#i honestly can write an essay about kotf. or like multiple essays - one for each chapter

[pandora15]

Okay okay so I'm STILL mind-blown over KOTF because I'm currently looking down the barrel of a long fic that I want to write but I'm like how am I going to do this so, for you, what was the hardest part of writing such a long fic? What parts came easiest to you? What unexpected challenges did you come across while writing it that you may not come across in a shorter fic or one-shot?

Love you, my friend!!! 💕

Spoilers for Keeper of the Force below

Hi Katie! Thanks for the ask; I'm really excited to talk about this stuff :)

Okay, so for me, the hardest part of writing KOTF was probably writing specific scenes that were well out of my comfort zone. I had to write a good amount of action sequences, which is definitely something I still struggle with, even now. I also struggled with writing scenes with more than three characters, just because it was so complicated to keep track of what each character was doing, saying, and thinking (even if the POV character doesn't really know about the latter). So yeah, I'd say the most difficult parts came down to writing things I haven't really tried writing before.

The easiest part, much to my own surprise, was the ending—specifically, the last two or three chapters. Maybe it's recency bias, maybe it's the sprint bot, maybe it's the fact that I thought about the ending of this story for literally years, but it all came together so beautifully. I also really enjoyed writing the whump and angst, as I always do xD and the suspense was surprisingly really fun to write as well! It kinda makes me want to write a more suspense-heavy story one day, but we'll see ;)

Unexpected challenges! Whoo boy. Okay, so we're gonna dig deep into spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled for exactly what happens in this fic, look away now and don't click below.

Okay.

So, I did plan out a lot of the major plot points ahead of time, including what ultimately happens to Obi-Wan. I was really scared of actually writing it though, especially when I was posting and getting comments for the first half-ish of the fic. For a while, I was on the fence about it, and I really wasn't expecting to have that internal conflict. I even thought of alternate ideas for what could happen to Obi-Wan, but in the end, I stuck to what I originally planned.

And I think that was the right choice because I'm a believer in going with your gut, and I think it made the story and its ending a much more powerful one. Or at least I hope it did?

I guess what I'm saying is that facing internal conflict about the ending of a story doesn't really happen with shorter fic, but it definitely can happen for longer stories, especially if you're like me and posting it as you write (which uh. is risky but here I am LOL).

Hmmmm, so my favorite part to write? Oh my goodness, I'm not even sure I can choose. There's just so much that I really, genuinely enjoyed writing from this fic. I will agree with you that Chapter 18 is definitely up there, just because I finally had the chance to actually reveal what was actually happening, and to allow Anakin and Obi-Wan to have their closure.

I also really enjoyed writing the last scene of Chapter 17! Before writing that scene, I was legitimately terrified of actually writing it, just because it felt so abstract and weird, but it was such a fun thing to write, and I think it came together really well!

And Chapter 15 as a whole is probably one of my favorites too, especially that ending. I think I was screaming while writing it. Honestly, it's all a blur, but. yeah. Man, do I love that chapter.

And even the epilogue, I just—ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

Okay, so yeah, as you can see above, I literally cannot choose a favorite LOL.

Anyways, writing this fic was such a joy and a journey from start to finish. I enjoyed the whole process—from the very beginning, with me just writing a random Whumptober prompt, then coming up with a background and adding more and more, until there's a literal AU with all these things that came from my imagination.

And I mean, a part of me was so scared because I was like "I have literally no idea how I'm gonna write any of this, but I am gonna try like hell to do it." And it worked out, I grew so much as a writer through it all, and I am immensely proud of this story (and honestly a bit in awe of myself, because like. I wrote this????? What??????)

So yeah! I rambled a lot here, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that writing a long fic can be a rewarding experience! It definitely requires a lot of planning and thinking ahead of time. One of the things I wanted to do with KOTF in particular was really challenge myself as a writer—so I would suggest thinking about what you want to accomplish when writing your long fic.

Like: what's the point of your story? Not just the theme, moral of the story, etc. but for you, as the writer, what do you want to get out of this experience?

Also, when I was in the planning stages for KOTF, I had a lot of stream-of-consciousness blurbs throughout my document, a whole bunch of reference links, lists, timelines, and I think I even ended up drawing a diagram somewhere (but I have no idea where it went oof). So if you have like any potential ideas/thoughts/etc for your story, just get it down on paper somewhere! You can always come back to it and remove it or change it later on.

Okay, I rambled a lot more than I intended to, but uh. yeah! I guess I had a lot of thoughts about writing KOTF and it all came out right now. Hopefully it makes sense.

Thanks so much for the ask, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions about writing long fic! This goes for anyone who wants to know more about how I write, if that sort of thing interests you :)

(ask me anything about KOTF)