#um whatever

21. What aspect of your writing are you most proud of?

I don’t think you could have picked a question I found more difficult to answer. Um...something of my writing that I’m proud of. There are moments, or sentences that I think are particularly clever, or serendipitous, but as for an overall, consistent writing trait? 

You know, I’m gonna go with dialogue. I’m afraid once, two years ago, someone complimented me on my dialogue and I’ve been harbouring that kindness since. I don’t think I’m particularly clever - not like Sorkin, or fic writers like ruth baulding, for example, who just...elevate wit into a weapon - but I think it’s realistically sharp. I think I manage a line between things someone might have prepared, things they have come up with in the moment, and things that they stumble over and don’t quite manage to execute. 

So, yeah. I’m gonna say dialogue. But of course, you know, that’s entirely subjective and I’m sure lots of people disagree!

54. Favorite first line/opening you’ve written?

*opens AO3*

Um...Actually, this relates to something @treescape and I talk about/lament ALL THE TIME. We cannot start writing a fic - no matter how clear the story in our heads - until we have an opening line.

That’s not to say they’re any good - but that are  the things I think about probably most in writing.

“He takes the boy because, in the end, it’s the only thing to do.” 

This is probably my best realised opening sentence ever. Somehow, I managed to make it the first and last line of my multi-chapter Qui-Gon & Baby Obi-Wan AU that takes place over four years. The context could not be more different, but the line is basically the thesis of the piece. 

I guess, to wax poetic about this whole thing, one of the things I love about telling stories is the relationship between fate and choice, because choice in literature can only ever be an illusion - since the author is in charge - but even that is debatable, because so many times author’s talk about “the characters taking over”. Coupled with the fact that in SW there’s lots about prophecy vs. choices, and I think I really love the idea that fate is something we choose. We choose to follow fatelines because those choices appeal to us. Nothing is ever inevitable, but fate is attractive - not (exclusively) because it allows us to abdicate responsibility, but also because sometimes it offers us the realisation of our wants and needs.

So for this line, I think it speaks to the idea initially that Qui-Gon’s own morality requires him to intervene, and then in the end, he wants to. In both instances, he is helpless to resist something fated, but the motivation is different. Idk...I’ve got no conclusions about it. I just think it’s an interesting dichotomy.

But on that note, I think my favourite opening line right now comes from my short Korkie & Obi-Wan fic Away the Vapour Flew

“He holds out his hand, and waits.”

It’s simple. It’s expectant. It’s patient. It’s direct. I think it really sums up all the things about Obi-Wan, and by extension, his son. It is an open hand. The offer is there, but there is no demand. The onus is on the other person to give whatever they wish.