Fandom 5k

[dhampyresa]

I wrote a pinch-hit for fandom5k.

Pocketful of stories (5031 words) by sevenofspade
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Worldbuilding, Folklore
Summary: Ahsoka travelled the galaxy, collecting tales and sowing revolution along the way.

I had a lot of fun coming up with the various folktales intersped in this.

All the planets/people have different ways of framing stories.

• Stories from Naboo start with either "Once upon a time, above wave, below stars" for the Gungan stories and "Once upon a time, below stars" for the non-Gungan stories.
• Stories on Alderaan start with "Long ago on Alderaan" and by giving the main character's relationship to Queenship.
• Stories on Pantora start with "When yesterday was yet to be" and end with a bracketed statement including the phrase "Do not believe them." -- they refute other versions of the story.
• Clone stories are much more informal in tone and start with "They say this is a true story".
• Ykobar stories start with "There was a time" which is a literal translation of the French "Il était une fois", the traditional start to a fairytale. They end in "The tale still goes on and is only just beginning".

The stories of the Kermor are variations on the tale of the city of Ys -- the word Kermor itself is made up of two Breton words, "ker" (meaning "a place where people live") and "mor" (meaning "sea"). I was originally going to go with "Morvac'h" ("Horse of the sea") -- especially given that it's part of some versions the Ys legend and can be a war omen -- but ultimately decided against it. The c'h sound tends to be confusing for people unfamiliar with Breton; it's a voiceless velar fricative -- the same sound as in loch.

I didn't sign up for fandom5k because I didn't know if I would have time -- and I kind of ran out of time on this pinch-hit a bit -- but I should have signed up if I was going to end up writing for it anyway. Then again, given my computer issues, I wouldn't have been able to comment until yesterday/today, which seems like a dick move. Not that could have known either of those things at the time. What I'm trying to say is that I'll sign up next year.

Comments

[morbane]

I love your notes on the storytelling conventions you used! I didn't click on the work because I don't know Clone Wars but hmm. I just recently read a collection of Russian fairy tales and it was a delight to pick up repeated patterns - it makes me realise that there is a distinct disadvantage to getting one's fairy tale and folklore base from the Andrew Lang colour-themed collections, as I did, as those present a mix of sources and traditions in each volume.

I also pinch hit for fandom5k without signing up! And came to the opposite conclusion: it's a super good thing I didn't sign up. Which I knew anyway, but corroborating evidence is good, I suppose. I can simultaneously say that I liked my recipient's prompts and take on canon and had fun with the ideas in the story AND that the story ate me, adding its own distinct levels of stress to April and May. I would not have wanted to be randomly assigned a prompt; I would only have succeeded with a prompt I had time to consider and then deliberately choose. Also, weirdly, in exchanges that are tough for me, not getting a gift can feel almost freeing, because it means that at the works reveals point my role is DONE.

[dhampyresa]

I made a lot of use of repeated patterns and mirroring, even beyond the fact that there are three different versions of the Kermor story.

Andrew Lang colour-themed collections
I am very curious how a collection can be colour-themed.

You know, those are some good points I hadn't considered.

[morbane]

Oh, they were just named "The Red Fairy Book", "The Green Fairy Book", etc. Here on Project Gutenberg

Whoops. I did not mean to dissuade you, so much as remark that it was interesting that you and I had a similar experience and drew opposite conclusions about the best course of action for ourselves in future (because of our different circumstances and inclinations).

[dhampyresa]

That makes sense!

No no! I just meant that "at the works reveals point my role is DONE" was not something I'd considered and it actually helped me feel better about not signing up this time -- being DONE meant I could just relax -- so thanks, Morbane!