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

You could call it an equipment bay or electronics bay.

 

Well, one of them is Kylo. The other is

Spoiler

a certain stormtrooper in red armor

Hiya, Chyntuck! To answer your questions: 1. Yes, the prologue is written from Phasma's point of view (but not in a first person perspective). 2. Yes, the other two people are present with Hux in the room, totally out in the open, so to speak.

 

Can we no longer edit thread titles or am I just not finding the right spot to look?

 

Something happened when we fixed the prefixes and now only mods and above can edit titles (There's a banner above all of fanfic about it). We're working on it, but it's a strange situation.

 

@Phasmus If I understand the purpose of the prologue correctly,

Spoiler

meaning that you want the reader to know that Phasma is in trouble, but you don't want to give away her next move

I would suggest keeping the outcome open-ended. Instead of the trio handing out their verdict, they could simply send her away with a "you're dismissed, report to your barracks" or something along those lines.

PS: I'm very interested to see how you're going to handle the third person in the room

 

Well...I had a bit of a setback in my writing of the prologue. Actually, maybe setback in the wrong word. It's more like a shift in ideas. Ever since Sith-I-5 mentioned the TIE escape being the first thing they would start with in concerns to my story, it's just been gnawing at my brain. So, thank you for that Sith-I-5

Now then, with this new premise for the prologue in mind, I need some advice on how to really get into Phasma's head as she makes her way through the Finalizer and into that TIE fighter -- what should she be feeling? What are her thoughts? How should she handle any potential confrontations along the way? I really want the capture the urgency of the situation and convey the same feeling to the reader, like they are right there with her as she makes her escape.

 

I read this on my phone, and since it was charging, had time to think about this before I got to the PC.

Now, when I say "TIE Fighter escape", and you being new, to keep it simple, I mean like this:

Prologue

The bottom hull of the Finaliser flashed by overhead as Phasma's stolen TIE fighter tore along under the ship, and swept away towards the planet.

Now, to me, her chances of escape like this, increase a lot if this is taking place after The Force Awakens, as she would have learned some stuff from Finn's escape, as well as her own capture later aboard Starkiller Base.

- Well, this chrome armour of mine will easily deflect laser fire, so people shooting at me is no worry.
- Similarly, flametroopers won't have any affect on me.
- Those Z-6 batons could be a worry...
- Rule One. Don't nick TIE fighters with hoses attached.
- Grrr. What Kylo Ren said about me during the trial. **** you then, I'm nicking the Silencer. Plus that hyperdrive will be handy.
- I know from when I was captured on Starkiller Base, that I can sidle into out-of-the-way control rooms and shut things off. Is there such a place that will shut off the cannon that can blast me out of the sky?
- Is there a wall that we would not want Kylo's lightsaber slashing through, that would kill power to something. "Oi, Kylo, over here. No, don't worry, no hard feelings. Millicent shat in your slippers again."

 

Will reply to this in more depth a bit later tonight as an edit to this post.

That last one made me laugh!

ETA: OK, I am now back and ready to reply to your post properly. Thanks very much for giving me a base sentence to run with. It's perfect. I'd like to use it if that's all right with you? And the -- what I assume are some of Phasma's thoughts on the matter -- are great, and ever funny! Kylo's not gonna be happy when he finds a surprise in his slippers lol!

Also, this might just be me feeling extra self conscious about my writing but, do you think readers would grab their pitchforks if I didn't use a planet from canon as one of the main settings for my story? In other words, make up my own planet?

 

I make up my own planets all the time. Wouldn't worry about it. Just try to flesh it out a bit... terrain, inhabited or no, history, etc. You don't need to include all the details in the story, but you should know what they are.

 

And after you have created it you can post it in the Fanon thread

 

What species other than Muun can you see in a management-related, public relations type of a job? Rutless, ambitious, all about money.

 

Rodians? Humans (obvs!) Hutts fit the bill...

 

@Phasmus - there is precisely one person here that has a pitchfork for people making up their own planets, but the rest of us will make up our own if necessary. Go for it; that saves it being on the First Order's atlas of eight planets that they know about.

Edit: Oh, apparently she hasn't been on for a year, so, you're all clear, Kid.

@Ewok Poet - Practically any race that had representatives in the Republic Senate; they must have done some PR at some point, between being by themselves, and negotiating a seat at the galactic table. Even the ET race that cameo'd in TPM(?)

 

@Phasmus if you are interested in creating your own planet so is there a thread for discussing that here

 

How do I do to cover text with black? The old way with don't seem to work

 

Right now there isn't a way to do it, the upgraded boards doesn't accept that code. The only thing you can really do to hide what you type is to put it in a spoiler code.

 

When the Tatooine suns go down before Leia sets Han free, there's some bizarre thing in the lower left corner of the screen, below Jabba's palace...and it burps, loudly. What is that?

 

What do you do when you’re writing, but you’re not particularly inspired by what you’re writing? They’re all ongoing stories, so I don’t just want to junk them, but lately it’s hard to get enthused about them. I hate feeling this way, because there’s still part of the stories I want to tell, but I feel so bogged down by where i’m at currently. Any advice on getting back into a long running story?

 

Worrt

@Raissa Baiard - if there is still part of that story that you want to tell, see if doing a time jump to that point, and writing what you want; or making the bit that is most important to you, the focus of a shorter fic / vignette / drabble, works for you.

 

Thanks.

 

I get this way during the writing process. And you're definitely not alone in feeling this way, as I'm sure it's happened to all writers at some point. It can be frustrating. What I usually like to do when feeling this way is either jump to something I do want to write (i.e. something you can't stop thinking about) or simply take a step back, let myself recover, and then jump back into it. Unless you're a professional author who has a strict deadline, there's no need to worry about rushing. Your readers will understand (hopefully)

 

Aw, I hope this helps.

On LiveJournal there was a comm "Fic Finishing" that addressed such dilemmas. Technique #3 was called "Dread Not," which went as follows:

a/Analyze, define and exorcisethe dread that keeps you from finishing your fic. For instance, do a dread check on all unfinished fics in your oover and rate the visceral effect on you, um, viscerally with a scale 1-5 of Ugh, Meh, Ok, Cool, Yay. Mostly Mehs or OKs with no Yays means a long step backward away from them

Spoiler

coupled with a good stiff drink

does wonders for perspective!

b/Keep a dread log for a few days. Compare the reactions to one fic at a time, like this sample :

Hearing/seeing the name of the fic - Ok
Opening the fic file - Ok
Reading the fic - Cool
Attempting to write/edit the fic - Meh
Discussing the fic with an alpha/beta reader - Ugh
Looking at/thinking about the fic deadline - Ok

c/This quotes the mod of that comm: "Finally dread surgery (or as I like to call it, a dreadectomy) involves removing rather liberal amounts of text from a fic in an attempt to excise any portions that are causing dread. You basically keep cutting out parts - paragraphs, lines, dialogue, whatever, until you no longer dread the remaining passages."

Other methods of fic finishing included writing an epilogue of the events and characters that you had in mind, but did not fully write, and tidy it all up for the sake of fastidiousness.

 

That's a fantastic list @pronker !

One element I'd add is to switch to a one-shot or a short multi-post that doesn't require sustaining a particular writing "mood" for a long time. I find that it helps me feel productive and creative without being daunting like a longer story, and my mind continues working on the story I put on hiatus in the background. In the long run it helps me refocus and sometimes find new "entry points" for my long story that I hadn't thought about before.

 

American women, in casual phone conversation, referring to someone being in the toilet, would you refer to it as a toilet, or as a WC, water closet, loo, Little Girls' Room, or bathroom? Or other.

I'd say "toilet", but I don't know if that is specific to the UK.

 

This one always, always works for me.