Not every fan gets the chance to add his or her ideas to the expansive canon of the Star Wars universe, but starwars.com blogger Tim Veekhoven made sure that his backstory for original trilogy character Swilla Corey made the cut to be permanently included in the databank for the "What's the Story" Hyperspace contest.

"I submit every week for 'What's the Story' because it's an opportunity I cannot pass by," Veekhoven says. "I honestly didn't think the Swilla entry would be chosen. I knew Swilla from the Decipher card and she seemed like a nice girl, although the card said she was a thief. I know Tatooine rather well and I especially like the animals in Star Wars. So I added the element of the jerbas, who aren't cited that often in books. The story didn't come that easy. I first thought to include Momaw Nadon in the story, but since the Ithorian had been used many times I decided to use another alien. When I read that Pacithhip breed jerbas in The Wildlife of Star Wars it became evident that I had to use Ketwol, whose background didn't conflict with my story."

"I was glad to be chosen," Veekhoven adds. "There are many great stories that other members of Hyperspace send in every week. And maybe one day Hasbro will make a Swilla Corey action figure."

The contest offers the chance for Hyperspace members to submit their own back stories for the character featured that week. In addition to Swilla Corey, thanks to fans like Veekhoven, the characters Tannon Praji, Janu Godalhi, Rango "Tank Head" Tel, and Magaloof all have more well-rounded personalities and backgrounds.

"I think it's the greatest idea ever created on Hyperspace," Veekhoven says. "I wake up nervously every week to see what 'item' is chosen. I immediately start to think of a rough background. I think it's a golden opportunity to expand the Star Wars galaxy. Of course these characters are not main characters, but every guy and girl has a story to tell. I hope it will go on for a long time so finally all these poor characters without a proper name will be welcomed into the world of Star Wars. No book seems interested in doing it, so it truly is a remarkable idea."

In addition to writing the winning databank entry for Swilla Corey, Veekhoven documents his thoughts about droids, Sith and Jedi on his starwars.com blog: Sompeetalay's Source Blog.

"At first I didn't actually know what to do with my blog, but after a while I got some useful ideas," Veekhoven admits. "I chose that name because I have always liked Source Information (info derived from what we see in the movie or about facts in the Star Wars universe) and I like the usage of the term 'Source Information.' Sompeetalay has always been my online alias." Fans with an ear for alien dialogue will recognize Veekhoven's screen name as part of Greedo's exchange with Han Solo in Episode IV.

On his blog you can read about everything from collecting Hasbro action figures to West End Games sourcebooks, but don't expect any entries centered too much around characters outside of what's considered Star Wars canon.

"I think the term Expanded Universe or EU has been used far too often recently," Veekhoven explains. "Everything that's not explicitly mentioned in the movies is called EU nowadays. I used to have a class in college called "Historical Method." In that class you learn how to study different kind of sources. Source and EU are different. I'd wish the discrepancy between Source (facts) and EU (narrative format) would be used a bit more often."

"Don't get me wrong. I like the EU stories that take place between the movies; the Clone Wars comics and novels are great," Veekhoven continues. "They usually follow events set up in the movies. But after reading many post-Return of the Jedi novels, I decided for myself that these stories were not consistent with what I understood was Mr. Lucas's vision of Star Wars and the universe he created. So I stopped reading the post-Jedi novels. I consequently started to read more books about Mr. Lucas, the movies and source information. I know that Mr. Lucas does not write the backgrounds either, but at least the backgrounds are about characters, species, planets, ships, etc. that appear in the movies and are a part of the universe envisioned by Mr. Lucas."

One of the more interesting elements of Sompeetalay's Source Blog, is Veekhoven's use of lists to keep track of everything from the Nikto characters to repulsorlift vehicles.

"I think the most interesting blogs are the so-called rosters," Veekhoven says. "I discovered the blog of Mr. Leland Chee, (Keeper of the Holocron's Blog,) and he had created some really cool rosters about the Jedi that fought on Geonosis and about the members in the Jedi Council. Since Mr. Chee is a very busy man, I decided to make some more rosters myself. I transferred info from an old website I had and also from my personal source notebook where I write every new name down that I know can be difficult to remember or to find. The rosters are basically lists about certain groups of characters, vehicles or droids from the movies or the television spin-off series."

"I'm planning to add some more rosters in the future possibly, including Jabba's Palace residents, droid types (ranked by their Degree class), Rebel commandos, Imperial officers, something about the Droids animated series, etc.," Veekhoven adds. "I'm also planning to write a small review of each non-fiction book that will be released. And maybe I'll work out something regarding the iconography of animals and the metaphorical use of animals in the Star Wars universe."

Fans that come across Veekhoven's blog may also discover information about side characters they knew nothing about before.

"I hope that fans will in time use my blog as some kind of reference like an unofficial encyclopedia," Veekhoven says. "For instance when they are looking for the name Jek Porkins' astromech droid, they can go to that blog entry and find its name. It can actually save a lot of time. I use my blog myself from time to time. I always verify things, but of course fans can still double check the information themselves when they're not sure about it. Since the appearance of the West End Games books, I have always been reading and writing about source. Still, blogs are an excellent opportunity to share your interest with other fans, because Star Wars fandom is so versatile. You can read what Star Wars means to other fans as well."

Veekhoven is a bit of an expert when it comes to what Star Wars means to international fans, especially those from Belgium. In 1997, Veekhoven, and fellow fans Christiaan Vertez, Laurent Bettens founded TeeKay-421vzw -- the unofficial Belgian Star Wars fan club. TeeKay publishes four magazines and newsletters a year, and hosts monthly Star Wars events for fans including attending museums, quiz contest parties, laser tag games and attending basketball games played by Tarfful actor Michael Kingma. The group also organizes several charity dinners to help raise funds for local organizations. Fans wanting to know more about TeeKay-421 can access their web site (in Dutch) here.

"The purpose of the fan club is to share information about Star Wars with the members by means of our magazines and through our website and message forum," Veekhoven says. "This serves as a great way to help members meet other fans. After all these years the fan club is still standing and that's very remarkable because clubs tend to rise and disappear as fast as the wind blows on Ryloth. The club still exists because of an unmatched dedication of the crew and the members. We don't know what the future will bring for TeeKay-421 now that there won't be any more movies, but we plan to continue as long as Star Wars is alive and kicking."

Whether it's running a fan club, writing regular blogs or adding to Star Wars canon with his entertaining background story on Swilla Corey, it's obvious that the saga has touched Veekhoven's life in a way that many fans can relate to. For him, Star Wars is more than just a great series of films.

"The elements that impress me the most in Star Wars are the classical mythological motives, the elements from other movies like The Wizard of Oz or our modern society themes such as man vs machine. Of course, the entire galaxy of Star Wars that has been described and discovered down to the bone. Even if you don't read the books from West End Games, Wizards of the Coast or DK Publishing, you still realize that there is more in this universe than just that particular street in Mos Eisley. You know there are other streets and maybe something is happening there as well that's worth having a look. I like what they call 'history from below.' Every guy has a story to tell, even if he's a pauper or a thief. To me Star Wars is a contemporary fairy tale mixed with mythology that took place in a living galaxy far, far away."

Click here to read the blog Sompeetalay's Source Blog by Veekhoven. And be sure to visit Star Wars Blogs for other exciting blogs from cast, crew and Lucasfilm VIPs like actors Daniel Logan, Jay Laga'aia, Matthew Wood, authors Karen Traviss and Dan Wallace, and set diarist Pablo Hidalgo.

To learn how Hyperspace members can create their own blog, click here.