Continuity

Editing a short story set in the summer. Suddenly the characters are gathering acorns. Which aren't ripe until fall! 

So now I have to figure out a plant they can actually harvest in summer. Maybe sage. 

How to Create a Galaxy Far far away

Since the blog completely deleted this post, I've tried to recreate bits and pieces of it. I'm not about to watch through all the bonus features again. 

Considering what a huge deal Star Wars is today, it's hard to imagine that everyone thought the original movie would be a total flop. It was pretty low budget too. For example, in the hangar they had to move ships around for each shot, so it looked like they had more ships. They also had to use every mask they could find for scenes like the bar. Which is why they ended up with a devil-looking character. 

Lucas said that the first Star Wars film was meant to feel like you walked in during the middle of a series. He never knew if he would get the opportunity to make the following two films. And he never dreamed that he could do prequels. 

It was funny to hear about all the strange things they used to create sound effects. To make the sound of Vader choking someone, they crushed walnut shells inside of a grapefruit peel. And to make squishy sounds for Jabba, they mashed their hands around in a dish of cheese casserole. 

George Lucas borrowed an idea from the samurai movie, Hidden Fortress. That movie is largely told from the perspective of two farmers, who are mostly bystanders. In Star Wars, the story starts off being told by a couple droids (who do a lot of bystanding, but they help a lot too). 

They used a lot of very simple solutions to film the effects. For example, when Vader uses the force to steal Han's gun, they simply threw the gun across the table. 

And of course, in The Empire Strikes Back, we meet Yoda. Who is a fabulous puppet. They had to build a false floor so the puppeteers could move around beneath Yoda, and create his movements. 

At one point in Dagobah, Luke pulls a snake out of his ship's vent. The actor was not happy about having to do that. 

Today, everyone knows who Luke's dad is. But when they were making the movie, that was top secret. There was a stand-in line, where Vader says that Obi-Wan killed Luke's father. They only told Luke about it right before shooting. They didn't even tell the actor who did Vader -the voice of Vader is not the same guy that's wearing the suit. In fact, the guy wearing the suit was upset that he didn't know, because he said he would have acted it differently. 

Actually, Vader isn't the only one whose voice was done later. Much of Star Wars had to be dubbed, because the original sound was distorted by helmets and clanking droids and such. 

I didn't even notice this until Lucas mentioned it, but the Storm Troopers often bang their heads against things. Because, as Luke notes, you can't see much through those helmets. Even Jango Fett bonks his head in Attack of the Clones. 

Another recurring theme is that in the first six movies, someone always says, "I have a bad feeling about this." They even made fun of it in Rogue One. I'd never noticed that either, except I recalled Leia saying it at one point. 

The Revenge of the Sith starts with an elaborate space battle. Someone mentioned that it was so hard to create that scene because it had everything but the kitchen sink. So in one of the explosions, Lucas added a bit of debris that's actually a kitchen sink. It's too small for me to really see on my screen though. 

Lucas's son had a cameo in this movie. He's the young Jedi that Senator Organa encounters, who is then shot down by the clones. That's a hell of a cameo...

Also, Anakin knows he's doing the wrong thing. That's why you see him crying. 

They had some unexpected help filming the battle on Mustafar. Because Mt. Etna erupted, giving them plenty of footage of lava. 

An agent just told me, "I'd be happy to hear from you in the future." 

So that's another good sign. Hopefully that means I'm close. 

Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story

I think the one of the most interesting things about Hamilton is the song "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story." 

I learned about Alexander Hamilton in school, but I sure didn't remember him. It was just some name I vaguely associated with the early United States. And I know I'm not alone in that area. 

But then someone wrote a book about his life. And then someone else read that book and thought it would make an amazing musical. 

And now, a couple hundred years after he died, suddenly everyone knows about Alexander Hamilton. Not only that, but they're thrilled to learn about him. Because the right people told his story. 

YANovCon 2026

It's time for my belated post about this year's YANovCon. 

There was a writing exercise at the beginning, lead by the author Arriel Vinson. I'd gotten there early, and so I figured I'd sit in on it. I didn't want to share anything during the workshop, because all of the other participants were kids and I didn't know if adults were meant to participate. But luckily, one other lady came - I think the mom of one of the kids. And the author asked me to share anyway (she asked every person to). 

She had some fun prompts, and I turned them into a couple poems. The basic idea was to "write about a place you always go." I chose my garden for one exercise, and my Japan trip for the other. 

During one of the panels, an author said that she puts together a playlist to listen to for each book she writes. That sounds cool. I kinda want to make them for my stories, but I don't know if I'd ever listen to them. Plus, there are so many moods throughout a story. You'd almost need a separate playlist for each feeling. (A fanfiction would be really easy to make a playlist for. You could just use the soundtrack from the movie or game!) 

One author said that a lot of readers just skip the prologues and epilogues. Why would someone do that? There can be such important information in those! One way for a writer to get around that is just to call the prologue "Chapter 1." 

I was even more shocked when they said that some people only read the dialogue in a book. How would you know half of what the book is about? 

And here are a couple good points made by the authors:

To be good at something, you have to suck first. Then you can learn how to fix it. 

All of the authors agreed that the efforts to break into publishing are soul-crushing (and getting worse). In response to this, Eva Des Lauriers said, "The drum of writers is in you. If it's in you, it's never gonna stop drumming." 

As always, the authors' books were for sale. I wrote down a bunch of titles that I want to read. But the one I bought to get signed was "The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea." It's based off of a Korean folktale, and I think half the reason I bought it was because the cover is so beautiful. 

(Though I was a bit disappointed in the character development and pacing). 

I talked to some of the authors after, which is always fun. 

 Yesss, I just finished my Beauty and the Beast story! 

And now I gotta go to bed. I have to get up early XD

Sharing Quirks-AKA Irritating Behavior

Maya was feeling pretty bland in the first draft of the story. I realized she needed some kind of quirk (as well as some more depth, but that can come in later drafts). 

I ran through a few potential quirks in my head, but it didn't take me long to land on one. Sometimes she just can't stop talking. I do that occasionally. It's mostly just when I'm excited about a movie, or a story I'm writing. And pretty much every single time, the person I'm talking to doesn't actually care.