Discussion The Scribble Pad (Fanfic Writing Discussions)

I would say Luke because it's early in their engagement.
Doing stuff without "consulting" someone is LOTF Mara.
okay, so she didn't exactly consult Karrde or Luke during the bantam years, but that's because she's always been right.

Edit:
I don't know if this thread is the best place for fancasting, but I think I just found my new Tahiri....



Gus Birney

 

A couple notes on publishing fanfic commercially for those curious. While Disney has "discontinued" Legends (and has no plans to publish any more stories under it), it is still under copyright. Fanfic falls largely into a grey area of the law, which means most big companies (read: Disney and Lucasfilm before them) really don't care about fanfic, as long as people aren't making any money off of it.

I dug around Amazon for their self-publishing stuff and they do allow fanfic, but it is only for the few works they have obtained licenses for (which doesn't have many big names - I only recognized two works).

 

Topic for discussion: Battle Scenes! I find them hard to write, but I think they're important. Ideas? Thoughts?

 

Yikes, battle scenes. I too have struggles with those. What I usually do is describe if possible via dialogue after the fact.

 

Battle scenes

In my opinion you can write them as these types.
Type A, or Gu Long Type, is as follows.
Luke looked at Lumiya with hatred.
"Why did you kill my wife?"
"Come at me, Ace, let's dance."
The two adversaries looked at eachother with intensity. Luke yelled and attacked.
No one knows what he used. Within five seconds Lumiya was dead. That was all there is to it.

Type B Lousi Cha type.

With a snap hiss Luke activated his blue lightsaber. Its hum gave him focus for what he must do. At the same moment a scarlet snake came alive in Lumiya's mechanical right hand.
Luke hesitated, doubt clawed inside his head. He decided to use two hands to grip the lightsaber and used a simple yet effective kata, designed to chop his adversary from head to navel.
Lumiya didn't even try to parry, and Luke gasped the same time Lumiya groaned. The green blade bit into Lumiya's left arm and cut it off clean. However, to Luke's surprise, no blood came from the wound. Lumiya's green eyes flashed.
She threw the red whip at Luke, it was all he could do to dodge the red energy as it went right toward his neck. Good thing Luke remembered to bring his shoto. Still it was a close thing. Without Lumiya's guiding hand, there was no question the shoto would win against the whip.
At the corner of Luke's right eye he caught movement. Too late he realized his error as Lumiya rose her remaining hand and released the blue black energy. The maelstrom reached Luke's stomach with full force. His last meal threatened to escape from both ends. It was too much.
You must avenge Mara! A voice whispered in Luke's ear. Lumiya's too dangerous to left alive.
With renewed strength, and faocus, despite the onslaught of Dark Energy Lumiya still unleashed, Luke closed the distance between him and the murderer of his wife. Lumiya stopped the Force lightning as she found Luke's arms around her neck.
Was that a smile on her face? Luke decided it was irrelevant as he casually moved his hands in a certain direction. The neck between his hands snapped grotesquely in an impossible position as the entire body slumped. A part of the gray turban fell, revealing strands of greying red hair.
Luke felt nothing but disgust as he walked toward his X-Wing. It was time to leave.

Type C Romance of the Three Kingdoms versiion

The Army of the Sith was arrayed on the plain. To get reinforcement to Tahiri, the Jedi would have to force their way across enemy forces.
Luke called the Jedi council. His most trusted advisors were gathered around him.
Luke said: Well, what do we do?
Supreme advisor Kyp Durron said, we should so this this this and this.
Luke agreed.
The same day, later. Luke says to his Jedi. The army before us is led by Darth Zekk, Dark Lord Caedus's lieutenant, who will battle him?
The Jedi looked at eachother before a voice yelled out, I will! Luke looked at the volunteer, it was Lusa.
"Very well. Good luck."
Lusa went, five minutes later, a foot soldier screamed. OMG Darth Zekk killed Lusa, and brought back her head!
Luke blanched, and asked Who will battle Zekk?
A lot of soul searching later, a voice yelled, I will! Luke looked, it was Dorks 81.
"Good luck."
Two minutes later a foot soldier screams into the tent, OMG Darth Zekk killed Dorsk 81! Here's his head!
Luke looked around, "Any other volunteers?"
"Send me!" Luke looked, it was Corran Horn.
Corran Horn looked at Darth Zekk. Zekk's lightsaber was red, just like the blood of the Jedi he killed.
Zekk boasted, "I'll kill you worthless Jedi just like I killed all the othr ones!.
Corran activated his own blue saber and charged his eopie at th same time Zekk encouraged his bantha. When they were a single foot apart, barely using a single kata, Corran neatly sliced Zekk in two. The Jedi army charged the Sith army. The sith army routed. There were millions of Sith bodies on the ground until later.
Here's a poem for proof.
*Insert awesome ancient 4 line poem, saying how awesome Corran is, here*

tl dr
3 Types. Write someone attacks, his/her/it's opponent dies. Simple. No description of combat.
Write a detailed version of the battle, preferably with kata names and exotic weapons.
Write a parody.

 

Already, I need some suggestions for Squadron names. Must be new/unique/not used in either Canon. Squadron is Corellian, had royal origins. I'm stuck, I need a name.

 

Either Canon? That would suggest that there are two canon in your story. One is Star Wars, I assume; what's the other?

Squadron ideas. You could use colours not used yet, eg. Magenta, Cerulean (type of blue), Aqua (also blue), Agua (Spanish for water), Sonic, Vidhaftande (not in my fanon yet, but I think I grabbed this off a non-English DVD copyright warning, and used it for a Corellian freighter in an RP game).

EDIT: What the heck? Interesting.

I used to Google ship names to...uh, name ships; and I decided to see if you could Google squadron names, and apparently, there is a Squadron Name Generator!

http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/squad-names.php#.WY5eDtKpXGI

 

Ha, ha! LegendsCanon and NewCanon, actually. Both SW.

No colors, though; I've got a specific personal fanon use for color names... in my version, colors are operational and temporary. So, Blue Squadron is what a fighter group would be called on one specific mission. Their actual name might be Phoenix Squadron or Corona Squadron. But if the enemy picks up the comm chatter, all they hear is "Blue" or "Green" and it is difficult for them to determine exactly who they are up against. In my stuff, anyway...

This was fun! I checked it out, but it kept giving me names like Phoenix Squadron & Corona Squadron (already used)! LOL, do SW authors use this site? I bookmarked it, though. Nice resource!

(Just tried it again. Rogue Squadron! I laughed so hard the cat looked worried).

 

Mistress_Renata

Well, if we cannot use words that have appeared in canon...

Stellari Squadron, as in Guerri Stellari(sp?), one of the foreign translations of Star Wars.

Lane Squadron

Dane Squadron

Zane Squadron

Bane Squadron

You could use the chapter names of the Resident Evil movies?

Extinction Squadron

Apocalypse Squadron

Retribution Squadron

And the wildly popular Afterlife Squadron

Vampyre Squadron

Wamphyri Squadron

Fury Squadron

 

Elite of the elite (The Guards)

Blood Stripes Squadron.

 

LOL on the squadron generator. I do like the idea/method of naming a squadron after what it's designed to do, like Triage, Rescue of Hostages, those kinds of activities. I also like the method of a squadron "naming itself" or earning a name that shows respect. E.G., the Noob Squadron does a great job and so gets a different name. I can't remember for the life of me the name of the squadron that was on Hoth and Wes was pranking away. They had a name that was supposed to be derogatory but they did such a good job evacuating the base that they kept it for humor's sake.

 

My OC of Corellian decent was a part of the 'Blue Mynocks' - thought about doing a fannon cos-play for Celebration (not of her, necessarily, but a member!).

 

These are all great ideas. The Resident Evil names sound a bit Imperial, but that could be useful for future stuff.

I keep playing with the name generator... I think "Wipe-Out Squadron" might be a bit too descriptive. No doubt it would be under the command of Hobbie, who has a certain reputation...!

 

You could have that they are known as the Royal Space Squadron nr #, and then give them a nickname after the number and something else. Like: 'Royal Space Squadron nr 13' a.k.a. 'the Bloody 13'; ''Royal Space Squadron nr 2' a.k.a. "the Snakeeyes" or similar.

 

Anyone knows a good way to throw in the physical description of a POV character? I really want her to have a distinct appearance that is stated in-story( because I don't want her to be some reader insert character like Bella Swan), and I have a clear picture in my mind of what she looks like, I just don't know how to include it. And mirrors and reflections just seem too cliche and overused.

 

Well what if something like:

For this mission, I decided my usual red hair wouldn't do, so I started to cut it short. I grunted in satisfaction as the black wig sat snuggly on my head. It's going to be along night.....

I heard a knock on my door. When I opened it, I hardly had a chance to scream as the scarlet lightsaber striked at me. If I had been any taller, I would have been decapitated...

 

Apart from the lightsabre being struck at you, not striked, some good ideas in there.

 

Is this first person point of view? @Darth_Mu's advice works for that, but if you're looking in from outside, it's a little easier:

"He pulled off his flight helmet, ruffling his sweaty red curls..."

"Tip watched as Jyn's cool gray eyes scanned the datascreen..."

 

*sigh* I hate it when some days are like pulling teeth to get every. Single. line. out.
*runs back to stupid facebook games*

 

Technically Bella was described in Twilight*, in the book the Night Itself the protagonist describe herself mostly by describing her parents and at the same time comparing herself to them.

* If I remember right: willowy and awkward with pale skin that easily burn in the sun and long dark hair.

 

Still, Bella's description is pretty loose, so plenty of space for reader insert.

 

Well, imho, the worst way to do it is to stop the narrative flow of the story to describe the character. That said, I find the most effective way to introduce description is to make it secondary to the actions of the character. I had a character who was Barolian, and I would mention how his blue hair was pulled back from his face in a simple band or that his girlfriend traced the facial tattoos of his forehead, rather than saying he had blue hair and facial tattoos. It's kind of show, not tell, stuff. Keep in mind, too, that you don't need to reveal every detail about your character in one fell swoop. One scene could have her running her long fingers through her short red hair, while another scene could refer the fact that her shirt almost covered the scars that crisscrossed her shoulders (or whatever distinct appearance you had in mind.

Just be careful when describing skin tone and racial characteristics that you don't stereotype.

 

Personally I don't think stereotyping would be a problem in Star Wars fanfic.

Well, unless you are really trying to stereotyping, trying really hard to bring about your message.

Personally, if you had all of your Rodian character as gangsters and your Twi'leks as dancers and yes men there would not be a problem as far as I'm concerned. So what do I know?

 

I was referring more to "earth" stereotypes - I'd try to avoid the "almond shaped eyes" stereotype or the "fair skin - freckles- red hair" Irish-y stereotype. And I would try for some diversity in the SW species, too; I read a pic with a Twii'lek woman as a obstetrician and in my own fic I have a Rodian Jedi. I know of a Hutt hairdresser and a Drall surgeon. Variety is the spice of life.

 

Uh, I have this problem with my writing in general...

I have too many ideas.

For a while now I've been planning a Star Wars fanfiction set around 4,000 years after the Galactic Civil War, an era where the Sith and the Jedi are seemingly extinct, having finally wiped each other out. However, I've done tons of research and world-building to determine how the galaxy has changed, what new factions exist, and the events that have occured. And I feel like the best way to explain this to an audience without doing exposition dumps is to write several prequels I also have ideas for, set in different time periods, which foreshadows and helps lead up to major developments and the beginnings of new factions and legacies, creating a universe of connected Star Wars stories, a mix of Legends, canon, and my own ideas. There's a story set in the Old Republic, the Clone Wars, the Imperial era, and after the Battle of Endor, introducing major events and characters that have an effect on the future.

I've had this issue before, where I do tons of worldbuilding and have lots of great ideas. But I don't know where to start and if I can do it since I have esteem and confidence issues. Any suggestions?