#graciecatfamilyband

[lajulie24]

For the fanfic writers ask- would you mind answering R: Which writers (fanfic or otherwise) do you consider the biggest influence on you and your writing?

R. Which writers (fanfic or otherwise) do you consider the biggest influence on you and your writing?

This is a really interesting question! For writing outside fandom, I would say bell hooks (whose mind just continually amazed and challenged me, and whose writing was both lyrical and accessible, I wish she were still with us), Sylvia Plath (The Bell Jar is wickedly funny even as it is heartbreaking), Sandra Cisneros (her poetry is funny and powerful and beautiful and truthful all at once), and various other poets or essay writers (Naomi Shihab Nye, Elizabeth Bishop, Adrienne Maree Brown, Lindy West). Anne Lamott has great advice about how to get out of your own damn way for writing, though ironically I am not a fan of her novels. My beloved Carrie Fisher sort of straddles the fandom and non-fandom worlds, and I’ve enjoyed her novels but her memoirs and essays are the things that have most influenced me.

For fandom writers, I’m going to start with some commercial Star Wars writers, because I think writing in the GFFA is sort of a different beast. Of the commercial writers, I especially love Claudia Gray (big fan of Leia, Princess of Alderaan, less so of Bloodline though it’s still well-written), Martha Wells (who really has a great sense of Leia’s character), and Rebecca Roanhorse (Resistance Reborn is SO GOOD, somehow managing to make the events of The Last Jedi make any kind of narrative sense as well as bringing some characters I LOVED back in believable and in-character ways). Aaron Allston’s X-Wing novels helped me get to know the Rogues and the Wraiths, and really do this great mix of action and character arcs that I strive for when I’m writing fic — he creates worlds that are so full and the characters feel fully realized too.

I feel like just about everyone who writes and shares HanLeia fanfic has influenced me and my writing in some way. I joined Tumblr so I could read more of @madame-alexandra ‘s snippets and fics on a regular basis. Bouncing ideas around with folks like @otterandterrier, @organanation, @graciecatfamilyband, @yoyomarules, @soloorganaas, and others has been incredibly influential. I blame @drinkupthesunrise (in the most grateful possible way) for my affection for Wedge Antilles and the Rogues, and for my Luke/Wedge shipping. Reading @chancecraz’s fics has caused me to think about Leia and the galaxy in brand new ways (and also to cry about droids damnit), and introduced me to @this-acuteneurosis’s Don’t Look Back series which shows what one can do with a mix of politics and relationships and the Force and so much more in the GFFA. And I’m not kidding about other folks influencing me — every time I read a different person’s perspective on the Rebellion, or on Leia’s state of mind, or on how Han’s past has influenced his approach to life, or Han and Leia’s interactions, or how Luke fits into everything, or different takes on our heroes’ sexuality or gender identity, or mental health, or what would happen IF, I feel like I have a better sense of who these characters are to me, and what’s possible.

Wow, that was long-winded. Thank you for your patience, and for the ask!

Fanfic writer ask meme

#ask lajulie #fanfic writer ask meme #writing influences #writing #bell hooks #sylvia plath #sandra cisneros #naomi shihab nye #elizabeth bishop #adrienne maree brown #lindy west #claudia gray #martha wells #rebecca roanhorse #aaron allston #madame-alexandra #otterandterrier #organanation #graciecatfamilyband #yoyomarules #soloorganaas #drinkupthesunrise #chancecraz #this acuteneurosis #anne lamott #carrie fisher #whew that was a lot #thank you for the ask! #diplomaticprincess

[clonerightsagenda]

graciecatfamilyband said: I need to reread the whole ending to make sure I’m getting it! Respectfully re main tagging: VERY few people are talking about these books/the tags are pretty empty, so rambling thoughts aren’t going-aren’t annoying, they’re the only we thing we have 😂

I am still overcoming an aversion to main tagging after some unpleasant experiences years ago but I am trying to get back into it. However especially if I am trying to draw conclusions about characters' identities that I don't share, I want to be reasonably sure I'm not talking out of my ass before I start posting too much about it. Need to ponder more.... marinate...

#graciecatfamilyband #I feel you though part of why I'm pushing myself to tag stuff again is going in tags and going where is the stuff I want to see #be what you wish to see in the world etc etc #replies #I really need to read both books back to back I think #perhaps next time I have a thriftbooks giftcard I shall purchase them

[autistichansolo]

11, 12, 19

thanks!

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

probably Gideon the Ninth; it was so good and led me to read the rest that's out.

12. Any books that disappointed you?

I can't think of any that I've read this year

19. Did you use your library?

I got one book but didn't get around to reading before returning it bc of got busy with school. But I also used the library to study when I had to take my sister to soccer practice bc it was right by it (and did get a library card as well so yay)

#graciecatfamilyband #thanks for asking

[contrivedcoincidences6]

10 Favorite Songs

Thank you @virtie333 for the tag!

So I am TERRIBLE with favorite anythings so I’m just going to do what my current favorites are. They change all the time but here are songs I’ve always loved and songs I’m currently obsessed with. 

1. Heartache by Relient K

2. Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac

3. Cold War by Janelle Monáe

4. It Keeps Us Dancing by The Family Crest

5. Local Construction by Relient K

6. Spillways by Ghost

7. Faith by Semler

8. Turn to Stone by ELO 

9. Running on Empty by Jackson Browne

10. Sparks by The Family Crest

No pressure tag: @alittlemissfit @sunflowerseedsandscience @soloorganaas @otterandterrier @lajulie24 @organanation @graciecatfamilyband @cyb3rpeach

#tag game

[ultramarineorchid]

9 People You Want To Know Better

Thanks for tagging me @cypanache

Last Song: "When Doves Cry" by Prince

Currently Watching: Um, am I? I guess I have a dream of eventually finishing all the seasons of Brooklyn 99.

Currently Reading: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Current Obsession: Barbie of course! And finishing a few fics I've been working on for ages-- stay tuned!

@liam-summers @otterandterrierwrites @1000-alshain @heidzlouise @graciecatfamilyband @vic3456 @nicolos @obsidianpen @obiwaned

#tagging game

[otterandterrier]

Don't you have several old Halloween fics? Do you think you could perhaps compile a list? Please🙏

I do have a threesome of Halloween-inspired Han/Leia fics! 😊

Like creatures of myth 👹 A few years after the Battle of Endor, Han and Leia, now married, face a different type of challenge - hosting their own All Hallows' Eve party.

Superstition ain’t the way 🐈 Han Solo was not a superstitious man. Yet it was now the third time he spotted the black Tooka crossing Leia’s path… right before something bad happened. 

Hungry hearts, Ch. IV. Kimeln's kisses 👻 This one involves a Halloween-y celebration, shared sweets, shared memories and UST.

Fourth one to be added soon 🧟😉

Thanks for asking!!

#han x leia #hanleia #han and leia #my fanfiction #sw #graciecatfamilyband #asks

[graciecatfamilyband]

Gracie and Squeaker think you're doing great. @lady-la-luna-of-the-omniverse @absolutely-feral (@ all the rest of y'all's too)

#graciecatfamilyband #squeaker cat #cat pics

[counterspelling]

12, 20, 28

12. Which character would you be friends with? Padme, Ahsoka, Leia, Han, Luke, Jaina, Winter, Saba, Shada... I want to befriend all of them

20. What type of pet would you have? I collected all the nekarr in swtor and I love them, but the akk dogs are good too, and orokeets and the wampa cub is super cute

28. If you could stop one character from doing one thing, who would it be and why? Anakin.......... my dude............. please just sit and wait, for the love of god......... just sit!!! I PROMISE you do not need to commit genocide against the jedi. Where was Qui-gon telling him to stay when we needed him

#graciecatfamilyband #organasoloskywalker asks

[lajulie24]

For the ask game?

27. How long did it take to write Won’t Do? Describe the process. (Since it’s still in process, maybe how long per chapter?)

27. How long did it take to write One Half Won’t Do? Describe the process. (Since it’s still in process, maybe how long per chapter?)

*laughs maniacally for a moment*

So, One Half Won’t Do was originally born from an idea I had in September 2019. Yes, you read that correctly. Four years ago. I can’t believe it either sometimes. So the story of writing this fic (so far, it’s not done yet, hopefully I will get the next chapter done soon) is the story of several things, in part that whole global pandemmie thing really making it difficult to concentrate or get much writing done for a long while there, but mostly the story of a pretty good idea for a oneshot completely breaking containment.

(Apologies in advance, I get kind of wordy when I talk about these things. If it threatens to get super long I’ll put some of this behind a cut.)

So anyway, at that time @hanleiachallenge was doing a monthly prompt, and people would write fics inspired by that prompt and they would reblog them. Kind of like HanLeia Week but a monthly single prompt thing. The prompt that inspired this fic was “tropes.” My fic tends to be fairly trope-y anyway, so I was looking for something different, and came up with, what about fake marriage with a bit of a twist? Usually when Han and Leia have a UST-filled time because they are pretending to be a couple but (ostensibly) aren’t, it’s the outside world who is fooled by the ruse and notice what a great couple they make, but all their friends back at the Rebellion know they’re not REALLY an official couple. What if, instead, Han and Leia had gotten fake married for a mission, but for REASONS even their closest friends didn’t know it wasn’t real, and totally bought that they’d really gotten married? And maybe they had to keep pretending for a while? So really the first thing I came up with was Chewie and Luke assuming they really HAD gotten married and being royally pissed off that they weren’t included and had to find out from rumors on base.

I talked with fellow writer @amilynh and bounced some ideas off of her, and she helped me think through an actual reason why they would keep pretending once they got back from the mission, and how they would end up on the mission in the first place, and how to include Chewie and Luke being surprised but then make it so that they could be part of a very tiny circle of beings who knew the truth. And I started writing, and it was going great…and I got my first clue that this fic was going to expand. I wrote about Leia and Han on the actual mission where they get married (or their aliases do) but Leia started having a lot of feelings about being dressed in wedding attire and cultural traditions and the like.

So that fall I think I finished most of the first chapter as well as some scenes that ended up later chapters, although at that time it was all one big chapter. I thought it was just going to be a long one-chapter fic. But I was realizing that I didn’t have the scenes I wanted quite filled out enough to actually finish and post it yet, and I did have a sort of natural stopping place that was pretty much ready. So I asked some other writer friends (including @graciecatfamilyband) what they thought, and I was kind of itching to post something anyway, so when they said “you should post the first part and make it a two-chapter fic” I listened. That was winter 2019-2020.

Each time I have posted a chapter of this fic, I have thought, “the next chapter will be the last, I will finally wrap it up then.”

Some scenes I wrote pretty early on haven’t shown up until much, much later in the fic — for instance, some version of “Han does a desperate search of the random junk in his ship storage because he told the Rogues he gave Leia a Corellian wedding stone and now needs to show them the stone” was written around the same time I posted the first chapter. Other things, like a scene with Rieekan telling Han that his bounty recently went up, weren’t written until very soon before I posted that chapter.

Chapter 1 was probably the most straightforward writing experience; subsequent chapters have taken a while because I would have 80-90% of the chapter written, but there was just a scene or a few that I needed to connect things and have a satisfying narrative, and writing those last few scenes would take me a couple of months (off and on). I had the concept for “the Rogues want to throw Han and Leia a wedding reception on base” pretty early on, but it took a while to connect that to the rest of the story and lead into why that would come up, and I ended up editing it a lot.

I have at least some of the ending already written. I know how this fic ends. The tricky part is getting from where I am to there. Perhaps in the next chapter? (See above GIF.)

Anyway, the good news is that I really enjoy writing this one, and already have a good start on the next chapter. And the encouraging comments and support do really help with the motivation! So thank you.

Thank you for the ask!

Questions for fic writers

#ask lajulie #questions for fic writers #writing process #one half won’t do #diplomaticprincess #thank you for the ask!

[clonerightsagenda]

graciecatfamilyband

As well as those of us who use the audiobooks!

I can imagine. I don't do a lot of audiobooks, but I listen to a book review podcast where one of the people usually listens to the books and is constantly getting blindsided by content left out of the audio version.

#graciecatfamilyband

[cblgblog]

I haven’t decided whether to watch Ratched yet (or if I have the time), but I crave lesbian Sarah Paulson, so your reblogs are feeding my soul!

It is a hot mess of Ryan Murphy psychosis and lesbianism--such great lesbianism. Doesn’t even remotely work as a prequel to the source material. Batcrap insane. Cohesive narrative structure? The hell is that?

Highly recommend it, if you can find the time. If not, feel free to come back here. I’ll be reblogging the hell out of the lesbians for the foreseeable future.

#ratched spoilers #graciecatfamilyband

[sarahisatotalgeek]

Anne with an E, Matthew, Mrs. Barry

Ooh thanks again!

Alright right off the bat, I'm gonna have to kill Mrs. Barry. She drives me absolutely bonkers.

Okay kiss/kin is difficult here, so I'm gonna say a kiss on the cheek is what this shall be...

Hmm...

I am very similar to Anne, so you would think I would pick kin, but... tbh... I'm gonna kiss Anne on the cheek.

So that then...

I can kin Matthew because wow I wish I could be as wholesome and wonderful as him.

So yeah there we go! Thanks for the ask, @graciecatfamilyband 🥰

#anne with an e #anne shirley cuthbert #matthew cuthbert #mrs barry #netflix #ask game #graciecatfamilyband

[izloveshorses]

Hey there! Do you know or have the full lyrics to the Hartford version of "Crossing a Bridge"? I can't quite make out what comes after "Halfway between all I’ve lost / And all I’m learning" It's like ... "All of the something something something of someone returning"? (Re: Anastasia the musical, obviously)

Thank you for asking! These lyrics, predictably, were actually stuck in my head earlier today lol. I believe it’s “All of the hope and the cost / of someone returning” 

Here’s an audio on youtube with the lyrics in the description!

#crossing a bridge #anastasia broadway #asks #graciecatfamilyband #I love how talking about crossing a bridge and Hartford is my brand now aaskfsdjf #I'm ALWAYS down to discuss this #thank u for coming to me with this question!

[otterandterrier]

Hello!! THIS IS A TUMBLR ✨HUG ✨ PASS IT ON TO YOUR 10 FAVORITE FOLLOWERS

#graciecatfamilyband #asks

[hanorganaas]

You choose: Cara Dunne or Shara Bey

Cara Dunne....shes a whole ass mood

#graciecatfamilyband #nor talks to followers