Star War’s Rogue One: A short Review
I took my four teenage daughters to see the sci fi movie “Rogue One” a few days ago. There were some really strange coincidences between the movie and my forthcoming novel, Lonely Hunter. But first, some thoughts on Rogue One.
None of my kids are particularly dialed into Star Wars, but a few have seen a prior movie or two. I’ve seen four of them (swore I’d never go to another one after Clone Wars). Three of my kids enjoy various Sci-Fi-ish flicks from time to time such as Hunger Games, Inception, the Marvel franchise, Transformers, etc. We all thought the trailer looked interesting, so we gave it a shot.
The consensus coming out was that it was underwhelming at best. But what was really weird were the number of coincidences with my own novel.
Overall, we thought Rogue One just disappointingly predictable. In particular, the dialog often seemed stilted and expository. And their tactical sense as soldiers was nil (to be gentle), which is not just a nitpick; the extra stupid behavior was needed to perpetuate the plot.
I suppose the writers did what they could given that it had to feather into the follow-on movie plots (which they did do effectively), but it was hard to get emotionally invested. I did think Jyn was more dynamic than most Star Wars characters, at least at first. Once she took up the cause and charged toward the final climactic fight, it felt too much like a rerun of another Marvel or Bruce Willis movie.
But what really caught my attention were the similarities to Lonely Hunter. After a long hiatus from creative writing, I started my novel in Dec of 2013 and completed it the first draft by February of 2014. I have revised it extensively over the last three years, to include sending it through the online writing workshop, CritiqueCircle twice. Here are the strange coincidences:
A young woman thrust into a leadership position…and in need of her father
Key to both plots is a young woman thrust into a leadership role with close relationships with their father. This intrigued me and is very much central to my story. I’m not going to elaborate, but this is really a core theme of my own work.
Erso and IrSaa
The main character’s last name in Rogue One is “Erso”. Though not much backstory is presented, she seems to be a street-smart, petty criminal who lives by her wits and on her own.
One of the two main characters in my coming novel’s name is the similar sounding “IrSaa”, which is her only name. In my novel, IrSaa is a soldier by choice and training; she is a Major leading a Special Forces team. Her role in Lonely Hunter is limited, as it will be in the sequel, Vicious Harvest. Her role will not be limited in later novels. 😉
Rogue
The movie takes its name from the callsign of the rebel ship. Metaphorically, it seemed to me, it was also the main character’s name as the leader of the resurgent rebellion.
In my novel, the main character’s dog’s name is Rogue. Consistent with the title — Lonely Hunter — it is meant to symbolize Kira’s independence and at times, isolation.
Multiple Planets
This one is not so profound, but not all Science fiction novels roam from planet to planet. In Rogue One, which is a visual feast, the story hops from planet to planet to moon to the Death Star with great frequency.
In my novel, there are just a few planets, and most of the action is on Kira’s homeworld. In the subsequent novels, there will be a lot of planet hopping.
Empires in Conflict, Military Science Fiction
This one is not so profound either, but again, not something you see in ever Sci-Fi story. Like Rogue One, and Star Wars in general, Lonely Hunter previews a massive war between two empires, so I could also say they are both military science fiction. Though in my story I focus on microcosms and small, more personal battles, my series will be driven by the larger conflict.
I will publish Lonely Hunter this spring
Some of the coincidences were not too amazing, but a few certainly were, and the overall number was surprising. You heard it here first. Though I am still learning how to write a book, and probably always will be no matter how successful I am eventually, you will be able to read Lonely Hunter in a few more months. I hope it will be on your novels to read list.
What my novel and Rogue One will probably not have in common is how much revenue they generate. …but I can always hope.
So, do you think this coincidence is going to work for you or against you? Might somebody accuse you of creating a derivative work?
Comparing the plots, there is…well…almost no comparison. Mine is an entirely different story. And there are other superficial differences: My protagonist, Kira, is 18. Jyn seemed to be about 32. Kira has a love interest while Jyn seems to have no romantic interest at all. Also, in my novel, there are essentially two large empires colliding, neither of which is perfectly bad or good. In Star Wars, the rebels are a collection of aliens and societies (all of which seem to be “good guys”) against the monolithic bad guys in black led by Darth. In my novel, Kira’s mother is a much more important character than Jyn’s mother is in Rogue One. In my novel, Kira is guided by an old man who becomes her mentor. Jyn does not have such a companion. In my novel, the lack of technology is a real issue for Kira and her society. In Star Wars, everyone has access to all kinds of technology all the time.
I could go on, but where I think it matters most — the plot — there is really only a superficial similarity. As I said in my blog post, there are enough similarities that it caught my attention. But given that I’ve been working on my story for 3 years and it has already been posted and reviewed by dozens of people at CritiqueCircle, no one can argue that I leveraged Rouge One in any way.
Of course, given that they say “all publicity is good publicity”, I would be happy to see a viral report that I leveraged Rouge One in some way. I’m sure it would help my sales! 🙂
Glad to hear that *Lonely Hunter* will be out soon! I’ve been waiting for that one.
Thanks, Rick! It has certainly been a labor and a love, but I’m creeping toward the finish line. I hope to complete my final edits by the end of Jan, and then off to my editor. I’m thinking she will work on it for about 6 weeks. After that, I’m sure I’ll tinker with it for another month. With a bit of luck, by the end of April, I’ll publish it. Of course, we have two seniors graduating from high shool in the spring, and we are moving to a new house as well, so…we’ll see if I hold my schedule.