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

Hello, fellow squadfic fans!

I'm DMC, hailing from the Talonverse. I also happen to live in the Pittsburgh, PA area. My favorite pilots are Wedge, Wes, Corran, and Hobbie. There's a lot of good choices, that's for sure. My favorite squadron from the EU is the Wraiths, but the Rogues aren't far behind. I'm a big fan of the classic Rebel Alliance/New Republic snubfighter, the X-wing. My favorite pilot-related book from the EU is Starfighters of Adumar, but I really like the three Wraith Squadron books, too. Really looking forward to Allston's new Wraith book that's coming out in 2012. I haven't read many squadfics in the past few years, but I really liked RogueLead11's A Pilot Story back in the day. These days, I'm involved in the Talon Intelligence Squadron saga as an author/editor. I'll echo what Trikes said; check out Book 1, and if you like it, we've got more for ya to read!

I don't have any completed solo squadfics, but I do have two OC challenge ideas rolling around in my brain, so that might change soon.

Glad that we've got this index up and running again!

 

Welcome Trika and DMC!

Looking forward to getting Talon's stuff indexed here. Soon as I have a spare moment I'll be sure to check out the first book as well

Now as promised, answers to my own silly questions!

Who are you? I'm Lane, though I will also answer to "Hey, what's-your-face!" (Not really)

Where do you hail from? Born, raised, and still living in the beautiful Seattle metro area.

Who's your favorite pilot? Going to have to go with the trite answer and say Wedge. Growing up I'd rewind my OT VHS tapes just to watch him be completely and utterly awesome. I actually ruined my copy of RotJ by doing that during the Battle of Endor starfighter scenes.

Squadron? Rogues, just edging out the Wraiths. There's just too much badassery on that roster to ignore them

How about your favorite starfighter? I'm going to say the Incom T65-AC4 X-Wing. Other ships may sport more armoring, weaponry, or speed, but nothing matches the versatility of the T65.

Your favorite pilot-themed profic book? Starfighters of Adumar and it isn't even close. Wedge's Gamble is a distant second with Wraith Squadron just behind that.

Your favorite pilot fanfic? I've got so many I've read over the years that I just adore, so I'll randomly choose one of them: Missed Chance by InyriForge. Despite only being in part of the first X-Wing novel before getting killed off-page *grumblemutter*, Lujayne Forge is one of my favorite characters. This is one of the best fics I've seen about her and it's written by a really talented fic author to boot.

Have a pilot fic you want to promote? Sure, why not? Here's the latest one I've posted entitled Next of Kin. It explores Wedge's reaction to Tycho going missing on Coruscant between the Rogue Squadron comics and the first X-Wing novel.

 

Happy!

Thanks so much for starting this up again. I'm really looking forward to this!

Okay, so, anyway. I'm Thumper, and I live in Florida. I love any and all pilot stories, but my personal writing predominately revolves around an OC squadron. In that squadron, my main character is the least experienced pilot, and I go from there. On another note, *waves* to Trikes and DMC. I totally need to get myself back in gear with the Talons. It's a really enjoyable group and the stories are great!

My favorite profic pilot is Wedge because Wedge just, well, rocks. Myn Donos is a very close second, and Wes gets extra points just for being Wes. My favorite profic squadron is the Wraiths.

My favorite starfighter is the X-wing. I like A-wings for their speed and Y-wings for their durability and capabilities. The only "mainstream" Rebel starfighter I never really bonded with much is the B-wing, but that's just a personal preference. TIEs of all sorts are fun but are a lot harder for me to write, especially because without shields I think I make them more fragile than they should be. I need to do better about using their higher maneuverability to their advantage.

Favorite profic pilot book: Starfighters of Adumar, hands down.

To repeat: happy!

 

*Waves at Thumper*

I really need to read your Corona Squadron stories, Thumper. I think I started the first one, but got sidetracked and never finished it up.

 

Who are you? - A blond engineer roped into program management.

Where do you hail from? - Currently I'm hiding in a small cabin deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains in CA.

Who's your favorite pilot? - Wedge. Second only to Luke, who cheats and uses the Force.

Squadron? - Wraiths. Gotta love the sneaky stuff.


How about your favorite starfighter? - A-Wing, with the X-Wing a close secound.

Your favorite pilot-themed profic book? - It's hard to pick and choose among the Stackpole books.

Your favorite pilot fanfic? - TIS!!!!!!! (Talon Intelligence Squadron) Okay, yeah, I'm a little biased, but that doesn't make it any less True.

Have a pilot fic you want to promote? - See above.



I honestly love pilot fics. My first honest to goodness fic character was a frieghter pilot, but still a pilot.

 

Welcome aboard Lilith and Thumper!

Lots of love for Starfighters of Adumar. I approve

If you're so inclined to look at the 8th post of the thread, you'll see that we've added a bunch of fics over the last few days! Whenever you send in a fic to be indexed, it will appear in two places. Permanently it will appear in the primary index. It will also temporarily appear in a list of fics that have been recently submitted to the sock.

I did get around to the PMs sent this morning and added them into the index. Did any of you happen to download and use the Ultra Cool Markup Tool?

 

Who are you? I'm Ish. I answer to Ish, on and off the boards. It's kateydidnt's fault, really.

Where do you hail from? Mostly Boston, but have been in Utah for a bit.

Who's your favorite pilot? Tycho.

Squadron? Rogue, the OT version.

How about your favorite starfighter? A-wing. Tycho talks about how they're kind of individualized and I like it a lot.

Your favorite pilot-themed profic book? Solo Command.

Your favorite pilot fanfic? I haven't found a favorite yet.

Have a pilot fic you want to promote? Heck, yeah. I'm writing my first 'feature-length' pilot fic: Wait-listed. Its basic premise is that a squadron is re-formed after Endor because with all of the pilot losses at that battle, some pilots got transferred, others got promoted and in this fic, a few people who have never been in a squadron are suddenly finding that their interest in joining the StarFighter Corps is of interest to the New Republic.

 

Hey Ish, good to see you!

You all should read Wait-Listed. One of my current favorite ongoing pieces over in the Beyond board right now

 

I didn't... I just hard-coded it stubbornly. I hope it wasn't a pain to copy and paste it when I broke it up the way I did.

Hey, Thumps! If y'all haven't checked out Thumper's work, do so or risk being a square for the rest of your life!

 

Nope, no problem at all! Only took a few minutes to get everything copied over to the index.

Thumper's stuff is high on my list of fics to read, should be getting to it very soon

 

I approve too! Probably my favourite of the X-Wing books and seeing as how the X-wing series is my favourite series...must mean it is my favourite SW book.

I have read it so many times that the cover has fallen off I love it so much I might by another copy though.

It is closely followed by wraith squadron.

 

I don't wanna be a square...but I have about 20 fics to get through first! Bear with me...I'll get there.

 

Ooh...I'm interested to see this.

 

For the newb/uninitiated to the forums. Are these going to be fanfic wriiting challenges?

 

Yep, they are fan fic writing challenges. They give us a task (right now, the OC challenge is having the OC face a task that makes him/her go against morals that the OC has), then we write it, post it, and usually link it to this thread. There's usually some sort of a vote to decide the winner, but I'm not sure how that part works.

 

Yup! Provided we get enough responses that will be how it works.

Typically you write a vignette or a short story to the challenge prompt. Once you've uploaded the fic to the appropriate board (Before the Saga, the Saga, or Beyond the Saga), you post a link to it in this thread. At the end of the challenge a vote takes place and a winner for that prompt is declared.

 

Hello!

Who are you? Nanci

Where do you hail from? Disney World! (well, close enough)

Who's your favorite pilot? Gotta be Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles. My favorite thing about the ROTJ special edition was the expanded end celebration which featured Wedge and Luke hugging. Nobody else understood!

Squadron? Rogues!

How about your favorite starfighter? Nothing beats the original, the X-wing

Your favorite pilot-themed profic book? I think I laughed the most during Starfighters of Adumar, naturally, so I'll say that one.

Your favorite pilot fanfic? Don't have one yet! I'm relatively new here and still getting caught up on fics.

Have a pilot fic you want to promote? See above! I write mainly Luke/Mara stuff but I love pilots, so I'm sure I'll write one about them eventually. Although Wes Janson did cause Luke and Mara some major grief in my Joys of Parenthood fics.

 

LOL, for me, half of my enjoyment of pilot fanfics is because of Wes.

Looking forward to the challenge!

 

I just like the way I get a smile at the thought of Wes

 

Who are you? I'm Earlybird-Obi-Wan.

Where do you hail from? The Netherlands and a small village called Warmond near Leiden

Who's your favorite pilot? Corran Horn.

Squadron? Rogue

How about your favorite starfighter? X-wing and the Delta Aethersprite

Your favorite pilot-themed profic book? I Jedi

Your favorite pilot fanfic? I haven't found a favorite yet.

Have a pilot fic you want to promote? An oldie with lots and lots happening to my fav characters the healers Kaagi Adin and Aaqu Maerhin has some pilots and intense fights in it before and during ROTJ

DNA I.D. a CorSec mystery.

I am mostly writing healers fics in before and saga and I love challenges.

 

Welcome JediMara and Earlybird! Glad to have you around.

Loved your Joy of Parenthood fic by the way, JediMara.

Ish - Myra and I are mulling over some possibilities for the first challenge. Not sure if we're going to go in the direction of angst or something a little lighter

Okay you so-and-sos, how about we move on to a new discussion topic?

Discussion Topic #2

This one is fairly straightforward. This was actually the first discussion question posed in the original DT thread four years ago, but it's so good it deserves to be brought back:

Who is your favorite pilot character to write? Why? What about him/her makes him interesting to you?

Have at it!

And as always, we're looking for new people and new fics to add to DownTime. Tell your friends

 

This is unconventional, but not a surprise for anyone who knows me well. My favorite pilot to write...is Stacey. It's bizarre how different the GFFA looks when you're a valley girl Jedi pilot, but oddly, she really speaks to me. (And if you don't know who Stacey is, watch Pink 5 or see her in canon in Timothy Zahn's Allegiance.) With Stacey, writing any scene is twisting what you know a little. And it helps that as soon as her creator gave me the go-ahead to write her in an official capacity, he gave me a lot of tips on how to understand her. I just love messing around with established canon.

 

THis is where not writing SW fanfic becomes a problem...

I would probably imagine that I would find Tycho Celchu or someone like that the easiest to write. They have got enough about them to be able to add depth and detail, but are not expected to be the life and soul of the fic. PLus there does not need to be so much witty repartee as there is with people such as Wes Janson or Garik Loran.

 

Yeah, I find it harder to write Wes and Face because they ARE so established. When I do use them, I tend to make them peripheral characters. Of the mainstreams, I like writing Myn Donos best.

 

Welcome to all you've been dropping by for the past few days!

As for my favorite pilot to write, I would have to say that it's a draw between Wedge and Tycho. I've always really enjoyed getting into their heads, because they're such complex characters whose thought processes I find fascinating. Kind of a predictable answer, I suppose. I also really enjoy the challenge of branching out.