Hello fellow Wookieepedians! Recently, we had the opportunity to chat with Amy Ratcliffe. This interview is the second installment in an interview miniseries with the authors of Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy, to explore some of their insights on the project.

Many thanks to her for sitting down with us!

Q1: How did you first get into Star Wars as a fan?

A1: My road to Star Wars has been a journey. I first experienced it in 1991 by riding Star Tours in Disneyland. I had no experience with the movies to that point as far as I can recall, I was just a kid at Disneyland for the first time. Then I saw the original trilogy when the special editions came to theaters. I went and saw the prequels when they came out, too.

I could see they were special, but what really made me a Star Wars fan, though, was Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The setting, Ahsoka, seeing Anakin and Obi-Wan as these almost superheroes, getting more of the nuance of the Jedi being warriors—I ate all of that up and it made me go back and revisit the films with fresh eyes. It’s been a wonderful downhill ride since!

Q2: Who is your favorite character in Star Wars?

A2: I love Ahsoka Tano, and my adoration of her has only grown as we’ve seen more of her life. I admire her resilience and her kindness in the face of a galaxy that constantly throws her curve balls. She trained as a Padawan during a war, and we saw some of the profound effects of that in the flashback with Anakin in the Ahsoka series. The way she carries that past and that the events of the galaxy so deeply affect her but she still lives. She’s remarkable and relatable.

Q3: On a title like Star Wars Encyclopedia, what is it like working alongside several authors?

A3: It’s a necessity, that’s for sure. This update was massive and no single person could have done it. Not even a couple of people. I found it helpful to reach out to my co-authors when I was stuck on anything. We just generally checked in from time to time and encouraged each other. We also had an evolving spreadsheet with our word counts–what was done and what we still needed to write–that I think many of us used as a kind of unofficial competition to get our work done. You didn’t want to fall behind and let the team down.

Q4: How does this book differ from other things you have worked on?

A4: The Star Wars Encyclopedia came with some pressure. This is a huge reference book. For me, the reference book—the kind of Star Wars non-fiction book I turn to all the time when I’m doing research for various articles and projects. So I felt hyper aware of doing it justice. Luckily I had an amazing editor who worked closely with Lucasfilm to guide us.

Q5: What’s your research process like for a book of this type? (Especially with the added emphasis of working in content from many types of media.)

A5: I had the best research, honestly, because it was rewatching Andor and Ahsoka. I did a lot of entries for both of those series and it was going back through every detail in a scene to note dialogue, mannerisms, even facial expressions. It’s the kind of in the weeds hunt for details that I love to do.

Q6: Do you have any favorite entries you wrote?

A6: Can I say all of them for Andor? Because all of them. Seriously though, I especially enjoyed writing about characters like Maarva Andor and Eedy Karn. I am so looking forward to season two!

Q7: If you could tell your younger self that you were able to contribute to the Star Wars lore and galaxy, how do you imagine they would react?

A7: Haha, my much younger self would be confused at first and would have to remember Star Wars from that one ride at Disneyland with the teddy bear-like creatures. But my much younger self would be wowed that I’d written any kind of anything in a book. And trust me, 20 years ago me is still losing her banana over getting to play in the Star Wars sandbox this way!

Q8: If people would like to keep in touch with you and your works, what social media platforms can they find you on?

A8: These days I’m most active on Instagram at @amy_geek and I also send a monthly newsletter through Substack.