EmeraldBenu

CHARACTER, POINT OF VIEW, DIALOGUE

10 Days of Character Building

Name Generators

Name Playground

The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test

Priming the idea pump (A character checklist shamlessly lifted from acting)

How to Create a Character

Seven Common Character Types

Handling a Cast of Thousands – Part I: Getting to Know Your Characters

It’s Not What They Say …

Establishing the Right Point of View: How to Avoid “Stepping Out of Character”

How to Start Writing in the Third Person

Web Resources for Developing Characters

What are the Sixteen Master Archetypes?

Character: A compilation of guidance from classical and contemporary experts on creating great dramatic characters

Building Fictional Characters

Fiction Writer’s Character Chart

Character Building Workshop

Tips for Characterization

Fiction Writer’s Character Chart

Villains are People, Too, But …

Top 10 Tips for Writing Dialogue

Speaking of Dialogue

Dialogue Tips

Advantages, Disadvantages and Skills (character traits)

How to Write a Character Bible

Character Development Exercises

All Your Characters Sounds the Same — And They’re Not a Hivemind!

Medieval Names Archive

Sympathy Without Saintliness

Writing the Other: Bridging Cultural Difference for Successful Fiction

Family Echo (family tree website)

Interviewing Characters: Follow the Energy

100 Character Development Questions for Writers

Behind the Name

Lineage Chart Layout Generator

PLOT, CONFLICT, STRUCTURE, OUTLINE

How to Write a Novel: The Snowflake Method

Effectively Outlining Your Plot

Conflict and Character within Story Structure

Outlining Your Plot

Ideas, Plots & Using the Premise Sheets

How to Write a Novel

Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense

Plunge Right In … Into Your Story, That Is!

Fiction Writing Tips: Story Grid

Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot

Writer’s “Cheat Sheets”

The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations

The Evil Overlord Devises a Plot: Excerpt from Stupid Plotting Tricks

Conflict Test

What is Conflict?

Monomyth

The Hero’s Journey: Summary of the Steps

Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes

Plotting Without Fears

Novel Outlining 101

Writing the Perfect Scene

Fight Scenes 101

Basic Plots in Literature

One-Page Plotting

The Great Swampy Middle

SETTING, WORLD BUILDING

Magical World Builder’s Guide

I Love the End of the World

World Building 101

The Art of Description: Eight Tips to Help You Bring Your Settings to Life

Creating the Perfect Setting – Part I

Creating a Believable World

An Impatient Writer’s Approach to Worldbuilding

Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions

Setting

Character and Setting Interactions

Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds

Creating Fantasy Worlds

Questions About Worldbuilding

Maps Workshop — Developing the Fictional World Through Mapping

World Builder Projects

IDEAS, INSPIRATION

Quick Story Idea Generator

Solve Your Problems Simply by Saying Them Out Loud

Busting Your Writing Rut

Writing Inspiration, or Sex on a Bicycle

Creative Acceleration: 11 Tips to Engineer a Productive Flow

The Seven Major Beginner Mistakes

Complete Your First Book with these 9 Simple Writing Habits

Free Association, Active Imagination, Twilight Imaging

Random Book Title Generator

Finishing Your Novel

Story Starters and Idea Generators

REVISION

How to Rewrite

One-Pass Manuscript Revision: From First Draft to Last in One Cycle

Editing Recipe

Cliche Finder

Revising Your Novel: Read What You’ve Written

Writing 101: So You Want to Write a Novel Part 3: Revising a Novel

TOOLS and SOFTWARE

My Writing Nook (online text editor; free)

Bubbl.us (online mind map application; free)

Freemind (mind map application; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)

XMind (mind map application; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)

Liquid Story Binder (novel organization and writing software; free trial, $45.95; Windows, portable)

Scrivener (novel organization and writing software; free trial, $39.95; Mac)

SuperNotecard (novel organization and writing software; free trial, $29; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)

yWriter (novel organization and writing software; free; Windows, Linux, portable)

JDarkRoom (minimalist text editor; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)

Pygmy Falcon

Great Hornbill

Wallcreeper

and

Cedar Waxwing

Red Crowned Crane

Brahminy Kite

Green Tree Swallow (I mean seriously - those are metallic teal feathers against stark white. Damn.) 

Bali Mynah

And, last but certainly not least, the cutest fucking puffball on this planet earth:

Hooded Pitta (or as like to call them little olives)

Coua

Mot-Mot

Rainbow Lorikeet

We also have:

Rainbow bee eaters (OK not minimalist but SO BALANCED)

Straw-necked ibis

Flame Robins

Willie wagtails

Grey butcherbirds

And my and every one else’s favourite murderbird, the Australian Magpie

SUCH STYLE

someone on the internet: awww noo poor small precious baby is not really bad, they didn’t do anything wrong, they’re just misunderstood :((((

Some people, people you know objectively suck at being a human being, will get more kudos, more comments, more recs. Write it anyway.

Some of your friends aren’t going to read what you write. Write it anyway.

Some of the people you support the most won’t support your work. Write it anyway.

Some people are going to say your characterization is 100% wrong. X would never. Write it anyway.

It’s been done before. Write it anyway.

Your writing might not measure up to the fandom greats. Write it anyway. (I can guarantee they didn’t measure up at some point either)

Some people aren’t going to rec your work. Write it anyway. (And make your own recs)

Write it anyway.

Write it anyway.

“I’m sure its going to be alrightAnakin.” Obi-Wan soothed softly with a hand on his shoulder,guiding him along the rooms of the Halls to the right one where heknew that Healer Uva would be waiting on them with all the shotsAnakin would need.

“But what are they going to do?”

“Well, its a basic checkup along withsome shots for various immunizes you don’t have that you willencounter.” Obi-Wan smiled down at him and squeezed his shoulder.“And take down the information like your weight, height, gender,hair color and all.”

“But they already know I’m a boy.”Anakin frowned.

“Mhmm but those things has to go inyour folder.”

“But…why?” Anakin blinked.

“Well, so if you get sick somewhereelse in the universe, the healer there can request your folder andknow its you and know what to do to treat you.”

“…Oh, okay that make sense.”Anakin nodded at the explanation as they stepped into the room.

And promptly jumped in surprise as thedoor promptly shut behind them.

“Well well well knight Kenobi, apleasure to finally have you in front of me.” A blue twi’lek saidwith her arms crossed over her chest as her lekku’s twitched.

Healer Uva meanwhile smiled gently atAnakin even as his master tensed up.

“H-Healer Che, what a surprise.”

“Oh I bet Knight Kenobi.” Sheoffered, looking more and more unimpressed as she did.

“Anakin! Padawan of mine, this ishealer Che, one of the bes-”

“Flattery will not get you out ofyour health check Kenobi.” She scowled at him before giving Anakina brief smile. “Please go to Healer Uva padawan, your master hashis own checkup.”

And then she moved to Obi-Wan, grabbinghim by the ear to pull him over to an examination bed. “You with meKnight.”

“Healer Che!” He yelped.

Anakin watched with wide eyes beforestepping over to Healer Uva who gently patted the bed by her. “I’msorry for having this sprung on you young one. Your master hasa…history of avoiding the Halls.”

“He does?” Anakin asked whilecrawling up on the bed and sitting still for the healer as she pickedup an instrument to scan him.

“Mhmm, he’s well known here forbeing difficult.” Uva chuckled quietly while reading what thescanner had picked up, quickly preparing two hyposprays for Anakin.“We usually leave it to Healer Che because she knows how to handlehim.”

As she got the hyporspray ready, Anakinglanced over at Obi-Wan to find him being forced to take off hisboots and outer tunic, the healer hissing at him to get on the scale.“And so help me Kenobi, if you lost weight I will ground you, newpadawan or not. Or perhaps I should just ground you anyhow.” Shescowled.

“I haven’t lost weight! I’ve beengood!” Obi-Wan argued as he hopped on one foot before settling hisboot down, flustering as he noticed Anakin watching the two. “Andplease don’t embarrass me.”

“Oh you don’t want your new padawanto know how terrible you are at taking care of yourself huh? Welltough luck, I’m going to get him to send me monthly reports on yourhealth.” The twi’lek glared at him. “On the scale, NOW.”

Obi-Wan muttered something that got hima sharp but light wack over the head.

“Ouch!”

“On the scale, no sass.”

Anakin was distracted when Uvacarefully gave him his shot and then asked him a few question aboutwhat kind of illnesses and injuries he had gotten on Tatooine that heknew of.

By the time he looked back, Obi-Wan wassitting shirtless on the examination bed, having a bruise on hischest examined and prodded before the healer got to work on it.

Obi-Wan was looking embrassed, staringat his knees before he looked up and meet Anakin’s eyes, giving hima sheepish and meek smile.

“Is Master Obi-Wan bad at taking careof himself?” He couldn’t help but ask outloud, blinking asObi-Wan colored sharply.

“Your master is terrible. He hidesinjuries, loses weight and gains it as if he’s a jojo, tries topretend he can live of tea and air at times and Force preserve us ifI’ve ever meet a more masochistic human in my life.” Che gruntedbefore letting Obi-Wan pull on his under tunic as the bruise wasfading.

“I’m not that bad.”

“No? Then tell us all about the timeyou were grounded on Coruscant for a whole month because we couldcount your ribs, how about that?”

Obi-Wan turned bright red and Anakinfelt his eyes widen. He had seen slaves with protruding ribs butObi-Wan was a Jedi! He must have been able to eat and drink properlyright?

“Why?” He looked at them.

“Because like I said, he’s horribleat eating and Master Jinn, Force look after him, was not always goodat feeding him.” Che sighed, hesitating a bit before squeezingObi-Wan’s shoulder almost gently. “You need to look afteryourself Kenobi. You got a padawan now.”

“I know…” Obi-Wan stared at hisknees.

Anakin stared at him then hopped offthe examination bed and moved to his teacher, hugging his legs whilepeering up at him. “Its okay, we can take care of each other masterObi-Wan.” He smiled up at him.

Green eyes blinked at him in surprisebefore Obi-Wan gave a small smile and ruffled Anakin’s hair. “Iguess we can…now its your turn to hop on the scale Anakin. Go on.Boots and over tunic off, I’ll help you put it on again.”

Anakin gave Obi-Wan’s legs one lastsqueeze before moving over to the scale, leaning against the bed toremove his boots.

Obi-Wan watched him closely, smilingever so slightly while the two healers traded looks.

Sith!Obi-Wan, who lost his Anakin young in the fight between him and Sidious. His apprentice/brother/first-person-that’s-ever-been-mine was so strong in the force, and so clever. That’s what drew the main-line sith - Sidious covets power, and what he cannot take, he will destroy. If he can’t have Anakin, nobody will.

Obi-Wan went a little crazy from it. He does several stupid, stupid things with sith magic in his vendetta with Sidious, and ends up in his canon counterpart’s body.

Canon Obi-Wan still has Anakin, 13 and so, so like the one sith Obi-Wan lost. The Jedi - and how, how, how had the boy he rescued from Gardulla’s races ended up with the Jedi? - has succeeded where the sith had failed. Obi-Wan can take a hint when the force hits him upside the head with it.

Anakin perhaps knows something is different, can feel something has changed but whee before Obi-Wan was warm and cared for him at a distance, he now feels like a blazing fire and reaches back and is obsessively attached and Anakin is ALL for that. Skywalker clinginess is reciprocated and Anakin is over the moon about it. When Anakin mentions his mother (it just slips out, he tries not to think about the past) Obi-Wan LISTENS and finds a way to get them to Tatooine and rescue her and set her up on a nice safe planet (”What planet will your mother like best, Anakin?” “Naboo,” Anakin says giddly without hesitation, he can’t believe this is happening).

And Obi-Wan is still obsessed with hunting down Sidious for killing his Anakin. He dots on his apprentice but he will never forget and never forgive. He shares his mission with Anakin and they start putting the pieces together and Anakin finally gets politics. It is no different than the hutts and the slavers jockying for power. they may dress better but the Senate is no different than Jabba’s palace when you get down to it.

On misisons, they are a menace. Obi-Wan could care less about collateral damage and diplomacy and sticking to their mandate. Anakin is just so happy that when he expresses an interest in something or saving someone Obi-Wan is so super indulgent of him.

They figure out its Palpatine and Obi-Wan curses him with a wasting disease, sets up some bounty hunters to attack him and poisons him. He is taking no chances, he wants him DEAD. Anakin finds out mid murder plot and is stunned until Obi-Wan confesses “He murdered someone dear to me. He has to pay.” And Anakin is totally on board for vengeance. He has a moment of concern that this may not be the Jedi way but Anakin  is loyal to PEOPLE first and Obi-Wan most of all. The result of this successful revenge is now Obi-Wan owns 2 million clones and Yan Dooku keeps comming him about “plans.” (Who the hell is he?) He inherits the entire mess of the as yet to be fought clone wars. What to do? What to do?

Relationship wise this could go so many ways. You could have adult Obi and adult Anakin getting together eventually and leaving the Order to roam the galaxy with their army of clones. You could have Anakin falling head over heels for Padme and Obi-Wan totally supporting the whole thing, so happy when Anakin is happy. You could have all three of them getting together. Obi-Wan knows that with the mess he inherited from Palpatine they need someone in politics who they can trust and who can be their public face as Obi-Wan decides he wants to give ruling the galaxy a try. Who knows, with Anakin it might be fun.

And the best part is, Anakin never falls. He is perfectly in balance. Sure the Jedi Order still tick him off. There was that unfortunate time when he was 16 that the Council was at wits end and tried to separate him from Obi-Wan. That hadn’t gone down well at ALL. Anakin had been in a panic, not wanting to loose his Master but Obi-Wan had gotten all quiet (deadly quiet) and just ran his hand through Anakin’s short hair and told him “not to worry, dear one, leave it to me. No one will separate us.” And somehow the problem went away and Anakin is too afraid to ask HOW.

Jedi Princesses 

Bonus : Sith Ursula 

OH GOD NO BUT THAT WOULD BE PERFECT. how did the jedi not think of that?

what is anakin’s biggest weakness? attachments.

you know who needs lots of attachment? babies. small children.

anakin should not have been made to study murder: he should have been put in charge of Small Things. He would have bonded with all of them instantly, and it would have given his life Meaning and Purpose.

He’d bond with the kids, but he’d be able to move on because they are Bigger now and they have to go to the Big Kid Class but he still sees them around all the time, and it finally teaches him how to let go of his attachments??? He’d find a kid that he’s particularly fond of and go to Obi-Wan and say “I have found your newest padawan.”

he keeps comming over the years, but it’s always like

BEEP

“Anakin, my boy, we haven’t seen each other in a while—“

“I’m sorry, Chancellor, now’s not the best time. I’m tutoring a class.”

BEEP

“My dear boy, I wonder if we could meet for a chat—“

“Well, it can’t be this week, we’re going to Ilum, but maybe later…”

BEEP

“Anakin, I’d like to—“

“I’m terribly sorry, Chancellor,” Obi-Wan Kenobi answers. The apologetic tone might be just a tad exaggerated. “Anakin is on a trip with younglings, he must’ve left his comlink behind accidentally.”

BEEP

“You’ve reached Anakin Skywalker’s private comlink. Leave the message after the tone.”

BEEP

“It’s such a shame that Council doesn’t consider sending you on this campaign, considering the lightsaber skills you demonstrated when I was last visiting the Temple, Anakin.”

“Thank you, Chancellor, but this is precisely why I need to stay behind. In fact just the last week, the Masters decided I should take over some advanced lightsaber classes, considering senior Padawans accompanying their Masters on the frontlines need the training. I might take the Bear Clan along, make it a learning opportunity for the young ones—“

Palpatine closes his eyes slowly. He knows this from experience; Anakin won’t let himself be budged from the topic of little monsters for at least another half an hour.

BEEP

“Ah, Chancellor Palpatine. Anakin left his comlink behind again, he’s in class—“

BEEP

“Anakin, I hoped you—“

“Oh! Chancellor,” the voice on the other end is distinctly female, and Palpatine recognizes it after a second. Kenobi’s second Padawan. He barely restrains the urge to gnash his teeth. “Um, Skyg—I mean, Master Skywalker can’t pick up now. I can tell him you called? It’s just that he was helping me with forms, and he forgot his comlink, and he’s probably already in crèche…”

BEEP

Then there’s that one time when an actual youngling picks up the call. The less said about his reaction to that incident, the better.

BEEP

“—fortunately, they were all right in the end. But in my opinion, this should never happened in the first place, Chancellor.”

Palpatine snaps awake. Was that… was that anger? Finally, the hours of listening to worthless drivel about Jedi younglings paid off.

“My boy, I absolutely agree,” he begins slyly, but before he can continue, Anakin steamrolls on.

“I think Jedi Order is too deeply entwined in the conflict! I honestly don’t think even senior Padawans should be anywhere near battles, not to mention in command of GAR, but now even younglings are acceptable targets for Separatists and pirates! Master Yoda and I were talking about this lately, and—“

Palpatine swallows a scream of rage with some difficulty.

BEEP

“Forgot his comlink again, Master Skywalker has. With younglings, he is.”

More specifically, the last four panels.

Stars above, just look at this smarmy smile. Mace Windu might be saying “Of course, Chancellor”, but he’s hard-pressed to think of something he’d like to agree with less. 

“The Jedi are under the Senate’s judistriction.”

It’s completely innocent, unremarkable, one hundred percent factually true statement. It’s also said in the most blandly obnoxious tone one can imagine. A tone which upon being heard is guaranteed to have blood pressure of the recipient going through the roof.

(You could find Master Windu in the Room of Thousand Fountains a few hours later. (“The Jedi are under the Senate’s judistriction.”) You wouldn’t know it by looking at him, but he’d be meditating away a very un-Jedi-like urge to rip a certain graying head off.)

A few weeks pass. Mace manages to put this unfortunate conversation out of his mind almost entirely. He’s sitting together with Yoda, discussing everyday Order matters.

“Visit us again, Chancellor will,” Yoda notes after they schedule a joint training exercise for Padawans for tomorrow.

(“The Jedi are under the Senate’s judistriction.”) 

(”Send him to me.”)

Windu stares at his flimsiplast with unseeing eyes for a moment, carefully releasing sudden spike of annoyance into the Force, before turning to the Grandmaster. 

“There are still few mission to assign,” he remarks noncommittally.

(The next day, Master Kenobi and Padawan Skywalker are on a transport to some swampy planet in Mid-Rim. They both privately wonder why Master Windu is pissed off at them; they both for once finding their consciences clear; they both arrive at the inevitable conclusion that the other must be at fault; and they both decide magnanimously to not embarrass their companion by asking what the hell they did.)

Mace Windu absolutely does not let this petty act of revenge completely justified assignment buoy his mood during next meeting with Chancellor (and several after that).

A month passes, then another.

One sunny afternoon, strolling through the Temple halls, Mace Windu happens upon unwelcome visage of Chancellor Palpatine.

“Chancellor,” he stops to greet the politician. His voice has just the right amount of polite inquiry in it, and no one would know that somewhere deep in his soul, a more punctuated question echoes. What the kriff are you doing here.

“Master Windu,” the Chancellor replies, and no one knows this either, but he’s not stopping just to make small talk with the Jedi. The rules of propriety and social niceties are last thing on his mind, because a vanishingly rare opportunity for someone in his position just presented itself.

It’s the opportunity to gloat.

It’s a little thing, really, but it counts.

“I’m just on my way to meet Anakin,” he smiles. “Since my schedule isn’t full for once.”

A Jedi Master of Mace Windu’s caliber has too much poise to let his eye twitch.

“Isn’t he in class?” Mace inquires. Wouldn’t it just be wonderful, if Skywalker was busy right this minute.

“I wouldn’t presume to interrupt him then! No, I commed ahead and Anakin told me his afternoon is free.”

Jedi accept both victory and defeat with the same serene dignity, for reveling in either is not their way. Thus Master Windu inclines his head slightly, says “I see,” and bids the Chancellor a good afternoon.

(“The Jedi are under the Senate’s judistriction.”) 

Those words most definitely did not haunt Mace Windu, for he did not lay awake this night, did not curse Anakin Skywalker for handing out his private comm number to politicians, and did not wonder what other activities beside gossiping with Chancellor of the Republic he could assign to arrogant Padawans with far, far too much time on their hands (he checked Skywalker’s schedule; the boy indeed ought have been in afternoon class, if not for the fact that he tested out of it).

Well, alright, maybe he did. But only for a few moments, before letting the Force carry away the irritation, trusting that the cosmic energy would help him to realize how incredibly unimportant is his dislike of Chancellor Palpatine’s overbearing need to poke his nose into Jedi matters in general and training of Anakin Skywalker in particular.

His trust is rewarded the very next day.

It is well known fact that Master Yoda is fond of younglings. Crechemasters have the unspoken permission to bother him at any time of they with matters concerning the little ones. Request for advice, reports about Yoda’s favorites, inquires about Knights and Padawans who might be free to help out—it’s a background noise whenever Mace accompanies the Grandmaster, which is most of the time.

“…they were delighted with Padawan Secura, it’s a shame she and Master Vos had to leave so urgently. Perhaps we can repeat this sometime later.”

“Oh?” Mace interrupts the Crechemaster unexpectedly. “Why not have one of other Padawans currently in Temple do it?”

“Do you have someone in mind, Master Windu?”

It’s the Will of the Force.

Master Windu knows this, because it sings triumphantly around him as he discovers that serendipitously known to him schedule of a particular Padawan—who tragically missed out on the magic of crèche experience due to his unusual circumstances—complements the Crechemaster’s plans perfectly in a way that leaves no time for visits from entitled politicians.

I don’t think I’ve seen one of these but I was looking them up for a fic so just in case anyone else also needs this, here’s a quick reference of the known Republic flagships in use during the Clone Wars, listed by Jedi. These are all Venator-class Star Destroyers.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Negotiator

Integrity

Vigilance

Anakin Skywalker

Resolute

Dauntless (not listed as a flagship but was part of the same battlegroup as the Resolute)

Pioneer (not listed as a flagship but was part of the same battlegroup as the Resolute)

Luminara Unduli

Tranquility

Aayla Secura

Liberty

Intrepid

Saesee Tiin

Impavid

Prosperous

The Endurance was under the command of Admiral Kilian but this is the ship that Mace had been using when Boba Fett tried to kill him.

Yoda used the Tranquility for the Battle of Kashyyk (and Luminara was there with him).

Are there any actual midichlorian counts that we know from any canon?  Legends, new EU, comics, video games, anything? I don’t think there’s any in the movies, but if there are, what are they?

All my research is turning up is that Anakin Skywalker’s is “over 20,000″, which isn’t a hard number, and there’s another “mildly Force sensitive” guy named Nova Stihl from Legends who has more than 5,000 (again, not a hard number).

Assuming Yoda has the highest midichlorian count in the Jedi Order at that time, that means that Anakin has a higher count than anyone in the Order.

Extra random musings: Okay but are everyone’s midichlorian counts made public? How does Obi-Wan know Yoda’s count? Is it only Yoda (and maybe a few other Jedi) that had a midichlorian count that everyone is aware of, maybe like a ‘top ten’ type thing?

Also Qui-Gon’s count is never mentioned but I would imagine different types of midichlorians influence the type of connection a Jedi would have with the Force, so Qui-Gon’s could conceivably be very different to most because of his strong connection to the Living Force. 

And if we consider it, Yoda is considered to have one of the strongest connections to the Living Force which - if we go with the idea that the Living Force is tapped into by a specific strain of midichlorians - could explain why, while Yoda’s count is lower than Anakin’s, he’s arguably as powerful or stronger.

Of course this brings the issue of Obi-Wan’s strength in the Force since he’s only ever considered as being in touch with the Unifying Force but, I would think that he’s strong because Qui-Gon encouraged him to tap into the Living Force and perhaps affected his own midichlorians by doing so.

I would imagine that germ theory and evolution would be different for midichlorians in that enough conscious use of the Force in… unconventional ways, would likely affect the overall functioning of those midichlorians in individual Jedi. And there’s nothing quite like being cut off from the Force entirely for however fucking long Obi-Wan was (fuck you Ventress) that would possibly affect the adaptability of midichlorians suddenly going from inert and useless to running with the equivalent of a bolt of lightning running a phone battery. I’d imagine that would have had some effect on Obi-Wan’s midichlorians - possibly a significant one - and that’s why he’s capable of holding his own against Anakin in the fight on Mustafar when they’re trying to use the Force to throw each other across the room (and essentially manage to in not quite the way they imagined heh).

And I would actually appreciate if anyone sees anything I missed, or if perhaps something is unclear - ask me questions and I will answer. Or try to. This is entirely too much information istg idk what came over me. This is an encyclopedic entry for whoever would like to adopt this as canon. 

hmmmm…

So you’re looking for something that appears to - have a high level of heritability, - has the ability to change with time, - may degrade under stress, and - is something to which individuals have variable levels of sensitivity. Number is considered important enough of a factor that it is used as measurement - possibly a somewhat outdated, grossly oversimplified method, but good for field diagnosis, if you will. This does imply that - midichlorians are discrete and easily quantifiable via finger-prick, also an important assumption. One may become stronger in the Force, so your midichlorians are adaptable, - they have the ability to change in response to your experiences. - Breakdowns in midichlorians (Plagieus and Mustafar) are potentially catastrophic. - Add to that some species differences aaaaand… this sounds… familiar….

I think my head just exploded Jesus fucking Christ!

Okay so I’m not going to even try and pretend I know a lot about this (read: nothing omg) but from what I’ve gathered from your fantastically in-depth sciencing are the following:

1. It’s possible different Jedi and species in the SW universe have different types of midichlorians that mimic the anaerobic, aerobic, hydrogenosomes, or mitosomes types of mitochondria that exists.

That would mean species such as the Hutts, Toydarians and others potentially have low or no Force sensitivity based on the energy processing/output capacity of midichlorians in the cell.

2. Some Jedi have different levels of midichlorians due to experiences and epigentics suggests that their familial heritage affects the count.

So Obi-Wan’s count would be affected by the use of a Force Inhibitor used on him - didn’t Xanatos use one on him when he was a kid?? I’m not sure - and I would imagine that torture, war and high-stress environments would affect his count levels.

3. If midichlorian counts are heritable, is there a possibility that there’s a cognitive component to using the Force as well? This I actually agree with tbh

We know that the Coruscant Jedi discouraged Jedi shacking up and spitting out offspring, and we also know that they often seem to think being strong is a bad thing. So is it possible that there’s some correlation with high counts and the midichlorians becoming unstable? You mention how mitochondria has an issue with unstable from breakdowns of coding genes and the like; I wonder if there’s a possibility of midichlorians exhibiting similar behaviour and the Jedi picked up on it.

Aside: this could potential explain Kylo in TFA with him being a powerful Force-user but also being seven levels of fucked in the head.

4. Talking about the effect of Force Inhibitors on neural pathways. I fucking agree

We already know that there are drugs that exist that can affect our energy levels, concentration, memory, focus etc and we know in a roundabout way how they do that. I imagine that someone figured out how to do something similar with respect to the Force. Anything that requires conscious learning, especially to build up a skill or talent, requires the formation of neural pathways and mental schema to associate experiences, information and sensory information. You break down these pathways and schema and you can reduce someone to being a novice. When a person has a stroke, neural pathways are damaged - sometimes even destroyed - but in some cases they can be rebuilt quicker than they were originally and with a lot more sensitivity. It’s entirely possible then that using the Force after having an inhibitor could work the same way. Especially if we think about the very likely possibility that not every Jedi actually managed to handle having an inhibitor on. 

Heck I imagine Obi-Wan to be one of the few Jedi capable of functioning with one of the fucking things and working around them because he comes to recognise the sensation/experience of them and his neural pathways perhaps rebuild quicker and quicker each time, thus enabling him to ‘throw off’ the effects of the inhibitor.

Sometimes I get really sad thinking about how much better RotS would have gone if Padme and Obi-Wan were on space texting terms, like imagine

Padme: hey man glad u made it back alive. Question: did Anakin sleep at all on your last mission?

Obi-Wan: LOL he never sleeps well when we’re deployed. good thing he catches up when we’re back on Coruscant.

Padme: uh.

Obi-Wan: What?

Padme: ahahaha not that I’d have any way of knowing, but no. Not at all really.

Obi-Wan: I can’t know that. I don’t want to know that. Stop that. He needs to sleep.

Padme: Not what I meant.

Obi-Wan: Wait, really?

Obi-Wan: But if he’s not sleeping on planet, and he’s not sleeping off planet

Obi-Wan: Shit

Your move, Sheev.

So I reblogged this earlier and babbled in the tags my delight in this idea, and then got to thinking.  Because seriously, how is it that simple?  Make space-texting a thing, everything is instantly 10000x better.

You have Obi-Wan the worrywart constantly checking up on Anakin, because given such an easy outlet for his mother-henning tendencies when it comes to his former Padawan you cannot tell me he would quash it under the attachment clause, he’s just CHECKING UP ON HIM, ANYONE CAN DO THAT, RIGHT???  It probably drove Anakin totally nuts as an apprentice and still does, but it’s also reassuring because it’s hard to think someone doesn’t care when they’re constantly demanding to know if you’re all right.

You have Anakin and Ahsoka, who totally sit through meetings texting each other and giggling over their dumb juvenile jokes, it’s the equivalent of two teenagers throwing paper balls at each other because they’re bored, and Anakin’s just as much a worrywart over her as Obi-Wan is about him, it drives her nuts during missions, the only redeeming factor is his texts are full of his dorky nerdy humor so she’s giggle-snorting even as she’s trying to be indignant that he’s checking to see if she tied her shoes, for the Force’s sake.

You have Anakin and Padme, which is essentially Anakin sending Padme terrible, terrible prose because he is a sappy sap and can’t help it.  She giggles over it and cherishes every mushy thing he sends her, and likes to curl up and read them after long days in the Senate.  She sends him snippets of news and complains about fellow senators, and occasionally sends (much less terrible) schmoopy things back, and tries not to nag him about trying to keep safe.

And, if you go the Padme-and-Obi-Wan communication route, you have the two WORST SPACE-TEXTING BUDDIES EVER, I am convinced you cannot sway me.  Padme texting Obi-Wan for advice or opinions or information while he’s IN A WARZONE, PADME, THIS IS REALLY NOT THE TIME (what are you doing texting in a warzone, Obi-Wan, get your priorities straight.)  The two of them trying to chat while Senate is in session, making up strategies on the fly or sharing disparaging stories about the other senators, Obi-Wan being all dry and sarcastic no matter what they’re talking about so Padme’s always trying to smother inappropriate laughter because she’s IN SESSION HERE.  (Padme with Obi-Wan as a reliable source of gossip and information from the front is a terrifying force and you should be very very afraid, because Anakin is not politically savvy and doesn’t always know what’s significant or not, but Obi-Wan DOES.)

And NOT ONLY do you have Obi-Wan and Padme as a now-united front in looking after Anakin, whose antics they moan about together constantly~, you have the CLONES.  Because if Obi-Wan and Padme are texting each other about Anakin, they are 100% texting Rex and Cody as well, so everyone is part of this giant conspiracy and Anakin’s just sitting in the middle going what?? and wondering how the hell these people manage to pull all these things off, it’s almost like they planned it???  But–no, they can’t all be…nah.

Rex: SGS rush at clankers need supp

Cody: Acknowledged.

Rex: Thnks

*

Padme: How are things going on the front?

Obi-Wan: In an active warzone talk later

Padme: …You know you don’t have to immediately respond to texts, right!? Especially in battle? How did you even use full words?

Obi-Wan: Autocorrect.

Padme: Ok. When the battle’s over, I want to know what’s going on to negotiate economic support from a couple of systems.

Obi-Wan: Currently I am in battle to liberate Manaan, and the aerial blockade is falling.

Padme: Tell me when YOU ARE NOT IN A STARFIGHTER.

*

Padme: Anakin, honey, how are you?

Anakin: Walkin on sunshine now that I’m talking 2 u ;))) How r things Padme the most beautiful Senator in teh universe :))))

Padme: :D Great! Are you getting enough sleep dear?

Anakin: I have 2 dream of u sometime ;)

Padme: How’d the battle go

Anakin: Another system saved from Seppies.

Padme: Wonderful!

Anakin: How r things at Senate?

Padme: Ohmygods well the Techno Union said…

*

Ahsoka: Code Linen

Kix: Got it

Fives: Got it

Tup: What’s Code Linen?

Rex: General Skywalker’s injuries are greater than he claims

Fives: And we need to escort him in a way that says we don’t think less of him for not being invincible

Kix: And I need to lie about how much I’m treating him

Rex: Thanks Commander.

OH MY GOD I’M CRACKING UP THAT WOULD BE THE GREATEST FIC EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tahl is so confused!!!!!!! 

I think I’m gonna need to write a ficlet where it’s about Tahl waiting for Qui Gon to come back, running thru a list in her mind, trying to determine which of his many fuck ups he was talking about and then Qui returns w/ Obi over his shoulder

omg if you don’t write it i might

Tahl is like “where did you get that kid why did you say you fucked up what’s going on what’s wrong with you?????????”

Qui-Gon is like “i have to make things right”

So how far back had he gone exactly? Are we talking adorable toddler!Obi kidnapped from the creche?

Adorable late!initiate Obi stolen from classes?