Fiction Tribune Report
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This Isn't the Report You're Looking For
This is last month's report. The site went down shortly after this was posted the first time so here it is again.
Also, since the site was down for so long and the competition details for August weren't available for that time, I'm going to extend the August comps to September 30th. August's comps were on a short string as it was so this will give everyone plenty of time to finish what they were working on or start something for one of the others.
Identify Yourself
I can't count your submissions if I can't figure out who you are. I ask for a basic ID line on the document name you send in for various competitions because it makes sorting all the entries easier and faster. Despite this, if I can at least figure out who you are from a signature line in your email I will and still count it. Unfortunately, someone sent me an entry that looked like one of those lottery scams from the King of Nigeria that contained zero info for me to figure out whose it was so it wasn't counted.
Also, if you can remember to put [Fiction] in your subject line my filter will pick it up. Makes it hard to see otherwise. Just take a second and make sure you get credit for your work. I appreciate it everyone.
The Ninth Great Jedi War
The story for this is tightening up. I feel like a less-gifted Peter Jackson as I'm writing the remaining plot updates and GJW 9 story simultaneously. Additionally, with the shift in focus to characters we can control in order to tell a better story, I'm crafting detailed histories and biographies for the new NPCs we'll be using. I'll also be fleshing out some returning NPC bios as well as adding bios for NPCs we've met already through the recent updates. Might take one of you up on the kind offers of help for that though.
We're also hopefully going to have a new kind of event that we came up with for GJW 8 but didn't have time or resources to implement. Muzunculus is heading up this project and it a) will be cool, and b) is something we've never seen in this club before.
Plot Updates Update
Writing the third update. Half-done maybe. It has an interesting theme (I hope) and contains some sexy items that will play into the GJW 9 story and should melt the faces of at least two of you. If anyone cares, here's an excerpt:
_Though environmentally controlled and sealed to the vacuum of space by a magcon field, the hangar stirred with an unnatural wind that rose to flush between the TIEs hanging above. Purple lightning arced wildly between the droids and gantries overhead. YVHs snapped and jerked as each was touched by the amethyst energy. Photoreceptors winked and skeletal digits reacted in spasm as dark power coursed through circuitry burning pathways to abilities never intended or imagined.
Before the maelstrom Muz did not stir. Still seated, the Prophet reacted only by slowly bringing his hands closer together. As the distance between his hands lessened, the storm engulfing the droids and the bay increased in intensity. The droidsÂ’ vocoders began to pop and scream under the strain in artificial protest as they were further charged with the dark side of the Force. A metallic cacophony rose to the ceiling as the YVHs jerked wildly with building fervor.*_
*All subject to change of course.
Try not to blow up our star system again, Krath.
Volunteers
I'd like to thank those of you who have contacted me with offers of help. Though I don't take everyone up on them, they are appreciated. Most of what I do is a one-Sith job but occassionally it's necessary to be reinforced.
The Armed Forces project has been staring me in the face uncompleted for a while now which bothers the hell out of me. I had to shelve it for a time to get on the GJW and interim plot updates so we know what we're looking at for events, timeline, labor, etc. Special thanks to Oberst for volunteering time to help me get some more articles built and conduct research.
I'll be plugging away at what remains to fill-in for the ground forces here and there between working on the plot updates and GJW.
July Competition Results
DoaC seemed to be popular. Interesting. Hopefully people are enjoying these.
** 1st Place - Ronovi 9676, Tarentum
2nd Place - Impetus 5951, Scholae Palatinae
3rd Place - Ric 3160, Scholae Palatinae
** Participation
Impetus 5951, Scholae Palatinae
Ric 3160, Scholae Palatinae
Kara 10057, Plagueis
Bal 10059, Plagueis
Ronovi 9676, Tarentum
Legorii 8893, Arcona
Halcyon 43, Taldryan
Alaric 91, Naga Sadow
** 1st Place - Troutrooper 7656, Tarentum
2nd Place - Alaric 91, Naga Sadow
3rd Place - Bal 10059, Plagueis
** Participation
Legorii 8893, Arcona
Alaric 91, Naga Sadow
Bal 10059, Plagueis
Troutrooper 7656, Tarentum
August/September Competitions
The end-dates for these competitions are now all September 30th so ignore the <strike>September 1st</strike> deadline listed in the competition details.
Reading
Read The Force Unleashed novel the other day. It was alright. A strong script from Haden Blackman received a fair treatment by author Sean Williams. Williams writes the story in the style I call "vanilla" (also known as "young adult") which many authors seem to adopt when writing outside of their own copyright work. This style does the job and seems to be what Lucasfilm prefers in order to appeal to the most readers.
The story starts slow and at just over 300 pages could have stood a bit more room to tell it all. You'll see where Williams hurries to "Force-write" through things that could have been interesting areas to explore. I won't spoil anything, but I was expecting an ending with greater consequences. It wasn't bad though.
My main issue with the story, and I knew what I was in for, is that it reads too much like playing the game it's based on. Following the apprentice from world to world is like going from level to level in the game. It's an obvious thing, but I would have liked to have seen the author do something to separate the genres here a bit. Strict adherance to the script was probably dictated to him from on high, but some variation would have been nice.
A few other problems exist where the apprentice retraces his steps to several of the primary locations in the story which seems to be due more to the limited worlds available in the game than a crucial story mechanic. Also, some minor characters--namely Maris Brood--receive only cursory treatment, yet have a huge impact on the story. It would seem they are victims of the theoretical Star Wars novel page-count limit I suspect is out there and shrewdly enforced. We've only seen a few of the novels go over 400 pages and I think the longest was Star by Star at 600'ish.
Granted, and sadly, not much out there in Star Wars is deserving of Wheel of Time-like page-counts, but some of the stories could use a little more room to flesh-out things and TFU is one of them. All this said, I'd still recommend reading it, but wait for paperback. Though the writing wasn't at the level we occasionally get to see in Star Wars, the events themselves make it worthwhile. So if you can wait, you'll get most of the story from the game next month or you can check out the graphic novel.
As has been said, the demo for TFU is outstanding. The game looks and feels phenomenal and the story behind the game is a good one. Pray to your gods for a multi-player patch down the road.
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