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Challenge Fifty Titles in Search of a Story | We have a winner! Congrats to divapilot :)

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction and Writing Resource' started by ProlificWritersSock, Nov 22, 2015.

  1. Glor

    Glor Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 6, 2015
    It's weird, I always get stuck for a while before getting my groove back a few weeks before the next deadline.

    How is everyone else doing with their stories?

    earlybird-obi-wan is killin' it. I still have to catch up on that btw, and respond to the weekly topic.
     
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  2. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    I'm currently up to 7530 words posted.

    I finished back in the spring, so now the hardest part for me is remembering when I have to update.
     
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  3. Glor

    Glor Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 6, 2015
    Up to 9,190 words now.

    I envy you Briannakin. At least I still have four months to finish things up.
     
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  4. s_heffley

    s_heffley Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 7, 2015
    I only today got about halfway done. Seems like I need to catch up [face_laugh]
     
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  5. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    21.882 words now posted after getting chapter 17 up
     
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  6. Glor

    Glor Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 6, 2015
    Just shy of the minimum. Up to 11,213 words with both parts of chapter 3.
     
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  7. s_heffley

    s_heffley Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 7, 2015
    Part 3 of One Thousand and One Nights is up. Not exactly the word count I wanted for it, but I felt it was best ended where it was. Current word count is 7010.
     
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  8. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Okay everyone, I'm back (after what has been a rather darthy summer) so I'll be changing the discussion topic here later today or tomorrow. Any suggestions of topics you'd like to discuss? I was going to go for "canon vs fanon", which should keep us busy for a while, but if you'd rather talk about something else I'm all for it.

    A million thanks to the wonderful Irish_Jedi_Jade for looking after this thread in my absence!
    ----------------

    Squeezing in my two drachmas on storylines before we move on:

    When it comes to SW fanfic I'm definitely a canon story writer, basically because an important element of what I like in SW is the story itself, and I want the outcomes to take place as they did in canon. I only every wrote two AUs (one of them for a challenge and the other for a fic-gift) and in both cases I was adamant that, whatever was changed in the course of the story, the canon outcome must happen -- e.g. even in an alternate ending to AotC, the Clone Wars should be the ultimate outcome.

    I do a fair bit of research for my writing, trying to rely on as many sources as possible. I think I own and read pretty much all the books and comics for the timeframe I usually like to write in, but I do double- and triple-check things on the Wook, especially because I'm not a gamer at all and there's a lot of stuff one can gather from video games. Like whiskers I'm a big fan of retcons :p and quite a bit of the longest story I posted here on the JCF was an exercise in solving a number of inconsistencies in the Legends timeline. Right now I'm thinking of a story that would take place during/after the Clone Wars, and what's slowing me down is that I need to re-watch the entire TV series.

    Despite my preference for canon I'm mainly an OC writer, so my constraint isn't so much about writing established characters but about inserting my OCs in the main storyline. The truth is though that, with the exception of the epic I already completed on the boards, most of my stories are sufficiently far removed from the main SW story that it's not too much of a constraint either -- it's more like the main story takes place somewhere in the background and I just let my OCs live their lives in the SW universe. In many ways I find that writing such stories, that are sufficiently far removed from canon to have a life of their own yet are not AUs either is very similar to my original fiction writing -- just substitute the GFFA for Greece in the 21st century and there you are!

    We're lucky here on the JCF to have several very talented writers who write in this not-canon-not-AU genre, and I particularly enjoy those stories as they allow us to explore aspects of the GFFA that are not developed in canon. As a reader, I also enjoy AUs, even if I don't write them myself -- I do tend to prefer the "butterfly effect" sort of AU where I can still recognise key events from canon with an AU twist (although these are few and far between). Basically I'll read anything that's well-written, whether AU or canon.

    One type of storyline I really struggle with is crossovers, both as a reader and a writer. I feel that you need to have a very thorough understanding of all the fandoms involved in order to appreciate a crossover, and more often than not I'm just not quite there yet. Which isn't to say that I don't enjoy crossover stories when they're well-written, but I have to treat the elements from the second/third fandom as unknowns or original elements and I'm sure that I miss about half of the story. I never tried to write a time-travel story, but I do very much enjoy them and I wish their authors would continue writing them (I'm looking at you KELIA :p)
     
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  9. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    22.415 words posted with chapter 18 up and only a few more to go
     
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  10. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    I'm currently up to 9261 and will probably be finishing up posting within the next few weeks (if I have the time and I remember).
     
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  11. divapilot

    divapilot Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 30, 2005
  12. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    So, I think Darth Real Life might have actually consumed our illustrious host :(

    But Live and Let Die is completed at 12,031 words. It wasn't the fic I set out to write, but it was fun.
     
  13. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    23.115 words and a few more to go to finish the story
     
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  14. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    'The Flowers of evil' is completed at 23.864 words
     
  15. Darthmagus970

    Darthmagus970 Jedi Knight

    Registered:
    Dec 20, 2015
  16. Onderon1

    Onderon1 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 18, 2008
    Why choose to write an AU? Is it to explore other possibilities, to "correct" the course of history when the canon storyline went in a direction you didn't like?

    Both (although correction is where I started); the NJO was a great idea AFA finally breaking up the destructively dualistic Rebellion/Empire narrative ... but, well, there's a reason why I started my main AU just before Dobido fell on Sernipidal ... ? ;)

    Exploration is both a pleasure and a bane for me; I tend to get bunnies that demand to be written, and I don't finish the work I should've started. (Translation: I discovered the 'fic boards 8 years ago, and didn't finish my first story. :oops:Fun time, though. :D

    After TFA, I've been working on ways to put the (IMHO) best parts of Legends and NEU together. There were many recurrent examples of unreconstructed Imperials having conniption fits against peace with the NR, so the First Order really aren't that hard to imagine existing (and the Battle of Jakku falls during an already-insanely busy time period for the NR, so what's one more battle that helps explain warlordism more easily?).

    Storyline Alteration vs. Butterfly Effect: What type of AU do you like to read/write and why?

    I've written both, and both have their merits and limitations. I tend to lean heavier, writing-wise, on the first kind (I'm rather bull-in-a-china-shop when it comes to timeline divergences, I find ... [face_blush])

    At present, the AU I've dredged back up and dusted off has examples of butterfly effect (L/M's first 3 kids are triplets, born earlier in the timeline, with ramifications for the DNT-LOTF timeframe), but it also will have a general march toward Legends canon events (the Vong aren't going to solve themselves, and even if certain Jedi survive Myrkr, it doesn't mean the Killik hives will remain quiet forever ...).

    OTOH, there's some of Legends that ... well, Jacen Solo didn't have to go veermok-shavit crazy. That's all I'm going to say on that ...

    In it but not of it:. Any comments about this type of story?

    Oh, I think they have brilliant potential. =D= Personally, I think this works best with OCs,

    I've not yet attempted to write one of these myself - even the C-list characters whom I've written about/given OC offspring tend to be either-or in terms of settings - but I highly recommend work by Ewok Poet, for example.

    Crossovers are a little-discussed but fascinating concept. Have you ever written a crossover, and/or had a serious bunny with one?

    (Rereads question, unleashes maniacal, gleeful [face_laugh][face_laugh][face_laugh])

    Seriously, though, yes. In truth, it's rather hard for me not to write crossovers ... there's just so much potential there. [face_devil]

    Probably the main bit of craziness I've explored is Marvelverse (the comics, although I'm also cherry-picking the MCU) and SW. This was well before Disney bought either of them, and hearkens back as much to Marvel publishing the original SW comics (from my childhood) as it does to the :cool: of the idea.

    A few "rules," though, for even attempting success with crossovers (don't take these as sacred writ, but just hard-won advice):

    * If you're going to bring in non-Force-sensitives with enhanced powers (*cough*superheroes*cough*), then be cautious about the power-level and compatibility of said enhanced-power beings with SW.

    With the exception of big, honkin' Force-amplifying tech (ex., the Star Forge) or some bizarro-level esoteric Force-sects (I'm looking at Kathol, Aing-Tii! :p), Star Wars is usually about Gandalf-level (that is, subtle and non-flashy) samurai wizards smacking the stang out of each other with laser swords.

    That doesn't mean that things like the prequel Jedi acrobatics, Kyp lifting the Sun Crusher out of Yavin's core, or ancient Sith sorcery, are horribly OTT - they're usually one-offs, and the Sith are about the OTT (usually in some horribly twisted fashion, but, hey - Sith).

    TL, DR - you bring in guest-stars, make sure they don't get deus ex machina over Luke and Co.

    * Don't shoehorn in more than a few franchises at a time! *raises guilty hand*

    Don't get me wrong. It can be really fun - and challenging - to write something where seven or eight different franchises are in the same galaxy. (Yes, I wrote galaxy. GFFA is FACPOV, IMHO. Those who sin can cast stones at themselves. [face_blush])

    But asking readers to have to do the mental gymnastics to not blast suspension of disbelief to PIECES in such a scenario? That's pushy. And difficult.

    (Plus, it's a LOT of backstory. Nobody likes THAT much grey-text. Unless they're masochists, and then, well - Zonama Sekot is that direction. :p)

    If you want to go large? Fine. Just don't go too large, and don't try to cram all the starring characters from your favorite shows/books into one story.

    * Don't sweat the "is character X from story Y using the Force when they do action Z?" question too much.

    If you want it to be a big plot point, go for broke, but I try to reach for a veneer of interconnectedness/believability/scientific relatability in my work (for example - mitochondria, which are from RL, are the same as midi-chlorians, IMHO, just a lot more numerous in Force-sensitives, X-gene-positive mutants, and so on).

    My personal favorite is "magic." Just call it backwater Force-adepts cranking on a few different cylinders than the Jedi (see: Dathomiri Witches), and it's all good. (AFA Stephen Strange calling on extradimensional entities for power? Well, Mortis actually provided a possible loophole there ... [face_idea]

    (Plus, hey - if the forbidden section of the Hogwarts Library contains a funny-looking cube, who's to say the House Founders weren't stranded Jedi? ;))


    Time-Travel is a fascinating plot device that can "reset" the board for you to loop your AU into the larger timeline. Did you ever try writing such a story, and how did you handle the paradoxes time-travel can create?

    Ah, time travel ... the AU looping technique's been used to excellent effect on various stories here on the boards.

    One suggestion AFA time travel - if the traveler doesn't actually meet their past self, or have any relatives around at the place they bounce back to, then no harm no foul, IMHO. ;)

    (Of course, this isn't exactly direct time travel, insofar as that the traveler didn't intend to backtime, but ... I'm getting off topic.)

    Now, this isn't as effective in, say, things like the Solobrats bouncing back to try and prevent Alderaan going boom or Vader falling. You've really got no recourse then but to either acknowledge the butterfly effect, or have the traveler find themselves in an alternate "present" when they go home. Either can create an interesting story, to be sure.
     
  17. ProlificWritersSock

    ProlificWritersSock Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2015
    Well, 2016 may have knocked out the runner of this thread (thankfully not permanently though) but it didn't knock out all the writers :) So now that the DDC 2016 vote is over...

    It's our turn to vote!
    We have three finalists, plus one person who completed her fic out of competition.​
    Fics in competition:​
    Out of competition:​
    Please send your votes to this sock by 31 January at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time.
    The winner will have his/her fic proofread/edited by Findswoman (who is a pro!) and converted into an e-book with cover art.​
     
  18. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Hey everyone, a quick reminder that you have just over one week to vote for this challenge. See the post immediately above this one for details :)
     
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  19. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    Just checking, can non-participants vote in this one?
     
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  20. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
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  21. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
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  22. ProlificWritersSock

    ProlificWritersSock Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2015
    *rings the bell for last drinks votes in the Fanfic Pub*

    The deadline to vote in this challenge is tomorrow 31 January 2017 at 11:59 pm PST. If you've been reading these stories, send in your vote!
     
  23. ProlificWritersSock

    ProlificWritersSock Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2015
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  24. divapilot

    divapilot Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 30, 2005
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  25. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
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