The author of a new ‘Star Wars’ book went to school in Charlotte, and he’s coming back
On Sept. 4, 2014, Chuck Wendig tweeted:
Dear Internet: I wanna write a licensed STAR WARS novel. Please make this happen.
*squeezes Internet hard enough to make wishes fall out*
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) September 4, 2014
Exactly one year later, on Sept. 4, 2015, “Star Wars: Aftermath” was released, the first novel of an official Star Wars trilogy. It was written by Chuck Wendig.
In a phone interview with Wendig, I had him explain the importance of the book release date: “They moved the date up and it fit almost in perfect coincidence with the date I tweeted about it, thus proving that I had the Force for about five minutes.”
A photo posted by Star Wars Books (@delreystarwars) on Jul 11, 2015 at 9:54am PDT
.@ChuckWendig #StarWars #Aftermath gave me the feeling of sitting around a table playing a West End RPG set in the Galaxy Far, Far Away.
— Star Wars:The1stGen (@SW_TFG) October 10, 2015
Wendig, whose Twitter bio claims he is from “Pennsyltucky, Pa.” wrote his first novel while he was a freshman English major at Queens University of Charlotte. That’s where I met him. I was the adviser for the club that brought entertainment to campus. Wendig was the student responsible for bringing films to campus.
After college, he freelanced for a variety of places, but spent most time in the pen and paper game industry and eventually made enough money to survive on writing alone.
In 2000, Wendig created his blog, Terribleminds. With more than 1.5 million views last year and hundreds of comments for each post, over time, he developed a strong following of fans.
Wendig’s style is unmistakably passionate and edgy, but with a warmth that makes you feel like you are sitting next to him sharing a cup of coffee.
Sometimes to reset the writing fuse box you have to write the biggest, boldest, weirdest thing you can, even if that thing fails you.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) November 2, 2015
With the release of “Aftermath,” Wendig has faced much criticism. Some of it is for introducing gay characters, women and people of color to main character roles. He is unforgiving in his defense of his characters.
.@ChuckWendig Apparently the guy saying Star Wars belongs to the fans thinks there no are gay fans of #StarWars. As a bi fan, thank you.
— Jess Mahler (@MsJessMahler) October 29, 2015
Before that fateful September tweet, Chuck’s portfolio included 14 novels, eight how-to-write books, four scripts and two short stories.
Psst. I wrote a book about hackers, artificial intelligence, government surveillance, and wet-wired horror: https://t.co/MNoVUmav0y #zer0es
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) November 6, 2015
Wendig will do a reading of “Star Wars: Aftermath“ followed by a Q&A on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. at Ketner Auditorium, Sykes Learning Center, Queens University of Charlotte. This event is free and open to the public.
Photo: AP
This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 10:00 PM with the headline "The author of a new ‘Star Wars’ book went to school in Charlotte, and he’s coming back."