Continue reading »]]> This week I had the chance to join Consetta, Bryan, and Mike on the Full of Sith podcast. We discussed all things Star Wars, including my childhood experiences as a Star Wars fan, my entry into the online fandom through fan fiction, The Clone Wars, the Expanded Universe, and the Sequel Trilogy. We also talked about some of my favorite Star Wars characters, especially Jaina Solo and Princess Leia, and Consetta and I dropped a few glitterbombs on her co-hosts. (Hopefully Mike and Bryan will recover.) In addition to Star Wars, I talked about the process of creating and writing Wynde, and how I’ve applied many of the lessons I learned from writing fan fiction to my original storytelling.

I had a great time talking with them, and I hope I’ll have a chance to join them again in the future.

In case anything sparked your curiosity, here are some of the FANgirl posts related to topics I discussed on the podcast:

• The Fairy Tale Princess In The Empire Strikes Back: Why Leia Is The Gold Standard For Strong Female Heroines
• Being a Star Wars fangirl and helping give other fangirls a voice
• Jaina Solo’s Heroine’s Journey in the New Jedi Order
• Jaina Solo’s role in Legacy of the Force
• It’s a Big (Expanded) Universe – A Fangirl’s Thoughts on Where to Start
• Fans Talking Star Wars, Madness, and Fan Fiction
• Why horses keep me unafraid of concrit and help me conquer fear
• Telling my own story – 175,000 words and almost at The End with Wynde

And for anyone curious on the million and a half words of fan fiction, here’s the best place to find the fun stuff, plus one or two more.

Continue reading »]]> Last week I joined Mike Rondeau and Joao Stinson of The Cantina Cast to discuss the end of The Clone Wars, the great existing Star Wars female characters like Leia, Padmé, and Ahsoka, and the potential for a leading lady in the upcoming Sequel Trilogy. More and more I am meeting male fans who are excited about the rumors of a female lead in Episode VII. Regular readers of FANgirl will remember that Joao joined my GeekGirlCon panel to talk about our favorite female character from Star Wars, and Mike has a young daughter, with whom he would like to share his favorite franchise.

The discussion ranged through a number of franchises, including Twilight, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Star Wars. I also talked about my thoughts on storytelling, creating relatable characters, and how ‘ships help an audience invest in a story. At the end, I had the chance to give my first podcast pitch for my novel Wynde.

You can download the podcast titled “Attack of the Fangirls” here. Many thanks for both Joao and Mike for the opportunity to chat about Star Wars. You can follow them on Twitter at @TheCantinaCast or on Facebook.

And as a friendly reminder, the leading ladies of the Star Wars movies are having a mother-daughter showdown in the “This is Madness” challenge at StarWars.com. While I noted my love of both characters in the podcast, I am firmly entrenched on #TeamLeia. Either way, both characters would appreciate the support.

Continue reading »]]> I thought I’d take a minute to update everyone on the status of my novel Wynde. Despite George Lucas’ best efforts to distract me – retiring and selling Star Wars in the middle of my sprint? – I’ve kept up a consistent writing pace.

While screenwriting isn’t the same as novel writing, many of the storytelling tools are comparable, and I’ve found that screenwriters often define those elements more clearly than novelists. Or maybe it’s the ability to tie their explanations to a movie, which takes two hours to watch, as opposed to a novel, which might take eight or nine hours to read, that makes it simpler to see their points. So if you’re an aspiring prose storyteller – whether for a fanfiction or novel – make sure you check out screenwriting blogs as a learning tool.

Even with a solid outline and a firm idea of the story, I’m constantly questioning if what I’m writing serves the story. Luckily, Scott Myers at Go Into the Story posted a piece on storytelling structure that really helped boost my confidence in what I had on the page and in knowing what I needed to trim. The discussion of Plotline and Themeline are particularly invaluable in considering scenes, both going forward and looking back:

Structure is comprised of both the Plotline [External World] and the Themeline [Internal World]. Think about it: Is a movie simply a series of events in the External World, action we see and dialogue we hear? If it is, it is inevitably a bad movie.

Events only impact an audience if they have meaning, and they only have meaning if there is something else going on in the underlying emotional life of the story.

Every scene must have something going on in both parts of the screenplay universe: External World and Internal World.

Therefore as a writer, you must think of screenplay structure as being comprised of Plotline and Themeline.

How best to do that? In almost every story, it is the Protagonist character [or characters] that drives this discussion. A Protagonist will almost invariably have a Want [Conscious Goal] and a Need [Unexpressed Goal].

Their Want largely exists in and shapes the Plotline.

Their Need largely exists in and shapes the Themeline.

Because these two goals represent aspects of one character and eventually combine in the story’s final act, it is easy to grasp why the Protagonist is a key figure in creating the spine of your screenplay’s structure.

As a result, every scene, every major Plotline point, and every sequence must in some way be tied to the Protagonist’s twin goals of Want and Need.

I just finished what Myers calls the Reconstruction Test, which comes right before All is Lost. Think Luke screaming “No!” as he sees Vader strike down Ben. For me, as a storyteller, that has always been the hardest. I know what needs to happen to the hero, but I always worry about whether the reader is going to connect with her in the run-up to that moment. The fact that A New Hope does it with suspense (the trash compactor), a dash of romance (a kiss for luck), and humor (Han chasing the stormtroopers) makes me all the more appreciative of what that movie accomplishes.

The hair-raising final sequences of Wynde are underway. I just finished one of the scenes from the teaser trailer. That’s a tool I also recommend, because the trailer gives you distinct visuals – epic moments – to shoot for. By the way, it’s this scene:

INT. MILITARY TRAINING ROOM

The middle of the room is dominated by a large translucent sphere of shimmering energy. Within the sphere, two individuals in military training fatigues prepare to engage one another in zero-gravity hand-to-hand combat.

It turned out way better emotionally for the characters than I could ever have imagined at the outlining stage. Many thanks to everyone who has been cheering me on, most especially the alpha readers, who often find humorous ways to point out my writing ticks and dare me to change something.

With that, I’m off to write!

Continue reading »]]> We have a yearly tradition, dating back to the early TFN fanfic days, where I offered a treat to the faithful readers of my stories on Thanksgiving. (Those readers eventually formed the core unit of the Lomin Ale Cantina, where we discuss all things Star Wars and pop culture.) While I was reviewing Wynde I came across a scene from Chapter Twenty-Two that I thought might be perfect for the occasion – it has some colonists, space turkeys (of sorts), and a meal.

Continue reading »]]> Watching Brave in the movie theater, I tried to keep a blogger’s keen eye on the story. At one point, though, I became totally captivated, lost in the moment of Merida galloping her black steed Angus through the forest. I found myself transported to another world because the scene created a very real and emotional connection.

As my friends and regular followers of the blog know, I’m a horse-lover. My mom and dad made the huge blunder of taking me to see the Lippizans at the age of two, and from that day forward every toy was handed back with the request, “Horse?” About a decade later, I took my first riding lesson. Naturally, I wanted to include my love of horses in my novel Wynde.

A few years ago, I would have been terrified to do that. When a person starts down the fanfiction road, they generally write what they’re familiar with, so often when I designed my stories I considered an animal or two. Even though writing was my hobby back then, I always wanted to improve. Reading up on the do’s and don’ts, I quickly discovered the term Mary Sue. If you write a fanfiction about a female Skywalker twin with Force powers and give her a pet and then take the Litmus Test, you might believe that your characterization is hopelessly flawed on the Mary Sue scale. Thankfully, though, I kept researching and thinking about characterization, learning what the term really represents instead of the misinterpretations and misuses – especially as a sexist slur – that can pervade message boards.

Ultimately, I’ve concluded that a checklist isn’t what defines a Mary Sue or a Gary Stu – and some characters can check off all the supposed characteristics and still be well-crafted rather than hollow.

Looking back on it now, I’m glad for my adventures in fanfiction because it helped me worked past being afraid of silly boxes that often are put around female characters. A couple of my goals, when I set out to outline my original novel, were to smash tropes and kick Mary Sue’s proverbial butt. One of the reasons I think this step is important, and a natural part of the evolution for storytelling toward gender equality, is that audiences need to read stories that face down the obstacles and clichés that have kept women from being portrayed as equals. We have to deal with them to move on.

Elements that are comfortable and familiar are far more likely to entice a reader into the story. After a reader is hooked, that’s when I believe I can shake things up. For instance, Vespa, while not a true princess, is a modern-day version: she’s the daughter of a powerful politician and world-renowned entrepreneur.  She has means and fame (or perhaps better put, notoriety). Those princess-like conceits open doors in the storytelling to make it an epic adventure. At the same time, those same aspects of her character will prove to be huge, seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her heroine’s journey.

The modern-day princess and her horse aren’t a huge part of the story in Wynde. It’s a brief moment to show who she is, and to create the Princess moment. Early in the book I establish her fearlessness as a pilot, but I also wanted readers to understand she was attuned with nature. In my earlier riding years, we used to sneak into the fields with halters and lead ropes, grab a few horses, and play Cowboys & Indians bareback. We galloped across fields, flying without a care in the world, one with the wind, fearless… until one or two of us eventually got bucked off. The important thing about falling is getting back on, to overcome the fear of falling or failing. Fear is a funny thing, too. It’s my opinion that fearlessness disappears as a person crosses the threshold into adulthood, and that heroes are created by giving them the mental fortitude to defeat the fear inside – this is as true in real life as in fiction. When a horse rears or tries to toss me, I’m afraid. Giving into the fear results in the body entering a fetal position, and then I’m guaranteed a fall. So while I experience fear in the moment, I refuse to let it govern my reaction. In The Hunger Games, Katniss showed true fear; I connected with that. We don’t get to see that emotional struggle often in stories, and in the book and movie it was wonderfully done. I thought capturing a moment of Vespa out on a ride with her black steed would be the right place to start laying the groundwork for these types of internal struggles as she grasps the first days of adulthood.

The horse symbolizes power, freedom, and harmony with nature. That symbolism will be very important to the Fireheart Series. But I’d better put the head back down and continue my edits on the novel. I had been inspired by this one little part with my heroine and her horse, so I thought I’d share it. I think some of my friends from the Cantina will be excited to see this. About a year ago they helped me name Vespa’s horse. Thanks, my friends, for all your support.

Continue reading »]]> As I discussed over at FANgirl Blog, I shared another excerpt from Wynde with my friends at the Lomin Ale Cantina as part of our May Mayhem Fan Fun celebrating Wraith Squadron from the Star Wars Expanded Universe in anticipation of the release of X-Wing: Mercy Kill in August.

Be sure to check out the excerpt from Chapter Twenty, featuring Vespa’s parents Utara Fireheart and Daemyn Wynde.

Continue reading »]]> I knew March would be madness with Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse and The Hunger Games – stories with great female heroines like Jaina, Tahiri, and Katniss. In the meantime I’ve been writing away on Wynde, working with my heroine in that book and playing with some storytelling ideas to help draw the reader into Vespa’s story. While from the outset I’d definitely settled on using third-person-limited POV narrative, there was something about the immediacy of present tense in The Hunger Games that kept drawing me back to its utility. I’ve seen other authors use it selectively with some success, and when it’s done well the reader should just be experiencing the story and won’t notice the shift in tense. That’s the theory, anyway.

As I kept writing, I decided I had a couple of specific scenes that would benefit from the shift.  One of those scenes is at the end of Part One, as Vespa faces an impossible choice. I won’t share the whole scene – that might give away too much of the story – but I thought I’d share the beginning of the chapter. Thoughts or feedback on how the present tense works for you as a reader is appreciated.

Continue reading »]]> In my first entry to Shaping a Heroine, a series of blogs discussing the design of my novel’s heroine, Vespa Wynde, I talked about her father. Daemyn Wynde had always been easily identifiable in my mind as an amalgamation of Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt. When I tried to identify a woman or women as character references for Vespa’s mother, though, picking someone proved an impossible task. Not that I don’t have a clear vision in my mind of who Utara Fireheart is – on the contrary, I do. Let me explain…

Utara Fireheart is a politician and an idealist. Superficially, that might sound a bit like Padmé Amidala, except Utara obviously didn’t die young after a tragic betrayal and never had to share a secret life with the man she loves. In fact, her marriage to racing legend and venturist Daemyn Wynde happened on the world stage of my fictional planet Prime. Superficially similar to the celebrity marriage of Leia Organa and Han Solo, except without the galactic tyrant father, Jedi Master twin brother, Wookiee third wheel, or Rebellion against an evil Empire.

Utara entered politics determined to change Prime – a world that for all intents and purposes considers itself bent more toward utopia – for the better, to fix the wrongs she observed growing up as the daughter of a diplomat. At times, I see pieces of famous women in her character – the brains of Condoleeza Rice and the steely determination of Hilary Clinton, for example, with a touch of Margaret Thatcher’s ruthlessness – but Utara certainly isn’t modeled after any of them as directly as Daemyn’s character design. Utara’s idealism emerged from a deep-seated need to protect and nurture things, and she believes nothing can stop her from obtaining her goals.

Once Utara had children, her priorities changed. While she still had her personal and political goals, the welfare of her children came above all else. This lioness and her cubs mentality will define her story and her relationship with her children, particularly her daughter. It’s not unusual to hear about famous actresses and singers who have put their careers on hold or readjusted their schedules to allow them to raise a family. My own mother, a career civil servant, did the same, and I know plenty of women who might be further along in their career trajectories had it not been for motherhood. So Utara became, in my mind, a very real projection of the choices many women face in their lives when they balance their own dreams with the well-being of the children they have borne into the world.

What I really wanted from her character was a means to represent motherhood without glossing over the difficult decisions mothers make each day. Should I leave the kids with a caretaker or stay home? Should I work longer hours so I can provide my children with more things, or work fewer hours and have less? At the same time, I wanted to create situations that real life women could relate to and learn from. As I formed the other characters in the political backdrop of the Primean government, I found that most of those characters were male, and I checked myself. What did that say about my world-building? But thinking about it more, I kept it in the story. Quite often in real life that is the dynamic I’m faced with, and in talking to other women in corporate jobs, they too often found the gender mix unequal. Putting Utara in that same dynamic is relatable and real to what I know, and I can use these moments as ways to show a woman working within that dynamic successfully.

Although Utara isn’t grounded in one or two iconic real life individuals, I hope her character will come across as real as her husband Daemyn. Most importantly, I hope readers find in her character some piece of the fabulous women in their lives.

Wynde is in full swing, just past the 120,000 word mark this week. I look forward to sharing the adventure with you.