WHERE DID SWAGGER VASA ORIGINATE?

If I said "Star Wars", you'd scratch your head and say, "Uh, so which episode was he in?"

He wasn't actually in Star Wars, but was born in a fan fiction story JJ was writing. Like a lot of writers, JJ was exercising her writing muscles by publishing fan fiction on the internet. She and a friend were working on a Star Wars themed series based on the video game Knights of the Old Republic, also known as KotOR.

JJ created an original character—an assassin named Swagger Vasa (whose last name was inspired by a brand of bottled water) who gathered quite a fan base.  The character’s name was based on the swaggering walk of the Apprentice in another Star Wars based video game: The Force Unleashed. 

JJ switched gears after her collaborator went on to other things, and Swagger moved into another series based on KotOR.  This series featured a clueless Jedi named Cal, who took everything literally, and the droid HK-47 that had a disdain for “meatbags” (humans) and a wicked sense of humor.

Here’s an edited sample of Swagger and Cal:

“There’s a huge reward on your head, Cal, and I aim to collect.”

“Last time I paid you more than my bounty and you let me go.”  Cal hoped the bounty hunter remembered.

Swagger arched a brow. “If you can pay me that much, sure.  I haven’t made it official yet since you just walked into my space.”

“Wouldn’t you prefer Facebook or Twitter?”

Cal was the main character, but readers of the series encouraged JJ to take Swagger mainstream.  I joined their ranks after reading her fanfic, but she demurred, saying it was a daunting undertaking and she didn’t think she could handle it on her own.  After a bit, however, she asked if I would collaborate, as we had done on Miami Vice fan fiction.  I told her I’d give it some thought and, as I had some vacation time coming, I’d take a few days off to read what she’d written so far and discuss storylines.

Long story short – her first chapter was so daunting that I wasn’t sure I could match her research and intensity.  Then my job went away, and I realized I had enough time on my hands to help out.  We were off and running.

I was a bit intimidated by Swagger, who changed somewhat from JJ’s original fanfic character, but I soon got a handle on him.  Then we started adding more original characters.

But that’s another story…