#editor ari

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about whump.

Well duh, I hear you say (and you’d be right to, haha).

But what I mean is that I’ve been thinking about what whump — the word, the genre, the community — means, as opposed to, say, hurt/comfort or sometimes to angst. And I’ve come to the realisation that for me, whether something ‘counts’ as whump or not — whether it can or should be stamped with that label, seems to rest on the creator’s motivations (or sometimes, what I assume of the creator’s motivations).

The world of Star Wars is sprawling and rich, expanded upon illustrated dictionaries, tie-in novels, video games, two television shows with more in the works, and at least (depending on how you count them) 11 films. There are thousands of characters, hundreds of species, hundreds of years, and dozens of planets of planets to contend with. At this point, Star Wars practically its own genre. Which makes for an incredibly broad palette to draw from, but it also means that if you set out to write Star Wars whump, there’s a whole lot of lore to catch up on.

Thankfully, whump readers tend to be forgiving: you deliver the whumperflies, they deliver the kudos. But the Star Wars universe presents you with unique opportunities for both hurting and healing your characters, which you can leverage them for juicy whump that’s Star Wars specific. That’s what we’re here to talk about today: the mechanics of hurt and healing in the Star Wars universe.

Today Ari ( @withalittlebitofwhump​ / @starwarswhump​ ) brings you a guide to writing whump and hurt/comfort in the Star Wars universe, covering everything from swearing to Sith lightning, blasters to bacta.

You can read “Writing Whump in a Galaxy Far, Far Away” ✨ here! ✨

For our first article this month, Ari ( @withalittlebitofwhump ) talks about fandom history, emailing strangers, the 40+ year history of whump as a fandom subgenre, what fandom history content Wince is looking for, and why they’re tired of reading about green blood for now, thank you very much.

Wince is a year old this issue -- a huge THANK YOU to everyone who’s been part of our journey over the last year!

Issue #4 is now live on WordPress. It includes a round-up of some of 2020′s best whump, an article by @the-wandering-whumper, and a piece by @kpimpinella on her upcoming whump-focused series. Make sure you read the editors’ letter, too -- we’ve got some news!

Happy whumping,

“What advice would you give to other folks interested in running an event like this?

If you’re worried it will be too much work; it probably won’t be.

Take any help that is offered and thank them profusely afterwards.

Choose a cute colour scheme. It makes everything more enjoyable.

Tumblr deleted my personal account for “adult content” (which I don’t post) and took all of my sideblogs, including my whump blog, with it.

I’ve contacted support about what caused them to delete my account, and hopefully they’ll restore everything and provide me with an explanation.

I don’t want to put on my tinfoil hat prematurely, but I am nervous that they might have terminated my account because of either my whump sideblog or my horror/folklore/true crime sideblog. If this turns out to be the case, I’ll be sure to let you know. In any case, now might be a good time to check your settings.