Didn’t get the chance to shoot a publishable vlog post, but there are some funny outtakes on the horizon.
Meanwhile, I did get more fanfiction written. This time, I’m taking a break from comic book heroes and moving into a galaxy far, far away.
Why I write fanfiction
The reason I write the occasional fanfiction is to loosen those rusty writing chops when I don’t have some original fiction in the works.
My third “Shadowdance” action/ urban fantasy saga novel, “Illusion of Love,” is still in the late outlining stages. I had started writing but wrote myself into a hole because I didn’t hammer out the outline.
Hence, back to the outlining stage.
Since I’m not writing “Shadowdance,” I wanted to keep my skills sharp. I also wanted to play in other peoples’ sandboxes.
You can only say, “I can write a good ‘insert franchise here’ story too!” so many times before you have to shit or get off the pot.
Moving from comic book super-heroes and on to “Star Wars” fanfiction
I love me some comic books, but writing three stories in a row wore me down. The tropes got familiar, the characters even more so.
When the writing for fun gets stale, time to change the sandbox.
I benched the super-hero stories and moved to another childhood love, “Star Wars.”
I was inspired by “The Last Jedi” and all the flack it got. I loved it, warts and all (looking at you low-end Finn story). I wanted to get back into that world and contribute.
I wasn’t going to mess with the continuity “The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi” created. I’m a fan of the Rebellion era of the classic movies.
My fanfiction takes place in the days before the Battle of Yavin, around the time the “Rebels” cartoon occurs.
I need to watch that series for more context, but Wookieepedia and the role-playing game books by Fantasy Flight are keeping me up to date for now.
About that Fantasy Flight RPG
Yes, I’m still using a role-playing game as a crutch to my story creation.
Fantasy Flight’s “Star Wars” books enhance story creation with its Narrative Dice system. At first, the system put me off (what, no d20?!), but once I got used to the variety it brought to the game, I fell in love.
The basics: the dice will tell you if you succeed or not, but they may also force you to come up with advantages or threats in a situation.
You may even fail in your attempt but gain an advantage.
Here’s an in-game example.
My Jedi (because there’s always a Jedi) was taking on three stormtroopers. One of them scored a hit with a blaster but also rolled a threat.
I used that threat to say the stormtrooper blasted my Jedi, but while she leaped over the stormtroopers.
On her next turn, my Jedi was behind the stormtroopers, cutting them down with her lightsaber.
If you’re interested in more about the Fantasy Flight “Star Wars” games, let me know, and I’ll do some posts on them.
Back to that galaxy far, far away…
I’m setting this fanfiction up like the serial adventures “Star Wars” is based on, complete with cliffhangers.
I’m going for a ten-episode season, but each season will break down into six parts. Think Episode 1.1 to 1.6. They’ll arrive on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting August 14th.
I could tell you more about my story, but this is “Star Wars!”
Every “Star Wars” in the saga starts with a crawl, and the folks at Kassel Labs have helped me create one for the start of my fanfiction with its first episode, “Darkness Waits.”
Catch “Episode 1.1” at the link on August 14h!
Update 12-17-2018
Since I’ve begun the Star Wars fanfiction, I got noticed by the kind folks over at SYFY Wire. They did a feature on me as part of their Fan Creator page. Check it out and see some other fan creators.
Be sure to come back to the Shed in January for Episodes Four and Five of this saga! I mean, with an episode title like “Shadow Alliance,” how can you pass that up?
