Star Wars: Stuff by Gheorghe2
I finally got my act together and posted the final chapter of Stuff, on AO3 as rthstewart here and as Gheorghe2 on fanfiction.net here.
I dithered a long time about posting the final chapter -- the scene with Luke and Mara in her Coruscant Palace room and its aftermath, as well as what I did with some of Leia bothers me now. I've added a warning to the final chapter for dubious consent. It's not physical (Mara could kick Luke's ass from one end of the Palace to another and they both know it), but Luke is really manipulative and psychically abusive and invasive. I still think it makes sense for the characters as written, but it's not a comfortable read and 18 years later, I'd do it differently now.
But after a lot of reflection, I've kept it as it was. Stuff is and was a flawed work of a much younger person but to change it now is beyond my ability, interest, or commitment. PG always got irritated when I tried to change it because in her view those flaws were part of what made Stuff what it was. I don't need to rewrite this past. My commas are still terrible. Stuff brought me closer to a group of people I never would have met otherwise. I learned how fic serves as a glorious framework for interaction and community building.
Something that has been really delightful is to get the occasional comment from the older reader who remembers it. One person went to my newer work when she realized that the author Stuff and the author of Narnia Stone Gryphon series are the same person. I've heard from a few people who remember how it was passed around secretely by file transfer and that they still have it on a disk (from 8 inch to 5.25 to 3.5 to thumb) or printed and how difficult it was to find. I destroyed those disks years ago myself and now I wish I'd kept a few of them.
So, I did what I set out to do which was to make sure that it's posted in a few places and will be there as a marker for a certain place and certain time.
As Luke would say, Stuff is wretched melodramatic space trash. And as Mara would say, we're all entitled to a little trash in our lives.
I wrote the following for
starbrowfor the 3 sentence ficathon:
Star Wars, Luke/Mara, banter
"After a very thorough scientific analysis and extensive use of Jedi recall skills, I've concluded this is my favorite one" and Mara leans down to mark her enthusiasm for the spot with a lingering kiss.
Very grateful for a Master's control, and feeling a little regret for her choice, Luke pushes her long, tickling hair to the side, tries persuasion, and says, "I thought you liked the scars that were lower down."
Mara demonstrates her own mastery of split concentration exercises, bats his mental nudge aside as if it was a fly, and continues her attentions, "I like this scar best because I gave it to you."
[That uncomfortable scene in the final chapter? This is how I'd rewrite it today.]
This entry was originally posted at http://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/91826.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
I dithered a long time about posting the final chapter -- the scene with Luke and Mara in her Coruscant Palace room and its aftermath, as well as what I did with some of Leia bothers me now. I've added a warning to the final chapter for dubious consent. It's not physical (Mara could kick Luke's ass from one end of the Palace to another and they both know it), but Luke is really manipulative and psychically abusive and invasive. I still think it makes sense for the characters as written, but it's not a comfortable read and 18 years later, I'd do it differently now.
But after a lot of reflection, I've kept it as it was. Stuff is and was a flawed work of a much younger person but to change it now is beyond my ability, interest, or commitment. PG always got irritated when I tried to change it because in her view those flaws were part of what made Stuff what it was. I don't need to rewrite this past. My commas are still terrible. Stuff brought me closer to a group of people I never would have met otherwise. I learned how fic serves as a glorious framework for interaction and community building.
Something that has been really delightful is to get the occasional comment from the older reader who remembers it. One person went to my newer work when she realized that the author Stuff and the author of Narnia Stone Gryphon series are the same person. I've heard from a few people who remember how it was passed around secretely by file transfer and that they still have it on a disk (from 8 inch to 5.25 to 3.5 to thumb) or printed and how difficult it was to find. I destroyed those disks years ago myself and now I wish I'd kept a few of them.
So, I did what I set out to do which was to make sure that it's posted in a few places and will be there as a marker for a certain place and certain time.
As Luke would say, Stuff is wretched melodramatic space trash. And as Mara would say, we're all entitled to a little trash in our lives.
I wrote the following for
starbrowfor the 3 sentence ficathon:
Star Wars, Luke/Mara, banter
"After a very thorough scientific analysis and extensive use of Jedi recall skills, I've concluded this is my favorite one" and Mara leans down to mark her enthusiasm for the spot with a lingering kiss.
Very grateful for a Master's control, and feeling a little regret for her choice, Luke pushes her long, tickling hair to the side, tries persuasion, and says, "I thought you liked the scars that were lower down."
Mara demonstrates her own mastery of split concentration exercises, bats his mental nudge aside as if it was a fly, and continues her attentions, "I like this scar best because I gave it to you."
[That uncomfortable scene in the final chapter? This is how I'd rewrite it today.]
This entry was originally posted at http://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/91826.html. Please comment there using OpenID.