Writing is difficult. Complicated. Laborious. Operose.

There comes a time when one might find themselves with questions on how to start, how to develop, or how to conclude a work. A writer's knowledge is hardly universal, especially when dealing with a universe such as Star Wars. Because as writers we obviously have something to say, I thought we could have a place where we could seek knowledge and insight from one another in a consolidated place.

Trying to beat writer's block?

Trying to flesh out a character? (Names? Motives? Backgrounds?)

Need knowledge of a particular piece of lore? (Timelines? Cathar-Mandalorian relations?)

Seek the guidance of your fellow writers. Because one of us could assuredly provide you with the ideas or information you might seek.

This isn't a place for reviews or extended discussion on the philosophic nature of fiction, but a place for writers to help out fellow writers or would be writers.

Whereas in The Writers' Corner we might discuss how to be better Game Masters, in The Writers' Workshop we might discuss how to put together a proper character sheet. (We might also discuss how to think up a better metaphor... or is it an allegory?)

As sort of an ice breaker, I'd like some people's thoughts on setting.

Were you about to read a story, are there any particular planets or locations that you really enjoy reading about or would like see an author's unique perspective on? Likewise, are there any planets or locations that you are just sick of reading about or feel are unnaturally over-saturated?

As sort of an ice breaker, I'd like some people's thoughts on setting.

 

Were you about to read a story, are there any particular planets or locations that you really enjoy reading about or would like see an author's unique perspective on? Likewise, are there any planets or locations that you are just sick of reading about or feel are unnaturally over-saturated?

I prefer reading about planets I've "seen" to some degree. So any planets that were in the movies, or Clone Wars, or SW:TOR. There are many writers who can describe a place and I can feel like I've been there, but as a reader I like feeling like the writer and I have the same vision. There's common knowledge like how people dress and what the buildings look like. It makes all other actions that take place within the scene easy to place. That probably makes for the saturation problem that you mentioned. But I don't really care how many people write about Coruscant (or whereever) as long as the story within is interesting.

I know virtually nothing about the Star Wars universe, so I can't really say if there's any planet (ship, orbital station or lonesome asteroid colony) I'd particularly like to read or not read about. For the most part the wallpaper and furniture aren't what's important, but the action that takes place around them.

I have a question though. Miraluka see using the Force, right? But how do they see? That is, do they see in the 'normal' fashion for those with a visual cortex (something Miraluka are apparently lacking) or is it more like a grainy echo-location style system (if you've ever seen the recent Daredevil film, kind of like that). Do people with different levels of Force Sensitivity give off different colours, or shadows or what-have-you. Do persons who are effectively Force Inert give off little to no... "stuff" so that Miraluka have a hard time seeing them, or do they stand out for their lack of presence?

The answer is probably really obvious and I haven't looked in the right places.

I know virtually nothing about the Star Wars universe, so I can't really say if there's any planet (ship, orbital station or lonesome asteroid colony) I'd particularly like to read or not read about. For the most part the wallpaper and furniture aren't what's important, but the action that takes place around them.

 

I have a question though. Miraluka see using the Force, right? But how do they see? That is, do they see in the 'normal' fashion for those with a visual cortex (something Miraluka are apparently lacking) or is it more like a grainy echo-location style system (if you've ever seen the recent Daredevil film, kind of like that). Do people with different levels of Force Sensitivity give off different colours, or shadows or what-have-you. Do persons who are effectively Force Inert give off little to no... "stuff" so that Miraluka have a hard time seeing them, or do they stand out for their lack of presence?

 

The answer is probably really obvious and I haven't looked in the right places.

My vision for my Miraluka characters, as far as seeing with the force. Is that in stead of seeing nothingness in their eye sockets, you see a physical manifestation of the force, if you were to look into their eyes, you would see swirling colours, looking almost like smoke puffing around in there, and it would be supremely disconcerting to anyone who was not Miraluka, hence the eye coverings. It's the force that connects to their brain, allowing them to see, making the synaptic connections instead of a physical muscle or nerve. I'm like you in that I love Star Wars, but have not dug too deep into the lore, so I have no idea if I'm wrong. Regardless that's my vision for them, hope that it helps with your thoughts.

I have a question though. Miraluka see using the Force, right? But how do they see? That is, do they see in the 'normal' fashion for those with a visual cortex (something Miraluka are apparently lacking) or is it more like a grainy echo-location style system (if you've ever seen the recent Daredevil film, kind of like that). Do people with different levels of Force Sensitivity give off different colours, or shadows or what-have-you. Do persons who are effectively Force Inert give off little to no... "stuff" so that Miraluka have a hard time seeing them, or do they stand out for their lack of presence?.

Miraluka are 'physically' blind, but use Force sight or Force seeing to perceive things around them. The ability is usually used by other Force-users to gain some extra cognizance, look behind solid objects, or enhance their spatial awareness. For Miraluka, the idea of how it actually 'looks' for them hasn't really been expanded upon. It is known that one of the things that is difficult for Miraluka to distinguish is color, at least the colors we perceive. As for dead, non-living material, because of the Force's nature to practically wrap around, flow through, and penetrate all things, it should still allow them to fully grasp the architecture of their surroundings. And for things severed from the Force, they could likeley distinguish the ensuing dark spot.

Benefits however, rest in dealing with organics. Auras are a big part of Miraluka interacting with fellow sentients. Any sufficiently trained Jedi can sense the capability of a Force-user if they aren't masking their presence, but a Miraluka can probably see past those masks, and possess greater details regarding a Force-users being. Because sight is not directed by a set of organs, it could be said that Miraluka have a 360 degree field of 'vision'. Because of the Force's ability to flow through people and objects, trained Miraluka can sense what is behind doors or walls, which might appear slightly translucent to them.

Putting these things together, the first thing to came to my mind was the sort of 'echo-location' you spoke of, but presented in a much smoother, flowing fashion. They might sense the entirety of their surroundings, but focus on what lies in front of them to a degree resembling 'sight'. Because of the Miraluka being a species predisposed to the Force, not only might their level of training impact how they see, but also their lineage, so there's reason to believe that Miraluka could see the galaxy as differently from each other as they do Humans.

My vision for my Miraluka characters, as far as seeing with the force. Is that in stead of seeing nothingness in their eye sockets, you see a physical manifestation of the force, if you were to look into their eyes, you would see swirling colours, looking almost like smoke puffing around in there, and it would be supremely disconcerting to anyone who was not Miraluka, hence the eye coverings. It's the force that connects to their brain, allowing them to see, making the synaptic connections instead of a physical muscle or nerve. I'm like you in that I love Star Wars, but have not dug too deep into the lore, so I have no idea if I'm wrong. Regardless that's my vision for them, hope that it helps with your thoughts.

I found this image, suggesting that there can be a visible manifestation of someone using a Force-sight-like ability, so even if some Miraluka might have only vestigial eye sockets behind their mask, one might say that depending on the individual's connection to the Force, there could be the physicality you describe.

Also of note is the fact that Miraluka are one of the species that can reproduce with Humans, which is said to result in offspring possessing unknown difficulties. The mixing of the biologies is not very well documented, meaning positive and negative non-standard attributes could arise. So if one might need to explain a particular peculiarity with their individual Miraluka, you could always say there was a Human somewhere in their bloonline.

I've been meaning to mention my primary SW-info resource, Wookieepedia. I use it for a lot of worldbuilding (worldbuilt?) details I wouldn't have any other way of knowing. For example, in a recent piece I needed an example Core World, so I skimmed through the names mentioned here to get one.

Wookieepedia is where I get most of my information on cities and wildlife in planets my characters wander through.

I've been meaning to mention my primary SW-info resource, Wookieepedia. I use it for a lot of worldbuilding (worldbuilt?) details I wouldn't have any other way of knowing. For example, in a recent piece I needed an example Core World, so I skimmed through the names mentioned here to get one.

 

Wookieepedia is where I get most of my information on cities and wildlife in planets my characters wander through.

I use that a lot too. In the little item I'm working on for this week's challenge Ayang needed a gemstone necklace and I went there to find one that made sense.

Personally, I've been trying to write an Akaavi Spar/Male!Smuggler fic for awhile, but I'm having a little trouble. How do you guys see a Smuggler that does what he does for the lols, excitement, and freedom interacting with an angry, serious Mandalorian Warrior outside of the scenes in the game?

Opposites can work really nicely but they would have to find something admirable within each other.

I played a femSmug so I don't know how the romance with Akaavi goes, but their friendship is interesting. Akaavi comes to realize that my smuggler's shoot from the hip/wisecracking approach is strange but effective. She recognizes that femSmug has defeated more enemies than luck could account for and with all the clan betrayal Akaavi has faced she respects the femSmug's loyalty and protectiveness for her crew.

On the flip side the maleSmug could start out thinking she's a hard-to-get-conquest who happens to be totally hawt. Then she shows him a few things about honor etc. etc. while still being batsh*t insane for wanting to go kill all those things.

I think that's a good basis for any relationship including romantic and the contrast of their approach to completing a task would be quite funny. Possibly ending up with Akaavi saving the maleSmug most of the time

I am completely pro any fanfic with Akaavi in it so I really hope you write some.

Tomorrow we die, today someone else will. - Akaavi Spar

Personally, I've been trying to write an Akaavi Spar/Male!Smuggler fic for awhile, but I'm having a little trouble. How do you guys see a Smuggler that does what he does for the lols, excitement, and freedom interacting with an angry, serious Mandalorian Warrior outside of the scenes in the game?

I also play a lady smuggler, and the friendship is really interesting. Akaavi at first seems like the type to wall herself up, but she really doesn't. She's actually quite open about her feelings and who she is. It's more of a culture clash, where Akaavi kind of expects her actions to make her feelings very clear, but they don't always. For example, this whole exchange:

Akaavi: I respect you because you're a worthy foe.

Ayang: What the hell, aren't we friends?

Akaavi: ...uh yeah, that's what I meant you idiot.

Ayang: Girl you're crazy.

There's also the bit where she talks about her ex-lover and when girl smuggler acts all shocked that she had a boyfriend, Akaavi's like "uhhh yeah, I am a girl, you know." Akaavi is actually fairly straightforward with her feelings. She's not into flirting or playing games of any kind, but that doesn't mean she isn't a loving or romantic person. I think she would just expect the male smuggler to KNOW how she feels, and I think she would get pretty frustrated by him flirting too much. Akaavi wants commitment.

Just my thoughts!

Thanks for the advice, both of you.

@Eliotlover You know, what you said reminds me of a conversation between my smuggler and Akaavi. Here's the gist of it,

Akaavi: I'd greet you with a coy comment, but I cannot. I see the games of fliration you play, but I can never take part.

Smuggler: You don't have to. I like the way you are.

For me, it seems that my smuggler was drawn to her by the fact that she wasn't like anyone he had ever met. She also helped him realize a few things about himself.

The Swampy Middle.

So I have a question regarding transition scenes in my story. I know where I am, I know where I want to go, but there's some stuff in the middle that I need to set things up and sometimes it's kind of boring, feels overly long, has too much dialog and not enough description, or whatever.

Question for writers: Do you try to make every scene have an impact? Obviously, not every scene can be a climax but if you find a scene drags on or seems to have way too much dialog or feels boring BUT it contains important set up stuff for later scenes. What do you do? rewrite? delete? hope the reader doesn't mind?

Question for readers: How do you feel about those set up scenes. I know some people love a lot of detail, a lot of setup, (obviously if it's done well it won't be boring). But some people like action and purpose in nearly every scene or they get bored and quit reading. What kind of reader are you?

The Swampy Middle.

 

So I have a question regarding transition scenes in my story. I know where I am, I know where I want to go, but there's some stuff in the middle that I need to set things up and sometimes it's kind of boring, feels overly long, has too much dialog and not enough description, or whatever.

 

Question for writers: Do you try to make every scene have an impact? Obviously, not every scene can be a climax but if you find a scene drags on or seems to have way too much dialog or feels boring BUT it contains important set up stuff for later scenes. What do you do? rewrite? delete? hope the reader doesn't mind?

 

Question for readers: How do you feel about those set up scenes. I know some people love a lot of detail, a lot of setup, (obviously if it's done well it won't be boring). But some people like action and purpose in nearly every scene or they get bored and quit reading. What kind of reader are you?

Ooh, good question.

I try to press through everything and get a clear description of how point A got to point B.

Then, if there's a scene that got boring to write, I look at what it actually got across and see whether I can load that information into an earlier or later scene. Can I get the gist of it into flashbacks? A single sentence? A few references during a more interesting conversation later? Alternately, can I keep the scene in but invent a better point and purpose for it? Is there something in the setup that makes this a good opportunity for characterization, worldbuilding, a really good punchline?

In the end, most of my longer stories have a few thousand words on the side that were just too damn boring to publish. Working through it was valuable, but if it felt like a necessary evil to write, I suspect it'll feel like a necessary evil to read.

As a reader, I find that solid prose or sharply characterized dialogue will justify themselves for a long, long time, even in purely interstitial scenes. I am happy if a) I learned something new that advances the plot or sets up possibilities with a character, or b) somebody I like did something very much in character that I simply enjoy. (See also: a well-written Doc will amuse me until the end of time just by virtue of being himself.)

The Swampy Middle.

 

So I have a question regarding transition scenes in my story. I know where I am, I know where I want to go, but there's some stuff in the middle that I need to set things up and sometimes it's kind of boring, feels overly long, has too much dialog and not enough description, or whatever.

 

Question for writers: Do you try to make every scene have an impact? Obviously, not every scene can be a climax but if you find a scene drags on or seems to have way too much dialog or feels boring BUT it contains important set up stuff for later scenes. What do you do? rewrite? delete? hope the reader doesn't mind?

 

Question for readers: How do you feel about those set up scenes. I know some people love a lot of detail, a lot of setup, (obviously if it's done well it won't be boring). But some people like action and purpose in nearly every scene or they get bored and quit reading. What kind of reader are you?

Aaah Really good question!! I have the same problem, and I know I've written a few passages that I have not been 100% happy with but it helped move the story forward. This time around in my second installment, I try and put in at least one plot device per "chapter" and only post work that I am 100% happy with, if I'm not happy with it, I either scratch it altogether, try a different angle, would it work better coming from a different character then what I originally thought? I let it simmer until the scene makes sense and doesn't feel forced.

As a reader, I like the fluff, I am all about character, both as a reader and a writer, I was a drama major, so I love the character journey. If a scene is 90% character development and 10% action or really anything that is at least 50% character, I'm a happy girl. If it's 90% action but I don't get a clear understanding as to WHY a character is doing what they are, I get frustrated.

For me, I just try to focus on telling a good story. I think characters are important, but in the end they should serve as part of the story.

I actually have distanced myself from Nanowrimo because I had a lot of contention with folks over character vs. story. A lot of people said they wanted to focus exclusively on their characters, and I maintain that characters should be a part of the story - but story should be the focus overall. That's just my $.02 though...I think there needs to be a good balance and that focusing overmuch on character development can be boring. You gotta get hooked somehow.

As for writing the middle stuff...I think there's something to be said for just relaxing and letting it flow. Maybe you don't know what you want to do; fine. No need to meticulously craft it at first. Light a candle, spend some prayer time if you're religious. Take a nap or a walk. Mix up a drink if you're of age. Find the type of music that helps you write, and don't think it's going to be what works for everyone else. Sure, lots of people pick classical or easy listening...but I actually do my best writing when I've got a gangsta rap station on Pandora. Everyone is different and every method for writing is different.

I get irked when folks act like there's one "right" way to write. I'm glad I haven't seen it here.

Great answers, you guys are awesome. I have about 8000 words with strikethrough in my word doc right now. Three days of writing that I reread and went bleh *shaaannnnnnk*

Maybe Jaesa will have to pursue Scourge until I can figure out what to say next

I have a question: How do you guys track timelines?

SWTOR fic is actually my first experience handling entire multigenerational families, and I'm finding the tracking of ages vs. personal milestones vs. world events rather bewildering. How do you keep it together? A calendar? A spreadsheet where each column is a month/year and each row is a person/concept of interest? A plain ol' text file saying that in the year 2525, such and so happened?

I just wrote a nice little timeline, it looks like this:

It's not finished yet but it keeps things pretty organized!

I just started experimenting with a spreadsheet that may or may not be useful. It's good for immediately comparing ages.

An overly detailed breakdown of how this works:

Weird, maybe, but it gives me ages at a glance, which saves me a lot of messy counting.

I just started experimenting with a spreadsheet that may or may not be useful. It's good for immediately comparing ages.

 

An overly detailed breakdown of how this works:

 

Top row is years BTC/ATC. This throws me off regularly because the jump from -1 to 1 (or rather, 1 BTC to 1 ATC) skips a 0 in the timeline.

 

Second row, just for kicks, is years BBY.

 

Third row tracks the war. Blue is peace time; at the start of year 11, war breaks out and the bar goes red. I also have event notes here. I use quarterly notes - Q1 through Q4 - to track with more precision than year-by-year.

 

The character ages are the meat of it. It's also done by quarter; the age expressed is the character's age at the beginning of the year. A whole number age indicates the character's birthday is within 3 months of the start of the year; (age).75 is 3-6 months; (age).5 is 6-9 months; (age).25 is 9-12 months until their birthday. Maybe the quarters here are excessive, but I find it helpful for when personal milestones show up in plot.

 

All BTC age cells use the same formula: =(Year of Birth, with adjustment for quarterly age) + (Calendar Year).

All ATC age cells *for people born BTC* are =(adjusted Year of Birth) + (Calendar Year) -1.

All ATC age cells *for people born ATC* are =(Calendar Year) - (adjusted Year of Birth).

 

Character color bars are for easy differentiation. Grey cells are year of death, black cells indicate the character is dead.

 

 

Weird, maybe, but it gives me ages at a glance, which saves me a lot of messy counting.

That's so awesome! I want to figure out how to do it too, but I am really, REALLY bad at spreadsheets. It sucks because I'm a chemist. I make them constantly. D:

That's so awesome! I want to figure out how to do it too, but I am really, REALLY bad at spreadsheets. It sucks because I'm a chemist. I make them constantly. D:

I *think* I have a sufficiently generalized sheet put together. I put it up on Mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/?6t2c2r1ny21y2dy

If you don't want to use the quarter-by-quarter age functionality, just leave column C as all ones.

If you know your age at the beginning of the game (that is, the beginning of the year 10), figure out your birth year as follows:

Born ATC (after the Treaty of Coruscant)? Birth year is 10 - your age at game start - 1

Born BTC? Birth year is 10 - your age at game start - 2 (hello, skipping a year between -1 and 1)

Excel may yammer about compatibility cells when you try to save. Honestly, I have no idea why it's doing this; the equations all work. If you have Office 2010 you can save this as .xlsx to make that compatibility complaint go away.

Finally, if you wish to extend the timeline, select a block of cells two columns wide at either end of the timeline and extending down all the rows you want. Click the lil' black square in the lower right corner of your selection and drag horizontally to copy the date progression, the age formulas, everything. (If you're extending into the past you'll need to create blank columns to accommodate this dragging first.)

Bright, this timeline is very good. I've also been looking for a way to keep all my character's ages and stories straight considering the multi-generational plot of my legacy and the game. However, a couple things I feel I should point out to the benefit of all.

First, according to Wookiepedia (I know, not the best source, but still...) and Bioware's upcoming novel Annihilation, written by Drew Karpyshyn, the Treat of Coruscant actually lasted about 12 years before finally breaking and the "Second Great Galactic War" beginning. This probably means that somewhere between the end of Chapter I and the start of Chapter 3 (for most classes) is when the war restarted.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cold_War

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Second_Great_Galactic_War

All this does is really move your blue/red bar over 2 cells, but technically it would be more accurate. Plus, the start of the war may mean some changes to someone's legacy.

Second, I think the timeline would benefit considerably from extra rows between each characters that details when their respective class stories (i.e. Prologue, Chapter I, Chapter II, Chapter III) occurred. While we can go through the class stories in about 3 weeks, I'm fairly sure these stories actually lasted several years, with the Interlude somewhere past the 12 ATC. Furthermore, since all the class stories do not occur exactly simultaneously and the fact that some legacies may have multiple generations, keeping track of these plots for multiple characters could be quite an arduous task.

While some class stories occur before others, I personally also hold (for my characters' canonical purposes) that some parts of the class stories may occur before the 10-year time frame given to us in the game.

Anyways, food for thought and good work on the timeline.

I *think* I have a sufficiently generalized sheet put together. I put it up on Mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/?6t2c2r1ny21y2dy

 

If you don't want to use the quarter-by-quarter age functionality, just leave column C as all ones.

 

If you know your age at the beginning of the game (that is, the beginning of the year 10), figure out your birth year as follows:

Born ATC (after the Treaty of Coruscant)? Birth year is 10 - your age at game start - 1

Born BTC? Birth year is 10 - your age at game start - 2 (hello, skipping a year between -1 and 1)

 

Excel may yammer about compatibility cells when you try to save. Honestly, I have no idea why it's doing this; the equations all work. If you have Office 2010 you can save this as .xlsx to make that compatibility complaint go away.

 

Finally, if you wish to extend the timeline, select a block of cells two columns wide at either end of the timeline and extending down all the rows you want. Click the lil' black square in the lower right corner of your selection and drag horizontally to copy the date progression, the age formulas, everything. (If you're extending into the past you'll need to create blank columns to accommodate this dragging first.)

OK, I got it working for 3 people...what formulae are you using to add more people? I figured out everyone's birthdates fine and everything, but I'm not sure how to add more people. It's probably because Excel makes it really, really hard.