Whether a four-year-old should be exposed to the Imperial March or not is probably debatable, but it was the start of a lifelong love of science fiction.
One of my earliest memories was watching movies with my family, and Darth Vader arriving to the sound of menacing music was one of the most powerful ones. I can still remember in great detail that moment – sitting on the carpet, my brother next to me. I don’t think I was afraid as I should have been, he was a villain, but this had opened my eyes to a magical universe.
English was not my first language, but growing up, I was a sponge as most children are and I would repeat out loud before I understood their meaning and over time, I recognized what was being said before I could read subtitles (yes, Croatia uses subtitles). My parents would put the volume up for me to follow the plot and the words flooded into my brain that in a short span of my life, I had learned not only my mother tongue but a second language as well.
But back to the coolest villain! The brilliant George Lucas created a universe that I adored throughout my childhood (and still love). From the original trilogy to the prequels (to me it was discovering the origins of my favorite character). I loved it so much that in my teenage years, I discovered roleplaying and met some amazing writers with whom I developed characters within the universe. Some of my all-time favorite characters are within this universe, and I’d been able to create multiple ones, spanning through different species and alignments.
Obviously, writing Sith characters is one of my favorite to this day, but over my time writing with this amazing bunch of people, I learned much more than the movies provided – Dathomirian Witches. As someone who also enjoyed learning of Witches, this group certainly kept my attention for over a decade. There will come a time when I will focus on writing a story set in the fantasy genre.
I won’t go too much into detail of my upcoming book Just One, but I will say that when I first started it, the idea spurred from the amazing tv show Roswell (1999-2002). Some of you may already know the idea behind this story, placed in a place of so much real-life mystery, where the brilliant minds of Melinda Metz and Jason Katims delivered a storyline that forever captured my mind. My story began as fan fiction, trying to divulge deeper and try to answer questions the show left unanswered. However, throughout writing the first part, I went deeper, realizing I wasn’t only giving myself answers, but building a new backstory. I had created my own universe! It was very exciting because, at sixteen, I didn’t think I was capable of something like this. Yet, there we were.
By part two, even the primary characters were very different people. And just as I had once fallen in love with Stars Wars and Roswell, I was falling in love with my own universe, the details and characters I had built. After finishing it, about a year after, I went on to develop other characters and create different storylines, but I often found myself returning to this one. In 2017 (11 years later!) I made a decision to bring my story to life. The task was challenging, that I had to give up on building characters in existing universes and devote my attention to this.
There had been ups and downs, busy work and so much more; but during the pandemic, I was presented with time and unused energy, that I sat back down and continued. Today, I am happy to say that book 1 (Just One) is getting its finishing touches (the famous self-editing). From two fan fiction stories, it has grown into planned multiple books and many characters whom I am looking forward to introducing you to. Writing this book has made me laugh and sometimes cry, and I enjoyed the overall process and I look forward to everyone reading it!
Finally, I’d like to say that this blog section won’t only be devoted to me rambling about my love for Star Wars and writing my story. Instead, I plan on reviewing some of the books that had inspired me to better my writing as well.
Love, L.V.
L.V. Luca 