So the long post I wrote was the culmination of over a year of conversations with other star wars nerds and thoughts on what the original intent of the clone wars and Anakin's backstory really was. To be honest, it is still very much a rough draft and there are parts of it i'm not totally happy with.
We had decided that Lucas still had lots of good ideas for the prequel trilogy (specifically in the art department) but that he lacked the feedback and constructive criticism which made episodes IV and V so good (much love to Gary Kurtz, Lawrence Kasdan, and Irvin Kirshner). We can see the initial breakdown in the creative process taking place in Return of the Jedi when Lucas inserts story elements which don't necessarily fit with pre-established canon (Obi-Wan and Owen are brothers???, where was the sense of loss in A New Hope??)
Our methodology was to take out quotes from the original theatrical releases without any special editions edits and start from there. After that, we began to look at authors like Tim Zahn, Michael Stackpole, and Kevin J. Anderson. It is clear that these authors received inside knowledge from Lucasfilms concerning a clone wars timeline based upon 35 BBY and that they collaborated on their stories. The critical success of the Thrawn Trilogy, the X Wing series and others cannot be denied: these authors resurrected the spirit of star wars in the early 90s when it was all but dead and brought star wars to an entirely new generation (mine). However, these authors were very very careful not to tread too much on existing canon and it was this mutual respect which made the expanded universe so enjoyable to read about. I know that not everything fit precisely but they established a precedent for prior art, that is, they built upon the story as it was written.
The ultimate problem with the prequel trilogy was that it was a rude jolt out of what many fans considered the Star Wars Universe. Compound this with bad writing and equally uninspiring performances from incredibly talented actors (watch red letter media for more on this subject) and what you have is a mess. And yet, for the longest time, I felt like an oustider in the universe I come to know so well... Audiences didn't care about the symbolism of light vs. dark or the honor involved in a lightsaber duel, they just wanted to see hack and slash. This cognitive dissonance is further compounded when one watches the series from episode 1-6. There are actually forums where people encourage this type of viewing for those new to star wars. This is unacceptable.
The Star Wars writing project is just something that I do from time to time when inspiration hits. I have spreadsheets and word docs galore filling in other parts of what I consider "my canon" but ultimately my list of sources are in this order: Original theatrical releases, Books released prior to 1998, and the Star Wars Encyclopedia by Stephen J. Sansweet.
All that being said, there are still lots of elements which are excellent additions to the Universe - Mace Windu, the Jedi Temple, Padme Amidala, and Darth Maul to name a few. My inspiration was to mix all of these factors together in a coherent format but written in a historical style. My premise would be that the prequel trilogy as we have come to know it is a false interpretation of the events which really transpired. This is due to the skywalker family (or skywalker ranch) seeking to protect their father's name. In my universe, Anakin fell to the dark side because of his OWN CHOICES, no one forced him or tricked him into it, and Palpatine merely nudged him along the path. The nature of the dark side and power are explored not through destiny or prophecy but through our everyday actions. The rest of the narrative seeks to "fix" the propaganda.
These re-writes will never be made into movies and part of the problem with the prequels is fitting everything into a 3 act story structure in a larger 6 part story arc. When I got rid of those arbitrary structures, the story fit together as it was meant to fit based upon lines from Alec Guinness, James Earl Jones, Sebastian Shaw, and Frank Oz.
I hope this clears up what my friends and I were trying to accomplish with my long post before this and I hope that everyone on this forum enjoys reading it and provides critical commentary.