A Little Bit of Weird: My Star Wars Fanfiction Addiction

Everyone’s got a guilty pleasure, right? That thing we enjoy but don’t want anyone else to know about it because it’s embarrassing, weird, childish, etc.

I decided to come out about mine: Star Wars junior novels. Specifically the Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest series by Jude Watson. (I know she also wrote The Last of the Jedi but that series isn’t as good, in my opinion.) Jedi Apprentice is about Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan pre-Episode 1, and Jedi Quest is about Obi-Wan and Anakin between Episodes 1 and 2.

Okay, if you’re reading this, either laughing or with raised eyebrows, you’re probably wondering why a thirty-year-old woman is reading Jedi fanfic written for ten-year-olds. I blame my brother Shawn—he owned most of the books and both of us read them growing up, but when he went to college, he boxed them up and stuck them on a shelf in the garage.

Years later, during Christmas break, I decided I should do something useful with my life and sort through my own boxes of junk in the garage. Lo and behold, I stumbled on Shawn’s box of Star Wars books. I sneakily read a few at home, got hooked, and brought them all back to Provo, where I read them in places that other people couldn’t see me because what adult reads 110-page books with names like “The Dangerous Rescue”? (Most adults I know read things like the Joseph Smith Papers or Outliers. Which I’m sure are great; I just have such a hard time with nonfiction.)

But here’s the thing: these Star Wars books are really good. The characters have strong arcs. The books have themes. I went through every Jedi Apprentice novel to check the pacing, and each book hit all the right pace marks. So yeah, this is fanfiction for kids, but it’s good. And I recently found a podcast (listenership: like 68—now 69 with me) called Padawan Library that goes through and reviews junior Star Wars novels, and they totally agree with me! So now I get to listen to their reviews of the books and bask in the fact that other people call Jude Watson their queen too. (Also, I do recommend the podcast, but unfortunately they drop F-bombs a fair amount, so be warned if you listen to it.)

So that’s my weird thing. My guilty pleasure. Do you have one? Share in the comments! (Even if it’s reading nonfiction—I'll allow it.)

My boyfriend didn’t run away after I showed him my collection of Star Wars books, so it turns out you can be weird and people will still like you! I was actually missing two of the Jedi Apprentice books when I showed him, and he remembered which ones (because of their weird titles) and got them for me for Christmas. How cool is that?