My usual disclaimer applies: YMMV, my way is not the only way, everyone’s journey is different. There will always be outliers, but I can’t teach you how to be one. This advice is intended for new writers in the realm of traditional publishing. I can’t give you George Lucas’s #.

1. The key to writing something like Star Wars = You need 5-10 years of a solid traditional writing career with a reputation for writing fast and well, hitting deadlines, keeping secrets, and being easy to work with. There is no way around it.

1.5 Writing IP is like: I mean, let’s say you LOOOOVE PLANES. Nobody loves planes as much as you do! That doesn’t mean someone is going to hand you the keys and tell you to go nuts living your dream. You have to have training, experience, and ultimate trust, first.

2. Not only do you need several of your own books in print, but if you want to write for big IP like STAR WARS, it helps if you start with smaller properties and build up your resume. My first was Shadowman for Kindle Worlds, then Adventure Time, Labyrinth, Hellboy, X-Files…

2.5 You need practice writing IP, and you need to get your name out there with editors. You need to become a known quantity. When they’re brainstorming in a meeting, your name should pop up. It helps if your genre and author brand are aligned with that property’s direction.

3. What about your writing craft? How can you bulk up to write IP? You’ve got to nail worldbuilding and character immediately and so well that uberfans feel immersed and like they’re with their favorite characters. So you need to know that world, those characters, intimately.

3.5 Which you learn to do by… inventing and writing your own worlds! Writing for an IP is a lot like writing the second book in your own series. You know the world, you know the characters, so you establish the scene and get right down to business.

4. To succeed at writing IP, you need to look at constraints, limits, and rules and *not* think UGH I’M A WILD STALLION; I DO WHAT I WANT. You must look at the parameters you’re given and grin, thinking OH THERE IS SO MUCH I CAN DO HERE TO MAKE THIS MY OWN. You have to play well.

5. To write IP well, you have to be ready for big, painful changes to come down from the property and editors– changes to your outline, to your story, during revisions. And instead of thinking OMG THEY KILLED MY BABY, you must think, OK, I CAN FIX THAT. I CAN MAKE IT GREAT.

6. To write IP well, you must suck up your ego. If they say, “This line doesn’t sound like that character,” you can’t bristle and disagree. You have to take their criticism and fix it. You haven’t lived until you’ve crashed Word with 17 peoples’ in-line comments on your book.

7. Not only that, but if you’re going to write IP, you’d better have a thick skin. If folks don’t like your creator-owned books, it’s pretty easy to avoid bad reviews. But if certain fans don’t like your IP stuff, the attacks can be brutal. There’s always someone who hates it.

8. There’s always the chance that after writing for a certain property, you might not like it as much after the experience. You go from seeing the beautiful facade of a magical world to… scrubbing its toilets. I feel so lucky– I still love all mine, but I’ve heard stories.

9. Am I making it sound like writing IP is scary, difficult, and painful? GOOD. If just reading about it scares you off, the actual experience is probably not gonna be your bag. Writing IP is a very specific skill. That’s why it takes so much time + experience to get to do it.

10. But the truth = being part of an IP world that means so much to you– like Star Wars does for me– is one of the most rewarding creative experience of my life. My editors, everyone at @DelReyStarWars, the other SW writers: We’re a family. And I got to write canon. Life goal!