Discussion The Scribble Pad (Fanfic Writing Discussions)

This is just a suggestion
Does Luke's wife in the new canon have to be Mara?
Maybe you already made up with much effort Nyros's background, but does she have to be a Dark Sider before?
Insert a scene where Nyros is coming into Luke's quarters to confess her feelings, but once she gets into the room, she founds Mara's force ghost dancing quietly with Luke? Maybe the soap opera thing you are trying to avoid? But that will sink the Lukyros ship.

 

Well, because I want to bring that character back, do I need another reason?

Her being redeemed from the Dark Side is already mentioned in what I've previously released.

Also, Mara is alive in this continuity, so Nyros has no chance. Besides, if we folloe the timeline, turns out Nyros was unable to confess her feeligs to Luke for good 30 years( well, she spent 20 of them having a good nap, but still 10 waking years is a lot), doubt she would suddenly find the strength to confess at the time of the fanfic. And the Lukyros( actually it's Lukari in my head, but whichever you like) ship I never intend to make mutual, I intend to leave this one-sided right to the end( like I said, I only want additional drama and a review bait, but I don't want to hook Nyros up with anyone).

I don't want anything soap operaish, I want the main focus of the story to be fighting Snoke. Since Nyros is the POV character, lots of her thoughts and inner monologues are visible to the reader. That would mean suddenly occupying the text with sentences of how much she loves Luke. And I am afraid it might come to the romance novel level of snotty. Basically, I don't want that much focus on romance.

 

Okay, I think I may have the solution for you.

Write in someone else's POV. Maybe Luke's? or even Mara's? or Third person?

You can have Luke notice that there was always fresh hot chocolate when he wakes up in the morning (Maybe Luke always knew Mara always nagged him to switch to caf). Or Mara notice Ari smiles a bit when Luke is in the room. Small hints like that. If you write in another person's POV, you don't have to deal with sentences such like. I really wonder how Luke likes his hot chocolate, he's sooo dreamy. Rather, you'll be writing something like Luke came into the room, all business, and want some hot chocolate, to his surprise a fresh pot was already there.. nice!

 

So, bringing a topic over here from the social thread. Basically, Chyntuck suggested I pick up the new Leia, Princess of Alderaan to help with my current stubborn muse on my Bail/Breha fic, and it seems like it has some elements that might be really helpful in kicking my SW muse in the head. But I'm hesitant for two reasons, because maybe I'm weird, or maybe other people have these issues too?

Basically the book (and I don't think it is spoilery to say this) gives both Breha and Alderaan a lot of screen time/time built. Which I'm super excited to read, but back when I started writing Breha, she didn't exactly have much of a character. The few instances she appeared in the EU/Legends, she was fairly flat. So I kinda feel like I created a version of the character that I like, so, as silly as it sounds (we are fanfic writers, this happens) I'm kinda afraid to see the "official" character. I'still going to read the book, but with a hint of fear.

The second reason why I'm not reading it already, is because my muse is going (almost) full steam in a totally different direction (well, maybe not TOTALLY different, because as fans of The West Wing will know, Matthew Santos IS BASICALLY THE SAME CHARACTER AS Bail Organa - and I'm not just referring to the fact that they are played by the same actor). My muse has just gotten on the West Wing train and it is not getting off. I'm just a few days (probably?) from finishing up my Dear Diary for this year (and maybe finishing that 40k+ beast will flip the muse back to Star Wars) and I have a couple plot bunnies running on their wheels for vignettes. And what I am doing (for those unaware) is more of the friendship/family/comedic genres (whereas my Bail/Breha stuff is very much romance/angst). So, yeah, I'm basically afraid of pissing off the muse by forcing it to somewhere it doesn't want to go right now.

My muse has a mind of her own (with her own wants, desires and attitude) and I don't want to make her mad. Is that weird?

 

About the book (nothing particularly spoilery under the tag, it's just to be on the safe side):

Spoiler

I think that your Breha and the book's Breha are very credibly the same character in terms of personality, so you don't need to worry too much about that. Her background in the book is different from the one you invented, obviously, but you can easily ignore that.

About the muse, I don't think you're being weird at all. Mine occasionally tends to push me to focus on only one type of story, or even on one single story, and there's not much I can do about it. She doesn't become mad and leave if I try to push her in a different direction though; she just goes on strike until I comply with the direction she chose for me. Sigh.

 

LOL Briannakin - I can totally relate. My creative juices were for years all devoted to Trek and still primarily so, but I'm very happy to feel drawn to things I want to write for SW, mostly in the character-driven area, which is stuff I like anyway, about character growth and relationships.

 

Thanks Chyntuck ! That's really exciting to hear! The background stuff is a given (like I said, we are fanfic writers; it happens). Now I can't wait to read it!

As for the muse, normally I can work on a couple different types of fics at one time, but I find if my muse has REALLY latched onto something, if I try to redirect her (even if it's just research) she'll just fall over like a cat on a leash and refuse to move (sometimes for months) even if I try to get her to go back to what she wanted to do in the first place.

She's a fickle, fickle, creature.

 

I don't think either of those things is weird. When I started shipping Ben Skywalker/Jysella Horn we didn't know a lot about her, even how old she was. We had context clues, but nothing definitive. Then when they gave her a bigger role in Fate of the Jedi and she turned out to be older and not really how I imagined her. It was a bit disappointing even though I knew that could have happened.

And yeah, if I try to force my muse to work on something she doesn't want to work on, forget it. She'll just sit in the corner and not play with anyone at all.

 

Ah, muses. What interesting creatures they are. Mine is definitely peculiar. She is currently obsessed with an epic Darth Vader romance. Which I mentioned to y'all before, due to my frustration with wanting to share it with y'all, but my muse was insisting (and still is) that the story be too HOT for the JCF to handle! She even vetoed the idea of a cleaner version for the JCF, because, according to her, it would Destroy The Awesomeness! Meanwhile, she continues to throw plot bunnies at my head. But should I try to push the epic aside for a while and play with plot bunnies..... NOPE. Get back to that epic! Go kriff Darth Vader! Just pile them plot bunnies in the corner - you can play with them later. But plot bunnies being as plot bunnies are, they prefer pestering to waiting in the corner. So my poor muse must work herself to a frazzle chasing the plot bunnies back to the corner. Which I think rather serves her right, since she threw them at me in the first place.

She is a fairly cooperative muse though, in that she does not refuse to play when I try to force her to work on something she doesn't want to. She just gets petulant and makes it like pulling teeth to drag out a few sentences.

 

I'd say, honor the Muse... write the whole steamy epic out the way she wants it (the Director's Cut, which should shut her up)... then put it aside to simmer while you play with the plot bunnies and she should have calmed down enough to let you save and edit a copy as version two (the Studio Version), which you can release.



My Muse usually calms down once the bunny is on paper and developed. She then turns to other things...

 

My Muse is still on vacations. Please come back now!

 

Sorry for the double post, and not sure this is the right place, but I'm wondering what you guys think of this increasing trend with present-tense novels. Do you like it? Do you mostly write your novels with the present tense? Or not at all, you'd rather prefer the classic past. And more importantly, why? ^_^

 

Mine would be more helpful if she was more organized. She can't seem to tell this story in a linear fashion. She keeps skipping back and forth.

 

My muse has a short attention span. Always has. But, I usually go where she leads me.

 

Great question! For me it really just depends on the story. Past tense is what we're more used to so it feel more natural, and present tense can sometimes just feel like something's... off. I mostly prefer past tense, probably because it's what I'm used to, but if the story is good, I can look past present tense even if I think it probably would have been better in past tense. I think as a writer you have more freedom in the past tense, you can play around with time more because when you use the present tense you are always right where things are happening.

Of course, I'm sure if it's a choice and made for a good reason, present tense can be used to great effect and work really well. Personally, I'll stick to past unless I come up with a great reason for present.

I think maybe you see it in fanfic a decent amount because people are often writing fanfic of TV shows and movies and they are in present tense (in both the screenplay and the action of the show or the movie) and people are trying to somewhat mirror that feeling they get from watching the show or movie. They see it in their mind and write how they'd see it on a screen. Maybe that's happening with novels too, people are seeing it like a movie instead of a novel.

 

re past tense vs present tense in writing/reading.

This has came up in the lit forum too.

But my answer is reading present tense is okay for me.

I don't actually buy the reason that present tense is "TV show version" or make the action NOW!

Of course, script is another matter.

But writing prose in present tense: well, I'm more of a past tense writer. I suppose if you really want to write in present tense, I would write stuff in the past tense and go back and change 'ed to s and es's.

 

I'm not a big fan of present-tense stories in general, and I find that, as a trick, it's being increasingly used in contexts where it isn't needed at all and where the past tense would just as well convey the immediacy of what is happening if the writer put a bit more effort in the quality of his/her writing. However, there are a few types of novels/stories where I find it justifiable. One of those is stream-of-consciousness narratives where the entire story is a character's thoughts (with or without a framing device). There's a story in the fanfic archive where Padmé survived RotS in a catatonic state, IIRC the passages that take place inside her head are written in the present tense and it works very well. Another situation where the present tense can be used is for a framing device – one of the novels I read recently is about of a character in the now (written in the present tense) telling the story of another character in the past (written in the past tense), and that worked really well. But that's pretty much it as far as I'm concerned.

The Aftermath trilogy is written entirely in the present tense and I didn't particularly like it (but then there are many other things I also don't like about Wendig's style).

 

Huh. I don't think I consciously noticed that but I remember feeling like something was off when I tried to read it. I attributed it to the first of the new EU books and thought I was still feeling off about the old EU. There were a few things that bothered me about his writing, but mostly I just felt off. Now that I think about it, the present tense was probably the reason I couldn't get into it.

 

That story is magnificent. And a great example of how it works in some cases, but not the others.

 

I just found out that the ultimate stream of consciousness book, To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf, is written in the past tense.

 

My Muse isn't being too helpful with my ongoing fics that need to be updated like last year and instead spitting out ideas for other fics including one based off of another fan fic.

I think I have a screw loose as well since it seems while listening to a happy and peppy song my mind goes to a series of one shots i am brainstorming and my thoughts go to the parts involving murder nad brutal torture.

 

Speaking of that...
I think I don't treat my OCs very well.
I will now try to write more fics with happier tone.

 

I really don't have anything to add to the past/present conversation that Chyn hasn't already said. I don't mind it and it can certainly be effective in some situations, but it can also come off as lazy writing when past-tense could work just as well.

Going back to muses, I was right about mine. As soon as I finished what it had latched onto (my West Wing dear diary challenge - YESSS I am currently celebrating being finished my first NSWFF long-fic that ended up being a 45,000 word beast and it feels good) it immediately went on to the next thing (though I think it will be a bit more flexible now, so I don't think I will be completely abandoning the fandom).

Only thing is, the plot bunny my muse went onto is a Harry Potter story. WHICH IS REALLY FREAKING WEIRD BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE HARRY POTTER!

Okay, I don't mind Harry Potter - I've seen all the movies and read some of the books, but it just never sucked me in like other fandoms. But I have no idea why I suddenly want to write a "Snape raises Harry" story (okay, I kinda do - my sister was watching the movies when I visited her). Maybe I'll try to find a fic to read to satisfy my brain.

But all I'm thinking is "WHAT THE KRIFF MUSE?"

I really need to start that Leia book.

 

More muse shenanigans for me too. After all this talk of present-tense stories, she decided that one of the fics I have in the pipeline will be written in the present tense but that I shouldn't work on that one just yet. She also decided that I should mull over the outline I started for another story rather than complete it this weekend as I had initially planned, and that I should start posting a third story instead. *pulls hair out*