FanFic Ask Me Anything ~*~ Version 3.0 Daily Questions (See list on pg 164 or 1)

Did you ever watch the films in what I'm sure would've been a horrible Greek dub?

 

Tips for preventing/overcoming writer's block? Process in developing a plot and creating OCs?

 

What do you think of the 300 movies and/or comic?

 

Thanks mav!

ginchy we're all waiting for your final replies. You're not escaping @Gamiel's inquisitiveness that easily

What drew me - a more accurate term would be "dragged" me - to SW was my dad. He was this very quiet, very serious and very old-fashioned man who was still wearing Borsalino Panama hats in the 1980s, but there was a geek in him who loved everything science-fiction. A few days before Christmas 1980, my mum was away and he took me along to see TESB in the cinema. I was seven years old and hardly understood anything of the film, but I fell in love with Artoo Deetoo. The rest is history

Fan fiction came quite a while later. I started reading EU novels in university, and while some stuff was great, I found that a lot of it was utter tripe. Then the age of broadband internet finally came to Greece, and I suddenly had access to all these smart, wonderful stories written by smart, wonderful people. I've been hooked ever since, so here I am

As for favourite characters, from what I said above you probably guessed that my top fave character is Artoo, with Chewbacca a close second. I think that what makes SW such a compelling story in general is its take on classic character types (the young man who comes of age, the scoundrel with a heart of gold, the warrior princess, the wizened mentor, the English butler, etc.), but Artoo and Chewie are really a uniquely starwarsy twist on the little helper and the faithful sidekick. I love all of Artoo's quirks, the angry bleeps, the mournful whistles and the way he pirouettes in the middle of a shootout, and I love most of all that he always saves the day. When TPM came out, I was a little skeptical about the film, I didn't like the sleekness of the new aesthetics so much, but then Artoo turned up to fix that hyperdrive. I squee'd so loudly the entire movie theatre must have heard me. That's when the PT became Star Wars for me

My country has a few saving graces and one of them is that we don't dub movies, we sub I'm glad that I learned English and don't need to read the subs anymore, though. It always felt weird to read about the Τζένταϊ fighting the Σιθ and Νταρθ Βέιντερ trying to turn Λουκ Σκαιγουώκερ to the Dark Side of the Δύναμη

To be honest, writer's block isn't really an issue for me. I'm slow to actually start writing, but once I get started I write by the kilometer. By the time I hit a wall, I have so much material already that I need weeks to edit it, and when I'm done I'm usually in the mood to continue. I also don't write in a linear fashion; I always write the beginning and the end first, then I start filling the gaps, so if I get stuck on one story arc, I just move on to another one.

As for developing a plot and characters, well, that's the reason I'm so slow to get started. Everything I ever wrote began with a wisp of an idea that I let mature in my head for months, if not years, before I put pen to paper, and the end result is usually only distantly related to the original idea. For instance, I started thinking of the fic I'm writing here (which is actually my first attempt at fanfic) about three years ago. It was originally going to be about a youngling who dropped out of Jedi training to become an artist and who ended up dying during Order 66. I think the only element I kept from that initial idea is the artist

I haven't read the comics but I've seen the movies. 300 was kind of okay. I didn't like the aesthetics so much, but it was a fair film in the action-packed war movie category. The sequel on the other hand... I rarely laughed so much watching a movie that wasn't intentionally farcical. We were watching it on DVD with a group of friends at home, and I still remember the moment when someone turned around about half-way through the film and asked: "Which battle is this, already?"

 

What type of scene is easiest versus hardest to write?

 

I'd imagine someone in your position has traveled a lot. What countries were your favorite to visit, and which did you wish you'd never gone to (heh)?

 

Chyntuck, where in Greece are you from? Also, what is your hands-down favorite / most influential fanfic of all time?

 

What is your very favorite food/dish?

 

Here are my last answers!! (After 50 billion edits I still don't know why the formatting went all wonky. My apologies!!!)

Hm, well, all of the architecture in the PT was beautiful. I can’t wait to see what a new Jedi Temple, if there is one, will look like.

Oh my!! Let’s see:

A. I’m either having a blonde moment or am just not reading the question properly, but I don’t understand. How can a Force tradition be neither Jedi nor Sith? I’ll have to pass on this one!
B. See above.
C. I guess I like a chicken or turkey pie. I don’t think I’ve had too many meat pies.
D. Maybe the Sholan cats that I mentioned in another post.
E. (a): Twi’lek (b): Pilgrim garb. Seriously, with all their pretty skin tones they should wear clothing that shows it off.
F. I watched TMNT when I was a kid. That’s the only version I know!
G. I want to know more about Tatooine, I guess, the connection between it and the Skywalkers.
H. I think we’ve already seen a lot of decent fashion in Star Wars, especially with the PT. I guess I’d like to see how young Leia dressed for the Senate.
I: (a): Hutts (b): I’m just imagining the Hutts rocking out to ‘Call Me Maybe’ and that’s making me giggle.

Also, since you have pets, is there a SW species you'd like to have as a pet?[/quote]

Hahahaaa! Those questions made me think a lot!!

Hmmm, maybe a pittin?

Boy, have I. Let’s see. I’ve met JediTrace, RedGold, taramidala, JediMara77, Lane_Winree @JadeLotus…. I’ve also met several other people from the boards at Cons or I’ve seen some of the people from here on panels at the Cons. I’ve been so lucky to have met so many great friends through these boards!!!

 

hahahahaaa, I did my best!!

Now here is my question for you... wait for it....

What's the most vivid dream you've ever had?

 

What's your opinion on flying? Ever want to take the controls of an airplane for yourself?

Can you tell I love flying?

 

All these questions? Wow! It's good I'm working afternoons this week

This isn't an easy question, you know? I think I'm most comfortable with dialogue and most uncomfortable with introspection scenes. I recently co-authored an audio drama with a friend. It's a dialogue between two characters and it flowed quite easily. When writing introspection, I really have a hard time steering away from rambling. I guess it's convenient that most of what I write is detective stories, so there's no need for too much introspection unless you want the readers to feel that you're spelling out everything for them.

I haven't written lightsaber duels and space battles yet, but I have some in the works and I'm a little apprehensive about it. If I find it too difficult, I guess I'll just turn up on one of the resource threads and cry

Thanks


I learned English mostly in school, really. The school I went to wasn't an international school, but they had extra classes for foreign languages, so I started French in grade 3 of primary school and English in grade 6. I also got a lot of exposure through TV and cinema since we don't dub films. Another thing is that, in the 1980s, the trend was to be "modern" and "European". We listened to western music, watched western TV series, etc. and that probably helped too. Lastly, my father always insisted that I should read books in the language they were written, not in translation, so I started reading in English quite early on. I hated him at the time for it, but now I'm grateful Unfortunately, I never lived in an Anglophone country. I'd like to spend some time in one though; I'm more comfortable reading and writing English than speaking it and I think an immersion period would help loosen my tongue (and maybe I'd stop spending hours checking prepositions in the dictionary too!)

As for other languages, I can speak, read and write French reasonably well. I started learning it from a young age and I was an Erasmus student in Paris for six months, so there was a time when I was nearly fluent, but that was twenty years ago. I use French less than English now, so I'm a bit rusty I can also speak, but unfortunately not read and write, Egyptian Arabic.

My job has more to do with the nitty-gritty stuff of human rights than policy and coordination, so I travel a lot more within Greece than abroad. I've been to two international conferences in NY and Brussels, and to a workshop in London, but that's pretty much it for work-related travel. I did travel a lot for leisure when I was a student though. There was something called InterRail at the time (I'm not sure if it still exists) where students could buy a pass to take any train in Europe for six months, so I went to Berlin, Barcelona and Amsterdam when I was in Paris, and to virtually every country in the Balkans from Athens. I also went several times to Egypt and Israel, because I have relatives there, and I went to my cousin's big fat Greek wedding in Philadelphia when I was a kid

The places I liked best were Paris, Alexandria (Egypt) and, above all, Istanbul. Paris is Paris, no need to elaborate. Alexandria is wonderfully decadent, and Istanbul is simply magical. You should all go there as soon as you have the chance. The place I liked least is Israel. It's a beautiful country of course, but I'm deeply uneasy with the militarized character of Israeli society, and I don't get along with my relatives there, not at all. My last trip there was a bloody disaster, they told me that I was a traitor to the Greek nation and my grandmother that she's a traitor to the Jewish people, so chances are we won't be visiting again. It doesn't matter though, Haifa's an ugly city, and who needs that when you have Istanbul?

Aha! You may not know that asking this question to a Greek is to invite them to give you their genealogy all the way back to Alexander the Great I was born and raised in a suburb of Athens near the coast, and that's where I live until now, but my parents aren't from here. On my father's side, it's a Greek family from Egypt. My father and grandparents came to live in Greece in the 1950s, but my aunt married an Egyptian and part of her family still live there. On my mother's side, it's more complicated. My grandfather was from Thessaloniki in northern Greece (which you should also all visit, it's a miniature version of Istanbul) and my grandmother is from Ioannina in north-western Greece. I still have family in Thessaloniki, but none in Ioannina because they were Jews and they were all killed in World War II, except one uncle who managed to escape to Mandate Palestine. My grandfather was a merchant and he'd seen how Nazi Germany was treating Jews in the 1930s with the yellow stars and all. He was either more paranoid or more clever than most people, so when the Axis occupation of Greece happened he took my grandmother and my mother, who was then a baby, and fled to the Italian occupation zone. The bishop of Zakynthos (an island between Greece and Italy) issued them with fake baptism certificates, and they stayed there for several years during and after the war. They came to Athens in the late 1950s when my mum went to university.

As an Artoo fan, my hands-down favourite fic has got to be @Hazel's Artoo diaries (Artoo's Frazzled Circuits - OT and the sequel Artoo's Frazzled Circuits - TTT). I wasn't a registered user on this site when she wrote them, but I had them bookmarked and checked eagerly every week to see if there was more. The funny thing is that I usually don't read diaries unless they're completed, because I tend to lose track of things, but this one being strictly canon, I had no problem following the story. It's the OT and TTT retold from Artoo's point of view, and it's simply brilliant.

A close second is a Timothy Zahn parody by Evenflow. The boards version is unfortunately truncated, but someone re-posted it on FFN (here, I hope it's OK to post an external link in this case). Read it. You'll laugh your socks off.

As for the second element of your question, I'm new to writing fanfiction, so it's still early for me to define which fic in particular influenced me most. I'll say this though: writing fanfic is much more challenging than I expected. I find it difficult to operate in a universe where I don't make the rules and to elaborate on characters I didn't create, so I spend a lot of time looking at fics that I find well-thought-out to use them as models. I could give dozens of examples, so I'll limit myself to two. One fic I've been studying for superior characterization of canon characters is @Kahara's Long Gone. She did such an amazing job at capturing her characters' voices that I might start pestering her on PM to ask how she did it. For developing an alien species, I read and re-read @Findswoman's Book of Gand. There's not much about Gands in EU material, so she started pretty much from zilch and she managed to sprinkle her narrative with enough details of their appearance, biology and culture that they really came to life as a civilization. If I can achieve a small fraction of that when I write the species I have in mind, I'll be happy

Chick peas. Full stop. Chick peas in every shape or form. Hummus, falafel, soup, salad, boiled, stewed, baked, you name it. I'll post the recipe for oven-baked chick peas with spinach in the foodies' thread one of these days. I could live on that

Ahem. I'd rather keep it private, if that's OK with you. It's not TOS-compliant

I don't mind flying, but I'm a train gal when I travel. I did go in the cockpit once when I was a kid. The pilots let me sit there to watch what they were doing. It was good fun and they were very patient - I think I was a bit like Luke when he's for the first time in the Falcon's cockpit, touching everything and asking hyper-excited questions. I don't think I'd like to pilot myself though, I'm bad enough when driving a car already.

Who would've thunk such an improbable thing?

 

Your family history is fascinating, Chyntuck!

What would you like to see in Episode VII?

 

Fascinating family history and super duper taste in fics

If you have a sweet tooth, what is your favorite indulgence?

 

Who do you consider the best dressed male in SW?

Who do you consider the best dressed female in SW?

Here, this may help - Beyond the big two: lesser Force traditions in the GFFA

 

Have you ever watched The Holiday Special?

 

Favourite non-human species and why?

Favourite SW culture and why?

 

What is the most rewarding and most hair-pulling out facets of your job?

 

Is your career the one you always knew you wanted, or did you "end up" doing this and if so, do you ever wish you'd gone another route?

 

JadeLotus and Nyota's Heart, since you're Australian and American, I'm pretty sure your family histories must be worthy of a novel

I want someone to say "I have a bad feeling about this", Threepio to say "we're doomed" and Artoo to save the day. A few cameos of pre-Disney EU characters we all know and love would be a nice bonus. Other than that, as long as there are good guys, bad guys, lightsaber duels, space battles, extravagant aliens and fancy spaceships, I'll be happy. The truth is that, whatever they come up with, I'll love it anyway. I'm an easy customer to satisfy

I have a VERY sweet tooth, so I'll try to refrain from writing an encyclopaedia here. There's one thing we have in Greece which is called "spoon sweets", because a teaspoon is the serving size. It's basically whole fruit or citrus fruit peel preserved in syrup. I always keep a few jars of my favourite flavours (sour cherry, bitter lemon peel and baby fig) stashed away for a rainy day, and when I'm in a bad mood I just hug the jar and eat away while watching Star Wars In the more general but less fit-for-human-consumption category, I like chocolate. I say "not fit for human consumption" because my favourite chocolate is a Greek brand called "ION" that gourmet chocolate lovers find disgusting, but it's the flavour I grew up with, so I love it

Errr... Artoo to both?

I'm not much of a fashion person, but I'll give this a try. For best-dressed male, I'll go with Palpatine in the PT. I particularly liked how his costumes evolved from a post-Renaissance western European style when he was a senator to Byzantine emperor robes when he became chancellor and then Emperor. For best-dressed female, there's Padmé of course, but I liked Mon Mothma's dress in the deleted ROTS scenes even better. I also really liked Aurra Sing's outfit in TPM and Aayla Secura in AOTC. They're the epitome of badassery

Only the bits on YouTube. A friend gave me a bootleg copy of the whole thing a while back, but I'm not sure I want to do that to myself

Wookiees to both! I love the idea of shaggy primates with a big heart and a strong sense of honour, who live in harmony with nature and, on top of everything else, are smart and tech-savvy. The Battle of Kashyyyk is one of my fave scenes in ROTS. This is actually a reason why I never watched the Holiday Special. I don't want to spoil my image of Wookiees

The most rewarding thing is when we obtain refugee status for an asylum-seeker, or even better when we obtain resettlement to another country that will treat them better. Hair-pulling-out... there are a lot of those, but the one that takes the cake is when people try to shame us into not reporting human rights violations.Two years ago, Amnesty International published a comprehensive report on police violence in Greece. A couple of weeks after the report was launched, I was interviewing someone who I had reasons to believe was directly responsible for ill-treatment of immigrants, and the guy had the nerve to ask me: "How do you so-called human rights people feel about giving your country a bad name with such reports?" I still don't know if I was supposed to laugh or cry (although punching him in the face would probably have been the better option if I could get away with it.)

When does "always" start? When I was a little girl I wanted to be a princess, and later to be a droid But seriously, I love my job even though I keep whining. My mum's a lawyer and my dad was a doctor and a democracy activist (they actually met at the funeral of Grigoris Lambrakis, for those of you who saw Costa Gavras's film Z), so this was a natural path for me. The only thing I don't like about my job is that it's not very creative, but I found ways to compensate for that with other activities

 

What are your fanfic ambitions?

 

What fictional culture would you like to see used as an inspiration in SW and how?
What real life culture would you like to see used as an inspiration in SW and how?