Shared Fic Discussion

Slan, all!

I wanted to get going on this as soon as poosible, so we could discuss it a bit at the next get-together.

There was some interest from the group for a shared story to be written here and then posted to the FanFic forum (part of our JC community involvement initiative). SO what I'd like to find out from those Base personnel who are interested is what era of story we want to write, and what genre.

Our options include:

Pre-Saga: events occuring before the first film, perhaps leading up to it, perhaps not tying in at all (it's a big galaxy, afetr all).

Prequel Trilogy: events that occur during Episodes I-III. That might involve some speculation, or again, it need not involve the film plots or characters at all.

Inter-Trilogy: this would occur between the Prequels and the Originals.

Original Trilogy: occuring on the same timeline as the events in Episodes IV-VI. Again, need not involve the main characters or plot points from the film.

Post-Saga: occuring after the events of ROTJ, (as most of the novels do) but before the New Jedi Order series of books.

NJO: events concurrent with the New Jedi Order novels.


Genres:

action

romance

comedy

drama

tragedy

What if...?

Crossover


Lastly, we need to discuss whether we are going to write characters who already are seen in the films, original characters only, or a combination of OC and canon characters.


Once we have those details settled, we can start hammering out a plotline and character conceptions. Let me know what you want to do!

*Derisa*/>/>/>

As I have stated before, I don't really know all that much outside the movies. I am thus personally more interesting in working with something outside the main storyline to increase my knowledge of the setting as a whole. I have a really neat character in my head but am not sure he works in the SW setting so once we get to Character Discussion, I will have much more input.

Well, since we have the freedom of the immense GFFA to choose from, tell me all about your character idea, Alakin, and I'll see if I can figure out where he'll fit.

I agree with you about developing a story aside from the major events of the movies. How do you feel about canon characters making cameo appearances?

As far as timeline goes, if we're writing Jedi, I'd prefer to do it pre-Saga: it's much more wide open, plot-wise; if we're doing action (as in pilots) the inter-Trilogy timeline could work, but the X-Wing comics and novels are set shortly after ROTJ, so that timeline works as well. I've read extensively what happened when and where to whom between ROTJ and the NJO, so I can give more background for that time than most of the others. NJO is very complicated plot-wise, so it'd probably be better to avoid writing in that timeframe, just yet.

What about genres, Alakin? What do you prefer to write? (Have you written anything else?... How come I don't know that? )I have a tonne of stories, finished and in-progress, one very far pre-Saga, one slightly pre-Saga, two Prequel era, one Original era, and several post ROTJ.

To anyone else interested, we need more writers. No previous experience required, heroes or villains, and timeline and genre yet to be decided.

The more the merrier!

*Derisa*

Since I'm writing all the time, I'd love to be in on this. Not having done any writing in the SW universe, I don't have any particular preference, but staying mostly away from the established movie action, with perhaps cameos or references to known events sounds like a good idea to me.

Have never really put anything on paper....but always have plenty of ideas. I still need to do some edge polishing on the Character I have in mind. I am a "slight" perfectionist and when it is something creative, I want to be sure I am conveying myself properly. I will hammer some stuff out on a notepad or something and post it all here when it makes sense to me.

Era: Post-Saga. The reason? I have had a love of rebel/New Republic pilots ever since I read the X-Wing series. I'd love to do a pilot fic, and explore the 99.9999% of the GFFA that isn't Jedi.

Genre: action, romance, comedy, drama, and "What if...?" all sound pretty good to me. I like seeing (and writing) a nice balance of all of the first four in that list.

Characters: Mostly original characters, with perhaps the rare cameo or involvement with canon characters. One EU exception: Tycho Celchu.

That said, I'm pretty flexible...and Alakin, I totally hear ya on that "perfectionist" thing. This fic we're planning will actually be my break back into writing fic in over a year. I got so frustrated with not being able to write *exactly* what I wanted to convey, I wound up just betareading for Derisa. Getting back into writing fiction again in a "safer" environment like our little forum will, I hope, spark a renewed interest in myself to start writing on the fanfic forum again.

- Rani

Great to know, Rani (even if there were no surprises there.)

Claire, Alakin: which genre do you want to be working in? And would you prefer to play good guys or bad guys, or something more ambiguous?

Rani is less into the Jedi aspects, how about you guys? I can go either way: they can be fun to write, but only if everyone can agree what they can and can't do, and what is or is not in their character to do. For all their powers and senses, Jedi can be very limiting to write.

Post Saga actually probably works the best, especially if you guys are less than familiar with the other possibilities. The Original Trilogy gives us a pretty good point of reference for timeline and ages of our characters, as well as what they might know of recent history, and it is the most clearcut of the eras as far as supplementary material goes, so we'll have lots of places to look stuff up if we have questions.

So, are we agreed on that as our era?

Last question: Squadfic (a story revolving around the adventures of a particular unit in StarFighter Command)? Spy story (the information trade is the single most dangerous and thriving way of life in the interim between the death of the Emperor and the firm establishment of the new government); smuggler's story (about a ragtag crew of a small fr4eighter skating around the Galaxy doing the dirty deeds, kind of ala Firefly)? or ???

*What* do you guys want to write?

This is going to be such fun!!!

*Derisa*

*perks up*

Did someone say "Firefly"???

I think a smuggler/freighter crew storyline would be just..."shiny". That seems to have the most potential for a smaller group of writers.

I've done squadfic before but they can be a little hairy to organize, especially the battle scenes, when you're dealing with twelve pilots.

- Rani

Well, I think the small freighter/smuggler idea could work really well. There would need to be a captain, first-mate, cargo loader, gunner, mechanic, and maybe a semi-permanent passenger or two. Maybe a crewer's kid sibling... and we'd need bad guys too, to give the story some meat.

Comments, suggestions? Post 'em here!

There's a couple of new Base members as well who might like to participate, and maybe we could top the roster off at six to eight writers. (More is a pain, and fewer means more work for the individuals in the group.)

How does everyone else feel about a story taking place between ANH and ESB, or between ESB and ROTJ, but outside the main run of the films?

What sort of genre: mystery, action, adventure, suspense?

Post! Let's get this party started!

*Derisa*

Either one works fine with me. I will have to rework my character but that is no biggie. I am more of a reactive person, so if other people don't mind putting some ideas up, I will have a much easier time expanding on mine.

Anyone still want to do this?

If we can agree to a few things, we could actually post up character profiles and hammer out a rough plot, sort of a framework for our characters to interact within.

I think I'd like to write Weapons Officer duties on the ship, or Helmsman, or Comms. Don't worry, Alakin, I write pilots better than I fly in games.

I like the idea of doing an older ex-Imp running from his past. Call him Jyr.

Anyone else out there?

*Derisa*

Sure, I'm in. I don't have the creative energy to think up a character at the moment, though. [Jar-Jar] Any hep here would be hot. [/Jar-Jar]

- Rani

Rani, I'm just going to post up what I have for my character first and see if that triggers any ideas for you.

Call him Jyr Hollger, and he's an ex-Trooper, third generation (bred to the task, as it were). Sole survivor of a Rebel ambush, his supervising CO made him the scapegoat for their loss, and persecuted him. Jyr chose not to fight for his reputation, since that last battle proved something he'd suspected for a while, that he was on the losing side of this war. Brreding or no, he's not hanging around to be tried for war-crimes.

He makes his escape and ends up shovelling Thaak poop on Eiattu. Not a good living, but an honest one. However, he is tracked down by his old CO, and has to flee for the hills. He steals one of his bosses prized animals to make his getaway, and sells the buck to her top competitor for enough cash to buy him a berth on the first outgoing freighter, which happens to be the deus ex machina for this story.

Anything there sound promising or inspiring to anyone else?

Post it here, let me know!


*Derisa*

Hey everybody!

Did this ever get written? If so what is it called. If not, is anyone still interested?

I had a thought for an additional character. I don't really know what the world outside the original three movies is like, but I figure that this character is fairly adaptable. She would be the pilot of the craft, Keelah Fikes.

Keelah had infiltrated a rebel base as a spy for the Empire just in time to discover that the death star was being destroyed. Her cover was as a test pilot turned double agent. She was supposed to gather info from the rebels, while providing them with eroneous (that looks wrong...I'm trying for the word that means "false") information about the Empire's fleet. When the Empire fell, she realized that she would have to stay "in character" as far as the Alliance was concerned and got a job as a freight captain. The problem is, she barely knows anything about pilotting, and most of what she does know was misinformation.

Question: How about setting up a workshop that would meet at someone's home, say once or twice a month? We could make it a round-robin. People bring in a couple of chapters with a brief synopsis. The initial synopsis would cover what the story is going to be about. Then as the workshops progress the synopsis can just bring the group up to date on what went before so everyone can 'catch up'.

It doesn't have to be formal, but it would have to be monitored by one person (* hands in air* not me though) and everyone who is writing would have to be given a chance to air their story as time permits.

By using a round-robin format everyone could voice their opinions on the plot and make suggestions on where the story could be improved with regards to characterisation, movement, background, dialogue and the like.

Just a thought.

Try having one of the characters in a relationship with someone whose sibling/parent/cousin (whichever) is dating an Imp and occasionally (unintentionally) passing along information by way of gossip.

Make what you can of the relationships. Sometimes the more innocent the interaction, the worse the situation can get.

Just a thought to stir the pot. Afraid I'm too tied up with my own stuff to mix it up with you lot but I'm willing to toss out the odd suggestion if you want something juicy or different to do with your characters.

Derisa: Feel free to involve some of the side characters from SUBTERFUGE if they're in the right time range, just check with me before you do anything really drastic.