From the Archives: Your Writing Style

This post originally appeared HERE on November 8, 2011

A while ago Push asked me if I thought it was possible for someone to change their writing style. I don't know why that question popped into my head this morning but I thought writing styles would be a good topic of discussion. My answer in this case was yes, but it was probably going to take a lot more conscious thought and effort than just writing like you usually write. But let's start somewhere else.

So, what is writing style? It's basically just generally the way you, personally write. You could take three people and tell them to write the same scene and it could be done in a completely different way because they each have a different writing style. I mean, just look at the quickie challenge, for example.* Many of you pointed out how Push's writing has a certain flow to it, and I can't put my finger on it either, but it is just the style in which she writes. She also tends to use analogies, which isn't something that comes naturally to me. My favorite example of this, and this has stuck in my head for seriously like a year, was when she had Han coming home and Leia wasn't feeling well, and she said the tissues were strewn on the bed around her as though they were Jabba's minions. I still love that.**

My own writing is pretty straight forward and I rarely seem to come up with those sort of melodic sentences or paragraphs, but it's clear and concise and I'm at least pretty sure it gets the point across. Digs I'll use as another example because I've read her stuff before she posts, and she has her own style as well. Again, I can't really describe it, but it is uniquely her and I'd probably have a good chance of guessing she was the one who wrote something even if I didn't know.

So, how do you come up with your own style? I'd say you really don't. Write however comes naturally. You may wind up having to make some changes along the way that take some practice, but once you practice for a bit, that comes naturally, too. By that, I mean, like sentence structure. I was awful at varying sentence structure when I first started doing this, until someone pointed it out to me. It was all, "He did this. She did that. They went there." It's just very awkward to read if you start every sentence with your subject. Just varying it a tiny bit: "Later, they went there." Or, "After finishing cleaning up, she saw him." As opposed to, "She cleaned up and then she saw him. They went there later." Both get the same information across but by varying the sentences a bit it just makes it a little nicer to read. That is not to say you can never, ever have two similarly structured sentences in a row. This was just an example. And sometimes it is even a style choice to do so in order to get the point across. Like, say: "He wanted her. He needed her. He loved her." So once again, not a rule without room for some interpretation, just something to look out for.

It's funny, but sometimes you have to watch out when you read something in a particular style that really stuck out for you and then go to write something yourself you may find yourself somewhat mimicking the style. I think when Push asked me that question she was curious because she felt like she was getting too descriptive and wordy in her writing. I haven't felt she's crossed the line into too much (or if I did in something of hers I was reading, I told her) but sometimes we can get caught up in looking at what we perceive as flaws in our writing. I think she said when she first started this she wasn't all that descriptive, so she made a conscious effort to be descriptive until it just became her natural style of writing. I don't think there's anything wrong with this. Well, if you start to have like, seven adjectives in a row, then maybe you're getting too descriptive. But she uses it in a way that just really sets the scene for our readers. Even in the quickie challenge, which was quite short, we all had a very clear picture of where they were.

A lot of us maybe have writing tendencies that we have to watch out for because they might not be the best way to go. I find myself starting a lot of sentences with, "S/he only hoped that..." or, "Fortunately..." or, "Of course..." I don't know why. I do it all the time.*** Not just writing my stories, but in these blog posts, in e-mails I write to friends, everywhere! Again, it's not that it's wrong to start sentences that way, I just have to make sure that I don't do it too much within a story to the point where it gets noticeable and annoying to the reader.

So, again, can you change your style? I think yes. But I also think that you will still always have an inherent way that you would prefer writing, even if you try to push those instincts down and write another way. I'm sure I could write something that used a lot more interesting words and stuff you might have to use the dictionary to look up (I would have to first) but I don't think that with time that would become my preferred way to write. That said, sometimes you do have to make some changes, such as me with the sentence structure thing, in order for your 'style' to be worth reading. Those sorts of things can be changed with practice, and I'd also like to think that I've worked at it enough that it is not the case.

Whatever your style, I'd say you should do your best to just embrace it as your style. We are all our own worst critics and just recently I was saying how my writing is too straight forward and utilitarian, and Push was like, "Ugh, my stuff is too flowery and wordy!" Opposite problems, obviously, and while we feel that way about our own stuff, we were both quite complimentary to each other and saying that we're not "too" anything. It seems more like we each want to steal just a little bit of each other's style in order to balance ourselves out :)****

Style is tricky to pick out sometimes and at least to me even tougher to describe, but if it's something you've never noticed before, I'd encourage you to pay more attention the next time you're reading and think about whatever writing style you've been using.

2017 notes:

*The quickie challenge is tagged in the sidebar, literally just a bunch of stories of Han and Leia having quickie sex. So, enjoy. 

**I still think this is one of the most clever analogies I've ever read.

***And I still do this all the time, I can't seem to stop.

****In doing more reading of actual published books it has become apparent to me that lots of authors have very different styles. Some write in very interesting ways that are pleasant to read. Others write more straight forward like I do. Both ways get the story across, so it's ok to be more like one than the other and not feel "less than" if you aren't writing in some other way you think you "should" be writing.

One final note, one of the most unique writing styles I've come across is the late, great Carrie Fisher. I have never read anything from anyone who writes quite like she does. It's so unique to her that I don't think that it could be replicated. But I also think that life would be boring if everyone wrote like her. So, embrace your style and write the way you write.

From the Archives: "Canon" Things I Choose to Ignore

This post originally appeared HERE on March 12, 2012

 

Han's hand is being very sneaky while Leia isn't looking...

We all have them. There are things that George has added to "enhance" the Star Wars universe to make it "better" except to most of us they do the exact opposite so we choose to completely ignore their existence. I find it funny how riled up we get when he changes things and makes them wrong, especially since as I've said before, this is a fantasy world and we can really all believe whatever we choose to believe. Most of these things are from the prequels and the books but some are definitely from changes he has made to the original trilogy. There is nothing in the original original trilogy that I do not see as absolute truth. But now a list of things I refuse to believe ever happened/existed:

1. Han not shooting first. We know he did. Obi Wan is allowed to chop a guy's arm off after a little shoving match but Han can't blast Greedo before he knows he's about to be blown away? It's been said before and I'll say it again: Han shot first.

2. Midichlorians. Even in my first, naively hopeful viewing of Episode I, I came awfully close to audibly groaning at the thought that you could measure Force sensitivity by some sort of micro-organisms floating around in your blood that some people have and some people don't. It should be mysterious and undetectable, just an innate ability. Not any additional crap in your blood stream. So to me, they do not exist.

3. Luke and Leia's mother died in childbirth because she "lost the will to live." Sure, Leia totally got her incredible strength from a woman who gives up and lets herself die for no reason just because a man left her, even though she now has two children. I'd be fine if she had died in childbirth of actual medical complications, but this is ridiculous. Although to be honest I still can't decide if I like the childbirth thing better or the idea that Leia actually does remember her a little, and her dying.

4. Bria. Nope. She never existed. Han had some women, you know he did. But in my own head he was never even close to being in love before he met Leia.

5. Anakin and Jacen's deaths. Han and Leia's children live long, long lives and they don't have to witness anything but their weddings, children, triumphs, etc.

6. To go along with the above, Jacen turning to the dark side. He instead grows up to be a pretty decent guy.

7. Almost anything that has to do with COPL. Han and Leia do not wait four years to get married. No prince shows up, Leia doesn't almost fall in love with someone else or treat Han like crap. Just... no.

8. Han and Leia not raising their own kids. I'm not going to get into a debate here about how many kids they have, whether it's twins, whether Leia would name one Anakin because for whatever reason those particular facts don't bother me like they bother a lot of other people. But, whatever children they have, they make every effort to be parents to without having someone else raise them.

9. Similar to #8, sending their children off to some remote planet for the first two years of their lives. That's just insanity.

10. Ewoks blinking.

11. Darth Vader screaming, "Nooooooo!!!!!" He does not do that ever, in any of the movies, for any reason.

12. Leia totally immersing herself in work and ignoring her family. She works, sure, but she has plenty of time to be a wife and mother.

13. Han and Leia spending most of their time apart. In my eyes, they actually spend the majority of their time together after marriage. And before, really.

14. Luke falling in love with a woman inside a computer.

15. Mara getting killed. I know, why should I care? But come on, as much as Han and Leia didn't deserve for their children to get killed, Luke didn't deserve to lose his wife, either.

16. Luke and Leia's parents having a ridiculously cheesy "romance" and spouting off nauseating lines to each other such as, "Your beauty is intoxicating." Yuck.

17. The existence of Jar Jar Binks.

18. Qui Gon Jinn teaching Obi Wan. Seriously, didn't Yoda say he taught Obi Wan? Why did all of these things get changed?

19. Chewie's death.

20. Anything else bad that happens to any of them.

Please add on if you see fit to do so. I'm sure there are more things that we all like to think never "actually" happened.

2017 notes:

Obviously there are FAR too many things that are now "canon" that I am choosing to ignore, I think it would take up too much time for me to type them all up.

All the "Celebrity Cameos" in the Union Comic

I have been wanting to share this for other people to see for a very long time. The following comes from the Union comic. For those of you who are unaware, this comic featured Luke and Mara's wedding and the events leading up to it. Yes, Luke and Mara got a whole illustrated comic just for their wedding, and Han and Leia got 2 paragraphs at the end of the worst book ever. Well, what can you do? This is probably the closest thing in "official" canon (or ex-canon now, I guess) to fanfic I think. I mean there is a whole scene with all the ladies hanging out and chatting at a spa.

But, truthfully, the thing that stuck out the most to me when reading this was all of these pictures that look exactly like several well known celebrities. And there is no way that it was an accident. So, here are all of the ones I noticed, although there could very well be some I missed!

Oprah

 Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber

 Jack Nicholson

 Steve Buscemi

 Nicolas Cage

 Bruce Willis

 Tommy Lee Jones

 Paul Simon

And I'm also putting this here just because it is one of my favorite things.

And now these are unrelated, but from the graphic novels of the Zahn trilogy, just some panels I think are cute and wanted to share:

Because who doesn't want to see Han and Leia in the delivery room for the twins? 

I like this a lot too, she just wants him to hold her 

Ok so their faces are kind of ridiculous here but I still think it's sweet that Han is sweating too and right there with her.

 The aftermath, left to hold their babies for the first time.

 And then later on when they have the babies at home.

 This is right after she puts the baby down, and I just think it's sweet even if it doesn't look that much like them.

And hey, look, they're actually sleeping together!

Edited additions:

Here is Han quickly waking up and realizing he needs his blaster and his clothes

Here they are reuniting after Han was away for a little bit

 

Here they are holding hands

 

And one last one just because I thought it was cute how she is leaning over him with her hand on his shoulder. It's hard to see the hand in this but trust me, it's there

Ok this concludes my random assortment of comic stuff for you today. Mostly I just really wanted to show you guys the celebrities in the comic, because there is no way that is a coincidence for most of them.

From the Archives: Why Them?

This post originally appeared HERE on December 19, 2011

Have you ever sat around and wondered, why am I so obsessed with these two? Let's get past the fact that, as evidenced by the above picture, they are just so darn adorable (and Harrison is super hot) and consider some other reasons. I find it interesting for me personally that I am so into this onscreen couple, or any onscreen couple because romance and chick flicks are not really my usual forte. That is not to say that they have anything to do with a chick flick, but if I'm looking for a movie to watch, I'm more likely to reach for something with Bruce Willis than Julia Roberts, and that's not because I think Bruce is hot, it's just because Die Hard is awesome. Speaking of which, I need to watch that soon since it's a Christmas movie...*

Anyway, the point is, I don't sit around swooning over love stories. I don't read romance novels. I don't give a crap about Edward/Jacob and Bella or soap operas or anything like that. I very rarely take a look at fanfic in any other genre, and even when I do, it takes me about half a page before I decide to stop wasting my time. That's probably a good thing, because I don't really need any other ways to completely waste time. Actually, looking back on things, there have been very few couples I cared about in movies or TV. Maybe Winnie Cooper and Kevin Arnold, but not really.** Definitely Zack and Kelly on Saved By the Bell, whose relationship was actually even more mature than Han and Leia as depicted in COPL. Clark Kent and Lois Lane, though mostly from the TV show Lois and Clark. And maybe for a very brief time Mulder and Scully. But none of these inspire me to write fanfic or even to bother reading it.

So, why Han and Leia? Maybe it's because there are just so many reasons to love them and so few reasons not to. It's a couple I've seen on screen since I was probably two or three years old. Of course at that point in time I didn't really care about romance or anything like that as I was more interested in robots and space ships and lightsabers, but they've just been a part of my consciousness since I got one.

Each one of them on their own is already awesome. Han kicks ass, doesn't take crap from anyone, speaks his mind, flies a really cool spaceship and has a Wookiee for a best friend. Leia is one of the strongest female characters ever depicted in the history of cinema. I took film history in college so I have even more authority to say that. She's strong, she's a leader, she doesn't back down in the face of adversity, fights for what she believes in and she doesn't need a man in order to feel complete. They're both independent people who certainly weren't looking for love when they found it. That's probably what makes a lot of other couples boring, the movie starts with one or both of them lamenting how horribly lonely they are and they can't find a boy/girlfriend or blah, blah, blah.

With Han and Leia, it was really, really inconvenient to fall in love when they did but they couldn't help it. It's also just a less obvious, mushy sort of romance. I love the subtlety. Han is not going to spout poetry or go off on Leia's incredible beauty, he's probably just going to kiss her. You know you only have to go watch the prequels if you want an example of overdone, bad romance. I think there's a lot of stuff that people say in romantic comedies that at the time the audience might swoon over, but if some guy said that to you in real life you'd either laugh or think he was some crazy stalker.

It also maybe helps that their romance is not the focal point of the movies. They both have more going on in their lives than worrying about falling in love. They're well rounded characters with a lot to offer each other and everyone else. They work incredibly well as a team in the face of adversity.

And let's face it, the actors who played them, along with being so good looking, had amazing chemistry. There are plenty of movies out there where you have the romantic leads, and they're both good actors and their acting is fine but there's just something missing that makes you not believe them as a couple. I mean, whether or not you think there may have been something going on behind the scenes between Carrie and Harrison, when those two are on screen being Han and Leia you can't imagine them having a platonic relationship.***

I don't know, they're both just such great characters on their own and such great characters together. They're a more interesting couple because their relationship starts out so volatile and they have such strong personalities and there's something about seeing that they wouldn't just love each other, but respect and admire each other for who they are.

I could go on, I'm sure, but I want to leave room for some ideas from the rest of you. Why do you love these guys so much? Why do you put all of this effort into reading and/or writing about them?

2017 Footnotes:

*Obviously it's not Christmas right now, but Die Hard is always a good movie choice.

**It's only been a little over 5 years but I really have no idea how or why I pulled Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper out right there. I guess because at some point I did care whether they ended up together? But it was all G-rated, and I have for sure never even thought to look up fanfic about that.

***Well now we all know how that turned out. So clearly there was some real chemistry off screen to a point. Whether or not that truly made a difference in their performances is still anyone's guess, but there was absolutely chemistry that is rarely replicated elsewhere.

From the Archives: They Don't All Have to Be Amazing

This post originally appeared HERE on July 5, 2011

This post is inspired by something that Push and I were talking about earlier. Now, of course we should all strive to write the best possible stories we can write. At the very least make sure that everything is spelled correctly, the format is easy to read and your grammar and punctuation are correct. Also desirable is writing people in character and having a funny, sad or interesting story to tell, no matter how epic or how short.

If you look at any writer's body of work, chances are not everything they write is going to be amazing. That's not to say that the lesser pieces have to be terrible, but if we all resigned ourselves to only writing amazing, incredible stories then most of us probably wouldn't spend a whole lot of time writing. I'd love for every idea I come up with to be one of those attention-grabbing, unique, epic pieces that people just can't get enough of. But that's probably not all that likely to happen. Sure, it might happen once or twice, but nobody can churn out that kind of thing one after another.

So the trick is to get over it and just keep writing. Accept things for what they are and if you have an idea you think might be fun to write, but maybe you know before you even write it that it's not going to be some incredibly compelling story, go ahead and write it anyway. And share it if you want to. That's not to say you must share every little thing you write, but maybe you don't have to be so hung up on what people will think and hope that they understand just as you do that it is what it is.*

I'm still trying to come up with some amazing story idea but it hasn't happened yet.** Come on, guys, I have one story that is 1700 words of Leia coming home to find Han in the tub.*** That's pretty much it. You think I wrote that one night because I thought it would be award-winning literature? Um, no. I wrote it because I was bored, I had a silly, fun idea that I thought maybe some people might enjoy a silly, fun read and hopefully it did not damage my reputation too much.**** I love writing, I felt like writing, that was what came to me, so I wrote it.

I think this kind of thing can be especially crippling if you have just finished something that you actually considered to be pretty high quality. You can't think of anything right away that might top it, so you don't write anything. My best advice is just to get over it and not take it too seriously. I've felt the same thing myself in the past and realized there's no real reason to dwell on it. Sure, we get reviews and stuff, but there are not major literary critics out there to tell everyone that we're past our peak. It's all in good fun and we shouldn't lose sight of that.

There are Oscar-winning writers out there who wrote incredible movies and sometimes wrote some less memorable ones. It's okay. It happens. It's just like how sometimes I want to watch The Shawshank Redemption but then other times I'm more in the mood to watch Old School. Do you think I'm deluded enough to think that Old School is a better movie? No, but they can't all be Shawshank and that doesn't mean we can't totally enjoy laughing at Will Ferrell being Frank the Tank.*****

So again, do the best you can do with your writing, but don't let that internal critic stop you before you even start. Don't be afraid to write something just because you don't think it will be 'good enough.' Otherwise you'll be out of practice when you do come up with a good idea or you'll wind up giving up entirely. And sometimes the bad ideas can lead to the good ideas, so don't stop writing!

 

2017 Footnotes:

 

*I'm still much in favor of writing if you have an idea, even if you have no intent to share it. It's very freeing.

 

**And nearly 6 years later, still no fantastic, epic ideas.

 

***It's true, I really do have a story where the entire plot is just Leia coming home and finding Han in the tub.

 

****This is amusing because I don't really have a reputation.

*****And I think we can all agree that there are plenty of times that Old School is just going to be more entertaining than The Shawshank Redemption.

Guest Review of 2016 Han Solo Graphic Novel by OtterAndTerrier

Guest Review: 2016 Han Solo Graphic Novel

Because I refuse to give up hope, I was very excited last year when I learned Han would have his own comic volume/graphic novel, like Leia had. First of all, because he deserves it, and second because of the potential Han/Leia interaction that might be included in it. Okay, maybe that was the main reason. I hope the rest of you are interested in this, because overall I really liked… well, everything. The art and the story, but mostly, how they treated Han individually and his relationship with Leia pre-ESB. Below is why.

*SPOILER ALERT* This review contains spoilers, written and graphic. If you wish to take a chance and find everything out by yourself, skip it. But if you want to have something to base your decision on, I think the comic will still be enjoyable when/if you decide to read it.

***

The story is set not long after ANH. Han has “taken a step back” from the Rebellion: he and Chewie are on their own looking for smuggling jobs so he can pay off Jabba. From this I infer that he ended up not taking the rebels’ money for rescuing Leia. It’s also implied that he didn’t just take off, but actually told the rebels where he was going and why, and there was the understanding that he would come back afterwards:

Han: I told you I needed time to take care of what I owe Jabba.

Leia: We've given you enough time. If you couldn't earn what you needed by now, then you're not as good a smuggler as you say you are.

I’ve jumped forward here, but this was to say that the comic doesn’t imply that Han was done with the Rebellion. The story, in fact, starts with Han nursing a drink in a sort of bar, scouting for a good run. The problem is, he’s rejected plenty of jobs so far because something doesn’t feel right. Even for the job he’s being offered right now, he has an excuse; the alien offering it says Han is “getting picky”, “lost his nerve” and is “getting cold feet”. Han knows he’s being unreasonable and that he should start taking these jobs before they start going low on fuel and credits, but he can’t pin down what is it that feels wrong, and why.

While he’s in the middle of these reflections, he notices someone he remembers seeing on the last planet he was at, which he says isn’t a good thing, so he runs---and is intercepted by a blaster on his head. Both the man pointing at him and humanoid he recognized say they have been following him and that they have business to discuss. They lead Han somewhere Chewie is already at, but it seems like Chewie knows these guys. In response to Han’s questions, a holovid of Leia plays, saying she needs his help.

They tell him they need the Falcon, but not Han, to what Han obviously doesn’t react too well. And I get that: it’s not a racing car; it’s his home and his source of income. Why would he let some people he doesn’t know take it from him? These two rebels confront him saying that, unlike him, they are loyal to the Rebellion and nothing else. Han defends himself by saying he could have left during the battle of Yavin, but he came back, so to him that’s loyalty. In the end, because he isn’t taking any job after all, he agrees to go back to the rebel fleet to hear Leia himself. The “thought boxes” through this comic are priceless: they show as much character exploration as you can see in good fanfiction, so that’s obviously something I loved. As we see him getting there and meeting Leia, we get this:

I only joined the Rebellion to make a quick buck. After I'd paid off my mark I kept thinking Chewie and I would get in the Falcon and keep going. But I didn't. Maybe I'm as dumb as she says I look. Or maybe something's changed.

We have some expected arguing here, with good reason:

They meet with the Head of Security and Intelligence for the Rebellion who doesn’t shy away from insulting Han despite never having met him. He refers to Han as if he’s causing trouble for not just giving up his ship for this classified mission he, a non-declared rebel, is being left out of. How unreasonable! Leia vouches for him saying that they don’t have time, that they need the ship, and that she knows Han can do it. She’s not very flattering to him, but I think it fits the timeline. They finally tell him about the mission: there’s a network of spies in Imperial systems that have very important information, but they are being murdered and only three are left, so they need to pick them up before it’s too late. Here’s the trick, though: they need to use a ship and pilot who aren’t officially part of the Rebellion because there’s a mole, and they need a good cover as to why this ship is in those systems (this is sort of confusing--if they need someone “external”, why were they insisting they only needed the ship, not Han? Who else was going to fly it?) The cover is flying the Dragon Void Run, a galaxy-wide famous, dangerous race: they would rendezvous with the spies in the three planets the race passes by while pretending to be competing.

Now, the part that really annoyed me:

Ouch! The next page shows us this dialogue:

Leia: You're not welcome here, you foulmouthed freen fleecer! Get off this ship! And don't ever come back!

Han: Gladly.

Leia cradles her hand and looks regretfully as Han turns to leave. See, it was a ruse, and she clearly didn’t enjoy it, but I still think a slap would have been more appropriate, if not just a shouting match. I also don’t think Han would have gone for a kiss right off the bat during this time period, but maybe that’s just me.

Han flies off to the starting point of this race. There’s a sort of welcoming party and Han and Chewie stroll around while Han scoffs at all these pretentious pilots who think they’re the best but don’t look like they even touch their ships. A couple of these pretentious pilots figure out he’s a smuggler and laugh at him, saying he doesn’t have a chance, but a venerable old racer alien (Loo Re Anno) says that maybe he has heart and the loyalty of his crew, so that might be enough. Han tells Chewie he’s not nervous or afraid, and he doesn’t intend to just do the job he’s there to do, but show those pilots what he’s made of.

The Dragon Void Run’s first obstacle is literally designed to destroy as many ships as possible. The race’s commentator makes sure to say that Han has no chances of even surviving this, when it’s taken out some of the best pilots of the galaxy. Meanwhile, as Han and Chewie are looking for a way to beat the first obstacle, more thought boxes:

The way I look at life has always been simple. You can fight... you can run... or you can die. Dying ain't an option. Which means I've gotten real good at fighting and running. Seems like that's all I ever do.

I loved that because it’s part of the problem that was bothering Han in the beginning. He’s starting to question the way things have always been for him.

Never thought much about it. Until recently. When I started turning down good jobs. Just because of a bad feeling in my gut. But I didn't turn this down. It pays nothing. Probably will get me killed. And I've never felt more alive.

(is he talking about the race or the Rebellion?) Of course, Han figures out how to survive and passes the first obstacle, which earns him some cred with the commentator. They reach the first planet for refueling (and getting out the first rebel spy), but first, Han confronts a Pantoran who shot at his ship during the race. Loo Re Anno says Han can file a complaint to disqualify him, but Han says it’s not worth his time, but that the Pantoran better not shoot at him again. Loo Re Anno sees this as a positive attitude, because Han cares more about the race than getting revenge. Loo Re Anno has a lot of bright spheres surrounding her, and one of them follows Han, who is as amused by this as by the leg-hugging Ewok in RotJ. Suddenly, Imperials show up and put Han and all the pilots under arrest.

Meanwhile, Chewie collects the first spy. He attracts some attention for being Han’s copilot, and there’s some praise heard about Han. When a bounty hunter tries to attack Chewie to get to the rebel spy, everybody on the bar they’re at attack her, thinking she was sent by some fancy pilot who couldn’t stand to see a smuggler doing well in the race, which I thought was very funny.

Everyone is also outraged at the Imps, demanding they let go of the pilots. Han tells Loo Re Anno to keep those floating orbs away from him, but she says they’re not spying on him, they just seem to like Han. Han gets into some trouble after the Pantoran he was arguing with earlier gets punched, and Han in return kicks the Imp who did it---again, a good thing that highlights just how loyal and noble Han can be despite what everyone (and himself) thinks.

An officer tells Han they don’t mean to spill blood on camera, and indeed, the intervention is being broadcasted, and Leia is watching:

The Imperials’ excuse is that it’s a disruptive event, but Han knows that the mole had to be suspicious about Han’s involvement in the race and tipped them off. Han intervenes again when the Imps threaten to shoot at the floating balls of light, because they’re living things of some kind. More thoughts:

I didn't say yes to Leia because I thought it would be safe. I'll get out of this--or I won't. Same as always. But something's not right with me. For once, I'm worried about something besides myself.

The race… hosts? Founders? Whatever they are, make the Imps see that it wouldn’t be convenient for them to piss off the sponsors, who happen to own all the refueling stations in the area, so the pilots are released. Han gets back to the Falcon, where Chewie and Spy #1 are, and they resume the race. One of the balls of light is still with him. The informant says the mole has to be one of the other spies, because none of them knows the identity of the others, and they’re being killed because one of them has the masterlist with all the information the rebels need. So basically, one of the three people Han has to pick will be the killer.

They’re about to enter the second obstacle course and Han has the chance to not go through it, because even if he’ll be disqualified for it, he’ll still be allowed to stop at the refueling planets… but he’s not going to do that. He flies for 12 hours through a debris field at a specific speed. Right when the engines start to lose power, the Pantoran gives the Falcon a lift in thanks for what he did earlier.

They stop at the second planet for refueling and Han leaves Chewie doing repairs while he sets off to find Spy #2. There are some cameras following him, and his little orb-friend destroys them (this story could be called “Han Solo and Friends”). Turns out Spy #2 is an old enemy of… Chewie. Some time ago, Chewie killed a baby Rathtar that was going to eat Han, that Han had been trying to steal, that Spy #2 needed to pay off some debts. Anyway, Han offers to be shot instead of Chewie. During these panels, we get some more Han thoughts:

I've spent most of my life in space. The only things I've ever understood are the stars. On a good, fast ship... anything is possible. Any choice, any opportunity. All I ever wanted was freedom. I ain't noble. Definitely not a hero. I got one priority, and only one. Me.

Riiiight, Han! But Loo Re Anno and some of the Twi’lek pilots who had laughed about Han intervene before anyone gets shot---turns out the ball of light went to fetch them when it saw Han in danger. Han tells everyone to back off, and once again defends one of the pilots even though they had been mean to him before. Loo Re Anno and Han talk about the Dragon Void Run. Han says winning it is “proof that you’re the best. No one can take that from you” and that if you win, you’ll be paid for the rest of your life. It’s a big deal. Loo Re Anno says it’s more than a race and talks about her people and Han asks her why is she telling him all this:

To which she says:

Are you not sticking your neck out, pilot Solo? Why are you here, if not to become something more?

I found this exchange very poetic and beautiful, and then Han says he’s sorry that she’s the last of her people. Han goes back to the ship, where things have calmed down, but he’s also sorry because that killed Rathtar made Spy #2 lose everything she had. Spy #2 also tells him that there’s been a change of plans and they need to wait for Spy #3 in that planet instead of the next, so that means Han can’t resume the race and he’ll be disqualified. That’s a bummer, but he’s doing it. Spy #1 doesn’t trust #2, though, and says they need to leave. The decision is made for him when Spy #3 and a bodyguard board, chased by Stormtroopers, so they have no choice but to take off. When Han doesn’t trust the new guests, one of them tells him they were sent by “Your Worshipfulness”. Now they’re being chased by TIEs, and there’s also the problem that there’s a killer aboard the Falcon, but they don’t know who it is. Han shows a lot of perceptiveness here by guessing there’s more to that bodyguard than it seems.

And now all the informants were picked up, he can leave the race and go back to the rebel fleet. Again, that’s not something Han wants to do, not just for the race, though, but because he wants to figure out who the mole is first. When he drops out of hyperspace for the third leg of the race, there’s a whole Imperial fleet waiting for them… and one of the spies is dead.

The Empire wants to board the ships. Han shoots at them. Loo Re Anno pulls a trick that makes some space monsters attack the Imperial ships and leave all the racers alone, so they’re now coming up to the last trial, which is a void they need to cross. One of the rebels is angry because now that they’re there, they can’t jump to hyperspace and they’ll be stranded unless they win first place, so the Empire will be able to get to them. Han ignores her, because he’s busy figuring out who the spy-killer was. I will leave this as a mystery, but I really like this panel:

I love that it makes a very explicit point that Han wasn’t throwing a fit about not wanting to let people borrow his ship, that it’s not just a ship, but something that matters to him. Think “homeless guy living in his car”. Of course it matters.

So, he was right about the killer, guy injects himself with a drug that knocks him out, and we have a Chewie and Han exchange. To something Chewie says, Han replies with, “Huh. You would like helping the Rebellion. You’re way more noble than me, pal. I’m just a nobody smuggler.” (cut to Han looking thoughtful/doubtful/challenging at his glowing orb friend) “And I like it… that… way…”

Once again, Han is shown as someone who---despite his apparent arrogance and self-confidence---sees himself as a guy with simple needs who’s just trying to get by. He’s no altruist, he’s not noble, but he’s not looking for fame and glory for himself, either. He knows he’s good at what he does (he has to be, because his life and livelihood depend on it), but he doesn’t see himself as something special. Staying with the Rebellion means entanglements and caring for other people, taking responsibility for people he might lose, so he can’t afford it. And so he tells himself that he has nothing to offer and no interest in it.

Han has another chat with Loo Re Anno as they fly. He asks what she’s planning on doing after the race, because she’s the last of her species and it’s said that this is her last race. The important bit of this conversation is that the alien tells Han she’s tired of being alone, that a long time ago she rejected all offers of friendship and community because she thought she was better off alone, and that when she realized her mistake, it was too late. That seems to resonate with Han, obviously.

They’re approaching the finish line and the Empire is on their tails. The power levels of the Falcon are low, so they need to reach it before they start being shot at. The finish line is a gate artifact that creates a wormhole that transports whoever crosses it first to the starting line. If they don’t, they’ll be stranded until someone (the Empire) gives them a lift. Han is beating all the pilots but tied with Loo Re Anno, until the Empire shoots at her ship. Han is ahead now and will win---but he knows that means Loo Re Anno will never “go home”, so he turns back and starts shooting Imperials, to the joy of all the rebels counting on getting the hell away from there. Loo Re Anno crosses the finish line. The rebels tell Han they need to kill themselves now because they can’t let the Empire get the information out of them. The mysterious gate, however, wasn’t just a portal to the starting line but to a different dimension where Loo Re Anno’s people had retired to, and after she crossed it, the portal opened to let these people come back one last time so they could shoot the Imps off the racers’ backs and let them all cross the finish line, in thanks for what Han had done for her. Because Loo Re Anno doesn’t reappear and all the other ships are allowed to cross the gate, they all technically win the race.

Han doesn’t stick around to find out: with a “Let’s go home”, he and Chewie leave to rejoin the rebels.

And we get back to… I think this is Yavin? It looks like Yavin, but nothing definite, so I’m going to say it’s not Yavin because it makes no sense they’re still there. But that’s not important, because it’s my favourite part of the comic and why I love it. Leia greets the remaining informants (the masterlist holder is revealed) while Han passes by and they share a look. Over the panels, some thought boxes:

You create walls. You manufacture rules. You live a small life, while lying to yourself that you're as open and free as the stars. You tell yourself the reason is survival. Good reason, right? But sometimes survival is about telling yourself lies... until you can't lie anymore. And then you have to make a choice about who you really are... Lies are easier, that's for sure.

Leia follows him outside and tells him he could have ruined everything and sacrificed people’s lives because of the race. He tells her not to thank him so much, but he’s not defensive, he’s just sort of calmly resigned. Leia goes on, telling him that he was reckless… but that he also won against all odds, and that she knew she could trust him to do the right thing. Han tells her not to get used to it because he’s not going to be around forever, and then we get the most beautiful closing scene in a comic, ever*:

*an impartial statement, as I haven’t read that many comics

In conclusion: The plot of this story was a little fantastical, because even if Han and the Millennium Falcon still haven’t been identified by the Empire as related to the rebels, a race is too much of a high-profile cover, but it was still entertaining. The artwork is one of the best, really close to the actors. The winning part is the character analysis that is done through the story, giving us a glimpse into Han’s thoughts while showing us his actions that belie them. I think this is true to his OT character arc and it makes for a good bridge between ANH and ESB in showing why Han ultimately decided to stick with the rebels. As Disney canon has him become a racer post-RotJ, this story also serves to give us some reason behind that: he already got a taste of it, people have seen him, he probably has sponsors lined up. I really like the idea of racer Han, and I’ve expounded on it here. Regarding Han and Leia, while I’m not a fan of the punch, I think their arguing and clashing is in character, true both to this time period and to the story. So are their final, rewarding panels, when they’re softer and we see the start of them getting closer. I give it four stars because of the punch, but it’s one of my favourite comics and I really recommend it.

From the Archives: Been There... Done That...

This post originally appeared HERE on July 19, 2011 and was written by Push

Do you ever feel like everything that's anything that could happen to Han and Leia has already been written and written well?  It's almost like when they remake a movie that was perfectly awesome to begin with (like Arthur - IMO), it almost seems doomed to failure from the start - always to be compared to the original or to someone who had done it better.

This is definitely how I feel about trip to Bespin stories.  I have read so many spectacular stories for that trip that I feel:  1) that I could never do any better and 2) that there isn't anything new to add to it.  But then I read someone else who has braved that time period and they add something new to it that I had never seen or thought of before and I think, hmmm - it is possible (just maybe not for me!)*

And then that is what I think is so great about writing.  How we all bring our own unique perspective, personality and voice to our stories and that is why I always encourage anyone who even has an inkling to write something down, to just do it.  I know it's difficult to look at a string of words that you have laced together and not find fault in them, or think that they aren't worth another person's time to read.  But, believe me, in the majority of the cases that just isn't true.  If you have something to say, chances are there are people who will enjoy listening to you.

I guess my favorite time period for Han and Leia is the time between ANH and ESB.**  It's a good chunk of about three years where their relationship blossomed from strangers to two people who obviously have strong feelings for each other that are fighting in the middle of a busy corridor.  I guess the possibilities of what could've happened between them during those three years are just about endless.

After then, of course, you have post-ROTJ where the world really just opens up for you because you are not restrained by the confines of the movies any longer - at least not like you are when writing during or in between the movies and trying to keep your story 'canon'.  But just that open-ended possibility can be intimidating/daunting as well.  I mean, they could live anywhere, do anything, and meet/mingle with anybody.  Which brings us to the the EU story line.  This might curtail your freedoms, but it also gives you some characters and story lines to work with that can make it a little easier.***

I sometimes wonder how other writers decide what they are going to work on.  For me it is usually the story that comes to me first and I am not intentionally trying to write in a certain timeframe.  Except, I guess, for my post-ROTJ storyline where I am diligently trying to come up with 'what happened next?'.  How does it happen for you guys?  Do you let the story guide you?  Or do you start with the timeline and brainstorm ideas?  

2017 Footnotes by Zyra:

*I had always said that I would never write a trip to Bespin story, ever, for exactly this reason. What else is left to say, and do people even want to read trip to Bespin stories anymore? I was writing this exact thing to someone very recently and in the middle of it realized, OMG, I'm totally right in the middle of writing and posting a trip to Bespin story. So, I guess never say never.

**Push always loved that time frame to write in. I tended to stay away from it in favor of having Han and Leia already be happy and together, because it was much easier for me.

***I'm still sad that the EU is basically dead and something that people probably don't want to read about anymore, which could very well be one of the reasons that story I'm writing, which includes Jacen and Jaina, does not get much attention. It's a shame to just erase all those characters.