I say in my author bio that, as a kid, my first love was Han Solo and I wanted to be Princess Leia. And it's not a joke. I am a Gen-X woman who was raised on sci-fi paperbacks (and my mom's romance novels). I played with Star Wars action figures (and Barbies) as a kid. Han Solo and Princess Leia were a part of my psyche, as real as the Ancient Greek gods were to children of that time and era. 

I liked that Leia was smart and tough, confident, commanding, and beautiful. She didn't fit in with the traditional views of women, which were still prevalent when I was growing up in the late 1970's and 80's.  I liked Han's confidence and swagger, his independence and outlaw nature. (Of course, it didn't hurt that he was played to perfection by Harrison Ford!)

In the science fiction and fantasy novels I grew up reading, the lead characters were mostly male. I remember feeling confused about how I could want to be the hero like in the stories, but I was also a girl, and so my perspective was consigned to the girlfriend role - a secondary character, who was usually passive and waiting to be rescued.  

I realize now that was due to the authors  being mostly men, and so they had a different lens to see the world.  I loved those stories, and I am grateful for them. But it ignited in me a desire to tell the story that I would want to read, that would complete the unfulfilled saga within me. 

I wanted the love story, as well as the epic journey. That was probably part of why Han and Leia appealed to me: they were equals, lovers, and partners in adventure. 

My debut novel, Daughters of Hestia, features a strong female protagonist (Vesta) and a male co-lead, Joren. They don't argue like Han and Leia but, like them, are true equals who, at first, think they had nothing in common. By the end of the novel, Vesta and Joren come to acknowledge what they are to each other, just as Han and Leia did. And, like in Star Wars, it is intertwined with a larger adventure and mission that involves enemies and allies, purpose and sacrifice, danger and heroism. 

As artists, we are always digesting the materials of life, of the culture and stories we received, in order to produce something original. Many of the themes and feelings of life may be similar, but each person has a unique way of interpreting and expressing the stories within them. I was raised on science fiction and fantasy, on romance novels and unfulfilled dreams. For me, Han and Leia are a love story for the ages.