Though this is true, time has shown that Stackpole was not, and since he is still a semi-active writer continues not to be, irreplacable. Yes, he was called on to do the core line of novels that did drive the main story of the universe, from the Warrior books on. But, most of Twilight of the Clans was done by others, with Stackpole's offerings being some of the weaker offerings from that series to my mind (this coming from someone who genuinely enjoyed most of his earlier works, in both BT and Star Wars). Loren L Coleman was called on to finish the core line, after having done excelent work previously, and 'wrap up' the pre-Jihad era, in effect replacing Stackpole.
That is my key problem with Stackpole's little tirade. "If everyone could do what I do..." The fact is that not everyone has to be able to do it, but just one or two people, and its not hard to tell who they are and are not. I can't throw a very good fast ball, but I can see which pitchers are the good ones and which are not. I can tell that some authors bring more to the table than Stackpole does. I've seen several people from these boards who've broken through to join the writing staff either by getting their stories published on Battle Corps or else in some other way, so there's every indication that while quality professional writing is a marketable skill, its not one that Stackpole or any other author has a monopoly on.
Sure, I agree on the third point. We know BT is centeraly driven, that there is a line devolper who coordanates things and many authors working together, so it would be dificult for someone to fully reason out just what any given next move in the storyline should be (though the DA's existance makes it a bit easier). But, that very fact undermines his other point, which is that the ideas are his, and that he's the one who makes the universe sing. The universe sings not because of a few books by one author, but because of the cooperative efforts of many people, doing writing, devolpment, fact checking, and many other things to bring a large spectrum of products to fruition, including a large and veried amount of fiction. Its not just about Stackpole, or Coleman, or anyone else. So the notion that we'd be picking up on 'his' hints or 'his' storylines is just sillyness, unless he had begun a series of his own in a universe of his own, which despite his claims that he has such abilities, I'm not aware that he has done.
Now, like I said, I did really enjoy Warrior and BoK and even X Wing. But, I enjoyed the words, that does not mean I have to enjoy the man who wrote them.
