Let me introduce myself.
When I was a kid I loved creating stories and writing them down. I even won a few contests, but as an adult, while I never stopped telling myself stories I fell off of writing. Now I'm trying to get back into writing and the same goes for art. So, I've put together a project for myself with the following challenges: It's a big project, can I stick with it? I want to tackle some difficult subjects, can I manage them. There are a lot of characters, can I keep them distinct and consistent. And of course, can I write something anybody else actually wants to read? So far I've put in quite a bit of preliminary work and gotten a few drafts done, so, off to a good start. But it's tough writing in a vacuum. Every writer needs readers to give feedback, and that's what I'm hoping to attract here and thank you in advance. So what is my project?
Star Wars fan fiction, don't leave yet, hear me out. I'm not a Star Wars fan and I've never been interested in fan fiction, so this is an odd match. I did recently get into some Star Wars stuff and found that while I care very little for things like the Force, Jedi, or their rivalry with the Sith, I am absolutely fascinated with the clones. They are this mass of people that from start to end were just tragically screwed over and I wanted to dig into them and change a few things.
I'm writing an alternative timeline story. This place in the Star Wars canon is bookended and I'm not interested in taking the predestined path. If the entire project sees completion it'll be divided into 3 (possibly 4) books. Book 1 is set up like lost episodes of The Clone Wars TV series. A collection of short stories that would slot right in. However, I'm also writing them to stand on their own. Ideally, you wouldn't need to have watched either The Clone Wars or any Star Wars to enjoy them.
The story itself changes quite a bit as it goes and rather than try to summarize all of it, here's a summary for book 1. You can divide book 1 into two parts. The odd chapters are a collection of connected short stories that follow a woman of the Mandalorian people as she makes friends with a handful of the Republic's clone soldiers during a chance meeting. Initially wanting nothing to do with them, little by little she gets more involved with the clones as a whole and their peculiar and sometimes disturbing existence. It's a story of deepening friendships and fighting against a system of exploitation. It's also a story of loss and found family.
The even chapters are each a stand alone story focused on a single or small group of clones and their experiences. These stories will vary quite a bit.
In brief, there you have it. That's my writing project to challenge myself and see what I can do. It's actually more than just a writing project, as I also used to draw and that's another thing I fell off of. I plan to do illustrations to complete each chapter and if I get really ambitious, a comic panel here and there. In an idealized universe, this would be a graphic novel, but I know I'd never get
that done.
And that's it. So far I have a prologue and chapter 1 drafts done. I'm dropping my rough drafts on my neglected art blog here:
http://toomanycrayons.blogspot.com/
And once I've decided a draft is final and has at least a chapter illustration it'll go to a dedicated blog here:
https://otherstarsstory.blogspot.com/
That blog is obviously a work in progress itself but hey, I do have a drawing of a ship floor plan posted so, enjoy!
Edit: I should also mention that there are links embedded within the text of the story here and there that lead to YouTube videos that play music. If you like, you can play the music while reading that section of the story. One of the characters plays a musical instrument (A "xilin" aka a space violin). Some of the music is just for background accompaniment and others represent what she's playing.
