Discussion The Scribble Pad (Fanfic Writing Discussions)

I have nothing against present tense stories, per se.

Occasionally, I find myself beginning a fic in present tense, then about four lines down, writing in past tense.

I usually stare at the mix for a few seconds, wondering which format to proceed with, then change everything to past tense.

 

My muse finally decided that I am capable of handling more than one plot bunny at a time, even if one of them is an epically huge Flemish Giant........as long as they are all in the same fandom. She still won't let me touch my Guardians Of The Galaxy bunnies.

 

I've written a few present tense stories over the years and I often have to heavily edit them because I would slip into past tense and not notice it. I generally sick with past because it is just what I like.

As for muses - I found and read a fanfic last night that seems to have satisfied the Harry Potter muse craziness (though the fic ended too soon and I now want a sequel - might have to go looking again). So I started on Leia and I have to agree with much of what Chyntuck said

Spoiler

I'm only a few chapters in, but, yeah, Leia is kinda bugging me - I would not have characterized Leia at 16 of desperately needing attention from her parents (I wouldn't characterize ANY 16 year old as that from my experience). But I'm loving the building of Alderaan, Aldera and the characterizations of Bail and Breha!

I really don't mind that what I've written now is complete AU from both Legends and D-Canon - I like my back story better, but it is really great to read profic with these characters (that I somehow got spot on ).

It hasn't really kicked the muse quite yet, but I'm thinking, if I go back and just have the willpower to delete what got me into my muse not liking the story, I'll hopefully get back to the story.

 

Amusingly, one of my stories has since caused me to write two spin-offs based on it and while I'm trying to wrap up the original, I keep getting ideas that distract me from finishing it and it is driving me up the wall

I am downright evil to my OCs and tend to burn their homes down via giant fires or have fire involved in some way
Granted, that's all backstories and their present situations are usually much more upbeat

 

Welcome, Vinylshadow


EDIT: Who was it around here who recently warned that she only read and reviewed works for five pre-selected authors? It just occurred to me that I should have made a note.

I was certain it would have been in the 'Peeves thread, but that hasn't been updated since February, and the admission feels more recent than that.

 

Kinda, sorta, moving the drabble discussion (and my own personal tangent) over here.

My muse has seemingly lost all interest in Star Wars and it is kinda scaring me. I've basically given up on this years drabbles (the muse just does not want to work on them at all, not that I really care about abandoning the challenge - I might go back to finish them, I might not, it's not something I was heavily invested in finishing). I have an SW idea for my 80s music challenge, but my muse is just kinda meh on it, meaning I'm not exactly motivated to start it. I'd also like to get going on my Bail/Breha sequel, but again, the muse just isn't interested in it. I guess, I just never thought I'd totally jump fandoms in terms of my fanfiction. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going anywhere. I still love this community. I still love Star Wars and I still love fan fiction, but the two just aren't overlapping for me at the moment. Maybe it is just indifference to the direction of Disney (I'm still excited for TLJ, but I'm just not emotionally invested in it). But I just don't feel passionate about it anymore and I guess it is just kinda making me feel "not like myself" since it was a huge part of my life for so many years.

My muse is still going, so I'm still getting my "escapism from life". Just on something I NEVER thought I'd be writing (fanfiction based on earth using mainly OCs? whaaaat? American politics? I actually know the difference between Congress and the Senate? WHO AM I?). I love it and I don't care that the audience is VERY VERY limited. I'm having a blast and I have ALWAYS said that fanfic is a hobby, therefore having FUN should be the #1 priority. And I am having so much fun playing with my (and a couple stolen from Mav) dolls characters. Even if I'm in my own little corner.

Anyways. That got way too deep of an identity crisis. Maybe it's the coffee.

It's totally the coffee.

 

You're not alone, Briannakin. The only thing that is keeping me writing SW is OCs. I know on the other thread you said you don't write OC generally. That can make it tough. It all make me wonder if you can go home again (PT OT). After the present is warped, it's hard to even want to write the Big Three back in the day. It feel like there is no point if they just turn out to be sad, bitter people. Ugh.

 

Yeah, maybe it has something to do with the CONSTANTLY changing (though maybe evolving/developing is a better word) nature of the fandom. Sure Legends evolved back in the day, but not at the same pace. It can be hard for a person to keep caught up these days, even if you want to be up to date on all the new canon stories (and I'm a MA student - even if I wanted to, I couldn't). Sure Legends is pretty static these days, and there is always AUs but maybe my SW muse has just dried up (for now).

The fandom I'm currently happy to play in is The West Wing, and while there are always rumours of a reboot, the show has been off the air for over 10 years now. Nothing is changing.

 

I think sometimes there needs to be a break from the fandom you are writing in and try something new, and then perhaps go back in a while and start afresh so your mind can restart and get interested in it again.
I think with the direction SW has taken, it can be a bit draining for creativity but if you can find something you like from it, something you really enjoy from it--just anything, really, and then just research it and write stuff, make OCs, whatever, it can be more rewarding than trying to keep up with all the new canon stuff one may or may not be interested in. If any of that actually makes any sense..

 

Yeah. I'm kinda enjoying the break from the SW fandom in a way - especially using OCs - I don't have to worry about earthisms or someone being out of character or messing up backstory. It really is a complete break from my normal writing. I don't feel like myself because I'm not writing what I normally write, which is giving me conflicting feelings. Part of me is saying "Okay, break is over, you did your NSWFF diary (which ended up being 45k words) and have done nearly 30k in random vignettes, time to get back to things you told people you would write." The other part of me is going "BUT I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN!!!!"

It totally makes sense.

Another part of it too, I think is, the current direction of SW is just so dark. Don't get me wrong, SW has always had very dark moments back from the first 20 minutes of ANH, and I love me some dark, horrible, everyone dies stories, but, where I stand in my life right now (and given our current, at times, very dark broader media) I don't want to immerse myself creatively in that to find new inspiration for SW fics.

 

I think not writing what you normally write is a good thing--it gives room for exploration and the important thing is you enjoy it. The worst possible thing is writing about something you have no inspiration or interest in writing about--it's kind of like writing a Masters thesis, actually (but fanfic or stories) in that you need to have some passion for writing it, something that keeps you going because you're interested and want to keep writing.

Oh--I can totally relate to that feeling of the current direction of SW just being too dark--it's not something anyone currently needs more of.

 

I hear you, Bri. And like brodiew I’m finding myself drawn to OCs way more than original characters. I think it’s because ALL the new sequels characters are essentially someone else’s OCs to me. I haven’t seen many docs on the board with Finn or Poe or any of the new stars, for that matter - a smattering, but not the overload I kind of expected.

I think it’s just too many new characters all at once. We know the surface of them, but not enough to want to write a deeper look into them.

 

Yeah, that might be another reason too, and especially why I haven't written much in terms of D-canon. There's only so much character development you can get into a 2 hour movie with so many characters. And, for me, I'd consider Han/Leia/Luke to be sort of like new characters too. They certainly aren't the same people we saw in ROTJ (which I'm okay with, 30 years have passed). And while there is the books and whatnot, there is only so much backstory the authors can give us. I understand why, but it doesn't help my muse and the apathy I have regarding them. But maybe things will change once the new movie comes out? I'm not sure.


But, I think the main reason why my muse has just gone in a different direction is because it got bored. It found something shiny and new and it loves its new toy. I guess I feel like I'm betraying SW and the community a bit by not participating more/writing, so I think that might be the source of my current guilt funk I'm in right now (that, and the coffee). I'm pretty sure I'll return to SW again. In the mean time, I'll just feel like I'm committing adultery.

 

I think muses, for long term work, need material and stability.

Your West Wing, having run for several seasons, has that.

Disney, rebooting the canon, does not.

 

When it comes to writing about dark things in fiction...there needs to be a legitimate reason for that avenue to be explored. There has to be a strong background to justify the darkness, strong characters that help pull the narrative along, but, MOST IMPORTANTLY, a freaking payoff that helps Ijustify the darkness. Maybe it doesn't have to be the reverse and be light-filled, but there has to be some kind of catharsis to show the audience that something justifiable comes out of the dark story.

But when a bunch of ascended fanboys get their hands on a story, that sense of darkness has all the hallmarks of "ooh, angsty shiny-shine!!" Maybe I'm just saying that I take back my dislike of the EU (I wasn't a fan of it back when it was running for many reasons...now I'm sorry I ever thought anything bad about it).

 

When Kylo pulls off his mask, and there is nothing wrong with his face..., that is your explanation all over.

 

Everyone is bringing up such great points! This is such a great discussion! (Sorry, it's the coffee and possibly the lack of meaty discussion in my real life).

Yeah, my muse definitely prefers stability, lots of material, and longevity for it to become attached to something. I like to write stories about characters and character development, so it makes sense that all the fandoms I've ever had an idea for a story in (drabbles don't count) have all been quite long running fandoms [Star Wars (specifically the EU), Doctor Who, Stargate, Grey's Anatomy, and West Wing (WW is probably the "shortest" on this list with "only" seven seasons and no other tie-ins)], all of which have either ended or have (or had, in the case of SW) a pretty lax development pace.


And I totally agree with darkness in fiction. Disney is just getting way to angsty it seems for my taste, at least when it comes to getting inspiration for fanfic. Don't get me wrong, I'll still watch the new movies and love it for 2 hours (or so I'm hoping), but I don't want to continually be in that dark world when I just want to escape our own dark reality. Maybe the movies will develop to be lighter, but I don't know.

 

Nail. on. head. The same ascended Fanboy tried to make a sequel to the new Star Trek reboot and took from what work best in the original second film and tried to make it work in the reboot. Spock's death scene in Star Trek 2 the Wrath of Khan is not just good Star Trek but it has years of history behind it. I would suggest it is a seminal moment in cinema history. Remaking A New Hope for the Next Generation and turning the previous generations Heroes into sad broken people doesn't provide my muse with much to work with.

 

Well, one must remember that all true art is made of angst...and heartburn.

 

We should not tar all ascended fanboys with the same brush though.

The ones for Doctor Who seemed to work. For me, anyway. Mostly.

The ones for Star Wars, dis-respecting the creator of it all, corrupting and negating his vision, denying all of us a chance to see Luke, Leia and Han together; and adding to the divisions within the fandom, eg. disenfranchising the Prequels and the EU, rather than making any attempt to unite us.

Rogue One was good though.

 

Let's remember we are discussing fan fiction here. I kinda feel like the conversation might be drifting into topics suited to other areas of the boards.

 

Well, the reason I came to the Scribble Pad in the first place, is to share my problem: I'm several pages into a Doctor Who fic, and have inserted him and his companion into the events of the maritime horror film, Deep Rising.

The film plot was that a boat full of hijackers were going to rendezvous with a sabotaged ocean liner, and find that it has been attacked by this MASSIVE sea creature.

Me and my muse, or my muse and I, if you want to be proper, have approached this with the clear understanding that the Doctor needs to save the day by re-starting the engines before the creature attacks; cos we have no idea how to get rid of it afterwards.

I have good memories of all the computer screens on the bridge showing white noise, reviewed relevant clips on Youtube, and set the Doctor to work, bluffing his way onto the Bridge with the psychic paper, the creature is five kilometres out and closing fast, all we need to do is find out which console the Doctor needs to wave his sonic screwdriver at to restart the engines, then we can tidy up, post, and go see what the OTP Winter Challenge is all about.

I decide I need some data on which specific ship systems were neutralised, and backtrack to when the sabotage actually took place, and find that the Doctor is in the wrong place.

The sabotage took place in a "System Operations Room" elsewhere in the cruise liner. The Doc can wave his sonic screwdriver all he likes on the Bridge, there is NO WAY that I can get him from the Bridge to System Ops before the creature arrives.

My creativity has crashed, cos I'm now out of my depth, no pun intended.

 

That...is one random crossover, dude. Kudos to you.

As for solving your dilemma, this is where actually watching the movie comes in handy (assuming you haven't seen it before, of course). Could going through and watching it maybe help get the Doctor back in the right place? Or maybe tracking down a copy of the script (assuming the script that might exist online was modified from what appears in the film?).

 

One reason I was on such a long hiatus from the boards was the NJO. It seemed to me that SW was no longer SW. Gratuitous torture, good guys who are bad guys, bad guys who get off without punishment because they're Jedi! They're misunderstood! They had unhappy childhoods! Totally turned me off, and I wanted to see if I could take all the practice I had writing fan fic with OCs and write original fic. (Then I found the Sims, and got totally sidetracked).

I do agree that the new "darker" direction that SW is taking is a bit disturbing, and I'm chuckling about "ascended fanboys" because it's totally right.

So...how to maintain interest in the face of watching something you love seem to derail (for the second time)? Well... writing in another genre helps and I think, too, not becoming so invested, if that makes sense. I used to worry "is this canon? Is that canon?" Only the canon has changed and the ascended fanboys aren't even playing by their own rules. Hobbie dies on Hoth because "it happened in the movie!" but Darth Maul shows up in Rebels even though he died in the movie because why...? ("He's, like, kewl!") So, AFAIC, all rules are out the window. Might as well make everything an AU, and write SW the way YOU want it to be, because hell, why not?

I haven't given up on the original fic idea. Downside to that is finding beta readers to give you feed back. All the writers' groups around here want to write SERIOUS literature, not mere "genre fiction." (More folks read genre fiction and buy it, but hey...)

I think, Sith-I-5, part of your dilemma is what caused the engines to break down in the first place. Does the Dr. have to bluff his way on to the bridge? Could he just go straight to the SysOp room (which I'm guessing is like the Engine Room)? You may have to rewrite...

 

I actually liked the NJO, but I can see why people don't. People wanted something different than the "Bantam Formula" of Dark Jedi and/or New Imperial Warlord of the Week and when they got it, they thought that it was a little too different. And it being such a dark series can obviously be a turn off.

I did not like Maul coming back in Clone Wars/Rebels, either. It just seemed too out there and unbelievable (even though I love a series that literally has a still-living severed head in a jar...) They probably should have just stuck with Savage taking his role, with maybe Maul providing some Sith Spirit inspiration.