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

I have one last question before I get much farther in my Young Justice/Star Wars Rebels x/over. How do you guys start those stories? Should I do something like an opening scrawl or just start writing? I feel like an opening scrawl would be nostalgic and informative, but at the same time, I don't know how to perform it in writing.

 

I wished I was planning a little ahead when I started posting.
But here's what I would do.
Make a thread with Title Authors genre etc, the standard info Maybe a cover picture.
Reply with Dedication, Acknowledgement, etc
Then reply with Table of Content
Then reply with Dramatis Personae
Then reply with Chapter 1 (Fic content)

make sure to check out this page: http://boards.theforce.net/help/bb-codes It will help you with page formatting. Makes everything easier to read.

 

Thanks!

 

Yes.

At the end of one of your posts, bottom right corner, you get a #number for that post.

When presenting your chosen chapter as a response to a challenge, you can get your link address from in there, rather than from the address bar at the top.

 

Go with your gut. Truly. I don't usually do an opening crawl. But if it feels 'right,' go for it.

Also, I don't usually do Dramatis Personae unless I have so many that I'm worried folks won't be able to keep it straight. But that's just me.

 

Thanks! I hope to have at least one chapter up this week.

 

It depends on the challenge, though most it is probably okay. For example, the Fic-Gift challenge held at the end of the year it would not be allowed due to the nature of the challenge. Make sure to read the rules of a challenge before participating, and you can always ask the host of a challenge before doing so.

 

If it helps any, literally none of the EU books I've read save the novelizations of the actual movies has an opening crawl. So, you'd have a good precedent to rely on by not including one.

I see Dramatis Personae in most of Aaron Allston's and Michael Stackpole's books, and it seems that the reason is that there are several "main" characters who don't appear in any movies, as opposed to just one or two very recognizable ones such as Luke or Han.

 

And with twelve people in a squadron,some of whom keep getting killed off, plus friends/superiors/bad guys/techs/sisters/cousins/aunts it can be hard to keep people straight, so I'm glad they did! I do often write up a list of Dramatis Personae when I'm working on something for my own personal reference, so I can remember who is who and how to spell things, but I don't post it unless there are a lot of players on the board for the reader to keep track of (like the Calrissians).

 

Thanks! That helps a lot. There's a guy that writes a series (not Star Wars) with so many characters that he literally spends about 50 pages with the Dramatis Personae.

 

Gosh I hope he is able to finish that series before the TV show ends and spoil the books.

RE: dramatis personae. I think the star wars novels started it with the NJO series.

 

So I'm going to try and test if this post will go through without a hitch in order to help with Grahame at the Comms about lag. So here goes

My tip on writing drabbles.

Start writing about whatever you find wondering in your brain in a short story form, with adjectives and adverbs et al until you are sure you are past the 100 words count. This step is to make sure you have enough words. nanowrimo mode.

Then you can start getting rid of the adverbs and adjectives. Take out the words "said," or "asked" or similar.

Then get rid of irrelevant POVs, If I write about Character A and B, with C commenting. Does C need to be there? Can his observations and actions be gotten rid of and the drabble still make sense and fit the theme?

Hopefully you can get to 100 words right now with the help of word count tool in your word processor program.

....

Also, I started writing a drabble for set 13, negotiate, and it run way long, and didn't actually fit the theme, but it was already exactly 100 pages. So I just kept the words in a different file. Now All I have to do is wait until the mods give out another set, and maybe I can use those 100 words. Reuse and Recycle everyone!

Now, I will start pushing the post reply button to see how long it will take.

Post takes 10 seconds.

 

Is it inappropriate to put a link to a certain musical theme at the beginning of your post? I was thinking of getting a soundtrack together to work with the story, but I didn't know if it was allowed or not.

Additionally, I'm trying to come up with a title for my story. I'm thinking Chains of Injustice, The Unjust Empire, Galaxy of Injustice, or something along those lines. It has to do with the conflict between DC's theme of Justice and the Empire's theme of Injustice.

 

Not at all, it's absolutely OK.

 

Thanks! I was just wondering if there were rules against it. Better safe than sorry.

 

okay announcement

I am actually DARTH_MU's sock.

I can't log in as DARTH_MU because I lost my password and my email address that was linked with the DARTH_MU user name. (It's probably one of them hotmail/email) addresses that are no more.

One of the Mods have been very patient and helpful but I fear for the foreseeable future DARTH_MU is no more.

Meanwhile I will continue writing as Marty.

TLR: Don't use remember your password option.

 

I promise y'all, no more questions until AFTER I post part of my story on the Boards. Where should I post it? I didn't see an X-over tag in the regular one, but at the same time it's both Star Wars and DC, so it doesn't fit inside the non-SW board.

 

Darth Osnil - Any Star Wars cross over goes Star Wars fanfic boards, and you have to use the most appropriate Star Wars prefix, whichever you think fits the best. (So if it's mostly characters from the movies, you could put SAGA). You can put that it's a cross over in the subject bar.

One of these days (and we have no idea when ) we'll update to the new Xenforo and we'll have the ability to tag with all sorts of tags and that will be one of them, but right now we just have to work with this.

 

It's too bad there aren't New Canon Tags for Clone Wars or Rebels. From what I understand from the Tag system, the PT would be the best one because it covers up to the OT. Rebels happens between ROTS and ANH.

 

Yes, SAGA- PT would be the tag/prefix for Clone Wars or Rebels. We can't have a huge list of prefixes, so we had to do what we could, and before we knew exactly what the movies outside the trilogies were going to be. HERE is a post that explains the tags in a bit more detail.

 

I read through the tags post earlier. I'm not that one guy that asks questions without even looking at the FAQ. At least, most of the time.

 

I'm working on a story that takes place in the very distant past, before the formation of the Republic and the Jedi Order but after the discovery of space travel. What sort of technology would be available and what would not be available to residents of the GFFA at that time? I already decided that there would only be the most basic sort of droids that can't think for themselves and that comms would be voice-only with a limited range (you'd have to go to a special communications hub for interplanetary communications and there again only within the same system) but I'm looking for more ideas please

 

Do you know about Dawn of the Jedi?

 

Gamiel Yes, I have it and I might borrow a few ideas from it, but that's not the continuity in which I'll place my story and I'm actually going further back in the past. So I'm basically asking for any ideas of archaic tech in the early stages of interstellar travel.

 

Okey, good. When you say space travel do you mean hyperspace travel or just interstealar travel?