Before you contact me, please take
a few moments to read the following. It might save you a lot of time.
I try to read all mail I receive but sometimes it's hard to get around to it with my workload. So I can't guarantee
that I'll respond to a message, simply because of sheer volume. Plus I get a lot of mail bounces from people whose US ISPs block European mail servers. If your ISP needs me to fill out a form to validate my e-mail address to respond to you, you definitely won't get a reply - I just don't have time to do all that.
Here's a list of things I can't respond to.
1. Please don't send me story
ideas or fan fiction, including comics and suggestions for Mando'a. I literally can't even look at any
of it for legal reasons, so I'll have to delete it unread.
2. I can't read your original fiction and give you an opinion, and I can't give you individual advice on writing.
3. I can't translate Mando'a or create words for you, nor can I give you copyright permission to use it, because it belongs to Lucasfilm.
4. I can't answer long continuity questions.
5. I can't give you answers for school projects. I'd love to, but writing books is
a time-consuming business and it's only fair that I try to answer as many people
as I can rather than spend a lot of time on a few long responses.
If it's just basic information you're after, there's a high chance it's already somewhere on this web site, so take a look around the place. Most questions I get asked are requests for basic information which is already on the front page of this site, so please read it and the novels page carefully before you mail me. All my upcoming books and stories - and where you can find them - are listed on this site, provided they've been announced publicly. If they haven't been formally announced naming me as the author, I can't talk about them anyway; even if books are already listed on Amazon. There's loads of advice on writing as a career, as well as links to interviews with me that will answer your most frequently asked questions. There is also a FAQ section on this site, which I add to from time to time.
SPECIAL NOTE FOR TEACHERS RE SCHOOL PROJECTS - SECURITY STUFF
Educators - don't set your students the task of finding out unpublished personal information about authors. Please think about the growing problem of identity theft. It's not a good idea to ask a student to get date of birth, place of birth, details of siblings, schools and colleges attended, employment history and so on. Where is that information going to end up, and who has access to it? Because it's exactly the kind of data that banks and other organisations use to verify identity. You're actually collecting the same information that phishing scams do - in fact, the first time I received this kind of request, I really did think it was phishing. By asking your students to get this data for projects, you're also sending them the message that it's okay to give out private information about themselves to complete strangers. It's your responsibility to teach kids good personal security habits on the internet.
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