Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2024 - Day 8

[elrhiarhodan]

Challenge #8

Talk about a current fannish project (fic, art, vid, crochet, funko pop village) (that you are creating or enjoying)


Most of 2022 and 2023, I had a lot of trouble getting momentum going on my writing. In March, 2022, I finished a huge fic that I had been writing serially for just about a year (it clocked in at nearly 190k and had gotten an amazing reception by the fandom) and it honestly knocked the stuffing out of me. I started a bunch of different projects but none of them seemed to gather any traction in my writing brain.

And admittedly, work was, at the time, all-consuming.

My besties in the Braincell have given me amazing encouragement, rooting for their favorites, but none of these projects gripped me emotionally. I’d get to 20k or so and the mojo would just leak out like a punctured tire.

I spent a year like that, and then it happened. I read a fic I hated, but I loved the trope. Oh, I love this trope. And I said, "Self, write this trope."

And I am. But I did something I’ve never done before.

I started OUT OF ORDER.

You’ve got to understand something, this is heresy for me. I’m a pantser, but I am an extremely orderly writer. I start at the beginning and I march forward like a wind up toy soldier, until I get to the end. No deviation. I have the story in my head and I write and write until it’s done, chapter after chapter, building the plot until the climax, and then I get to type "FIN" and I sigh with happiness. It might be three hundred words, it might be a hundred thousand words.

But with this one, I just decided to write a bunch of framing chapters. No, strike that, I decided to write the fun stuff first. And it’s kind of appropriate, since the damn trope is time-travel/fix it.

So, should I tell you about this fic? It’s an Obi-Wan story, of course. And the first chapter is angsty as hell, which is kind of why I hadn’t wanted to start writing there.



Story Summary: Obi-Wan dies on the Death Star and wakes up as a twelve year old about to be sold in the slave market in Mos Espa on Tatooine. There’s a Force-inhibitor collar around his neck and a bomb implanted in his spine. No one wants to buy him, not even the brothel owners. Just as as the slave merchants are about to terminate him, a Toydarian and a middle-aged woman offer to buy him for ten wupiupi.



I’m almost done with Part I, which is 12 chapters and about 55k. Most of what I’d written out of order belongs in Part II. The challenge with the fic is that even though it is heavily AU, it is still an in-universe story, and I’m not as well-versed in canon as I ought to be when writing something this complex. I’m spending a lot of time on Wookieepedia and also making up crap as I go. That means I'm making a lot of choices that may require extensive author’s notes. Or maybe not - do readers of fan fic really care about canon compliance?

I probably won’t start posting until I’m finished with Part II and well into Part III.

While writing my big Din/Luke fic was a creative challenge (The Stars Across the Sky Like the Scars Across Your Skin, the aforementioned 189K beast), writing every chapter on a week-by-week basis was too damn hard and burned me out. I need to be able to write and edit and polish and make changes and fix things that don’t work. I need to have more respect for my story. When writing Stars/Scars, I was chasing my tail and trying to keep the story’s fandom happy and satisfied - and while having a massive hit and kudos count is an achievement, ultimately, I feel that I could have respected the story a lot better if I took my time with it.

So, I am giving my time-travel fic all of the air it needs to breathe. I’m taking breaks to write "smaller" stories, like WildPeace, the timestamp for writestuff ’s Yooperverse AU, a schmoopy Secret Santa for my friend ell, and drabbles for starwars100, my new community that seems to be going like blasters in a pitched battle.

And just because I need a place to park it, this is a list of the stories I started, but lost traction on:

Modern AU Set in Coastal California - Architect Ben/Artist Qui-Gon (24.6K)
Fae AU Set in Modern Los Angeles - Entertainment Lawyer Ben/Screenwriter Qui/Part-Time Dog Rael (21K)
Stars/Scars Sequel (18.8k) (also may be the worst thing I’ve ever written)

Comments

[pebbleinalake]

Your horror at the idea of writing a fic out of order is probably equal to my shock at finding out that people actual can write a fic in order from beginning to end. I don't think I've ever written a story in order, not even one-shots lol. I just have to write whichever scene my brain decides it wants to write at that given moment.

I like how you got started on this project, though, as I think fanfiction can basically be summed up as people reading/watching something and going "No, not like that" and then deciding to do it yourself XD. And I love the premise for the fic! Obi-Wan centric fix-it time travel story? All the yes!

Also, on a side note, the title for your Luke/Din fic is so beautiful.

I wish you the best in writing your story! It sounds awesome and also sounds like quite an undertaking. Good luck and I hope you have a lot of fun exploring it!

[elrhiarhodan]

I think plotters/outliners can probably write out of order easier than panters, but I may be wrong about that. It's just my own experience. I had friends who were outliners, to the point that they'd set out everything in Excel and then color code what's been written, what been revised, etc. I thought they were nuts.

A lot of my interest in writing for a fandom is based on the quality of the fanfic. I remember, way back when I was moving from White Collar to Kingsman, I was just enthralled at the quality of the writing in Kingsman, and it sparked so many ideas. Conversely, when I was getting interested in Star Wars, via The Mandalorian, a lot of the fic was ... not great. Some was spectacular, but most was meh. I think because the fandom for the Din/Luke pairing was mostly very young (teenage girls) and honestly, very racist. So I found myself writing a reactive fic to a lot of really horrible stories. And while I do still love that pairing, I think I honestly just had one big story in me (and canon kind of killed it tbh).

Qui/Obi is a nice, low-key, lovely mature fandom. And both Qui and Obi are my blorbos, in universe and in AU. It's a safe place, with friends who love and support me and my craziness.

[vriddy]

It's always so fascinating to glimpse into other people's writing process :D I tried writing out of order a couple of times but it usuaully doesn't work out well for me. I need the momentum and build-up to carry me to my most favourite scenes or everything feels too disconnected. Best of luck with your big project! Taking your time with it so you can get it to the standard you want without the stress/burnout you experienced before sounds really wise. Good luck!

[elrhiarhodan]

I tried writing out of order a couple of times but it usuaully doesn't work out well for me. I need the momentum and build-up to carry me to my most favourite scenes or everything feels too disconnected.

99.999% of the time, I would absolutely agree with you. I still cannot believe I've written bits of this out of order. I know that there's going to be a fair bit of it that will be edited and/or discarded, but I'm grateful it got me going.

Thank you for your support!

[vriddy]

Trying new things! :D \o/

[lyntergalactic]

oooh that fic sounds interesting! i will def read it if/when you post it.

also, ime, a fair amount of SW fandom does not, actually, care overmuch about canon compliance. especially if it's stuff that's not in the movies. i cannot tell you how many fics i've seen that are clearly basing their obi-wan histories on other fics and not even wookiepedia 😂 it's fascinating to see as someone slightly more familiar with other bits of SW media

[elrhiarhodan]

I'll definitely be posting it, it'll just be a while. I'm pretty patient about these things.

And it's good to know that SW fic readers don't get really torqued about non-movie stuffed. Like one of the minor plot points in Part I is the existence in this timeline of Starlight Station/Starlight Beacon, which, in canon, was destroyed 230 years or so BBY. It was created (and destroyed) for the High Republic books, and was, very conveniently, in the line of sight to Tatooine.

[buggyfiction]

I continuously scratch my head when I see writers writing stuff out of order or 'middle parts'.

It's magic!

So you, El, you're a unicorn!

I'm a pantser but A to Z, with some offshoots while I'm writing on that straight line, writing out of order would break my brain!

[elrhiarhodan]

Honestly, this is the very first time I can remember writing something out of order. I think I wrote about 150 words of the first chapter, gave it a cross-eye'd look (it's grim-dark) and said, "self, write the scene that makes you happy". I did that. And then wrote about five other scenes that really gave me a sense of what I wanted from this story, I was able to go back to that hard opening chapter and finish it. I took what was grim-dark and brought some light there. And got the momentum to keep on going, back on the straight line I'm much more accustomed to.

I also know that those early, out of order chapters are going to need heavy editing - things I thought would be set in stone have changed. Which is absolutely fine for first drafts. That's the whole point of first drafts.

[potentiality_26]

Interesting that you're writing this one in such a different way. I'm the opposite -- I'm a fun stuff first writer who sometimes tries to write linearly.

[elrhiarhodan]

I think if I normally wrote the fun stuff first, I'd never finish anything. Take, for instance, the creepy bit of angst/smut I published this afternoon. I wrote the fun stuff first, closed the file and didn't look at it for over two years.

[potentiality_26]

Look, you're not wrong. I am a serial not-finisher of things for a reason.

But the fun things... are fun.

[lumiosecity]

As an absolute pantser, I’m terrified of the idea that other pantsers are capable of writing out of order— but like, specifically in a way that invokes a reaction to some awe-inspiring eldritch horror, if that makes any sense. It’s awesome, but how do you guys avoid getting lost without a plan?! XD

I’m really proud of you for figuring out how to get your mojo back and taking the time to let the new big project breathe— it’s really hard to regain momentum, in my experience, so I think it’s a really solid accomplishment that you oughta be proud of. :]

[myulalie]

Just wanted to give you kudos honestly ♥

[dizzydrea]

I used to be a pantser, but I actually found myself losing interest before I could finish, so I learned to make an outline.

But either way, I've only ever written something out of order once. The scene I wrote that was out of order was actually the inspiration for the story and once I had it written I was able to go back and write from beginning to end without further deviation. I find I tend to lose the plot if I write out of order so I just don't do it.

Kudos to you for figuring out what works best for you but also being willing to take a chance by doing things differently as a way to make your story the best out can be.