Saturday, November 10, 2012

Inspiration

As many of you know, I have been in a fanfic drought lately.  I have moved residence and jobs and have had zero free time.  Just this past week, however, I found some time to catch up on a few of my favorite sites:  Blue Milk Special and an assortment of the F*&% Yeah tumblrs just to name a few. 

I then sat down and wrote, in fairly short order, two short stories.  Both are surrounding Leia in her teen years before A New Hope would've taken place.  I shared the stories with Zyra, as I always do, and she wondered what had inspired me to write about that era.  I thought about it and it was definitely a picture of a young Carrie Fisher on the F%$# Yeah Carrie Fisher tumblr.  I told Zyra that and she mused how funny it can be where we get our inspiration from. 

Anyway, all of that was a lead-in so I can ask:  Where do you (if you write or draw or what-have-you) find your inspiration?  Or where is the strangest place that you have stumbled upon some inspiration?  

I'll share first, my inspiration from this week.  First the pic:






Then the stories.  My initial inspiration was a story with Bail and Leia doing some training or something but when fingers went to keyboard, this came out (be warned, this has not been beta'd for grammar or anything else for that matter):


I Know
Alderaan – 4 BBY

“Yes, but how do you know?”

Leia shrugged. “I just…know.” Like I know not to ask about my real parents. She never understood it, but she had also never questioned it. It was an innate ability she had always had, like the way Winter could remember everything. It didn’t have to or couldn’t be explained. Her mother seemed uneasy with her response. She excelled at making her mother uneasy. Leia shuffled on her feet. “Can I go now?”

Her mother studied her, like she was one of those puzzles Bail would bring back from a business trip. Then her eyes softened and the edges of her mouth ticked up in a smile. Leia’s insides flushed with warmth and she took two steps and engulfed her mother in a tight hug, burying her head against her chest. Breha immediately reciprocated, stroking Leia’s hair and kissing her on the top of the head as she whispered, “Oh, my precious daughter.”

The words were laced with a sorrow Leia was all too familiar with but, yet again, had never understood. It’s as if I have a terminal illness they’re not telling me about. She had even discussed her suspicions with Winter, who had wholly dismissed the idea as preposterous. Of course, Winter also thought that those deportment lessons were fun.

“It’s not for me to understand, my sweet Leia,” her mother said as she began to pull away. Leia looked up to her mother, her chin lifted just a tad as she continued to catch up to her petite mother’s height. Breha cupped Leia’s chin in her hand, her eyes puddles of liquid warmth. “Always trust your heart,” she said emphatically.

Leia swallowed. Bail may very well have served as a more prominent figure in her life in the eyes of many, but Leia admired and trusted her mother just as implicitly.

Breha took a breath and continued, “Sometimes, just knowing…is more than enough.”

“I know, Mother,” she replied seriously and then instantly smiled at the unintended drollness of her response.

Breha’s eyes lit with humor and mischief. Leia always enjoyed seeing this side of her royal mother. “Yes,” she responded lightly as she released Leia’s chin. “Just as I know you just can’t help yourself sometimes.”

“I was being serious,” Leia returned in a half-argument, half-pout yet total playfulness. She’s right, I can’t help it.

“Go,” her mother replied, indicating the doorway as the older woman returned to her work. “You’ll be late and your father will worry.”

“I love you, Mother,” Leia said. Once again she felt a warmth blossom in her belly. Quiet, intimate moments with Breha Organa were hard to come by, even for her own daughter. For as much as politics and travel took Bail away from her, obligations and unseen worries took her mother even further and more often. She cherished unexpected times such as these where the two of them were able to be simply a mother and daughter. Of course, they happened so rarely, that it was an old habit of Leia’s to try and drag them out as long as possible.

Breha stopped. “I love you, too, Leia,” she replied warmly in silent understanding. But then her eyes widened and she put on her no-more-arguments-about-this face and added, “Now go.”

Leia beamed. Somehow her mother always made her feel loved and understood even when it was very clear that in some ways she didn’t understand her at all. I don’t know what I would do without her, she thought as she turned on her heel and scampered out the door. 

****

Okay, I don't know how a story about Bail turned into that, but I kinda liked it anyway.  Afterward, however, I had to set my fingers back on the keys until this came out (again, no beta...):

Leia's Laugh
Alderaan – 2 BBY

Bail Organa watched as the shadows stretched lazily against the rolling hills of the Organa Estate. He held his arms out wide and yawned in imitation. His eyes drifted back towards the sound of blaster fire over his right shoulder just in time to see the intended target explode. The shot was good, better than he probably could've done, but it was a little late. “That was perfect,” he said, his stomach growling as his mind wandered to what might be happening in the large kitchen up at the main house.

“I hesitated,” his daughter returned grumpily as she checked the charge on her blaster and summoned the target droid for another round.

“C'mon, Leia, sweetheart. It's getting late, you'll barely be able to see the targets.”

His daughter turned toward him swiftly, that familiar determined look on her face. “And how many ambushes have you heard about that happened in broad daylight?”

He raised his hands in surrender. “Point. But I'm hungry. Even the best trained soldiers know when to stop and eat.”

“One more round?” She asked, her wide eyes absolutely impossible to say no to.

“One more round,” Bail conceded with a proud smile.

Nearly every family in their circle of friends trained their children in basic combat techniques and self-defense. For most, the daughters proved difficult students at best. Typical girls were more interested in learning how to braid their hair extravagantly then how to handle an assortment of blasters. But his Leia was different.

Driven would be the one word to describe her. As he watched her fire off another round, Bail was secretly grateful. He shuddered to think what his life would be like if he had had to force this training onto his daughter every step of the way. Because for his family, for his daughter in particular, this wasn't just some silly precaution. For her it would be all too real.

Everyone assumed it was due to his rumored role in the Rebellion against the Empire that Bail trained his daughter so. That is why when Leia opted for interrogation training over a fancy party, no one raised an eyebrow. It provided an excellent cover. Leia's talents could very well be tested someday as the Rebellion gained momentum, he had to admit, but that was not the test that Bail had spent his entire life preparing her for.

We'll take the girl. He had said those words all those years ago. He could still hear his voice perfectly as he spoke them, could smell the sterile air of the hospital board room where they had sat, could feel the prickle against the back of his neck as he realized that this was something bigger than he had ever taken on before. Little did I know.

Being a father was bigger than Bail had ever anticipated. He had no idea that love could be so boundless. And the more he watched her grow, the more he saw that she was prepared and ready and that the time was most assuredly drawing near, the more he begged for time to stand still.

“Hellooo. Alderaan to base command?”

Bail blinked and found Leia staring at him, her blasters packed away and the target droid ambling off toward the back of the estate. “That was much better,” he sputtered with an easy smile as he pulled Leia under the crux of his arm and began to lead her toward the house.

“You're a terrible liar, Bail Organa.  And I thought only really old, old men could fall asleep standing up.”

“I wasn't sleeping. I was deep in thought.”

“About me,” Leia stated.

Bail hugged her to him. He learned long ago not to be surprised by her perceptiveness. “What else is there?” He asked and she laughed as Bail shut his eyes briefly, cherishing that glorious sound.


                                                                                  ****

I have to say it felt really good to write after such a long time!  Now feel free to comment (or not).  No pressure here.  None at all.  :-)

14 comments:

  1. Very nice Push. Those are really cute and a timeframe we don't see much of. That was so sweet how Bail wanted time to stand still. And can that picture of Carrie be any cuter? Geez, she looks so young.

    Inspiration seems to strike me from anywhere. Watching the movies, certain songs, comics. Playing with my Lego Death Star was probably the oddest place. If you take a good look at my avatar you may notice a slight wardrobe malfunction. :)

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  2. Very nice. I like these moments of her "real" life. Especially the hints and references toward her parentage and Force sense. Great photo too. Thanks for posting.

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  3. Aww, what sweet little stories. I like how you emphasise just how much Leia is loved and how close she is to her adoptive parents. I like the second story in particular, and how Leia would rather mess around with blasters than do what the other girls do. This is typical Leia, I totally see her being like that. Thanks for sharing these.

    Carrie is just cute as a button on that pic, isn't she?

    Oh, and Push, we missed you.... :)

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  4. You always surprise me with how you come up with such unique ideas seemingly out of nowhere. I love that just a picture can being that out from you. You do a great job in both pieces of setting the scene and putting us right where we need to be without having to be overly descriptive and waste words there. It's nice to see her get to have a good relationship with her parents and this may be the only thing I've ever read that has Leia interacting with her adoptive mother and I really enjoyed that. But there is a lot of truth to that twinge of sadness at both of them knowing that so much more lies ahead for her that she doesn't know yet, and I love that she is perceptive enough to be able to see that. And her wondering if she has some terminal disease that she's not being told about is probably the perfect way to describe it.

    Great job on these and I hope you write more soon, we've missed it! (says the girl who also hasn't written in months, but hey....)

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  5. These stories are so nice. Especially the one from Bail's perspective. SO sweet :)

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  6. Loved both of these stories. The stories gave the impression that we were getting a glimpse of our future Leia through the eyes of the people who love her enough to alternately admire and worry what will come ahead for her.

    I've always wondered about Leia's parents. The people that raised her had to be very interesting. They knew who she was biologically but saw her potential and made her into the strong force of a woman that we love. I know that the prequels were supposed to be Anakin's story, but I would have loved more Bail and Breha.

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  7. Very "her" and I really enjoy the change in "scenery" as it were. Utterly fantastic!

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  8. Thanks everyone for commenting. Amara shared where she got her inspiration from. What about you guys? And it could just be something that made you say "Hmmm, I wish someone would write a story about that..." :-)

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  9. Oh, my inspiration? It's hard to say, really. Lately, nowhere ;) I don't think pictures usually spark stories for me. Not saying never, I just don't recall that being the case. For me, often out of nowhere I'll think of one small line or scene or one really simple situation that is going to require a way larger story to go around it. Like, for what I just sent you, I just pictured a cute little scene, but there isn't anything more to it than that.

    Obviously on occasion inspiration can stem from a book. Not just filling in missing moments, but one of my stories was inspired by my wondering how Han would react if Leia had to tell him about what happened between her and Prince Xizor in Shadows of the Empire. Some of my sillier stories are probably indirectly more like sitcom episodes than anything.

    Looking at my list of stories now, I can't really think of a lot of specific sources of inspiration. It's more the urge to write hits and I then need to come up with something to write about, so I do. This is probably why I haven't written anything in so long!

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  10. Can't really say too much about inspiration, I am just starting out with this writing lark, so haven't had much experience yet.

    But my story Afterglow started off with just two lines of dialogue and they were in my head for a long long time. Didn't think I would ever do anything with them, even though I wanted too. Didn't think I could ever actually write something. The big lightning bolt of inspiration that prompted me to get writing was a few months back when there was a spate of really really awful fics over at ff.net. At this stage I'd like to reassure everyone here that these fics were not written by anyone who has ever posted on this blog. Anyway, these stories were so bad that I thought to myself, "You know what, you can do so much better." And I decided I would finally have a go at writing.

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  11. Well, I haven't written anything in a while so not a lot of inspiration hitting me lately but every now and then I watch an interesting storyline on tv and wonder how it could apply to the SW universe, especially everyones fav couple. For example, I got the idea to write entries in Han and Leia's wedding guestbook after an episode of Sex and the City in which Miranda is put in charge of a guestbook, much to her dismay. Not so much a plot as a plot device (??) but hey, it inspired me :)
    Looking back on the few stories I've written, they were inspired by other stories I had read. Everyone likes to put their own spin on things ;)

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  12. First I must apologize for not commenting in a timely fashion. Real life has gotten the better of me for a few months now and it's going to continue to do so for some time to come. I've been very distracted and It has been hard to get back into my Han/Leia fandom. I feel a bit guilty about that. I haven't been on ff.net since summer. I enjoyed these stories though, especially the second one. I liked that Bail called Leia sweetheart, nice bit of foreshadowing. Thanks for sharing. Oh, inspiration, how I love thee. A song, a trip, a book, the way the wind blows through the leaves, sights, smells, sounds, colors, poetry and generally my own questions or thoughts in my brain of how things should be have all served as inspiration. I guess one of my strangest sources of inspiration for writing came to me when I was vacuuming, dust swirling around the clear vacuum container reminded me of Han being stuck in the sandstorm in Tatooine Ghost. I stopped vacuuming and jotted down a story on a pad of paper. It was hours before I finished vacuuming that day.

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  13. Thanks for sharing your inspiration stories. Gotta say I love that vacuum inspiration! Awesome.

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  14. Push! I loved these, younger Leia is an interesting thing to read. I especially liked the last one.

    Inspiration...I think most of the time, and it isn't often, it comes from just reading other people's work. I did once get an idea from some ridiculous rap song my friend was making me listen to in the car.

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