V is for Vader

Debra takes a look at a villain's story.

Darth Vader is one of the most iconic villains of all time. Even if you've never seen a Star Wars movie, more than likely you're at least familiar with the black masked character who in some ways represents the ultimate in evil. What I find intriguing is the story behind the villain.

For whatever reason, George Lucas started us in the middle of his saga when the first Star Wars movie was released in 1977. Although those of us seeing it back then didn't know it at the time. As the saga became popular and more details were released, Star Wars: A New Hope (as it came to be known) was ultimately labeled episode 4. Over the course of the next six years, Lucas released Episodes 5 and 6 and the trilogy came to an end. He always said he was going to go back to the beginning and make Episodes 1-3, and eventually he did, but fans had to wait a long time for that to happen.

From what I've read, and I'm a huge Star Wars geek so I've read a lot of 'behind-the-scenes' type things, Darth Vader wasn't meant to be this all encompassing embodiment of evil. But as things in pop culture are wont to do, his persona took on a life and cult of its own. Especially since for such a long time all we had were hints as to how he came to be.

Which made going back to episodes one through three to learn about the tragic backstory of Darth Vader all the more interesting. At least for me. I know many fans were not pleased with Lucas' rendition of the prequels. But I understand now when Lucas says he's more of a tragic figure than an evil one. And I personally liked what he did with the beginning of the saga.

Not many writers get the opportunity to delve so deeply into the backstory of their characters. At most we get to dribble bits and pieces into our present-day stories to explain why the hero or heroine feels the way he/she does. What is driving them. What shaped them. Sometimes what is keeping them apart. But rarely do we get to go back and tell the entire beginning of the story, let alone in three epic parts. Most often, that backstory is just for us...to help us get to know our characters so we can portray them for our readers. But think about how fun it would be to go back and tell the entire story. Fun and daunting. And more than likely an entirely different genre, since there probably wouldn't be a whole lot of romance involved. At least not the kind with a HEA.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Word Count Madness

Debra takes a look at the word count of Star Wars.

When I opened my browser the other day, my eyes scanned down, like they usually do, the list of top stories of the day. I almost always find something to click on that distracts me from what I was supposed to be doing on the computer in the first place. Usually it's an article about William and Kate or about a recent tv show or movie I have an interest in. One in particular caught my eye for two reasons. One, it was about Star Wars. I am a huge Star Wars geek and can't wait for Episode 7 next year. Two, it mentioned the words in the original movie, now dubbed Episode 4. Since Ana had recently discussed the merits of Ogden's 850 words, clicking on this particular time-waster was a no brainer.

Someone (Who has way too much time on his hands.) counted all of the individual English words used in the first Star Wars movie. I don't know if it's the original version, the extended version, the DVD version, or the whatever version. There have been so many I've lost count. Turns out, according to this article, there are 1,695 individual English words used in the movie. The most common is 'the', which is used 368 times.

Not only did said person apparently count all of these individual words, he then alphabetized them, and then arranged the corresponding movie clips into an almost 45 minute video. (Which I haven't watched...Yet. But being the giant Star Wars nerd that I am, I more than likely will at some point. It's officially summer break, so I can enjoy these types of indulgences.)

To me, this seemed like a small amount of words for a two hour movie, and again had me wondering how many individual words I use in my stories. I'm sure there's some tool/app out there that would help me figure it out. But, sigh, my time would probably be better spent getting new words down on the page in order to finish my WIP. Right?

Until next time,

Happy Reading! (And may the Force be with you.)

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

P.S. If anyone is interested (aka as big of a geek/nerd as I am, here's the link to the article/video.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/3/5775200/watch-every-word-from-star-wars-sorted-from-a-to-z