Discussion The Scribble Pad (Fanfic Writing Discussions)

I just don't like crossovers. My SW diary is already an OC inspired by one of my West Wing OCs, but, IDK, he's just so much more in my WW stuff (read: I decided I wanted to write the story of how he met his wife and I've written 2000 words in the past 6 hours and nearly skipped dinner ). The muse is happy over in NSWFF and I really don't want to risk that for a SW diary (which I do have a plan for, which I like and want to write, the muse just wants to be snarky in a 'real world' context right now).

Also, just for the record, I do enjoy the new canon, it just isn't inspiring to me.

And I get where Raissa is coming from. Yeah we have freedom in fanfic for AUs and continuing stories that wouldn't be continued, but the something happens, it can just devastate you creativity. It feels like, "what's the point? I'm never going to see them again in canon. I'm never going to be inspired by new (profic) stories." Raissa, I hope you do see the point in continuing your stories. Give these characters the stories they deserve. But I also understand what it is like just to feel like you have nothing, creatively, that matters that you feel like you will enjoy writing.

 

They aren't easy to do well, and especially crossing stuff into SW, which is very contained. But when they do work, wow! Best one I ever read was a Bones/Batman short, where the team of the Jeffersonian were pondering the identity of Gotham's mysterious protector with Booth desperately trying to put them off the track (since he knew and was sworn to secrecy!) It was perfect, everyone stayed in character, and was utterly believable.

Yes, totally agree. One of my favorite OT characters was Wedge, who was utterly ruined with Aftermath, and has dropped off the face of the Galaxy. All I can do is shrug & rewrite the way it's supposed to be. Give yourself some time, or explore something else. (I'd personally love more stories about Markesh; there's a playground I'd enjoy going to town with!) But definitely, give yourself time to mourn and then to be pissed off at the PTB for a while...

 

@Raissa Baiard -- the new canon isn't inspiring me as it is either. So I read/write AUs of new canon and Legends and mash-ups where they can be found. Your stuff, your Rebels, your Ezra, Kanan, Hera, Sabine, Zeb, they speak to me in RL ways because they have feelings and dreams, hopes, and fears, loves, and crazy embarrassing moments So ignore whatever Disney or whoever does to them and write the ever-after outcome.

Because your fics are so good that once I personally read them, I won't even REMEMBER anything the profic writers do.
Exhibit A for this in general is despite what happened in TLJ to Amilyn the Poe/Amilyn thing is very amusing and very endearing.

 

I absolutely understand where you are coming from Raissa. Even though I'm one of the first to say the old EU isn't gone, it's still around to be read and fanfics can add or change anything you like. And I do think that, but when it went away it did kinda take the wind out of my sails. And yes, I can still write those stories and write the characters the way they were, it's much harder for me now.

But I agree with the give it time. Once the emotion of what you'd hoped for being taken away lessens a bit, maybe things will be easier and you'll be able to continue on. Part of the reason writing is so hard is you invest a lot of yourself into it, so when something happens it can be a pretty big blow to the muse.

Maybe work on something completely different for awhile. Challenge yourself to write something you've not written before and see how it goes.

 

Really, if you think about it... George is the creator and EVERYONE ELSE is writing fanfic. It's just that some people, like Claudia Gray and Dave Filoni, get paid for it.

 

HI @Raissa Baiard! I hear what you are saying. I too was heavily invested in the EU and found new canon interesting, but only mildly inspirational. I agree with @Briannakin about using one of you stable OCs or creating a new one that would exist simultaneously in both universes. My OC Lens Eli is very much EU, but most of his core friends are OCs with the exception of Ben Skywalker. I don't write long stories. I am more of scene writer. However, I given the the world of these OC is fairly finite, I am still able to keep Grandmaster Skywalker and Mara in a small box as mom and dad and not the heroes of the story. I hope I'm making sense.

For any fanon, canon is the basis of all we write, but it is not the end all be all. I've had so much fun with my drabble threads in the past throwing around AUs from in-universe, to setting the SW characters into US historical settings. Having fun and getting some sense of satisfaction is the my goal in all of this. I hope things look up for you soon. If there is anything I can do, let me know. Of course, it helps to have a group of like minded people around to let know it will be okay, to see you through it.

Brodie

 

I’m really afraid now that the finale is going to break my heart, and if it does, I don’t know how I’m going to keep writing. I feel like i’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. I started to,write a story set in the future of my universe, to kind of set it into words, whatever happens, and I just can’t finish it. I feel like a complete basket case for being this wrapped up in a fictional universe, but fan fiction is my usual escape and my diversion when things are bad, but I feel like I’m out of words. I struggle with depression and anxiety as it is, and right now I’m a sniveling wreck. Over a fictional character. How pathetic is that.

 

Please on't feel crazy or pathetic. As several of us have been an example, other people have gone though exactly what you are going through, either during the whole Legends thing, or when canon made a sham out of an awesome character (totally agree with @Mistress_Renata on Wedge in Aftermath btw). Fanfic is my creative outlet/escapism too and has gotten me through many dark times.

I say just rest. As hard as it may be not to write anything right now, forcing something out just isn't going to help.

 

Fan fic has gotten me through some dark times too, notably before and after my heart transplant. That’s part of what makes it so hard not to feel like I can write now. I don’t know what to do with myself if I’m not writing— all my leisure activities seem to revolve around Star Wars. Computer games? KOTOR 1& 2 and my SW themed Sim neighborhood. Books? I was planning to reread “A New Dawn” (TV and videos are right out...but that’s a long story).

 

@Raissa Baiard As you said yourself, these are fictional characters – they exist only in our collective head. We watch/read/write about them and become invested in them, and there's nothing pathetic about that. On the contrary, I'd argue that it's what makes us good writers. The beauty of fictional characters is that they continue to exist regardless of what anyone does with them. They're no more (or less) real because writer A takes them in one direction while writer B takes them in another. Your version of Mara who was never the Emperor's Hand and is in love with Ezra is no less real than the Mara who died in the Legacy novels, which is no less real than the Mara who lived happily ever after with Luke in a myriad fanfics.

There's power in being a writer, the power to shape a world the way we want it to be. Filoni isn't more powerful than you in that regard. He has the cash to broadcast his writing far and wide, but that's not a reason to surrender your power to him.

 

^^

So.much.this.

Now I have to read Aftermath. If that was the present tense book, it will be HARD. I know that it screwed up Jar Jar, too...

 

No, you don't. Really. You don't.

 

Whoa, that thing has 606 pages on the desktop version of Calibre. O_O

Are all SW books like that? I only read Into the Void and the Corellian Trilogy. I read TTT as a comic.

 

I wanted to say thank you so much to everyone for being so kind and supportive This is another reason why fan fic is so important to me-- we have such an awesome community who really care about one another! It means more to me than I can say that this is a place where I can express all these feelings to people who understand what it's like to invest part of yourself in a fictional universe. Mr. Baiard, bless him, who has been very understanding, even though he doesn't fully get it, told me last night that I needed to go talk to my friends on the fanfic board.

Thank you @Chyntuck. I needed the reminder.

Last night, when I was feeling at loose ends, I took another look at the story I'd started and something made me keep working on it. Not forcing myself to do it, but because I felt like it was better than wallowing in sadness and worry. 1400 words later, I have an entry for the OTP Challenge. In a weird sort of way, it was good therapy to finish the story. Whatever happens now, my future for Ezra exists in some form. And it is real. I'm even planning out that Kanera story I'd been considering, kind of to write my way through all the emotions I have, and as a way to celebrate the characters I love.

Again, just thank you, thank you, thank you so much. You are all so wonderful and your support means the world to me.

 

@Raissa Baiard I´m glad that you´ve decided to not give up working on your stories after what happened. Writing defenetly helps in these cases, when I finished reading Invincible I started working on my fanfic, which is now a three part series that I still continue working on.
And yeah as the others said, we all have our little AUs and unqiue way of seeing/writing SW and there is nothing wrong with that. I think George Lucas himself has said once that he created SW for people to "tell each other their own stories within it" which is exactly what we fanfic writers are doing. So we can take whatever we want from it and add in our own ideas as well.

 

I totally got this, @Raissa Baiard .

I had something similar when I discovered the circumstances of Chewie's demise in the EU.

Remember that you have a Haotzeri' jedi now, who is owed a showdown with her old classmate, Kylo Ren...

 

No matter what form of media it's in or how long a series runs it's always going to leave people wanting more and all those dangling what-ifs. We decide to make the content we want to see. Everyone has their own unique vision and ways to share that vision. Some people draw/paint, some make films, and some write.


Maybe someday I'll take a break from Star Wars if another fictional universe grabs my attention, but I know I'll be back. I first saw A New Hope in 1997 when I was three years old and the story and setting just gripped me in a way I haven't experienced with anything else, there's something about it that is truly magical. It's not easy to craft a story that can inspire all ages of people. At its core Star Wars is myth and legend, grand tales about Chosen Ones and destiny, but it's also about the little people. The universe just feels alive in a way I can't describe.


The Star Wars universe can be explored through any kind of story I can imagine. I could write a gritty political thriller, a story about space wizards going on a quest for a mystical artifact, or a fluffy slice-of-life story about a family- or even combine all three! The possibilities are truly endless.

 

@Flyboy240 - I honestly could not have imagined that you were eight years older than me!

And I agree with all you said. I go for combos of gritty political thrillers and other genres myself and it feels so, so, so good!

 

You're fifteen?

 

35 tomorrow. I thought that he first saw SW in 1978. Guess I did not read the post well.

Послато са SM-J510FN уз помоћ Тапатока

 

Happy Birthday for tomorrow then.

I am absolutely not bothering with any of the New Canon books. If they cannot be bothered to give vital information in the film, I'm not trawling through other media to fill in the gaps.

I don't mind trivia, like the name of the First Order Z6 stun baton, but plot holes that you could don a purple wig and fly a star cruiser through; noooope.

 

1. Ironically, I don't worry too much about what I'm writing as much as how it will be perceived. Yes, I know. It's no the most healthy writing perspective. I do write for myself to a certain extent. I enjoy it, but my goal is usually to write some snarky banter or some meaningful drama. Since I most write in short form, I worry that I'm pack the right punch into the fic.

But, now that you mention it, I sometime worry about balance. I guess it all comes down to what you want to write. How important is describing the room your characters are in unless there is important story or character elements to be revealed.

2. Dialogue. I love writing it and I'm pretty confident in my ability. I usually set a minimal scene description wise and let the characters do the talking. Or is it fingers to the waking?

3. Need for validation. Producing something of worth to someone else. Did I just say that out loud? Guess it's time to get real, people.

4. Got nothing there. Other cultivating board relationships, reading other writers fics and leaving comments, asking for help and making use of the resource threads offered.

Like I said, short form.

 

1. Dialogue for sure, and as a male writer writing female characters. Also writing action scenes is pretty difficult, you have to strike a delicate balance between showing too much or too little.

2. I feel like I'm pretty good at prose, and descriptions of people, places, and things.

3. I find it really hard to write established characters, I'm always worried about accidentally making them OOC so I tend to stick with writing original characters. Also romance in general.

4. I want other people to enjoy it, I guess.

5. I just remind myself that if one sentence, or even one word that I write gets someone else to feel something then that's all that matters.