User blog:Brandon Rhea/THE CHOSEN ONE: Part 1, definitive version announced

So I was looking at some of my files, and I realized I haven’t had a TCO content release since the end of February, about four and a half months now. I’m not lazy, I’m just...

Alright I can’t live that down. I’ve been lazy. I was out of what I always call “the zone,” the place I need to be in to be able to sit down and write this book. I’m working my way back in, and I’ve written a bit more lately, so when I tell you that I plan to release the definitive version of Part 1 of the book no later than August 31st, I plan to mean it.

As I’ve said in previous blog posts, the tweaked version of Part 1 will be a bit&mdash;but not substantially&mdash;different than what I’ve already released. This isn’t a rewrite, though some things will be new and changed a bit, such as a few scenes here and there and some dialogue. This will finally get the first part of the book exactly where I want and need it to be so I can move into the second part, which is focused mainly on events that take place on Coruscant.

Here’s a list of things that are different off the top of my head:




 * The beginning of the prologue with Ussej Padric Bac is expanded a bit.
 * I will NOT tell you what the Unidentified planet-destroying battle station is. =D
 * How Obi-Wan and Dooku get onto the Trade Federation command ship in Chapter 1 has been changed, as have a few events after that as they make their way through the ship. Once they get onto the ship, though, it’s more or less the same. This is done to make it a bit more TPM-like.
 * The conversation between Queen Arcadia and Darth Maul is now a conversation between Governor Bibble and Darth Maul, pushing the queen’s introduction back into Chapter 2&mdash;and it won't be in the throne room either.
 * Senator Palpatine no longer appears via hologram. He will now be introduced in Chapter 2 and is no longer portrayed by . Instead, I’ve made the character 25-30 years younger, so now he’s about 37 or 38 years old. He’s portrayed by actor (Smallville's General Zod).
 * Chapter 2 begins with a royal delegation flying to a settlement on Utapau called Lazarus. Some stuff happens.
 * Logan Amator is introduced earlier&mdash;he wasn’t introduced until Chapter 8 (I think it was 8) in the current version because I didn’t come up with him until then. This makes it feel like he came less out of nowhere.
 * Jar Binks is given a new and important character trait so he has more of a character arc and more character development throughout the book.
 * The events in Otoh Gunga happen a bit differently, but it all goes toward the same end.
 * The queen’s escape from Utapau is beefed up a bit more, as the current escape sequence really isn’t all that thrilling.
 * Jar Binks stays on Utapau rather than go to Tatooine and Coruscant. I wrestled back and forth with this one, but in the end I decided that all he really did on those planets is stand around and wait to get back to Utapau. Staying on Utapau makes him a much more integral part of the story and, dare I say it, much more interesting, taking him even further away from Jar Jar Binks territory than I already have.
 * Sarus is now about ten years younger, around 47 years old, and will be portrayed by actor (LOST’s Jacob and Supernatural’s Lucifer). Since I feel that I know how to write for Mark Pellegrino after seeing him on Supernatural, Sarus’ dialogue will be tweaked a bit, but nothing substantial. You may not even notice is.
 * Other than the last bullet point and the exclusion of Jar Binks, Tatooine won’t really have many changes to it. I may add a new element into the Temple of Desire, but I haven’t decided yet. Most of the tweaks are in the Utapau scenes.
 * Mace Windy is getting yet another character change besides a dropped “u” from his last name. It’ll impact the portrayal of other characters, but I won’t say how yet.

Also, I won’t be releasing Chapter 17 (the final chapter of Part 1) before this. It’s easier for me to just release it in the completed Part 1 package. Like I said, I hope to have this done by August 31st.

In order to do that, I’m going to try to finish writing it no later than August 10th, giving Solus and Jedi Master 76&mdash;who agreed to be another pair of eyes in looking over this version&mdash;three weeks to look over it.

I hope I’m able to stick to this schedule. If you have any comments, feel free to sound off in the comments section below.

Until next time,

Brandon Rhea  (talk)