Resource Fanfic Writer's Desk: Your Place for Writing Discussion, Questions, and Advice

fangirl_jw I'm not the expert on Sith, but they seem to like galactic domination. Wookieepedia would have more and I would suggest reading up on it there.

In the movies we had the rule of two. Master and apprentice, but in the past there were brotherhoods of Sith and in the future Darth Krayt has a bunch of Sith working for him. I never heard of them being in the sex trade, but slave labor seemed to be popular with Palpatine.

 

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Thank you for your help. I'm in the process of writing a story outline. Wookieepedia has a lot of information. It's a lot read through. I was going to research more about the Sith after getting a small idea of what they want and what they usually do.

 

"Hello there!"
I'm plotting a series of short stories that willtell the tales of "The Lost Nineteen" Jedi Knights - (Count Dooku, being the twentieth, doesn't need his story repeating hence Lost Nineteen not Lost Twenty).

Here comes the request - does anyone have any interesting ideas or thoughts as to specific reasons a Jedi Knight would want to leave the Order?

I say specific because saying, for example - "Political reasons" - to too vague an idea to start from.
Also, I'm planning to spread the nineteen over the entire recorded history of the Jedi Order (30,000 years!), so having ideas that only relate to the Palpatine era won't work either.

Can anyone help?

Regards
Nickamano

 

I posted a request for advice in the wrong thread, so I'll just paraphrase it here.

I'm making a story about a Roleplay character that fights her creator, but it's kinda like a self-insert story, which a lot of people seem to not like, or consider Mary-Sueish. Making a Mary Sue is one of my worst fears while writing...is there a way to make it so readers won't think so?

 

Hi 4687! Your idea sounds really interesting... kinda Tron like. I would think the best advice would be to not say it's a self-insert, people see that and they think Mary-Sue right off, even if the character is really engaging and three dimensional.
You can find Mary-Sue tests on the internet and they really sometimes help you take a good look at your character and know how others might see your character. As writers we often are very passionate and protective of our characters, but that can become a bad thing if you don't look at them closely.

 

Tron-like, huh? I haven't seen the movie, so any resemblance is purely coincidental.

I suppose it's not exactly a self-insert as much as it is an avatar. Speaking of the tests, I took a couple and entered in my character Alisha, and thankfully, she was not even close to being called a Mary Sue. She has her good and bad points.

 

Well, as I suggested in the other thread, you could go a Frankenstein route, as if the RP character was grown in a vat. Take a weird sci-fi approach with it, and the author avatar may not come across as obvious. Treat the author avatar as if they were already a character in that character's world.

 

In the story setting, characters grow along with their profiles. Maybe they start out in tanks, but they can at some point be taken out and spend time with their creators. It's a world where the avatars can go in and out when they wish, or something can force them out. When that happens for long enough, the character could be either placed into the Storage tanks or placed up for adoption, depending on the creator's wishes.

 

Any idea how long the trip from Coruscant to Yavin would take at lightspeed?

And for that matter, is there any resource/chart out there that shows distances (in time) between planets?

 

taramidala I've always used this chart: http://www.starwars-chronicles.com/Hyperspace_Travel_Time.htm][/url] http://www.starwars-chronicles.com/Hyperspace_Travel_Time.htm[/link] but I know there are others.
So from Coruscant to Yavin would take 4 days.

 

Oh, nice! This is a godsend. Thanks, Bri!

 

Yes, thanks Bri!

 

I haven't seen that before; very helpful. Thanks for posting it.

Isn't there an issue with travel distances and times, so if you have a terrible navigator, you end up with longer distances/times? The old 'Kessel Run in 12 parsecs' problem?

 

Yeah, that chart says it's for average ships, but I think it should include average navigators, so there is wiggle room.

 

I ignore travel time charts. In my writing, starships in hyperspace move at the speed of plot. If the plot requires them to be there the next day, they will be there the next day. If they have time to spare, I'll give 'em five days to find some trouble to get into on the way.

That said, you need to be realistic (even the Millennium Falcon isn't going to be able to go from one edge of the galaxy to the opposite edge in one day), but common sense is all you need there.

 

This is a bit out there, but does anyone know if there has evern been a crossover Star Wars - Anne of Green Gables fic? Probably the only connection with all this is #orphans and #red hair.

 

I think it's safe to assume that there hasn't been. My brother also chimes in with, "don't worry, yours will be the first."

 

Umm... I have another question. The character in a story is a Jedi Master, and, due to something between a Heroic BSOD and a Despair Event Horizon, is the Stoic( ora Stoic Woobie, as some readers might think) . However, the character isn' t that emotionless on the inside, and remembers these painful memories prettily( partially because of naturally good memory) . So, once it all has to be revealed, and the only forms of angst allowed to her to show( yes, she is female, despite the fact that form of angst is mostly for males, and in general, I support strong, Ripley - like female types, and wanted her to partially be this) are Mangst and Manly Tears. And in general, she views tears as a weakness to be disposed of, however, for some reasons * no spoilers here* has harder time to control emotions than others. However, I haven' t seen many examples of females doing those forms of angst, so I' m afraid I might cross the line and make her look too whiny or too weak( And I don' t want her to look weak. Only traumaticized, but not weak. ) . I generally dislike the " whiny woman" trope in media, besides I try to make my character look logical and cool - headed as opposed to that. So how do I write her openly angsting and not looking whiny at the same time.
Also, the same character is pretty dark( yep, that' s despite being a Jedi) in the fanfic. But I know that a dark protagonist might alienate the readers. *spoilers* I want to give her some kind of redemtion in the end to make her less dark, along with a Sequel Hook. But still, the fanfic is gen, so it' s not a case of Love Redeems. Besides, I' m afraid that redemption might damage her strength and make her more cuddly. Is there any way so that I would give her that kind of redemption, and still leave her strong, smart, vary and the loner type? And any ideas for the reasons of such redemption?

 

In terms of the angst portion... Traumatized and angsty are not the same thing. If someone had suffered traumatic events, they may find it cathartic to discuss the events and even attempt to rationalize it with themselves. This will come in the form of a conversation with themselves. "Why did this have to happen? What did I do to deserve this? Well, it must've been because I did this. Obviously that caused this to happen..."

This method allows your character to discuss the event that caused them so much grief without coming across as angsty. Also, most people will do this when they're alone. Thus, other characters won't notice this.

A female character can talk about their past without appearing whiny, and the easiest way to do that would be to avoid any type of dialogue that pretty much says "oh, woe is me!" Discuss the emotions in matter-of-fact terms. Recount the events objectively and try to rationalize them.

 

Well, just the events she lived through are not the ones to be known, they could' ve put in danger not only her, but her old master as well. Besides, if everyone found this out( except the character who really found this out), they would' ve started hunting her.

 

Either way, having the character discuss it with themselves in objective terms will usually keep them out of wangst territory. It's not a bad thing to complain about something, to say that if such and such didn't happen, then life would be better. The problem comes in how much that character talks about it. Bring it up when relevant, such as something reminding them, but otherwise, they won't be going on about it for no real reason.

 

Well, the problem is that she can' t ask that because she knew it would' ve happened anyway, it was just a matter of time, and it could be worse. Besides, that event was some kind of a revelation for her, and made her hate herself( though she' s not allowed to hate) .

 

The solution is still the same. To keep the character out of wangst territory, don't have them brood constantly or complain constantly, or say things in a whiny manner. They can vent, but only when relevant. Otherwise, they will keep their troubles to themselves, so as not to burden other characters and the reader.

 

Hmmm...

Seeing that no one seems to have answered this.

I'd be willing to offer some help, though before we get started I'd like to say that I've always been somewhat concerned with the integration of the Lost Twenty with the EU that shows us a whole bunch of guys who left the Jedi order for one reason or another.

 

If Exar Kun wants to lure Nomi to the Dark Side during the Great Sith War due to her great Force techniques, what kind of plan would he make?