My first published What's the Story entry was for Magaloof, and it's still one of my favorites. Plus, as grateful as I am to have had other submissions chosen, you can't beat that rush of excitement when you first find out that you've contributed something, no matter how minor, to the official Star Wars canon.

Here's a paragraph-by-paragaph look at this entry:

Stealing an airspeeder marked the start of a criminal career for Magaloof, an Almakian Leffingite who hoped to become a big player in the Coruscant underground.

I usually take the assignment of writing a character's backstory very literally, describing the events of that character's life prior his or her appearance in movies. This entry was an experiment in starting with the character's appearance, and then exploring what happened to him after that (rather than before).

It helped that a little bit of info had already been established about Magaloof in Inside the Worlds of Attack of the Clones. I just took what was in the book and ran with it, without worrying about having to describe his life before we first see him in Episode II.

The name of Magaloof's species was inspired by Lee Leffingwell, who had recently been elected to the Austin, Texas City Council when this submission was written. For whatever reason, his name stuck in my head and ended up in the entry. I've always wondered if Council Member Leffingwell is aware of his fame. (Magaloof's homeworld, Almak, is just random letters that sounded good together.)

After completing his joyride through the Heights of Galactic City, Magaloof presented the stolen speeder to an associate of local crime boss Hat Lo, thereby becoming the newest member of Lo's motley gang. The ever-enterprising Magaloof hoped to join a larger criminal syndicate, perhaps the Baath brothers or even Black Sun. He soon found himself working with another crook, Achk Med-Beq.

I had Magaloof cross paths with Achk Med-Beq in the very first draft I wrote for this entry, because I thought that Med-Beq (and his partner in crime, who'll show up in the next paragraph) were interesting background characters who deserved to have more of their misadventures chronicled. The idea that Med-Beq was pulling a fast one on poor Loofy, however, developed during the rewriting process. No matter how good (or bad) my initial drafts are, I've found that careful editing and rewriting can always improve things considerably.

In the draft I ultimately submitted, I wrote that Magaloof was flying through "Galactic City." The starwars.com staff (fortunately) changed this to "the Heights of Galactic City."

Also in my original submission, I'd written that Magaloof hoped to hook up with "the Baath brothers or even Volven Roxe." When Vovlen Roxe was changed to Black Sun, it became fodder for my later entry for Acros-Krik.

The more experienced Med-Beq promised to be a gateway to a greater standing in the underworld, and took Magaloof under his wing. Together they pulled off a number of successful heists. The Leffingite got in over his horned head, however, when Med-Beq convinced him to rob a Coco Town jewelry store. Magaloof made it out of the store with a case of valuable flame gems, but before he could make a clean getaway, he ran into a uniformed Republic Security officer. The officer, who identified himself as Lieutenant Dannl Faytonni, confiscated the stolen flame gems, but, surprisingly, let Magaloof go with only a strong warning.

The flame gems are an homage to a number of Star Wars stories I enjoyed way back when. Issue 99 of the Marvel Star Wars comic ("Touch of the Goddess") featured "flame gems," while the novels Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu and Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka mentioned "flamegems." (I went with the two-word spelling as per the Roon entry in the databank.)

I love the idea of Lieutenant Faytonni letting Magaloof go after a stern talking-down (while keeping the loot, of course). I can easily picture Anthony Daniels doing this, and it's hilarious to me.

Magaloof rushed to tell Med-Beq about the failed heist, but Med-Beq had mysteriously disappeared. Shortly thereafter, Magaloof was arrested for robbing the jewelry store. When he tried to explain to the authorities that the flame gems had already been confiscated, he was told there was no such Lieutenant Faytonni in their ranks.

I remember that it was difficult writing the end of this entry. It's hard to set up, execute and explain a con without going over 2,000 characters.

Sentenced to three years in the Moderate Security Ward of the Coco Penitentiary, Magaloof had plenty of time to think about the failed robbery. He came to realize that Med-Beq and Faytonni had been working together to get the flame gems while setting Magaloof up to take the fall. Disgusted with himself for being duped, Magaloof decided that he wasn't really suited to be a criminal after all, and upon his release from jail, he returned home to Almak to start his life over.

The Moderate Security Ward of the Coco Penitentiary comes from a HoloNet News story about Med-Beq and Faytonni's escape from prison. I'd originally written that Magaloof spent four years in prison; the fine folks at starwars.com must have felt sorry for Loofy, though, because they reduced his sentence to three years in the published entry.