Karen Traviss... (Page 6 of 8)

Just to add some food for thought, here's the LINK to what I've been able to copy so far from KT's article in StarWarsInsider #86.  I feel the article gives the clearest, most direct look at where KT is coming from and her idea of who and what a Mandalorian is.  It gives a fairly clear format of her exact interpretation of Mandalorian society, and gives a better understanding of why she writes the things she does reguarding the Mandalorians and our favorite bounty hunter.

Most impressive.  Boba Fett in a nut shell. 

And just because it's reality doesn't mean we can't complain about it.  Take the American Presidency for example.  Even though he won some people will still complain. 

Aha.  And once reading over McCoy's post again I realize he already said that.  I may as well add something.  Some people have grown up idolizing this character for his mysterious traits and don't appreciate when people try to change it.  And even though I did admire that mysterious Boba when I first saw him, in coming from a younger generation, I am less stuck to the idea of that enigmatic Boba Fett. 

I really do appreciate what Karen Traviss has done.  She took the Mandalorian culture and made something out of it and now it has exploded into an entire subsection of fans.  There would be a gap in my Star Wars fandom if she had not taken the step and written some of her material.

My point is, basically, where does the above get you?

We can all stomp our feet and claim to the heavens that we hate Jar Jar Binks, but it will never change Episode I. Therefore we might as well try and understand who and why he is as a character in a saga that is ever changing in front of us.

PS. let it be known that good god I hate Jar Jar Binks lol

Viva la revolution!  >.>

Man I feel inspired to go stage a government coup or something.

No but seriously I agree with Ralin in that it was the fascination of Fett by the fans which instigated KT to go and write up on our favourite culture.  I think there was an event in DC where the fans whined enough about one Robin Batman had and the writers put it up to a vote and the fans voted him dead.

Hey, I'm just trying make the point that there is room for debate on this as well as most any issue regarding our Fettish, and that there is a point and purpose to letting our opinions be heard. 

Glad if my 'revolutionary indoctrination' there was a success   

And I'll have to number myself with Aaron on not having read any of the Legacy books yet.  I'm more of a fan of the films, the Han Solo Trilogy, and Bounty Hunter Wars Boba fan.  I'm also the wanna-be writer, so I've tried to augment what I know as much as possible through source material and bios, though I know that's a poor substitute for actually reading the material *which I hope to do someday.* 

And on a final note, just to make it clear what my own personal beef with KT is, I've never been one to complain about the new Boba.  I've very specifically avoided any judgments on KT's version of him for the glaring reason that I don't know what her version is.  I've heard a lot of the complaints, but I've actually felt a connection to what I've heard about him as Karen seems to have taken down a road I myself wanted to do in my own FanFiction that I was working on.  My primary concern is the Commando books.  I have a huge amount of respect for her: she created the Mando'a language, AND she gave me a huge boost of confidence in my own creative ability when I learned later that she and I had come to very similar conclusions about the Mandalorian training sergeant’s influence on the clones - she didn't take Jango's intentions nearly as far as I did, but I still felt good that I had some very similar concept ideas as a published author. 

My only real bone to pick with her is that #1, I'm not a huge fan of her style and the motivations she's given the characters in the Commando books.  Up to the point I've read so far, she has in my opinion failed to write for multiple characters.  She is instead basically writing a 'Save The Clone's' propaganda piece without any other real drive or motivation for anybody else.  Every main character she's written perspective through *other then the Mando villain in Hard Contact, and with a little time I have no doubt he would have fallen into line as well had he survived* has turned to mush on the subject.  Not that I'm saying that it's not a worthy cause in the least, and were I my Mando character I don't know that I wouldn't agree.  HOWEVER, this is not why I bought a story about Republic Commandos, nor do I find it believable that the EVERYBODY she's writing for would come to the Exact same conclusions so quickly.  This is, I think, a flaw in her writing style.  I find that a great deal of the time she 'tells rather then shows,' a grave error in the writing business.  Hard Contact was a Great book!  But since then she doesn't seem to want to try as hard to show us her character's 'true colors' with actions, instead just telling us that they usually act one way, and then letting them contradict this supposed Bad@$$-cold killer persona that she tells us they have to give them a nice cuddly feel all through the book.  I find it all very contradictory and unbelievable

And Second, I dislike that she’s taking a culture that was kept alive by a huge fanbase of people and molding it to fit her own personal tastes with little to no input by the people that are paying her bills.  I agree with Sev, she has done some great things with the Mando’ade: she gave us a language, she’s brought the Mandalorian culture higher and exposed it to a newer multitude of fans who otherwise might never have known about it.  However, I personally feel that she’s taking swings at the culture that are far too encompassing.  As a writer, I understand that you need to create backstory, history, and roots for your characters, and in this case since there was so little canon material for the Mandalorians she had to create it herself.  But I feel that she went overkill and is, purposely or not, drowning any hope of anyone besides her influencing the Mandalorian culture and what it is.  She didn’t create the Mandalorians.  She wasn’t the first to write about them.  And she was certainly not the only voice in keeping the Mandalorian culture in existence up to this point.  Yet she has taken it upon herself alone to not only create a intricately detailed and mapped out society, but also destroy almost any hope of injecting any other ideas or hopes for what he hoped the Mandalorians should have been or what they might be.

I feel that this is a tragic moment for those fans like myself who wanted to be part of creating the culture that has been a huge piece of our lives for so long.

I did buy Bloodlines just for the Boba cover...lolz.  I had to do it, that pic is my old Av      Tried to do the 'skim over just the Boba parts' as you did, but found myself too lost in an era that's just way too far in the future from what I'm familiar with.  But I will get caught up on it all at some point

About KT, I just have to be skeptical of just who it is she's listening to and how open she is to all sides of the fanbase.  Not that I doubt your word in any way - and I admit that I've never frequented her website or blog very much simply because as the wanna-be writer that I am I prefer my own ideas and ventures, though I have checked out both a few times to get links to her Mando'a translations etc.  But as you've also said, there is a LOT of KT hating and whining from the fans Because she hasn't taken the direction many if not most of the oldschool fans wanted to see.  Maybe she made the tactical decision that she couldn't make everybody happy, so it was better to pander to the newer generation readers at the expense of the original fans *who are the ones you most hear that are butt-hurt over most everything KT does.*  And that is true, you Can't make everybody happy.  I just feel that there was more of a middle ground that she could have explored that wouldn't have drawn such a line in the sand. 

Also, I never meant to say that She said she was the only one who could write about the Mandalorians.  I was trying to say that she has, in her fairly brief time as the primary writer for Boba and the Mando'ade, created such an elaborate and detailed history for the Mandalorians of the recent generations that it's almost impossible for anybody else to even try to add anything to their history and culture - all new writers are forced to view them as she does because she's made such an elaborate and now canon group of people. 

I guess the argument could be made that this is a good thing - her culture is far from being All that I would have liked to see, but in the long run it could have been a lot worse, and she has prevented some doosh from really screwing it up.... who knows?

I think it's unfair and maybe even incorrect to say that she chose to write for a new generation of fans. Just because it appears like older 'fans' are disgruntled doesn't mean that she wrote it for younger fans.

That is all just happenstance and bias. Most people who enjoy her books might not even go to the forums to preach about it, seems that we only hear all the complaining because those are the whiners that take time out of their nerdy day of playing WoW to cry on the forums about how they could write Boba so much kewler than she could lol

not really fair to say that about people who disagree with her either tho is it? no

We can't really take a poll about who dislikes and likes Karen Traviss, because there is always going to be that heavier end of people that hate everything that flock to the internet to complain about it. People who don't hate everything tend to not dwell on it and go about their day.

Please tell me you at least know who Timothy Zahn and Kevin J. Anderson are right? As for this whole new Boba spiel, I don't read KT books because I don't have time to and now there's probably too many to get caught up to. I'm more of a movie/Han Solo/BHW/Dark Forces Boba fan.

all of those listed are amazing lucasbooks writers

and also, si tritan, theres always audio books time savers in traffic!

I was just reading on Facebook that Karen Traviss announced she wasn't doing any more Star Wars books after Imperial Commando #2 because of continuity issues with things in the second season of Clone Wars.  SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!!

http://karentraviss.typepad.com/blog/20 … other.html

Anyone know any details of what she's talking about?  I can only assume it has something to do with the Mandalorians and Boba being in season 2 of the Clone Wars.  I hope we're not going to need another RetCon on the history of the Mandalorians or even the Fett man, himself.  Especially since he's supposed to be a character in the new Star Wars live action TV show.  Cross your fingers.

Here's another article on that:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/stor … 125555.asp

So don't worry haters. You dont have to read her anymore. I for one think she's made invaluable contributions to Mandalorian canon. Bloodlines is one of my favorite SW novels of all time and finding this article really upset me.