Wooohoo!!! Completed Larkspur people! Read the flower shop AU!
when someone reads your work and they exclaim that they love a particular part they think is quite clever. Me: Oh… yes… yes I did that, it was all me. I thought that up and put it there on purpose. It was all planned. I had it all worked out loooong ago. *mildly panicked laughter*
Sometimes being a writer (fanfic or otherwise) is like this. And that is a-okay.
tips for writing Star Wars fanfic/Star Wars roleplay things
it’s not concrete; it’s duracrete
viewports are the windows on ships
not a plane; ship or speeder
it’s not steel; it’s durasteel
booksare rare; holorecordsordatapads
it’s not a glass pane it’s transparisteel
caf is the equivalent of coffee
it’s not paper it’s a flimsi
medcenter is a hospital
Star Wars can be very similar to things we’re already used to, but getting familiar with some of these terms can make your writing really fit in with the universe
This is brilliant! Here’s another:
It’s not a movie; it’s a holovid
It’s not a phone or cell; it’s a holocom or communicator or just comm (unit). You normally comm someone instead of call them.
Searching our standard terms in Wookieepedia will normally provide you with one or several in-universe alternatives. The other items exist, they’re just either archaic terms or really low-tech versions of what’s commonly used (like concrete is a real thing, but just extremely less durable and strong than the more advanced and common duracrete).
I’ve seen ‘permacrete’ used in the latest books as well.
Back in the day weren’t the “glass” windows on x-wings and ships called like invisa-steel or something? That stuck in my head from the Thrawn trilogy I think. I remember sitting there in deep contemplation over how the hell you make the molecule chains in metal transparent and worrying about carbon chains and shit because what’s what you do in 10th grade.
I remember seeing med center used as medbay and sickbay as well, and dishwasher as sonic dishwasher? (correct me if wrong tho, I can’t remember v well). But here’s some more:
bandaids = bacta patches bathroom = refresher watch/clock = chrono first aid kit = medpack, medkit motorcycle = speeder bike, swoop bike camera = holocamera internet = holonet shower = sonic shower(?)
Correct any of these if they’re wrong ;P also they’re all legends I think and I’m not sure if any of them are in new canon.
I love this, because it’s not condescending or pretentious…just fans letting newer fans know ways to improve their fic. I love the films, but I haven’t been able to get access to so many of the books and comics yet (even though they’re waiting in my Amazon cart for pay day), so this is awesome. And I’ve basically been living on Wookieepedia lately, too!
(Screenshot taken from a random fic in a random fandom. neither matter because it’s the same everywhere you look right now)
dear fandom,
what. the fuck. are you doing?
these numbers are even worse when you consider that half of the comments are from the author themselves, thanking the precious few people who took the time to leave them comments. if you are looking at these numbers and not seeing anything wrong, then congratulations! you’re (probably) part of the problem.
“but hey,” I can hear you calling, “I leave the author kudos, what about that!?”
okay. let me be frank with you. a kudos is the press of a button. it takes you less than a second. it is nothing. it is nothing, because it tells the author nothing. (the author tried out a new kink, did you enjoy their take on it? they revealed a plot twist that has been hinted at for a couple of chapters, did you guess at it or were you taken completely by surprise? they wrote a rare pair, had you considered this pairing before? did they maybe even convert you to this ship with their fic? the author tried their hand at a rather sensitive/dark/etc topic, did it resonate with you? the slowburn finally turned into a full on burn, was it worth the wait? was it good for you? so on and so on.)
I’m actually struggling to find a fitting simile here…. a kudos is basically the equivalent of a shoulder shrug and the sound “eh”.
authors spend hours, weeks, months, years working on these fics so you can read and enjoy them. and you’re telling me you don’t even have 5 seconds to tell the author a simple “I enjoyed this, thanks!”? does this free, versatile, free, heart-wrenching, free, mind-blowing, free, seemingly endless well of free escapism mean so little to you?
and yes, in case you’re wondering, the same goes for likes on tumblr. a like tells the creator nothing. a reblog on the other hand is you going, “hey guys, look at this cool art/fic/moodset/mixtape/etc I found!”, and gives the creator a chance at even more feedback on their works! same goes for tags, and of course comments.
I’m not posting this as a writer. I haven’t written a thing in over half a year. this is coming from a fandom grandma who knows how fandom used to be.
and who can guess how fandom will be if this ugly trend continues; especially if you continue to leave the stage to antis/haters and trolls. the only voices creators are reliably hearing right now are the negative ones. you reap what you sow, fandom.
no new content in your favourite tags. zero fics for the latest action blockbuster even though the movie has already been out for over a week. abandoned and deleted works. fandoms that shrink and shrink and vanish; maybe long before you ever have the chance to immerse yourself in them.
and it will be nothing less than you deserve.
Let’s just repeat that again folks:
the only voices creators are reliably hearing right now are the negative ones.
Feedback is so so freakin’ important. Especially if you consider the positive-to-negative ratio and how many positive comments it takes to make up for one negative. Lack of response is just as bad as negativity, especially taking into consideration those stats like above.
I have had people LITERALLY APOLOGIZING ME FOR WRITING A REVIEW/COMMENT.
W.H.Y.????????
I love to hear from you. I need to hear from you. Like said in the original post; kudos are wordless. They basically mean nothing compared to the reviews. I wonder every time when I get a new kudos that what made the reader press it; did they like how the fic started? Are they fan of the fic setting, the pair, the world, the theme? Was there a situation they enjoyed a lot and thus they pressed the kudos? Was there a dialogue which they liked a lot? Is the suspense reason for the kudos? Or the text type, how it’s written, its visuals and/or grammar? Or are they curious and like to press kudos on each fic which piques their curiosity? Did they like the length of the chapter or the fact the fic keeps updating regularly? Was there something which delighted them? Or did something unexpected happen?
I can’t underline this enough; KUDOS = VOICELESS, like thumps up and that’s it while from the author’s point of a view it looks like you stroll across the fic, show them thumps up and then what? Continue reading it? Stay a little longer? Stroll forward? I don’t know, we don’t know. We just stand back turned to the readers and hear someone yelling us “They gave you kudos” without any further information of why it was given and what the reader does afterwards.
Commenting is not bothering anyone, stupid, useless, not too much of a text, not too little of the text. It’s a personal message for a creator. It keeps them fueled.
The number one reason in 90% of the cases when a fic/comic/original story doesn’t continue is because the lack of feedback disheartened the creator.
EDIT: I noticed from the tags someone saying that if you don’t know what to comment, you can just copy-paste your fave moment from the chapter/fic and say you liked that part the best. Easy, personal and definitely tells a lot for the author.
Ink Child Writing 