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

Alternatively the Council is suspicious of Luke, because in Legends they had this thing where they were suspicious of Anakin for wearing dark colors, because they're apparently oddly superstitious about wardrobe decisions.

Silver tongued Palpatine manages to talk his way out. But he knows Luke won't trust him, so he sends someone else to talk to the boy: Dooku.

Luke grows more and more disillusioned with the snail's pace the Senate takes to get anything done - he grew up on Tatooine, which was run by an evil slug, but hey, decisions were efficient. And this genteel older man who reminds him of Ben is always willing to lend an ear.

 

Alternatively, there's really no such thing as "a proper SW fanfic." There are Legends canon-compatible stories, there are new canon-compatible stories, there are cross-canon stories, there are missing scene stories, there are AU stories that range from very similar to canon to wildly different, there are angst and romance and hurt/comfort and humor and crack stories.

Now, are there stories that each of us agree with or disagree with? Yes! Absolutely, 100%. There are stories I love and stories that I think are better than canon (any canon) and stories that I think capture the heart of what SW is and stories that I side-eye and wonder if the author watched the same movies as I did. There are stories that I think have good characterization and some that I think have bad characterization. But those are all my personal opinions, nothing more. I don't get to tell others what to write or read or enjoy. "Proper" SW stories is a standard for the editors of the professional novels to decide. Fanfic gets to be anything it wants

 

You are completely correct, that was a poor choice of words on my part. I’m not trying to denigrate any type of fanfiction, far from it. My comment stemmed from a mild frustration at seeing the Emperor dismissed far too easily in too many fanfics. I’m a firm believer in showing, rather than telling, the villain as a very real and all-but insurmountable threat. When I said "proper" fanfic, I was referring to serious, adventure/sci-fi stories, which is my preference. I agree, there is no such thing as a "proper" fanfic, for any fandom. It is as you said, @Gabri_Jade , fanfic can be whatever it wants. That’s the beauty of it.

 

This is a frustration I can sympathize with! Believe me, I have very strong opinions about characterization and storytelling myself. Like, um, exceedingly strong opinions at times But I also adore that a creative pursuit like fanfic even exists. I always remember some interview with Timothy Zahn years ago where he said all SW authors were essentially playing in George Lucas's driveway and he could back over their toys any time he wanted, whereas fanfic gets to do literally anything. It's so much fun, even if it is also occasionally frustrating trying to find those stories that really speak to us personally. Thank you kindly for the polite response! It's always lovely to have a courteous and respectful discussion on a subject that everyone feels strongly about, and helps create a supportive and welcoming community

 

I'm currently doing a Legends/Canon Mix AU involving the U-Wings and during it's initial conception, it had me thinking about what would've happened if they got involved in the Rebels early escapades. Then the bigger question hit me; How would they have fared on the Battle of Yavin and Battle of Hoth?

What do you guys think? How would they have fared if the U-Wings were in the Legends verse at those battles?

 

I've been sick since Thursday of last week and it's been an absolute nightmare. But the one silver lining to this dark cloud is that I've managed to write over 7,000 words in five days. The first part of my new story is over halfway complete. There's really only two chapters remaining for this part and they're fully outlined-albeit quite lengthy. This first part should be done by the end of the coming week and I've already outlined part two. It's funny how easy it can be to write when the entire story has already been planned out, chapter by chapter.

That's not to say the tale is set in stone. With each chapter I write, I find myself adjusting and changing smaller plot threads and details as I go on. But having an overall outline works wonders for story completion. I think I'm going to have to take a break after I finish the next two chapters to let the creative spirit recharge. One of the great successes I've achieved with this work is sticking to a tight POV and switching POV's between chapters. I'm really enjoying this process and it was almost worth getting sick for the progress I've made.

Almost.

 

@Vialco , wow! I can never write much of anything when I'm sick. Glad you made so much progress, though I also hope you feel better soon. Being sick is no fun!

 

Thank you! It turns out what I have isn’t influenza but rather COVID. Which I have never had before now. When I tested positive last night, it was a very nasty shock and I didn’t take it very well. Thanks for your kind words, they’ve lifted my spirits this morning. Being sick is definitely not fun, but at least I’m getting better with each day.

 

Thank you so much . I actually am feeling better today than I've felt in an entire week. My congestion is nearly gone, my cough has mostly disappeared. I'm very thankful that all my workmates have pitched in to cover my job so I could take four consecutive sick days. I'm in a much better headspace this afternoon. Hoping to get some writing done before the day ends. The warm wishes of everyone here has really helped lift my spirits. You guys are awesome!

 

Basically I'm wondering if anybody (official or not) has ever written a full-scale fleet action along the lines of the one posted in chapter 12 of my current story last week (X-Wing novel of what Rouge Squadron was up to during The Last Command). Dogfights, starfighter assaults on capital ships, fighter control, squadrons reinforcing each other, zooming out to the whole battle and back in a couple times, capital ships and capital ship tactics. (And actually good tactics, not ones that make no sense.) I know there's a couple semi-fleet actions in the Wraith Squadron trilogy, and there's fight against a SSD at the end of The Bacta War and a briefly covered one at the end of Wedge's Gamble, but I haven't read enough to know if there's any other well-covered fleet battles written yet.
Thanks.

 

‘I’ve done that a couple times over the years. One thing I found that helps is actually drawing the battle out on paper. Outline the positions of the various ships and fighter squadrons. You can list the main points of the battle via notes and then have three different outlines, one for each phase of the battle. I saw the Star Wars Rebels team do something very similar for the Battle of Atollon. It’s a lot of effort, but it’s worth it to have a well-paced and exciting chapter. I read a fanfic version of that battle earlier this year that actually illustrates it very well. Well-written fleet battles are quite challenging to write, but if you ge them right they can be masterful. I’m reminded of James Luceno, who wrote excellent fleet battles in his three NJO novels.

 

"Out of the Shadows" by @BaconHeadIthorian is, IMHO, an excellent depiction of fleet/capital ship and starfighter action including both small-scale and large-scale battles. Intricate fleet battles are hard: it's difficult to balance all the different aspects at once (pacing, action, characters, description, plot, etc.).

 

Calling my Legends experts: how does cloning work in the Legends-verse? Specifically, it seems that there is an ability to transfer the original's memories to the clone, to the extent that Joruus C'Baoth knows much of Jorus C'Baoth's history in first person and even believes that he is the "real" C'Baoth. How?!?! How, other than magic hand waving would this be possible? (And it seems that this is also kind of what happens with Somehow Palpatine in TRoS, though at least here we're given "Sith alchemy" as the magic involved )

 

So that type of fleet action has been written before. (Or not?) Devil Edit: Please don't edit over a mod edit. Thank you!(For reference, this is an X-Wing novel (hence the viewpoints and dogfight depictions) about what Rouge Squadron was doing during The Last Command and Thrawn's offensives. At this point in this fleet morale among crewers is low, most don't expect to make it out of Ord Mantell, and the Admiral currently in command of the New Republic fleet there is some random admiral who's probably perhaps average. The "new commander" is the first appearance of my OC.)

 

Umm... That's not what I meant by "fleet action." I meant "dozens of capital ships and a couple dozen starfighter squadrons a side, depiction going from going from major fleet formations to single dogfights, starfighter squadrons coordinated by Fighter Control on the flagship, being supported in a torpedo run by an unengaged wing of starfighters, etc." (The time period of The Last Command is notable for the scale of conventional naval warfare. The Battle of Ord Mantell I asked about has about 30 or so New Republic capital ships including a dozen-ish Star Cruisers defending a planet with a web of Golan-II's around it, opposed by 40+ Imperial capital ships.) I'm asking if that's been done before.

 

Then I'm not sure of any examples offhand. For pro- and fanfic I tend to stick to the OT era where those sorts of high numbers don't come into play. It's been a while since I read the ROTS novelization so I don't remember much about how it depicted the Battle of Coruscant, but that was a pretty massive battle. Also, it's not SW but David Weber's Honor Harrington series might be a good resource for big fleet battles in space.

 

It’s been a very interesting week. My COVID is almost gone, I’m feeling much better and my current story is almost complete. At 27,000 words, the final chapter is all that remains. In a rather poetic way, the final chapter likely be completed by the weekend which is when I’ll be fully recovered.

It’s been a ghastly ordeal but the one good thing that’s come out of it is that I’ve been able to finish my story. Thanks for all the warm wishes and get well sentiments. It was a really big boost to my spirits!

 

The Battle of Ord Mantell is already written and posted, so it's a little too late for editing. I'm also not asking for help writing it exactly - I'm wondering if anybody else has done something along its lines before or not. (apparently not? I doubt the ROTS novilization bares much resemblance to Ord Mantell).

 

Stupid Browser. Double Post.

 

It's nice to be polite to people who take the time to try to help you

Additionally, it's pretty safe to assume that almost everything has been written at some point, even if you're not sure where. Star Wars has been around for 45 years now. SW fanfic probably dates from the day after the ANH premiere, and between movies, shows, books, comics, video games, etc, there's been an immense amount of professional stories written in this saga. Personally, I neither watch nor read SW for the sake of space battles, so I couldn't tell you where such a battle might exist, but it's a safe bet that it does.

 

Good point. Sorry about that.

You've got a good point there and you're probably right.

 

In a very poetic way, I tested negative for COVID this morning and I completed my story this evening. 32,500 word written in three weeks. I’ve discovered one vital thing during this process, and that’s the importance of creating detailed outlines.

Planning your story out from start to finish, outlining each chapter and creating character sheets are all powerful tools in the writing process. Thank you to all of you who gave me encouragement and well wishes for recovery. Your kind words really helped me on the worst days of this illness! May the Force be with you all!