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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Index The DownTime Pilot Index 3.0 - Feb/Mar Featured Fics (2/2), Rookie Challenge (2/21)

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction and Writing Resource' started by Pilot_Fic_Index, Sep 11, 2010.

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  1. Lane_Winree

    Lane_Winree Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 30, 2006
    Thanks for the input, all! For now we're going to go with a new featured shortfic every two weeks starting October 4th. We'll adjust if we need more time :)

    So, go ahead and send in your thoughts on what short and long fics you'd like to see featured and Myra and I will select at random.

    Also, new discussion topic coming later today once I'm home from work.

    Edit: Whoa! Thor! It's good to see you back :D
     
  2. -thor-

    -thor- Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2002
    Never been fully away. Life is just a collection of stress, more stress and even more stress so I switched to silent mode for the time being. ;)
     
  3. Darth McClain

    Darth McClain Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2000
    Sounds good, Lane.
     
  4. Lane_Winree

    Lane_Winree Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 30, 2006
    Thor - Oof. I hear you there.

    New discussion! Only a tad late!

    Discussion Prompt #3

    Let's talk about a fic element that's near and dear to my heart. We're going to look at original characters as they relate to pilot!fic.

    Here are some guiding questions, but feel free to open this up beyond these points!

  5. Do you like them? Hate them?

  6. For those of you who have written stories featuring them, have you spun your OC(s) off into their own little universe or have you tried to integrate them into the established canon?

  7. How much of a role do you give to an OC? Leading protagonist, bit player, or something in between?

  8. Do you have a particular OC pilot that you've written about and want to promote?

  9. Have you seen an OC pilot by another author you'd like to highlight?


  10. Have at it!
     
  11. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    # Do you like them? Hate them?

    I like my OC's

    # For those of you who have written stories featuring them, have you spun your OC(s) off into their own little universe or have you tried to integrate them into the established canon?

    MY OC pilots have appeared in a few stories but I can use them more in the between ROTS and ROTJ period.

    # How much of a role do you give to an OC? Leading protagonist, bit player, or something in between?
    Ace Juniska is a bit player

    # Do you have a particular OC pilot that you've written about and want to promote?

    Ace Juniska and Harry Bel Iblis have appeared in DNA ID and there is Dorian Nigwin who turned from Republic to Imperial to Rebel in Anak

    # Have you seen an OC pilot by another author you'd like to highlight?
    Darvix Zorvan
     
  12. JediMara77

    JediMara77 Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 5, 2004
    I have never written any fics with OCs. I don't dislike them, I just prefer to write about already established characters. I've never been very good at creating my own universes and my own characters, so I borrow George's - and Tim's, and Mike's, and Aaron's. :D I've read several fanfics with OCs and when they are done well, they make great additions to the already established EU characters.
     
  13. Mirax_Corran

    Mirax_Corran Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 25, 2005
    Do you like them? Hate them? I'm kind of ambivalent about them, I suppose. They're fun from time to time, but I don't have much experience writing them, so I struggle a little bit with the process. I do have a great deal of admiration for writers who consistently use them well, because I've done just enough to know that they're tricky.

    For those of you who have written stories featuring them, have you spun your OC(s) off into their own little universe or have you tried to integrate them into the established canon? I've never written them extensively, but the ideas I have often dismiss as too difficult to write involve OCs spun off into their own universe that exists in parallel with the canon X-Wing books. The overabundance of OCs is one reason that the "too difficult" label gets applied.

    Have you seen an OC pilot by another author you'd like to highlight?
    I've read a lot of brilliant OCs because many of the best pilotfic writers on these boards (both now and in the past) have used them very well. One who stands out to me right now is Kasari Lisae from Lane_Winree's Dapverse fics.
     
  14. Darth McClain

    Darth McClain Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2000
    Do you like them? Hate them?
    I love OCs, especially as pilots. Like I've said, I've never tried really made a serious attempt not based on OCs.

    For those of you who have written stories featuring them, have you spun your OC(s) off into their own little universe or have you tried to integrate them into the established canon?
    We've got this thing we like to call the "Talonverse" (© me, 2008) where our things take place. It's pretty much the exact same as the EU canon, with a few little differences about how the Intelligence community works. Our baddies are a merc group, not Imperials, so we stay clear of a lot of those difficulties.

    How much of a role do you give to an OC? Leading protagonist, bit player, or something in between?
    OCs are the show in the Talonverse. Occasionally Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron will get mentioned, same for the Hairpiece (aka Crix Madine), but our Talonverse OCs get center stage.

    Do you have a particular OC pilot that you've written about and want to promote?
    I'm pretty biased towards the Talonverse stories, which are in the index. My main characters in those stories are Ensign Qui-Sein Delph and Captain Karn Deloti, although we all write for nearly every character. We should have our fifth installment ready for posting before too terribly long. Trika, Lilith, and I are trying to finish the last chapters of it.

    Have you seen an OC pilot by another author you'd like to highlight?
    Nope, I don't, but I've love some good recommendations to read!
     
  15. Trika_Kenobi

    Trika_Kenobi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1999
    Writing for OCs is pretty much the best thing I've tried learning to do since tying my shoes. As DMC has mentioned, the group of OCs called Talons exist in what he copyrighted "the Talonverse," and while it fits pretty well into canon, we tend to steer clear of it because of the difficulties of keeping up with all of the mess that professional authors come up with to keep selling book after book after book in the SW universe. That's good news for me since it's been years since I've even read a SW novel. lol

    Of course, I'm pretty biased in the cause of the Talons, but it is daunting to sort of see the large nature of our story. If I had to promote some "quickies," an easy way to see what we do without dedicating your entire life to the endeavor, the best place to find them would be our Talonverse page, aptly named for adventures that are outside of the books yet still in the confines of our created "world." Lilith Demodae's work saved there is stellar, and Mara Jade, Emperor's Hand's Goodbye is just pure emotion. While I'm not particularly good at promoting my own writing, In the Quiet of the War Room is something I guess I'd say I'm decently proud of. It made the Talonverse extras page, anyway. :p

    ... and since the JC is not entirely made up of Talons (though we certainly wish it was!), I can honestly say Thumper's The Way is something that will keep you sweating... you'll love and hate and hurt for and feel weird about the main character at so many turns that it's a riot. Check it out!
     
  16. Albaholly

    Albaholly Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2010
    # Do you like them? Hate them?

    Depends how they are written, some of them are fantastic rounded characters that add loads to the plot. Others, are figments of the auithors imagination that he never quite describes but expects you to already know. Which is difficult.

    # For those of you who have written stories featuring them, have you spun your OC(s) off into their own little universe or have you tried to integrate them into the established canon?


    N/A

    # How much of a role do you give to an OC? Leading protagonist, bit player, or something in between?


    Again N/A

    # Do you have a particular OC pilot that you've written about and want to promote?

    Lol for the third time N/A!

    # Have you seen an OC pilot by another author you'd like to highlight?

    Dap Zorvan by Lane is very good, a very flawed character who nevertheless provides much to admire.
     
  17. Thumper09

    Thumper09 Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 9, 2001
    Do you like them? Hate them?

    Like 'em muchly. :) Both reading and writing them.

    I know my own OCs are far from being perfect or perfectly written, but I've learned so much from them that I wouldn't trade them for anything, no matter how frustrated I get with them sometimes, LOL. I feel more comfortable with most of them than I do with canon characters. I approach writing a canon character story differently than I approach an OC story, and I just have more practice in going the OC route.


    For those of you who have written stories featuring them, have you spun your OC(s) off into their own little universe or have you tried to integrate them into the established canon?

    I try to do both. I made a fair effort to stay within the larger events and timelines of canon, but at the same time I set my OC stories in an out-of-the-way place so they don't necessarily have to directly influence or be influenced by the mainstream EU. At least I did until the Essential Atlas was published and caused some huge... complications for me, but I won't get into that. :p So strictly speaking my stuff is slightly AU now according to that book, but aside from that hiccup I try to keep it reasonably canon-compliant.


    How much of a role do you give to an OC? Leading protagonist, bit player, or something in between?

    All of the above.


    Have you seen an OC pilot by another author you'd like to highlight?

    There are so many that I need to go through my bookmarks and history to remember them all. :) That's something I definitely have to do, but probably not when it's past midnight local time. ;) The Talons are always awesome. I also enjoyed reading about Brosh in Jedi_Perigrine's "The Academy". Lots more too!

    Edit: typo
     
  18. Lane_Winree

    Lane_Winree Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 30, 2006
    Earlybird - That gap of space between RotS and RotJ is prime for pilot stories as far as I'm concerned. I'm often in the Beyond era, but I've considered writing some stuff earlier, especially between RotS and ANH.

    You've got a Bel Iblis character? I'll have to remember that :D

    Thanks for the shoutout to Dap :)

    JM77 - I'm in your boat as far as playing in George, Mike, Aaron, and Tim's universe goes. I like working with OCs, but I can't fathom trying to spin them off into a drastic AU. I really admire the authors who can pull that off because I sure can't!

    Myra - You know if you wanted to write an OC tale of some sort you could definitely pull it off. The rest of your body of writing is pretty stellar :)

    And yes, Kasari's a fun character. Which is strange because we both hated her initially.

    DMC - I really admire folks who can create such a vast alternate universe like you guys seem to do. That's really daunting for me!

    As for suggestions on OC characters to read, I'll have my own recommendations of other author's works sometime tomorrow. There's one author in particular who does OC work that I adore.

    TK - Thanks for the recommendations! Honestly I'm going to get around to Thumper's stuff soon. Silly school and work and other real life obligations gett ing in the way :(

    Alba - Glad you've enjoyed Dap. He's been a blast to write for five years :)

    Thumper - I'm a bit more in your camp in regards to the canon versus AU thing. Thank you for the recommendation for J_P's fic, I'll add that to my ever-growing list

    (And I promise, I will be getting around to your stuff soon!)

    I'll be answering these questions myself tomorrow. Thanks for the responses everyone.

    Reminder!

    We're kicking off the featured author/fic section next month. Myra and I have selected the first longfic we'll highlight for the month of October. We're still looking for a shortfic to feature for the first two weeks of the month, though.

    Send in your nominations and we'll choose one at random!
     
  19. DarthIshtar

    DarthIshtar Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    # Do you like them? Hate them? I thrive on OCs. But I have fun with people like Myn Donos, Face, Wedge and Tycho.

    # For those of you who have written stories featuring them, have you spun your OC(s) off into their own little universe or have you tried to integrate them into the established canon? Because there's really very few ways to gracefully integrate, mostly I give them separate purposes/functions. The two exceptions were when I had Anakin Skywalker's squadron of clone pilots in TCAS and in Border Patrol when Han, Luke and Wedge are mentioned as making a supply run.

    # How much of a role do you give to an OC? Leading protagonist, bit player, or something in between? Depends on the fic, but usually protagonist.

    # Do you have a particular OC pilot that you've written about and want to promote? Ina Rehd from Border Patrol and Wait-listed. She's the XO in one and CO in the other for Bane Squadron, used to be with Imperial Intelligence and defected before Hoth. Now she's the one who can take personality out of anything and was rumored to once have smiled.

    # Have you seen an OC pilot by another author you'd like to highlight? Not yet.
     
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  20. -thor-

    -thor- Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2002
    Ufff ... what a day. Got up at 2 o'clock in the morning, hit the road at three. Arrived at my target at half past nine. [face_tired]

    Do you like them? Hate them?

    Neither nor. I do use OCs when I need them, but I must admit I find writing canon characters easier a bit.

    For those of you who have written stories featuring them, have you spun your OC(s) off into their own little universe or have you tried to integrate them into the established canon?

    Mostly integrated into canon, but I do have one unfinished OC epic (non squadfic, though) which does incorporate them into their own little world, but within the confines of canon. I just happen to be a history fan who is big on plausibility so having a plausible plot is a big issue to me.

    How much of a role do you give to an OC? Leading protagonist, bit player, or something in between?

    In squadfics OCs were minor players so far. I do not believe I'll ever write one with an OC as main figure ...

    Do you have a particular OC pilot that you've written about and want to promote?

    Nope.

    Have you seen an OC pilot by another author you'd like to highlight?

    I'm not big on that highlight stuff. I'll pass ... [face_blush]
     
  21. Darth McClain

    Darth McClain Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2000
    Good call about The Academy, Thumper. That's a good one.

     
  22. Lilith Demodae

    Lilith Demodae Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 1, 1999
    Do you like them? Hate them?

    Love OCs. Uncle George gave us a huge sandbox to play in. Why would you want to restrict yourself to a small corner already jammed full of other people, fighting for a chance to at one of the half dozen action figures going around?


    For those of you who have written stories featuring them, have you spun your OC(s) off into their own little universe or have you tried to integrate them into the established canon?

    See DMCs post about the Talonverse. When writing non-talon stories, I try to stick to canon as much as possible, and as sanity allows. More than once I've had someone tell me 'Oh, well, the SW Guide to (whatever) says this, so you're totally off-base and this story sucks.' To which I say :ppPpPpPp~ Grow an imagination. I haven't the time or the money to read every single SW book ever published, so if I contradict one, sorry, it wasn't intentional.


    How much of a role do you give to an OC? Leading protagonist, bit player, or something in between?

    Lead, usually. The vast majority of my stories are 95% OCs.


     
  23. Pilot_Fic_Index

    Pilot_Fic_Index Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 21, 2005
    Five new fics by various authors added to the index!

    Refer to the 8th post on the first page to see those and other fics added over the last thirty days.

    Thanks for the submissions, Thumper! :D
     
  24. Pilot_Fic_Index

    Pilot_Fic_Index Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 21, 2005
    Two new fics by earlybird-obi-wan added to the index!

    Refer to the 8th post on the first page to see those and other fics added over the last thirty days.
     
  25. Lane_Winree

    Lane_Winree Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 30, 2006
    Do you like them? Hate them? - I'm pretty fond of them, but it depends on what kind of a story I'm writing. Typically when I'm writing a short story or a vignette I tend to stray closer to the established canon characters, though occasionally I'll write a shorter fic that's centered around an OC. It's long-fics where I tend to do most of my work with original characters. Part of that has to due with the fact that when writing a squad-based long story you've got a really big cast of characters. Twelve pilots, droids, and a support staff. It's often hard to fill out such a large cast entirely with characters from the established EU canon.

    For those of you who have written stories featuring them, have you spun your OC(s) off into their own little universe or have you tried to integrate them into the established canon? - I've got an ensemble of original characters that I've tried to keep within the canon as best as possible (and as near as I can tell those fics are still canon tales). Part of the reason for this is that the thought of crafting an alternate universe is pretty daunting to me. The larger reason I try to stay within the canon is that I believe there are periods of space within it that haven't been explored. I like to use original characters in those spots to touch on parts of the GFFA that the profic authors may not have.

    How much of a role do you give to an OC? Leading protagonist, bit player, or something in between? - It varies depending on the story and the character. If I have an OC in a shorter fic, chances are they're a bit player. Again, long-fics are where my OCs see the most use. Most of the time I have them playing a protagonist role along with other established canon characters, but there was one fic I wrote where an original character took the lead for its entirety.

    Do you have a particular OC pilot that you've written about and want to promote? - The most notable of my original characters is probably Darvix "Dap" Zorvan, who you can read about in my Dap Trilogy (Rise of a Rogue, Redemption of the Exiles, and Resurrection of a Rogue in that order). That turned out to be a nearly 700 page endeavor that I wrapped up last year. Since then I've gone back to writing more about canon characters such as Syal Antilles, so that's the majority of my OC work.

    Have you seen an OC pilot by another author you'd like to highlight? - Not a single character, but I want to highlight the OC cast from InyriForge's "Detour: An Ace Squadron Story"

    This fic stars Pash Cracken but it also features one of the best OC ensembles I've ever seen. If you haven't read it, please go check it out. It's one of my all-time favorite squad fics.
     
  26. Pilot_Fic_Index

    Pilot_Fic_Index Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 21, 2005
    Nine new fics by DarthIshtar and one fic by Lane_Winree added to the index!

    Refer to the 8th post on the first page to see those and other fics added over the last thirty days.

    REMINDER!

    On Thursday we will be unveiling the October Fic Challenge! Rules and deadlines will be announced then.
     
  27. Darth McClain

    Darth McClain Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2000
    I'm excited to see what the challenge is.
     
  28. DarthIshtar

    DarthIshtar Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    Me too. I'm determined to participate this time.
     
    Jedi Knight Fett likes this.
  29. Lane_Winree

    Lane_Winree Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 30, 2006
    The challenge is going to be very appropriate to the month. That's all I will say :D
     
  30. -thor-

    -thor- Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2002
    Hmmm ... probably about fog, rain and cold wind. [face_skull]
     
  31. Trika_Kenobi

    Trika_Kenobi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1999
    Agreed. Check this one out! I recall this fic being absolutely a blast to read, and now that I've seen it mentioned in here a couple of times, I think I want to go back and re-read it at some point. :cool:
     
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