A friend of mine called this purchase the geekiest thing he had ever heard of. But, as a huge Star Wars fan, there was no way I wasn’t going to love Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays.
The book contains the scripts to Episodes IV, V, and VII, alongside commentary and excerpts from earlier drafts that show how George Lucas’ story changed over time. While I’ll admit that Lucas isn’t the most amazing writer, it’s a fascinating look into how he put together perhaps the greatest franchise of all time. And there’s plenty for writers to learn from that.
Here, I’ll prove it.
Steal From Other Stories If Need Be
“I have a bad feeling about this”, a line which ended up in every Star Wars film, was originally in the script for Indiana Jones. But Lucas felt it would work better in Star Wars, so he took it out of Indiana Jones’ mouth and placed it in Luke Skywalker’s. If you’ve an idea that would work great in one project but you originally envisaged it in another, don’t protect one and hurt both. You need to make this current project as strong as it can be.
Remove Characters With Nothing To Do
In earlier drafts, Lucas didn’t kill Obi-Wan. But he found he was making no contribution to the film after the escape from the Death Star. Alec Guinness was going to be very expensive set dressing. So he killed him off.
If a character is a good one, killing them off should feel like a loss. But that doesn’t necessarily mean a loss to the story. Sometimes it’s a gain. In fact, when a character didn’t have enough to do in my first novel, I didn’t just kill him; I deleted him entirely, and the book was so much better as a result!
Don’t Be Precious; Change Whatever You Need to Make It Work
Lucas’ first treatment was radically different to the final film. About the only things that remain from treatment to screen are an empire, a rebellion, a force and a few names. Luke Skywalker was Annikin Starkiller. Obi-wan was after a Kiber crystal. Darth Vader was a bit part.
No writer should be afraid of the red pen, even if it causes the end result to be almost unrecognisable from the first plot outline. If it’s making things better, it can only be a good thing.
(Bonus Lesson: If you’re tempted to create a Jar Jar Binks? Don’t.)
I can personally guarantee that Jar Jar Binks is not in my debut epic fantasy novel, The Fey Man. What better reason do you need to read it?
★★★★★ – “A must read for fans of epic fantasy”
Pick up your copy of The Fey Man today from Amazon, Apple, Kobo, or Smashwords
