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

One vote is enough. Doing it.

 

That is how influential I am.

 

Wow. You said something I'm not the tiniest, tiniest bit offended by, something that made me laugh. Out loud! The world is indeed better in 2018.

 

It is not the same thing but maybe you could use Keshō-mawashi?

 

Hey everyone. While I'm no stranger to writing fanfiction, I AM pretty much a stranger when it comes to writing Star Wars fanfiction. I've writen just one story about it, so I'm still relatively new to it. With that in mind, I really want to write a crossover fic between Metroid and Star Wars (specifically the Sequel Trilogy era), with Captain Phasma and Samus Aran as the main characters...and eventual romantic pairing. Antagonist characters will include , Armitage Hux and Kylo Ren.

Because Star Wars (and its various eras) is a HUGE universe and I don't want to make things too complicated or overwhelming as far as research goes, I'm going to be keeping the setting(s) to what I am most familiar with and remember.

That being said, I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out how to start it and I'm in need of some advice on just how to start it. The scenario is loosely based on the comics and the book: due to her past crimes, Phasma was sentenced to death by the Supreme Leader, but she somehow escapes and flees in a TIE fighter, only to be shot down by First Order forces. Samus Aran intercepts the craft's distress call and investigates. Knowing she can never return to the First Order, but thirsting for its destruction, Phasma enlists the bounty hunter's help in exacting her revenge. It will lead to an eventual romance, but I'm just focused on how to begin it at the moment. Can anyone help me out? Thanks!

 

Start with writing just one scene. It doesn't need to be the very beginning, it doesn't need to be the climax. Just start small, to get your feet wet. Even if you never end up using the scene, it will help you get used to using the characters, help you find their "voice" and your own. It's an ambitious project, and that can be overwhelming. So start small.

 

Good advice there. Start with one scene.

The TIE fighter escape would be where I would start, but as you are new, either go with the simplest, or the scene that you have imagined the most.

 

Hello, @Phasmus, welcome to our little corner of the board. Just write whatever you want to and see what happens. Let your characters and/or your plot lead you where they want to go.

 

Hi @Phasmus! Welcome aboard. You'll find these boards very friendly and welcoming. Glad you're here!

As for how to start, what's the most vivid image in your head from your story? Write that. What dialogue do you hear between your characters? Write that. Who cares if it isn't in the correct sequence yet. What has to happen to get to that point where the action happens or that particular conversation takes place? What are the consequences of that?

It sounds like an exciting story. I would start off by dropping the reader right in the middle of the battle.

 

Welcome to fanfic on the JCF @Phasmus!

My approach to a project like the one you describe would be to write a scene that summarises everything that happened off-screen (in your case, the Phasma comics and novel) before the story begins. This could be, for instance, an opening crawl, or a 'trial' scene where a character in the role of the prosecutor (could be Hux or the Supreme Leader himself) enumerates Phasma's past crimes and hands out her sentence, or, as Sith-I-5 suggested above, you could jump directly to the escape in a TIE fighter and explain along the way why Phasma is escaping from the First Order. You could even have a prologue that's an actual bio of Phasma up to the point where the story begins, if you think that's necessary, although it can be difficult not to give away too much when doing that. At any rate, I find that writing up a beginning that clarifies what happened before and sets the stage for the story helps me feel that I'm standing on solid ground.

 

Wow! Great advice from everyone, thank you! You've inspired me and so now, I must be off to start writing!

 

I want some input as to what would feel in-character for Luke in rebuilding the Jedi Order -- in a fic where there are blended Saga ST and Legends elements after ROTJ. The relevant points are, irregardless of the canonicity of the context, that Luke needs to rebuild the Jedi Order to deal with the NR -- help them strengthen to face any new or reemerging threats while taking into account the fact that he does not want to repeat the mistakes of the past.
It was brilliantly pointed out in a fic I'm reading that he's "not ready" to train anyone -- but then again, no one knows everything, not even the Grand Masters from before the Purge were infallible; otherwise they could have avoided quite a bit of the tragedies that arose.

I would like to have San Tekka and Kanan pitch in with tangible assistance as well as ideas.

Thanks much.

 

I feel Luke will feel daunted.

He might look at similar circumstances for inspiration.

This may sound silly, but as a young judo teacher, I switched modes from enjoying a movie to seeing if I could learn anything, when Arnold Schwarzenegger's Kindergarten Cop had to deal with nursery school children.

EU characters encouraging Luke that they wanted to learn from him, would help Luke's confidence too.

 

Two questions:

1. Is there a name for the cramped space with machinery where Han and Leia exchange their first kiss on the Falcon in TESB?

2. When you have a title that's in the "__________ and _________" format, is there a rule of sorts as to whether the longest or the shortest word comes first, or do you go with whatever feels best in the particular case? (for instance, should it be "The Ant and the Grasshopper" or "The Grasshopper and the Ant"?)

 

@Chyntuck - for the latter, no rule that I know off.

For me personally, I might lead with the first character out of the two, that appears, if they have equal roles.

 

Tackling question #2 first. I like the long word first.
#1. Don't know if there is an actual term for it, probably accessway or something. LOL SQUEEEEEEEE! if your thingy is going to involve H/L or some other sweet OTP, like Thrawn and LOL Hmmm. There's more than one possibility now

 

Who is LOL?

 

LOL and "Know Off" are cousins.

 

Okay...that narrows it down.

Great. A plot bunny for Thrawn, and Leia O'Leary, is precisely what I don't need right now.

 

Back with more questions

The good news is, after jotting some stuff down in my notebook, I've been able to start my story. Though I don't usually write prologues in my stories, having one in this story seems warranted, so I started one. Anyway, it takes place directly after the last comic in the Captain Phasma miniseries, when

Spoiler

Phasma returns from Luprora and meets with General Hux aboard the Finalizer and words are exchanged

In this story, however, I write that particular scene a bit different; Phasma isn't as alone with Hux as she was led to believe, and things quickly escalate. And not in her favor. My question is, by having the other two people in the room with Hux, am I sort of giving away what will happen next?

 

Insufficient data.

We, well I, cannot tell anything about two randoms in the room, without some sort of context.

 

I wonder what #2 might be in reference to. But, I agree with @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha that the long word fist works better. However, @Sith-I-5 as a good point about the first to appear. Maybe, they both work?

 

Thanks @Sith-I-5 @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha @brodiew !

@Phasmus Two questions: 1) Is the prologue written in Phasma's POV? and 2) Are the other two people present in the room or are they listening in unseen? Because that would influence how much you give away.

 

A passageway? People seem to be moving along there so I don’t think it’s a room on its own.