Drew Karpyshyn on the “Revan” and “Exile” story lines

Drew Karpyshyn had some words for the haters on his personal site. He discussed the “Revan” and “Exile” story lines as well as perspectives on KOTOR, ToR, and his upcoming novel. It’s a long but worthy read, especially since the ending paragraphs are my favorite.

In this update he has details about the NYCC schedule as well as a rant about some Star Wars fans taking things out of context and blowing them out of proportion. We brought you the story recently of the supposed “leaked copy” of the Revan novel, set to release in November and the accusations that it “attempted to retcon elements of KOTOR 2: The Sith Lords”.

I had no proof that this message board member really read the Revan novel, although he did supply a photo of what was supposed to be the cover of the proof copy or something. Regardless, I prefer to make my own opinions about my entertainment and media, rather than trusting the opinions of others- especially some bozo I don’t even know on the Internet.

But Drew had a classy response to all of this and it’s well worth the read for that reason alone. As a fellow writer and author, I may be a little biased but I think his retorts were solid and I will wait to read the story for myself before I jump to any conclusions.

Drew was bombarded with emails that sound like your typical Internet flame war. He brings up a solid point: what did the senders hope to achieve by e-attacking him? Drew says:

Do they expect me to read their profanity-laced venom and go, “Hey, they’re totally right – stop the printing and let’s redo the book that’s already in production because a handful of foul-mouthed jerks are spamming me!”

Hmm… good point. Don’t pick a word fight with a master wordsmith, folks!
Drew says:

I could respond with swears, curses and angry rebuttals, but I’ll take the high road. Actually, the high road would be not mentioning it at all, so I guess I’m taking the middle road by ranting on my personal website.

Ah… I love this guy!

He is right; it’s a small price to pay to have the privilege of writing novels set in the Star Wars universe. You can’t get all of the people to love you all of the time. It is hard work sometimes, to be a writer. You put a little piece of yourself out there each and every time. And sometimes, the people try to tear you up over it. Maybe those emails made a few feel better but I’m doubting it did one thing to change Drew’s bank account. Hate on if it makes you feel better, I always say.

Drew’s closing line: “And to the haters: you know that thing you told me to do to myself in that nasty e-mail? Right back at you. Twice.”

Lisa Clark

Lisa has been an avid gamer since she was old enough to hold her first controller and a game writer for more than a decade. A child of the Nintendo generation, she believes they just don’t make games like they used to but sometimes, they make them even better! While consoles will always be her first love, Lisa spends most of her gaming time on the PC these days- on MMOs and first-person shooters in particular.