A first time Behind the Story blog from a long time What's the Story writer.

Firstly, for those wondering what I mean by 29 as a magic number, I've submitted 28 backstories that were rejected and my 29th, Chyler, was picked. As far as I know, I probably had the longest dry run of all those who regularly contribute to What's the Story. I've seen many backstories that I consider my best be rejected and that stung, but having finally been canonized, the long trip and rejections all seem worthwhile!

So where does this backstory of Chyler rank in among my considerably large backlog of backstories? Not so high, actually. It's not my most ambitious or my most complicated nor my most wacky backstory and I didn't have particularly fun writing it. However, it is the easiest one I've written. Not really because of the character or the elements in her already established backstory, but because of real life circumstances.

Because of the time difference (I live in Sweden), I won't get the new WTS subject until early morning Saturday. This particular Saturday when Chyler was the new subject, I was going away on a three week holiday. This left me with very little time, so I had to do some speedy research (I owe Wookieepedia so much!) and I merely wrote down some quick notes on the computer, which was stupid since I wouldn't be taking my computer with me.

Neither did I work much on this entry whilst on holiday. A week into the holiday, I wrote down a rough draft on paper using what little factoids I could remember. Being too lazy to count characters, I just hoped it was under 2000 characters. The day after I came home, it was nearing the end of July and I had to get it in fast. My rough draft came in at a 1000 characters (my average rough draft is usually around 2500 character). My elaborate draft came in on 1700 characters and the end piece was 1987 characters.

Since I was pressed for time from beginning to end, I decided to keep the story simple and streamlined. I usually like adding pop cultural or historical references for my own amusement but this backstory is lacking in that department compared to other entries I've written. I'd like to think it got picked because of the simplicity.

Anyhoo, to the entry itself. The finished entry that you see is not much different from the one I submitted. I'm also pleased that nothing was cut and that the submission survived in its entirety. Of course, some sentences have been cleaned up, simplified or reworded but it's been all for the better, so Pablo did a good job there.

The only thing that did not survive was the name, which the fragrant wookiee provided instead. In my original submission, Chyler was an alias used on Bespin and her real name was Sana Robben. But I understand that this could've been confusing and that Pablo had it changed.

Here's a breakdown of the entry (format shamelessly taken from Hedec Ga ):

Many who have risen from the Sub-Adult Group to join the ranks of the Imperial Security Bureau have been dismissed as little more than zealots. Others, like Tian Chyler, defied the norm.

Having her joining from Sub-Adult Group was supposed to have an effect later on where Chyler was going to be passed over for promotion for being an old SAG member which which the ISB thought "couldn't be trusted". But I dropped that because it didn't make sense, since she had already by that point proven herself useful by helping the Empire take Bespin. Instead, I used it to show a bit of her personality, i.e. that she isn't exactly a rabid Imperial but more rational in her beliefs.

Her ruthless and pragmatic streak had been noticed by SAGroup leaders early on and she was fast-tracked to the ISB for training. After training, Chyler made an instant impact when she successfully infiltrated the Coruscant law enforcement community and managed to ferret out Rebel subversives. Pleased with her performance and noticing that she had a gift for blending in, her superiors set out to give her a mission of higher priority.

It was a conscious decision not to delve into who Chyler really is. I just drop a few words to describe her personality and the rest is up to the reader. It's not really who she is that defines her and makes her interesting, but what she does. It's kind of like James Bond, it's not really his origin or childhood that matters, but what he does.

The line about Rebel subversives in the Coruscant law enforcement is a nod towards myself (and a little bit to James Ellroy) actually. I've recently taken up to writing fan fiction and a story I have planned has a plot involving the Imperial police trying ferret out Rebel agents, real or otherwise. That story, in turn, is inspired by James Ellroy's The Big Nowhere. Whether I'm now going to write that story with Chyler in it, remains to be seen but I am tempted.

She was assigned to investigate unregistered Tibanna gas operations on Bespin. Chyler was to pose as a Corellian mining official from Ando who had escaped the Imperial occupation of that world and was seeking sanctuary alongside other Andoan officials and several Aqualish workers. They were welcomed with open arms to Cloud City and went to work in the mining guild. It did not take long for the agents to uncover the full extent of below-the-radar mining operations on Bespin.

As I understand, many others alongside myself were scratching their heads a little at the small piece of text saying that Chyler had placed ISB agents alongside Aqualish miners in the Cloud City mining guild. It was quite random. Here I took the simple route and assumed that Chyler would use them as cover to ensure that she got in to Cloud City. Had she perhaps popped up with only humans all looking rather soldier-like, she might have been forced to turn around. That's how I saw it at least.

Originally, Chyler was supposed to investigate why tributary shipments from Cloud City to the Empire had been ruined, fearing Rebel activity in the mining guild. But the Wookieepedia article on Lando Calrissian hinted that he kept Tibanna operations secret from the Empire, so I had to change it or it clashed directly with continuity. I took the concept of tributary shipments directly from my own country's history during World War II where Sweden would ship iron and ore to Nazi Germany to ensure neutrality. To think that Bespin could be neutral without paying some kind of tribute to the galaxy-spanning Empire seemed a little strange.

Chyler passed this information on to Darth Vader. The Dark Lord used the fact that Cloud City had hidden its operations and not fulfilled its tributary obligations to the Empire to blackmail Baron Administrator Lando Calrissian into cooperating in the capture of Luke Skywalker.

This piece always seemed a little iffy to me. I wasn't really sure how the deal that Vader struck Lando was worded, but I don't think he simply said "Help me catch this guy or I'll invade you,". There must've been something more tangible to threaten Lando with, such as hidden gas operation which would've made Lando a traitor. I also realised afterwards that this could've worked as good cover for Vader against Palpatine. If Palpatine asked why Vader took Bespin, Vader could answer "Hidden Tibanna gas operations" instead of "Capturing Luke Skywalker". Okey, perhaps it's a bit of stretch, but that's how I see it at least.

The ISB was pleased with Chyler's performance and promised her a promotion, but her hopes were dashed when the unruly Aqualish miners revolted and caused havoc on the gas platforms. These workers were executed by the Empire and Chyler was reprimanded for not being able to control them.

There's not really much to say here than that I took the simple route again. Instead of getting bogged down in SAG vs. ISB politics (which wouldn't make sense anyway) to explain why she missed her promotion, I just let the Aqualish revolt. In my original submission, the Aqualish were tired of waiting for their reward but Pablo changed it to making them unruly in general which is much better. I guess it highlights the gamble Chyler took.

She would still work undercover and weed out Alliance sympathizers within Cloud City but was never again considered for promotion by the ISB. This frustrated her and as the war turned in favor of the Rebellion, Chyler decided to defect and hand over information on Cloud City's defenses that proved vital in the liberation of Bespin.

The ending wasn't really that difficult. I'm a sucker for ironic twists, even though this one is lower down on that scale. You know, the Empire has this person that keeps on fulfilling her duty in an exemplary way yet won't get the promotion that she craves and it punishes itself in the end when she finds greater rewards somewhere else.

The ending is fairly open and I myself am not sure what happened to Chyler afterwards. She could've been killed during the liberation, either during the fighting or executed by the Empire. She could've been charged for her involvement in the Imperial occupation or hailed as an Alliance hero that brought an end to it. I think I'm leaning more towards letting her live for the sake of continuing her story and because she is "my" character now.

I really do hope that this is not the end of Chyler's story and that others some time will continue to flesh it out.

And one more thing, I hinted at it, but it never made the databank entry: Chyler's home planet is supposed to be Coruscant. There ya go.

Wow, I wrote more than I expected, but as I said, this has been coming for a long time and it feels good getting it out of my system. I've already said thank you today but I'll say it again to all the great WTS:ers out there for their support: THANK YOU! And a big THANK YOU to the judges that finally gave me a databank entry