graculus | Reading

Title: From All The Spaces Between Times
Chapter: Chapter 61 — For We Are All Orphans of Hope and Survivors of Dreams
Author:

elrhiarhodan /

elrhiarhodan
Fandom: Star Wars, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars — Obi Wan Kenobi (TV), Star Wars — Jedi Apprentice Books
Characters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, The Force as a Sentient Character, Watto, Quinlan Vos, Padmé Amidala, Sabé, Darth Maul, Yoda, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia, Quinlan Vos, Professor Huyang, The Force, Plo Koon, Vokara Che, Siri Tachi, Aayla Secura, Bant Eerin, Bruck Chun, Xanatos du Crion, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Hego Damask II | Darth Plagueis, Komari Vosa, Bail Prestor Organa, Bail Antilles Prestor, Rael Averross, Nim Piana, Ahsoka Tano, Sifo-Dyas, Reva Sevander, Lene Kostana (mentioned), Savage Opress, Original Characters, Other Characters To Be Added
Pairings: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Shmi Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon Jinn (yes, we’re arrived)
Word Count: ~ 7600 this chapter
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None for this chapter.

Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has never known it, but he has always been the Force’s Champion, destined to suffer infinite sadness in defense of the Light. On his last turn on the wheel, responsibility for The Chosen One, the false child of prophecy, had been thrust upon him with no warning, and Darkness held the upper hand.

But this time, the Force has marshaled its power and will protect its Champion until the time is right, no matter how long Obi-Wan has to wait and how much he has to suffer.

Or,

Obi-Wan is reborn as a twelve-year old.

He wakes up on a slavers’ ship, with all of his prior life’s memories intact, and he’s bound for Tatooine with a Force-inhibitor collar around his neck, a bomb implanted in his spine, and no way of knowing what state of the Galaxy is in.

Just another day in the life of the Force’s Champion.

Chapter Summary: It’s time for the annual Senior Padawan Lightsaber Tournament! Obi-Wan has thought he’d wisely chosen not to enter the competition, instead offering to spar with his great-grandmaster, Yoda, in an exhibition of skill and style: Ataru versus Soresu.

Now, Obi-Wan stands at one end of the arena and tries not to freak out. What was he thinking? Challenge the Grand Master of the Order? To an Exhibition Spar? In front of all of these Jedi? Maybe he should just go back to Tatooine and sell used speeder parts for the rest of his very long life.

From All The Spaces Between Times — Chapter 61 — For We Are All Orphans of Hope and Survivors of Dreams (On AO3)

( Meta — For We Are All Orphans of Hope and Survivors of Dreams )

yhlee

Saying that the creative process of creation/conception for a story/novel MUST START with character/goal/motivation is complete fucking nonsense. You will usually need it in the END PRODUCT (modulo weird edge cases like Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men), but that doesn't have to be the inception.

cf. composing music, where this would be like saying to a composer: you MUST ALWAYS start FIRST with a melody or you MUST ALWAYS start FIRST with a harmonic progression or you MUST ALWAYS start FIRST with instrumentation etc. No??? You can start in any of a number of places and still wind up with music???

There are times you need to start with $XYZ because of the use case (if writing for a string quartet, that constrains your instrumentation, ranges, techniques).

But when writing music, I can START in ANY of these places (not a complete list) (and have done so at various points):

- instrumentation
- tempo
- time signature
- harmonic progression
- a rhythm
- a vibe
- key/mode/etc
- melody or leitmotif
- structure/form (e.g. theme and variations, ternary form)
- a transformation (e.g. diminution, retrograde)
- articulation(s) to feature
- trolling ("What if I rewrote Swan Lake's theme in 5/4?")
etc

You're not going to be able to tell which one from the RESULTING MUSIC as an end product.

For that matter, watching web/comic creators talk about story ideation is fascinating. A bunch of them start with "I drew this cool character, but who are they? what is their story?", which is absolutely not my process since I don't visualize, but it's a perfectly cromulent process!

yhlee

I committed a mini-album on Bandcamp of Trailures and Other Fiascoes (= "failure trailers"). Hybrid orchestra instrumental music because mopey foxmoth can't sing.

(I know voice lessons exist but for medical reasons, sore throat for over a year; singing is contraindicated.)

(This is accumulated composition/production from the past few months; I'm bowing out of a bunch of things currently due to ongoing health stuff. I don't want to discuss health details further, thanks!)

isis

What I've recently finished reading:

Europe at Midnight and Europe in Winter, the second and third of the Fractured Europe Sequence by Dave Hutchinson. The first was a reread (and again, I was surprised at how much I'd forgotten in the 10 years since I read it the first time), but I really enjoyed the SF aspect of

spoiler for the cool reveal at the end of the first book, which is explored in the second book

the Community existing as a private England overlaying Europe in another dimension; the idea of the map (somehow) becoming the territory is just fascinating!

The third book went into more detail about Rudi's family background, and about how the actual mechanism of [spoiler] is basically the biggest and most important secret in the world, and about the Coureurs and their function.

I actually requested this for Yuletide, and one of my prompts was "worldbuilding - what's happening in the US?" and...one character meets with someone who has a Texas passport, so, there's a whole lot hinted at by that tiny detail right there!

What I'm currently reading:

Europe at Dawn, the finale of the series. This one feels more like various vignettes set in this universe, though I expect everything will come together eventually. I do like how the Situations that the Coureurs handle are all matter-of-fact cloak-and-dagger: a woman walks up to our POV character and says something fairly banal, and he responds with a similar sentence; when she's gone, he finds a slip of paper in his pocket with the name of a hotel in another city; he goes there and checks in, and there's another slip of paper in the bedside Bible; he finds the car with the number plate on that paper and he gets in and drives across the border and leaves it in the parking lot of a certain cafe, then he takes the train home. It's all very mysterious! and fun! (and leaves me wondering why go to all that trouble to hide things in places in so many steps, but...)

(B is reading the Fourth Wing series and enjoying it. I'm kind of gobsmacked.)

What I started watching and abandoned:

The Fall of the House of Usher, which, okay I liked the transposition to a very modern gothic story about ~~the Sackler pharmaceutical empire~~ a family which developed and heavily marketed an extremely addictive opioid, but I am not a fan of horror and gore and shows in which everybody is a horrible person. We lasted 3 episodes.

What I'm watching now:

Season 3 of The Diplomat, which got off to a magnificent and twisty-turny start!

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3161/

Carefully maneuvering the balloon down a mineshaft in an effort to break the OTHER altitude record

https://xkcd.com/3161/

sineala

What I Just Finished Reading

Nothing. Such a surprise.

What I'm Reading Now

Comics Wednesday!

( Imperial #4, X-Vengers #1 )

What I'm Reading Next

No idea. So many books, so many migraines. Books are not happening.

Current Mood: tired

elrhiarhodan

Well, after 205+ years of loyal service, it has died.

I doubt anything I will purchase to replace it will last as long or function as well.

(And now I feel like my father as I say, "they don't make them like they used to...")

yhlee

A test batch to see how the colors come out. Next I start measuring out and doing this more systematically.

Three-ply handspun wool yarn.

sineala

Yeah, yeah, I finally get my brain together and it's a video game post. I'm doing the best I can, okay?

( I slew the Spire! )

Current Mood: dorky

yourlibrarian posting in

tv_talk

Laptop-TV combo with DVDs on top and smartphone on the desk

What makes for a memorable TV antagonist? Does any kind of redemption arc play into this?

nomelon

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

delphi

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3160/

It comes with a certificate of authenticity, which comes with a certificate of authenticity, which comes with a...

https://xkcd.com/3160/

susieboo posting in

fancake

Fandom: Hamlet (William Shakespeare)
Pairings/Characters: Ophelia, Hamlet, Laertes, Polonious, Claudius (genderflipped to Claudia), Gertrude, Fortinbras, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (genderflipped to Rosie and Goldie), Claudia/Gertrude
Rating: Teen
Length: 11,174
Creator Links: AO3 profile.
Themes: Uncommon Settings, IN SPACE, Murder Mystery, Alternate Ending

Summary: Hamlet in space, starring sensible and heroic Ophelia, genderswapped Claudius, clones Rosencrantz and Guilderstern and alien Fortinbras. (Alas, there are no sharks in space riding motorcycles, nor is there a time machine.) (Taken from AO3)

Reccer's notes: This is just an extremely well-done sci-fi take on the classic play, with Ophelia as the protagonist. I really enjoy the species changes to certain characters, and the way the author plays with the well-known story beats to create something unique. The author's notes at the end also have some interesting insights into the writing choices they made.

Fanwork links: Rosemary for Remembrance

cofax7

I posted this on Bluesky on Friday, so I guess I can cross-post it here.

( a wordy discussion about how you would actually accept private money to do a project affecting a public building )

delphi

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

feurioo posting in

tv_talk

Watch on YouTube

Six Feet Under
Laced with irony and dark situational humor, the show approaches the subject of death through the eyes of the Fisher family.
( More shows under the cut! )

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Gen
Length: 1133 & 700
Content Notes: No AO3 warnings apply. There are explicit details about a normal full-term delivery in Plus Ça Change.
Creator Links: toomuchplor on AO3
Themes: Uncommon settings, Friends to lovers, Complete AU: hospital, Humor

Summaries: Technically he *wasn’t* Dr. Sheppard, not for another two months, but it was standard for medical students to introduce themselves that way. It reassured the patients. It didn’t do anything for John’s sense of inner calm.

“Unh,” said McKay, and folded his arms under his face before flopping down again. The position pulled the sleeves of his scrubs top taut around his biceps. “If I hide here it’s harder for the interns to find me.”

Reccer's Notes: For a fandom rich in AUs, there are very few medical AUs in SGA. This is an excellent two-part series and I recommend reading it in reverse series order, as the second part is a prequel. In Plus Ça Change, John blunders into an unexpected ER situation as a 4th year medical student doing an ambulance ride-along, and meets Rodney, a medical resident. The other story, Living Will, is set 3 years later by which time they know each other well and John's an ER resident, Rodney now being chief medical resident. The stories are funny, with great characterisation and snark, and accurate medical details. Very much recommended!

Fanwork Links: Plus Ça Change, and Living Will

feurioo posting in

tv_talk

Assortment of black and white speech bubbles

Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?

yhlee

(cross-post with more technical details:

prototypediablerie)

Three-ply yarns where each single is a different wool variety since I was going through and spinning up some samples. Next up will be an experiment in dyeing.

Also, the next owner of this spinning wheel is going to have to live with the aftermarket addition of Warhammer 40,000 base magnets to hold the hecking orifice hook because I keep losing them (and having to DIY new ones out of paper clips - this works quite well and is easy but also, I'm running embarrassingly low on paper clips).