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It's been years since I last re-read Zahn's Star Wars trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command) and my skill both as a reader and writer has grown tremendously since then. I notice a lot more about how stories are written than I did. And one thing that I really appreciate in this re-read, that I don't remember consciously noticing before, is how smart the characters are even when they're wrong.
We're all familiar with the Idiot Ball, it's so incredibly common in storytelling. Plots that depend on characters acting stupid, and just passing the Idiot Ball along from one character to the other. Where we get told that everyone involved is a tactical genius, and we get told that again and again, as they keep doing stupid things.
This book does not do that. The characters (heroes and villains both) consistently make smart decisions. They're thinking things through. They make mistakes, but those mistakes are not mistakes of being either stupid or oblivious. If there is a vital clue to what the other side is doing, that could (if they find it and figure out what it means) allow them to completely unravel their opponent's plans, they will spot it. They will see that it is important. They will take a reasoned and good guess as to what it means ... but that reasoned and good guess may be wrong. The characters, good guys and bad guys alike, are neither stupid nor omniscient.
It is incredibly effective as a writing technique. I don't sit here going "but why don't they just ...?" or "how oblivious can they be?" I don't sit here rolling my eyes while the author tells me how smart the characters are as they do stupid thing after stupid thing. Instead, I get to watch very smart people do very smart things ... while sometimes going down the wrong path not because they're stupid or oblivious, but because they're smart. Both sides are planning and plotting and doing stuff, but neither side is doing quite what their enemies expect, and neither side quite understands what their opponents are doing. So no matter whether the POV is with Our Heroes or with the Empire, I'm sitting here on the edge of my chair, biting my nails.
We're all familiar with the Idiot Ball, it's so incredibly common in storytelling. Plots that depend on characters acting stupid, and just passing the Idiot Ball along from one character to the other. Where we get told that everyone involved is a tactical genius, and we get told that again and again, as they keep doing stupid things.
This book does not do that. The characters (heroes and villains both) consistently make smart decisions. They're thinking things through. They make mistakes, but those mistakes are not mistakes of being either stupid or oblivious. If there is a vital clue to what the other side is doing, that could (if they find it and figure out what it means) allow them to completely unravel their opponent's plans, they will spot it. They will see that it is important. They will take a reasoned and good guess as to what it means ... but that reasoned and good guess may be wrong. The characters, good guys and bad guys alike, are neither stupid nor omniscient.
It is incredibly effective as a writing technique. I don't sit here going "but why don't they just ...?" or "how oblivious can they be?" I don't sit here rolling my eyes while the author tells me how smart the characters are as they do stupid thing after stupid thing. Instead, I get to watch very smart people do very smart things ... while sometimes going down the wrong path not because they're stupid or oblivious, but because they're smart. Both sides are planning and plotting and doing stuff, but neither side is doing quite what their enemies expect, and neither side quite understands what their opponents are doing. So no matter whether the POV is with Our Heroes or with the Empire, I'm sitting here on the edge of my chair, biting my nails.
