You Asked... and We Still Won't Shut Up!

Yet another installment of our "Ask Us Anything" series where I solicited questions from our awesome readers and we will continue to answer as long as you continue to ask questions. It can be about anything, and you can ask both of us the same question or direct a question to one of us specifically.

I'll be going first this time around, answering first a question asked by hikari no tsubasa: Okay, for both of you... we all know who your favorite characters are! ;) So, who are your LEAST favorite characters...in canon?...to read in fanfic?...to write in fanfic? And the next questions asked by jenny2412: How long does it take to write a chapter? Do you have a set time to write? If so, when is it?
And here are our answers:

We'll start with me (Zyra): Least favorite character in canon? Tough one. Oh, who among us likes Prince Isolder? And how can we possibly believe that Leia was into that guy? While we're at it, his mother, too, who seemed to start the whole mess. Oh, and Prince Xizor, because he tried to seduce Leia while Han was in carbonite. Everyone is always trying to steal Leia away from Han but nobody is ever trying to steal Han away from Leia.

Least favorite to read in fanfic? Wow, another tough one. I guess I’m not a fan of Mon Mothma in fanfic only because everyone usually makes her out to be such a bitch. And Bria! I don’t like when people bring her back. Are we discovering a pattern of who I hate and why? Nobody else really springs to mind, though.

Least favorite to write in fanfic, that would have to be Luke. It’s not his fault, really. I just don’t feel like I can get inside his head quite the same way as Han’s and Leia’s. Especially after ROTJ when it’s like he’s this all-knowing being. I mean, it’s just tough to write someone who it appears never makes the wrong choice and it feels like trying to write a monk or something. I just find it boring. I know he doesn’t have to be boring and certainly at least at times he isn’t in the movies. But the Luke we get at the end of ROTJ just doesn’t seem interesting to me to write. I wish I felt comfortable using him more, I just don’t.

How long does it take to write a chapter? Well, that definitely depends. Sometimes they can flow out and be done in like fifteen minutes. A lot of times for me there may be one scene or chapter I’d been looking forward to in a story and it’s been in my head for a while so it’s easy to get down. Then there are others that I’m not looking forward to for whatever reason and I just keep putting them off or it takes me a long time just to type them up. Then of course there is editing. Sometimes we might agonize over getting some particular chapter just right so we go back and forth on them for a while before putting them out there. And sometimes we’re fairly happy with it right away and it doesn’t take much. Start to finish I could be happy with a chapter in like an hour, but there are others that take days or even weeks! I personally do not have a set time to write. I write whenever I’m feeling inspired. I have a flexible work schedule so usually I can put that stuff off if I’m having some inspiration. I’d say that most often that inspiration comes later in the day, but I can’t say why. It’s just not often that I feel like writing first thing in the morning.

And now for Push: Least favorite character in canon?  Oh.  That’s hard!  I’m assuming you are only talking about the movies and the only movies I count are the Original Trilogy so I’m going to answer this question as, “Who are your least favorite characters in the Original Trilogy?”  And that is tough!  I despise Tarkin, I really hate him for destroying Alderaan, I mean that was really, really cruel.  But I don’t think that is what you mean.  I don’t much care for Uncle Owen, either.  He didn’t seem like he was all that nice to Luke and that he harbored some kind of resentment toward him that Luke had no control over.  But that's probably not right, either.  Oh, I know but I don’t know if a lot of people will hate me for this, but…the Ewoks?  I mean…well, I kinda would like a takesie-over on most of ROTJ to begin with but the Ewoks were a little over the top.  And that Madine guy, the General who speaks after Mon Mothma during the Death Star II debrief, never had gotten a good vibe from him…

And now I cheated and looked at Zyra's answer and she included the EU.  If that's the case, I hate, hate, hate the Yuuzhan Vong.  The entire lot of them for reasons outlined below in the next question.  When I read the books that they were in I used to skip entire chapters if they were only 'Vong' chapters without any other character interactions.  I'm glad they are gone.  The end.  Fade to black.

...to read in fanfic?  Here I’m going to have to go with Original Characters.  This is probably wrong of me to say and it is just my personal opinion, but I would rather read about most any Canon or EU character rather than learn the life story of some new person.  Now, this is a fine line to walk as a writer and I have had to walk it myself.  I mean, there has to be other people in the universe, right?  I have had to create OC’s and I have struggled with them on the writer’s side.  But, when I read and/or write an OC, I personally think that less is more.  Now, as with everything else, there are exceptions and I have read some stories and enjoyed ‘meeting’ an OC, but even that usually fell into the category that the OC was more of a supporting character than a main one.  Again, just my opinion. 

...to write in fanfic?  Now, this is no reflection on the characters themselves and there is an entire thread over on NHP about how difficult these guys are to write for most people, but I’m going to say Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca.  Again, it’s not that I don’t like these guys, I just don’t like to WRITE them.  I’m always afraid that I’m making Luke to Force/Jedi focused and Chewbacca to wise and sage-y.  I think I’m getting a better handle on Luke and in my most recent stories I have decided NOT to give Chewbacca lines but just have the characters respond to him like in the movies.  I still have to kinda, sorta have an idea of what Chewie is saying, but it seems worlds easier (for me) to write him that way.

How long does it take to write a chapter?  Oooooh, this is really, really impossible to answer.  I have written entire stories in one sitting where it sounds like my keyboard might internally combust.  And then there have been paragraphs, or sentences even, that have eluded me for weeks and weeks and sometimes months.  My last chapter of “Shifting Impressions” is a great example of that.  I wrote most of those chapters for that story pretty quickly but it took me 8 months to publish the last chapter and I’m still not happy with it.  My lesson there?  You just can’t force it.  If it isn’t coming to you, step away and come back later.  I also promised myself I would never, ever start publishing a story that I wasn’t finished ever, ever again.  That’s just my own personal thing.  I HATED having an unfinished story hanging out there.  It was stress I didn’t need. J

Do you have a set time to write? If so, when is it?  I’ll sit just about anywhere at home with my laptop on my lap.  I hardly ever sit at my desk or table at home to write.  It’ll usually be later in the evening after my kids are in bed.  Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and have to write something down.  Oh, and when we go on trips and my husband is driving, I’ll alternate reading and writing.  So, I guess my answer really is, “No.”  I write when it strikes me and when I can find the time! 

Alright, so there went another installment of our "Ask Us Anything" series. If you would like a question answered, please visit that post and Ask Us Anything. (We do reserve the right to not answer, if necessary! So, don't get crazy...)

Once again, don't worry if your question didn't get answered (yet), we will continue to post answers as long as you guys continue to ask questions.