you pronounce the name of the villains of your story, the Ssi-ruuk?
"See-Rook" is how you would pronounce the name in English, but it is actu?ally a whistled bird-like cry. The Ssi-ruuk are more dinosaurian than reptilian, and contemporary science thinks that the dinosaurs were more closely related to birds than to today's cold-blooded reptiles. So I gave the Ssi-ruuk a speech that was more like a bird song. The race is derogatorily termed "Fluties," as they sound like they are playing a bass flute. I am a flute player, and we tend to take ourselves far too seriously, so this was a little humorous dig at my fellow flute players.
Why do the Ssi-ruuk want to take over the galaxy?
They have found a way of draining life energy out of sentient beings and storing it in specialized battery coils. They power their droids with it. The Ssi-ruuk have found that humanoids tend to last longer in "entechment" than do other life forms. They basically look at us like we view our planet's oil fields.
What aspect of the story was the hardest to write?
When Bantam and Lucasfilm looked over my plot outline, they liked my character Dev Sibwarra and the fact that he wanted to train with Luke to be a Jedi, but they also told me that they didn't want stray Jedi apprentices running around. I originally wrote two different endings, one in which Dev barely survives, and one in which he bites the big one. I wish Dev could have lived, but his death made for a lovely final visual scene.
Conversely, the dialog was the easiest to write. These characters talk to each other with no problems at all. Part of what made writing Truce at Bakura delightful was that I already knew the Star Wars characters. I've been a Star Wars fan for many years. When I taught elementary school, my students thought it was cool that I had Luke Skywalker stickers on my file cabinet and that I used the Star Wars soundtrack in music class.
Since Truce at Bakura is the first book in a series of 12 new Star Wars books, have you have been in contact with the writers of the other books?
Kevin Anderson, who is writing a Jedi Academy trilogy that will be released later this year, called me early on and said, "I am trying to get all the Star Wars authors together, so that our plot lines can all fit in with each other's." This way we can use each other's characters, and tie them in with the different stories. For example, Kevin plans to mention the Ssi-ruuk in his books.
Most of the story details between authors have flowed one way because my story takes place right after Return of the Jedi ends, and the other stories fol?low mine.
If you could write another Star Wars story set in any time frame, what would it be?
Anytime frame? I would pick about two years after Truce at Bakura, but it would have to be in an alternate universe to the story line in this Bantam se?ries, because I really would like poor, lonesome Luke to find his true love. Here is a person of quality who has a very important mission; why shouldn't he have a life partner?
Do you think you will get the chance to write another Star Wars story?
There is a chance. All 12 of the current Star Wars novels in this contract have been assigned, but if Lucasfilm licenses any more novels to Bantam, I think I have as hopeful a chance as anyone. And I am working with Kevin Anderson and other writers on an anthology called Tales from the Star Wars Cantina. Each author got to choose an alien or a group from the original Star Wars film cantina scene, and explain why they were there and how they got there. I chose the Cantina Band. The story was a lot of fun. In my research, I was disappointed to learn that the lead band player had already been named Figrin D'an by West End Games. His instrument had also been named. As wonderful as the West End materials are, I never would have named the instrument a Kloo horn. However ... I can work with a Kloo horn as easily as I can work with a Sousaphone!
What do you like best about writing?
Communicating with other people. When someone writes to me and says "I've read your Firebird novels, and I like your characters. I really enjoy what you've done," that to me is the payback. Writing has little if anything to do with the royalty checks. Writing gives me the same feeling as listening to great music.
Was writing Truce at Bakura a rewarding experience?
Absolutely! Writing Truce at Bakura has been the most enjoyable assignment I've ever had.
This interview originally appeared in Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine #21, published in January, 1994.
