#knamil

[depizan]

Some questions for you!

Fandom questions: Is Star Wars the only fandom you write for? Have you tried any others?

SWTOR questions: Why did you pick the smuggler/agent to interact the most in your stories? If you were to rank the canon class stories 1-8 with 1 being the best, where would those two class stories rank. Your Fic questions: Which characters are the easiest to write for? Is there a specific decision/scene you're struggling with now that's killing the inspiration? Do you still draw?

Oop, this got kind of long.

Fandom:

Star Wars is the only fandom I've written for. Unless you count the crossover between Star Wars and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers I wrote a million years ago back in high school, before I knew fanfic was a thing. (Mad science caused portals between universes, I think? It was a verrrrry long time ago.)

Though, I have done a few one-off "how things could've gone" things when discussing fiction on line that got detailed enough to count as fanfic. At least one for Narnia did.

SWTOR:

Kyrian, Jezari, and Savler were the first characters I created when I started playing, so they were the first characters who really became characters. And when it came to fic, Kyrian and Jezari were set up nicely to continue interacting. (Granted, that would be true of Jezari and Savler as well, since I created them as friends.) They also ended up being the right kind of characters for the kind of stories I usually write.

I'm going to rank Agent as 1. It basically nailed it on all counts. It had a solid idea and themes and executed them well. The story feels like a coherent whole, feels Star Warsy without duplicating any existing Star Wars thing, and has enough give in it for the player to shift the tone a bit depending on their choices. It also feels like there's room for a really broad variety of characters as the Agent. (I admit it helps that the nature of the story leaves a lot of room for why your character says what they do.) It's not flawless, but most of my complaints also apply to the game as a whole, and even where it could have been better, it never drops below decent/good.

Smuggler is...oh god, how do I rank the Smuggler story? The only thing it nails consistently is tone. Everything else is a hot mess. That said, I find it more enjoyable to play than some of the stories that are more coherent. And it does feel like Star Wars, so the worst I could rank it would be a 7. Also, its best moments are quite good. It's just that it has no focus, doesn't seem to know what it's doing most of the time, has too many "we did this just because Han Solo" bits, and has some other bits that are absolute WTFery. Also, while I haven't played a male!Smuggler, watching YouTubes of it makes me never want to. I don't know. I guess we average things and call it a 5.

Fic:

Jezari and Kyrian (another reason why they feature in fic so much).

I think my general tendency to second guess everything is most of what's killing my inspiration. Though, wrecking Kyrian's life has made things a little more of a challenge, both because that ended one source of tension and because the usual paths back from that sort of thing (for fictional characters) aren't right for him. (Also it makes the Empire a scarier threat. Damn, they really could kill you horribly. Which, I mean, nothing actually changed. It just the weird effect going even mildly "reality ensues" has on things.)

Technically, I still draw. I just don't very often. I stopped long enough that I'm all squidgy about starting up again. Though I did draw my character for a coworkers one-shot D&D game:

#asks #knamil #Mac vs writing #I draw #Mac vs swtor

[kmlaney]

Writer ask meme: 4, 7, 17!

replies to this post.

4: What are some of your favorite tropes?

Answered here.

7: What was the first novel you ever tried to write? If you’ve never tried to write a novel, then what was the first story you ever wrote?

Oh wow. I think one of the earliest things was some kind of fantasy thing that involved tolkienesque wraiths and time travel. I remember a sci-fi thing with complicated biology and planetbuilding, heavily influenced by a book whose title I can’t even guess at now. There was a post-apocalyptic world where a certain group of people developed into what I can best describe as mechanically-assisted bats, living in the remains of tall buildings and/or mesas/cliff dwellings. There was a space colony world that played out as fantasy (a la The Dragonriders of Pern) with some strange customs and biology based on stuff the early colonists did and later generations forgot why; assassins were central for some reason.

17: How far along are you in your current WIP? How long have you been working on it?

I have a first draft of Skyfallen; I’ve been working on that for just over a year now. My drafts are usually pretty clean but this one isn’t so there are a lot of scenes I need to fill in and finish. It’s slightly under 150,000 words, not including character and setting notes. In the interim I finished two character backgrounds for TTRPG games and one for a new WoW character (curse you, WotLK classic).

#knamil #kmlaney writes #kmlaney replies #kmlaney characters #writer ask meme

[knamil]

Stasis Comic! Start | Previous

Happy Star Wars Day!

Notes below the cut. Captions are still in script form, but I have added them to the image description instead as a test.

We have come to the end of the bits and pieces that belong to the cut companion quest content that was datamined a long time ago. In the cut content Lord Irjil offers the Jedi something in exchange for not destroying the Stasis Cell and the Jedi can make choices. This is obviously different and will only get more different from here on out, it's just that I will no longer be borrowing dialog or characters from cut content.

I have no idea what Lord Irjil was supposed to look like, but I hope you enjoy this little shit I concocted as much as I do.

Sorry for the cliff hanger, this thing is going to be a series of cliff hangers 4 pages at a time.

Thanks for reading. May the Fourth be with you!

#swtor #lord scourge #knamil stasis comic #oc: remi #may the fourth be with you #long post #knamil tries to make comics #knamil art class #jedi knight class spoilers

[clevermird]

tag game whee!!!

thanks for the tag @datamodel-of-disaster

1) Are you named after anyone?

First name, no, my parents specifically picked it out because they didn't know anybody named that. My middle name is a family name, though. As for my username, Mird is in fact the name of a character, Lord Mirdalan the hunting strill from the Star Wars: Republic Commando novels.

2) When was the last time you cried?

Actually crying, about a month and a half ago and in response to something very painful in my real life (I'm okay). Just tearing up a little bit? Earlier this week; I was reading a really sad scene I'd written and getting a little too into it, lol.

3) Do you have kids?

I do not.

4) What sports do you play/have you played?

I am terrible at sports, lol. My mom went through a phase where we signed up for all different kinds of sports trying to find one I liked, but none of them (swimming, baseball, basketball, gymnastics) stuck. I loved horseback riding and did that for a few years but it got too expensive to keep up and I gave up archery for lack of space when I started uni. Is running a sport? I run now.

5) Do you use sarcasm?

Sometimes. I'm one of those autists who's like "look at me! I use sarcasm! I understand things!" and then someone is sarcastic with me and suddenly I'm freaking out because I'm not sure if they're serious or not.

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

I'm honestly not sure. Their hair and clothes, I guess? That feels so shallow, but I'm bad with vibes.

7. What's your eye colour?

A surprisingly intense blue.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Both? It depends on my mood, how scary, or how happy.

9. Any talents?

I like to think I'm a pretty good writer and have a decent natural understanding of the English language. I also like to think I'm a pretty decent artist, but I'm not sure how much of that is talent and how much is just being unwilling to accept that I'm not talented at it and continuing to press it :P Um. I guess I'm pretty good at organizing and I *know* I'm a pretty good cook.

10. Where were you born?

The United States of America. More specific than that, I'd rather not say.

11. What are your hobbies?

Too many :P Reading, writing, tabletop roleplaying games, drawing, sewing. Sometimes I play video games or watch anime.

12. Do you have any pets?

I have three rats. Their names are Mavra, Lara, and Bianca and they are sisters.

13. How tall are you?

5'2" (if you're American, Liberian, or Burmese) or 157cm (if you're anywhere else in the world.

14. Favourite subject in school?

Science and Drama

15. Dream job?

Hmm. Five years ago, I would have said "molecular biologist" hands-down, but now I'm not so sure. Not sure if that hesitancy is due to the career being a bad fit for me or if the bad experiences I've had in my last job are tainting my impression. I guess I need to get back on the horse, so to speak, and see how I do in another take before I make a final call. If not, not sure what I'd want to do.

I honestly think I'd make a good bartender.

tagging @dandelionsandderivatives @kmlaney and @knamil - but please don't feel obligated! Also, if anyone wants to and hasn't been tagged yet, feel free

#mirdmusings #answered #about the strill

[dragonologist-phd]

Writing Process ask: 21-25!

thank you!!

21. What kind of story are you writing right now (or planning to write soon)?

I have too many WIPs’ but my latest is an AU I’m very excited about, inspired by me binging a podcast on a long drive and getting way too sucked into it. it’s different than stuff I’ve written before so we’ll see how long the inspiration blast lasts but I’m having fun so far!

22. Give me your most favorite line (or paragraph/dialogue) that you’ve written recently.

Hmm...I am partial to this bit of banter from Of Diamonds And Dust:

“You’ve already got your scheming face on, I can tell.”

Marja scoffs at that. “I never scheme. It’s called strategizing.”

“And just what’s the difference?” Alistair asks with a laugh, and Marja can’t help but smile in return.

“Intention.”

Marja and Alistair bonded much quicker than I thought and I love it!

23. Is your story top secret or are you posting updates for it as you go?

No secrets! I do try not to Spoil things, but I’m always open to any questions about my WIPs!

24. Madlibs time for one of your current works: When [plot instigating event] happens, [Name of protagonist(s)] [action verbs] to [goal], but will [pronoun] succeed when [antagonist] [action verbs in opposition]?

When Lilith’s boss tries to kill her, Lilith invokes dangerous magic to commit treason, but will lightning success when Tunon stabs her with a dagger?

25. Free space. Tell me anything you want about writing in general or one of your stories.

ummmm let’s see...

my current WIP (the podcast-inspired one) is one that I haven’t talked about yet because I’m nervous I’ll never actually post it and I have Zero Plot for it but I have so many ideas. I’ve already started writing things and I may just venture forward without Plot and see how that turns out...

I do have some vague ideas of what I want, but there’s a lot of missing links between Point A and Point Z. But I like the ideas I have so far!

Writing Process Asks

#thanks for the ask! #rambling about writing #knamil

[brightephemera]

knamil replied to your post: Any recommendations for hosting a single HTML/JS...

I don’t know of any that are free forever, though there might be some node.js ones (not sure what your app is like). Would your project work by just bundling it into a zip so people can run it locally?

OP

That's an option. It's just a dumb chart with some mouseover interaction, and it loses a lot of value if I image-ize it and put it on an image hosting service, hence looking for other options.

#replies #knamil #bright think tank

[tatiletotesamaze]

knamil replied to your post: You know it’s going well when you get shot and...

I accept this statement as is and I never want to have any context.

it’s how life is going at the moment XD

#knamil

[milanigrey]

#12 (talent/skill) #22 (tattoos/piercings/etc unique features) for Nari!

12. Is there some particular talent, skill, or attribute that they simply could not give up?Her martial skills, hands down. Her ability to fight is life and death, for her.22. What kind of tattoos, piercings, birthmarks, freckles, and other such unique physical features do they have?Nari as she sits in canon right now only really has her white hair. Her (retired, with a wife and kids) Jedi AU counterpart has.. several piercings and tattoos that she was finally able to indulge herself in. 

#narithia islingr #ask and ye shall receive #ask meme #knamil

[frauzet]

knamil replied to your post: I made a mistake. I played my female Ciner today. ...

Would that mean female Thorns too? :D :D :D

Did you know @depizan mentioned AUs multiplying? :D  I actually thought about it. Thorns being female, would mean Nikeo being female either. And either I’d let Iolith be male, or everybody Empire-side would just be flirting with Smilo. I wonder who would kill Kaliyo... And if Iolith were male she wouldn’t have married Kilran.

#replies #knamil

[folkhorrorrevival]

Hunter's Moon by knamil on deviantart

[timeforelfnonsense]

Artists I love!

I wanted to put up a little list of some artist I love on here. This by no means every amazing person on here but just a few of my faves who I think deserve some love! Please feel free to reblog and add more folx! It’s so important to recognize the work folx do to make fandoms beautiful!

@ladylike-foxes

@lyrium-lovesong

@rennybu

@mooreaux

@plushchimera

@timmys-and-scribbles

@jilljoycearts

@knamil

@feyore

@ib-gomes

@savbakk

#artist love

[depizan]

Oh, you know, the usual. ... I was going to list a bunch of things, but they really all boil down to a deep seated sense that what I like is wrong and I should be doing something else instead. Which is what killed writing for me the first time.

Also, the longer I don't talk about writing and art (and the longer I don't do either of those things), the weirder it feels to try and talk about it, since I'm not doing it. And it all just becomes a self sustaining loop of nothing.

Fun.

#Mac vs writing #@knamil

[kmlaney]

word ask meme: cultivate, decay, and barren

In order, as they appear in WIP

Cultivate. Zero. Zero? Having written almost 140,000 words of story (excluding background material and folklore) I’m surprised “cultivate” does not occur even once.

Decay. Six instances of decay, which quite frankly I thought would be higher:

Dying didn't do my teeth any favors and in my present state of decay it’s surprising I haven’t lost more already. 

It resumes rolling around me leaving bits of scribbly smoke in its wake that decay away to nothingness. 

Neither of my arms are restrained, but I don’t know that I can move them. I’m too decayed.

I’m not as decayed as I was, but I’m still a sight, and too ripe for the booze to mask.

“Is that dead or not?” I press. Sounds to me like either an intact undecayed corpse, or alive again, which is even less likely.

<The town is in ruins and all the people dead. No bodies (they’re gone and decayed) and she’s only able to piece together part of the story.>

Barren. Also zero. I’m shocked at this one, honestly. It feels like there should be at least one. I even checked a few places where it would fit, and lo and behold the search function works. Zero.

#kmlaney fiction #kmlaney replies #bad luck phil #knamil #wip ask meme #mistlands #skyfallen

[knamil]

Spoilers for the Jedi Knight story.

Filter if you don't want to see this ever again: #knamil stasis comic

This story takes place not long after the main Jedi Knight story ends. This is an AU Comic because nothing that was released after initial story launch (Makeb onward and esp not KOTFE KOTET are considered "true" for this universe.)

Notes and captions below the cut.

I wrote the story for this in 2014 and I'm using it as a basis to follow along with an art class I'm auditing. It's inspired by companion content that was originally cut from the game, but was datamined and posted online. If you've never seen it, there was supposed to be a quest where you can help Lord Scourge get his feelings back.

I don't know how to write captions for a comic so I'm including the script as a caption.

If there is a standard way to caption comics for screen readers, msg me and I will do my best.

Conventions used

IM: stands for Internal Monologue. Scourge’s internal monologue appears in black boxes with red text and red outline.

Speech bubbles are rounded white bubbles with black text and black outline.

Setting descriptions/general captions are blue boxes with black outline and black text.

The script labels each image as a page. Each panel will have a short description of the picture then the dialog within the panel.

Begin script

Page 1 Scourge kneeling in a cell meditating. Red forcefields surround him. Title: Stasis Part I (by knamil)

Page 2 Caption: Coruscant Holding Cells - 86 Days After the Emperor’s Defeat (A.E.D.)

Panel 1 Scourge is kneeling in his cell meditating. The frame shows a partial profile of his face. One of his eyes are open. A figure is shown walking toward him. Behind the figure are closed doors.

SCOURGE IM: The Medic. Interesting.

Panel 2 A head portrait of Doc

Caption: Archiban “Doc” Kimble

DOC Hey Scourge. How��s it going?

Panel 3 Scourge is kneeling in his cell looking at the floor. He says nothing. Doc stands in front of the cell facing Scourge

DOC Just seein’ if you need anything. Maybe you want to chat? Have a little heart to heart. You know?

Panel 4 Scourge looks up.

Panel 5 Doc is looking down at Scourge. The back wall of the holding facility can be seen behind him.

Panel 6 Closer focus on Scourge.

SCOURGE Tell me, Doctor… has the Jedi stopped screaming yet?

Page 3 Panel 1 Doc looks angry

Panel 2 Doc looks sad

Panel 3 Doc looks resigned

DOC I don’t know.

Panel 4 The Jedi is on a surgery table. Machinery and tubes cover her abdomen. A breathing mask covers her mouth. Her eyes are squeezed shut in an expression of pain.

DOC They kicked me out two days ago. Her wounds won’t close. The bleeding won’t stop.

They’re rerouting half her organs with cybernetics just to keep her alive.

Panel 5 Doc leans over to sit on the floor.

DOC I heard they put you in here because you wouldn’t talk when you brought her in.

I don’t understand why you won’t tell us what’s happening to her.

Panel 6 Scourge still kneels in his cell.

SCOURGE Because there is nothing in your limited understanding of the Force and its potential that can help her.

Panel 7 Doc is sitting on the floor on the other side of the force field facing Scourge.

DOC Can you?

SCOURGE No.

Panel 8 Close up view of Scourge. He looks down.

SCOURGE The ritual may not be undone.

IM: It would mean the end of everything.

End Script

#swtor #lord scourge #knamil stasis comic #oc: remi #long post #knamil tries to make comics #knamil art class #swtor jedi knight spoilers

[brightephemera]

knamil replied to your photoset: Not-Vette, making herself comfortable. Here’s the...

does Larr hit it off right away with T7 or does it take time for her to warm up to him?

She was nonplussed for the first five minutes, because droids are for cleaning and hitting with training blades...why is one being sociable? But he likes almost everything she does! In game she tampered with his memory to paper over an unpopular decision. I'm uncomfortable with that decision, not sure whether I'll use it yet. Droid self-determination has always been this weird spot in Star Wars.

So approval was not instant, but pretty fast.

#replies #knamil #OC: larr gith #the great kotda reenactment

[frauzet]

depizan replied to your post: In my opinion, good people tend to believe in...

Kind of two options there: they’ve been kicked in the teeth by life a lot, or they, too, do the kicking.

The first option is why I at least try to not form an opinion until I got to know people better. Bad stuff happens to good people.

But it’s not so much about people kicking. I mean, assholes are assholes, and many of those are rather easy to spot unless they are good actors. Observe how people treat cashiers or cleaners and you will learn a lot about them. It’s more about people suspecting dishonest intentions of others. For instance, I know people who suspect Syrian refugees to come here for the sole purpose of exploiting our social security system (the lack of empathy is mind-boggling to me). I know those same people cheated the system themselves.

knamil replied to your post: In my opinion, good people tend to believe in...

why?

It’s human to project our own behavior onto others.

I don’t cheat when I play board games. I don’t suspect everyone else does without catching them cheating. I know people who cheat at board games. Most of them suspect others cheat as well.

I know life isn’t black and white. Yet often it is about the beam in our own eye. I certainly have a lot of room for improvement left myself :)

#replies #frauzet's life