New Chapter: Sullust

I just thought I'd put it out on here that I've got a new chapter up for "Promises" finally. I had some technical difficulties that prevented me from publishing it over the weekend, but today I had some time to figure out what was wrong. We had a snow day, so yeah. I plan on spending much of the rest of the evening working on writing the next chapter. =)

Anyway, this new chapter is the first time we get an idea of what's going on for Chewie and Lando. I have to say that while I'm comfortable with Chewie's character, probably because I've been writing him for almost a year now, I have no idea what to do with Lando. He's such an undeveloped character in the movies that it's kind of hard to figure out what's really going on with him. I don't know. I feel like this new chapter is awkward because of it, but you guys are really the judges of that!

I'm hoping for the next chapter to be up next week Saturday, but I can't make any guarantees. I'm very busy this weekend,  as well as the rest of this week. Next week it should lighten up though, so we can hope, and like I said, I'm spending much of tonight working too.

My biggest question right now is, where do I want to go with everyone at the Alliance? I can only go over so much of the storyline involving Leia before it gets redundant! Either way, I can tell you right now that this story won't be anywhere near as long as 40 Days, at least I'm not planning on it. Of course, that could change any time...and the future is always in motion!

So yes, there's a new chapter up on Fanfiction, so go check that out, and leave comments here if you feel like it, and review the story for the same reasons!

And have a good day!! =)

Commenting & New Design

As I said in the last post, I wanted to work on changing the design of my blog...and here's the redesign. I'm not really completely happy with it though, so it will probably change again. You can see the new icons that link to my personal pages throughout the internet though! I revised them all and for the first time, included a link to my Instagram.

If you're looking to follow me, I post most on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr, but my other accounts are there as well. =)

And here's the great news for all of you! First, I'm posting a new chapter THIS weekend. Second, I have now made it so on this blog anyone can comment. After HanandLeiaFanFicWriters discovered the option to change comments so anyone can comment, I realized that must be the way to fix it. So now anyone can comment. You don't need an account for anything!

Like I said, this version of the blog probably won't stay forever, but what do you think? Should I keep it?

It's been a while!

It certainly has been busy...but musical is over, and aside from my work for Solo and Ensemble, I've got a lot more time now than I have in the past few weeks...thankfully.

I'm hoping to do some editing on the appearance of the site, because I feel like it needs an update, but other than that I'm going to work on writing. The next chapter of "Promises" is pretty much 2/3 done, I just have to finish it off and do editing...so I'm hoping that sometime this next weekend it will be up.

This last week I did a new chapter for "Repairs," and I'll probably do one more chapter to that story before I determine it as complete. Two chapters just seems weird, but three is a good number generally...so that's probably where I'll end. Plus, it will be hard for me to continue the theme because it's strange for "Promises" then. I have to be in two different mindsets...one, that Han is there and everything is happy, and two, that Han is in carbonate. It's not terrible, but it just messes with my mind a little when writing.

But that's what's going on, if anyone happens to still check out this blog!

Mental Breakdowns

I think as writers we tend to have this sense of assuming.

For instance, we ASSUME we know how Han and Leia feel about each other. We ASSUME we know how Han feels about his past. We ASSUME we know how Leia feels when she cries, or attempts suicide, or hides. And we ASSUME that everyone won't like their relationship.

But today I don't assume. I completely understand Leia. Ok...maybe not completely, but pretty close.

You know how we write about how when Han isn't there, much like what I'm writing now in Promises? About how the world is closing in on her, or at least that's how it feels, and no one is there to comfort her or back her up. How it's almost, to her, like she's fighting a one person war against the entire galaxy. And then we write about how she struggles to sleep, and instead pushes herself to work until she can work no more, just because it helps her, and any moment without work is a break too long. And we think that she would believe that's not what Han wants...and yet the tears and the frustration and stress continue to flow.

Well, I experienced that today. Upon different circumstances, as in her case it might be about how those around her feel about her relationship with Han, and how for the first time, she has to deal with everything all by herself. The memory of Alderaan, with Luke, with her relationship with the missing Han, and with the Alliance struggling to repel the Empire. For me it's actually about work. Finals are this week, and some smart person decided that this week would be the best time ever for tech to start musical...great idea. NOT. I have so much work to do over the next week that it clouds my brain to the point I can no longer think. To the point where I don't want to think.

But you know, the entire time I've been upset, and this is the third time I've written about this now, all I could think about was "Is this how Leia would feel?" Because really, it is a good question. Is that how she feels? Like the world is closing in on her and there is no escape...and no one there to rescue her (although at times she has Han, or Chewie occasionally, and how I have my best friend)? It makes a lot of sense that she would feel that way...so when I was really upset a while ago, I wrote. That's what I did. I sat at my laptop just like I'm doing now and I wrote how I felt...because later when i get to a mental breakdown in the storyline, I can go back and read it and remember just how I felt...and then apply that same feeling to how I believe Leia would be feeling at that moment.

Because I think that's something a lot of readers don't always understand. They pass off things like a breakdown from a character as something that's happening just because of what is going on in the story...or it seems out of character. But I think it's completely in character for Leia. I'm a strong person too. I can generally deal with a lot on my plate all at once and still hold a smile through the entire thing...but sometimes there just gets to be too much for me to hold and I break. It doesn't happen often, but it does...every once and a while. It seems out of my character, and to those who see little of me, they won't even notice a difference other than maybe I'm a bit snappy or I won't use a lot of excuses. They won't know I'm not sleeping, or eating, or stressed...it will just seem like I'm normal.

So I think THAT'S why we always see Leia's sudden outbursts as out of character...because they happen in a way that doesn't seem normal to us. We only break down in front of those we trust the most...for me it's a couple of my friends, and I have to say that during my last breakdown the one thing I remember helped me feel better was a hug from one of them. For Leia it's Han...and that's why she breaks down in front of him. But in Leia's reality...it would be normal. It would be in character, because she no longer needs to hold back. She doesn't need to hold the tears. Because in reality...we wouldn't be reading about it anyway.

I'm not really sure if any of this made any sense at all, but I'm going to pretend it did...and let you know that I will hopefully have a new chapter up soon...probably late next week (as you just figured out that I'm on a pretty tight schedule at the moment). But soon I promise you...soon!

Alliance High Command

I'm currently working on the next chapter and outline for Promises...but I have to do a bit of research first. I'm not the greatest at understanding politics or war strategies, and I certainly don't understand much about High Command...something that will become a very important part of the story in Promises...but I'm working on it.

Honestly, High Command is a pretty complicated thing, and since we don't know everyone who was on it, it's even worse. It's good for me kind of, because I can create characters that I will use to follow what my storyline will be, but at the same time it's frustrating because those that we do know of I want to keep as close to their characteristics as possible. I'm really putting a lot of time into getting characteristics right this time, because I personally feel I fell a bit short in "40 Days." Granted, this is largely because I had 40 days of things to write and it gets a little worn by the end, but this time I have a whole new set of characters, and I really want to get their backgrounds and characteristics correct so I can match things up.

Of course, I'm not going to be following the storyline of what really happened in between Bespin and the rescue of Han...since then it wouldn't really be fanfiction anymore...but the characters are important to me. Plus, I know some of you would really like to see things like battle and sabacc and technical things I generally left out in the previous story. It will take longer, but in the end it will create for a better storyline.

Now I just have to figure out how I'm suppose to alternate between Leia and Lando/Chewie...and what Lando and Chewie are going to be getting into!

Happy New Year...almost!

Yes, I know, it's New Year's Eve, not actually the new year yet...but close enough.

I just wanted to make a post letting you know what's going on. As much as I've been working constantly at Promises, there will sadly be no new chapter due to both technical difficulties and lack of time. I'm hoping (and will) have a new chapter up soon, since here's what I've been working on.

After I finished my notes from "40 Days" I've been re-writing them and going through them into a new notebook dedicated just to Promises things. From there I'll take all of my notes from my other journal and organize those in the notebook as well, and then as I write Promises I've been taking notes from each chapter. Once I have the notebook organized (today sometime hopefully) I will begin to outline the rest of the story, just to make sure that I keep everything organized.

Now, this wasn't, obviously, my initial plan, but after rereading "40 Days" I made a lot of decisions on what I could do better as far as my writing goes. There are, honestly, a lot of things I really hate about "40 Days" and maybe someday I'll rewrite it so that the entire storyline makes more sense. But for now, it's going to stay as is. Because of those things, I want to make sure that I do a lot more proof reading and planning for Promises, because I certainly don't want it to end up the same way, and although there are already a couple of things in Promises I'd like to change, that too will stay as is, other than my minor editing as I go through piece by piece.

So for me there's a lot of planning, and I honestly don't have a lot of time at the moment, due to other things such as the start of my 2013 project, my other blog Everyday Disney, which I'm sure I already talked about. I also have a lot to do with Band coming up and College Plans, as well as Musical starting. While I will try my best to continue bringing regular updates to the story, Sadly, I can no longer do weekly chapters...at least at the moment. Hopefully in the future though!

I am setting aside a good hour each night to work on Promises, and hopefully I will be back to my regular posting soon. I will still be posting here on this blog regularly though, so keep an eye out. I'm also in the pre-planning for another chapter of Repairs, but have no idea when that will be appearing either.

I feel like this blog entry has just been full of bad news! Wow! Terrible terrible me. And so, I do have some great news! Well, for me, but I'm just so excited about it! For Christmas one of my really good friends got me an Empire Strikes Back Poster...and we just hung it last night over my desk. I also got the Complete Making of The Empire Strikes Back book...so be ready for some funny stories in the future. I've got a great one about the Carbon Freezing scene! You'll never see it the same way again! So here's a picture of my poster, and I wish you all a bright, happy, fun, amazing, magical and Star Wars filled New Year!

Finally Done!

Well, I'm finally finished with rereading "40 Days," and you all know what that means!

It means I can continue to write "Promises" as normal, because I know what happened in Promises, so I can reference it when I need to! I have 36 pages of notes, and honestly I tried to make it 40 just because that would be awesome, but it didn't work.

Anyway, so I'm hoping to have a new chapter out at some point, but as for right now I haven't started writing, and I still have a ton of stuff to do over the remainder of break.

Then again, at the moment I'm watching the Muppet Show. You see, I got the first three seasons on DVD for Christmas, so now I've started watching them, because I have two seasons of I Love Lucy to watch too...and plenty of Star Wars to get in there. In fact, tomorrow I'm having a Star Wars marathon with two of my friends, one of which has only seen the Original, which was when I made her watch it the other day. So now we're gonna watch all of the rest, just so she can say that she's seen Star Wars.

But I do Promise that there will be new chapters in the near future, just as soon as I write them!! I'm excited to be back though, and I know you're excited that I'm back. Ahhh, just talking about it makes me super excited!!!! So, in honor of my excitement, here's a Han and Leia picture...but I'm not going to tell you what it inspires. You'll find that out in time!!! (Yes that's a hint hint moment).