i'm joy — a fanfic author (specifically hanleia but also the og trio) and general star wars original trilogy enthusiast. my favorite characters are (obviously) leia, luke, and han, but i also have a soft spot for chewie and the rogues. you can find my fics under the tag 'my-works' on this blog or on ao3 @joybirds. i'm 25 and live in the southeast united states.
currently watching: s5 abbott elementary, s2 clone wars, s2 smallville
currently reading: still life with crows, bloodmarked (reread)
currently writing: millennium, a light in the dark
i usually have long term au projects cooking (a star wars ot southern gothic au inspired by beautiful creatures — millennium — is my current long form project!) but i will also drop in-universe one shots here and there. feel free to drop into my inbox with prompts or asks, but there is no guarantee i will get to them.
i love the og trilogy and have seen and enjoyed the prequels, though thats not where my heart lies. i havent seen and dont plan on watching the sequels, and im saving rogue one for a (hopeful) re-release in theaters this year to celebrate the ten year anniversary :)
i also love psych, all things dropout, percy jackson / greek retellings, dnd, princess bride, the new superman movie, stranger things, and various other media you may see me post about, though this blog is 90% for star wars!
feel free to pop in my inbox when its open :) id love to chat all things writing, original trilogy, trio, hanleia, etc! all my fics are tagged on my page with 'my works', below is a masterlist of everything i've written, updated semi-frequently!
in universe one-shots:
marked: mature, 5k+ words, han accidentally bruises leia, and it sends him into a torrent of memories better off forgotten.
less miserable: general audiences, 3k+ words, when leia suffers a scary med-bay visit, han is there to stay.
silver bullet: explicit, 3k+ words, smutty one shot post-rotj in which han brings leia back a gag gift from an off-planet mission, but doesn't expect to be taken up on it. leia, however, is always willing to subvert his expectations of her.
wound up: explicit, 6k+ words, smutty one shot taking place during the first week aboard the falcon on the way to bespin. after a frustrating day where everything seems to be going wrong, leia surprises han with an idea.
stay: teen & up, 6k+ words, the first night onboard the falcon after their escape from hoth, han and leia reckon with their first kiss in the circulatory bay.
huttslayer: mature, 7k+ words, post-jabba's palace and the sarlacc pit, leia is trying to process what happened and her anger that came with it. han, though sick, sees her and makes room for her anger.
three years: teen & up, 3k+, after a teasing comment leads to a deeper conversation, leia takes time to grieve her losses over the last three years.
going once: general audiences, 4k+ words, on an undercover mission, han and leia attempt to retrieve vital information inside an imperial stronghold, despite the distractions of their unsaid feelings for each other.
yes ma'am: explicit, 3k+, slight smutty one shot taking place during the flight to bespin where han is trying to show leia some attention, but a sensor failure interrupts the pair and forces them into action.
while we still can: mature, 2k+, in a rare moment of vulnerability, han expresses his fears about what will happen after they land on bespin, leia comforts him as best she can.
can't take my eyes off of you: teen & up, 5k+, songfic, on a mission together, han and leia pose as an imperial sympathizing couple, looking for a rebel informant amongst a formal empire event.
with these hands: mature, 4k+, another version of what happens post-jabba's palace and the sarlacc pit. han and leia reconnect after his rescue while dealing with the affects of hibernation sickness and the events they'd just endured.
long form alternate universes:
millennium: southern gothic au inspired by beautiful creatures. han, a drifting mechanic with a bruised past, takes a summer job at the crumbling kenobi house in the georgia woods, expecting only a paycheck. instead, he finds strange storms, a unexplainable events, and leia and luke, twins bound to their reclusive guardian and a legacy of force-wielding power. as han is drawn into their world — and into a charged bond with leia — he uncovers a curse tied to the twins’ birth and their parents’ violent deaths. with their twenty-second birthday approaching, han is pulled into a reckoning that will decide whether they remain in the light or fall into darkness. chapters have started to drop on a semi-weekly basis :) i post about it under #millennium
a light in the dark: following the events of the original trilogy, a three part tlou au focused on han, leia, luke, and chewie. when han and chewie make a deal with firefly, ben kenobi, and his nephew, he and chewie are launched into the world of the rebel group — hell bent on taking down the facist, defacto government, FEDRA. hopefully coming in the new year! i post about it under #alitd
neighbors in 313 is a long-form fic i wrote when i first joined the fandom in february of 2025, from an idea that originated in 2020. the work is not my best and not a work that i align myself closely to anymore. the content inside is heavy, and i can't say i fully recommend it to anyone. however, it is still up, just archive locked on my ao3.
in millennium, georgia, storms roll in with unending rain, houses remember the dead, and the kenobi estate sits heavy with secrets. when han, a rootless mechanic, takes a summer job there, he’s pulled into the lives of twins leia and luke — heirs to a legacy of fire, loss, and a curse that could claim them both on their twenty-second birthday. as old ghosts stir and the past presses in, han learns that love and loyalty in millennium are as dangerous as the dark forces that shaped it — and that some inheritances can’t be escaped, only survived.
millennium is a southern gothic, star wars au following the characters of the original trilogy.
chapter forty — an old enemy returns to the shop, striking new fears
in millennium, georgia, storms roll in with unending rain, houses remember the dead, and the kenobi estate sits heavy with secrets. when han, a rootless mechanic, takes a summer job there, he’s pulled into the lives of twins leia and luke — heirs to a legacy of fire, loss, and a curse that could claim them both on their twenty-second birthday. as old ghosts stir and the past presses in, han learns that love and loyalty in millennium are as dangerous as the dark forces that shaped it — and that some inheritances can’t be escaped, only survived.
millennium is a southern gothic, star wars au following the characters of the original trilogy.
chapter forty — an old enemy returns to the shop, striking new fears
ch 40 hopefully coming tomorrow! i gotta finish like 500-1k more words on 45 and then edit and hopefully get a quick beta for 40, but in an ideal world, its posted sometime tomorrow!
han and leia would be that on-and-off casual couple in high school that never speak to each other at school except a few snide remarks, but then you’d go to a party and they would be sharing a blunt and standing off to the side by themselves, both with the most heinous case of rbf
great at handling difficult situations, for example, can get his own gloves off WHILE talking to a cute girl AT the same time no problem thanks for asking
so great at witty comebacks
definitely has slept with MANY a lady because, again, Han Solo is a cool guy, and not a grumpy hermit who, were he a person in the world, would spend all his weekends alone in his apartment with his phone turned off watching Ice Road Truckers
definitely not a weirdo with a shitty haircut who talks to his car
no. mister cool guy. always looks so cool. so cool in a fight
so cool. never panics about everything all the time constantly.
people trust him cause he’s got that cool guy charisma
always knows what he’s doing. han solo. an expert.
in conclusion: han solo, a cool space scoundrel, not a nerd. maybe you’re the nerd around here. hmm. looks like it. check and mate
Hello lovely folks! Next month we're celebrating our favourite couple as is our yearly tradition, and we're here to tell you all about it so you can get started on your fanworks 😊
💗 How does Han/Leia Appreciation Week work?
This year, the event will run from August 17th to August 23rd, and there are two prompts each day that creators can fulfill with: fanfic, fanart, gifsets, graphics, fanvids, headcanons, crafts, playlists, rec lists. You’re encouraged to tag your posts with #hanleiaweek2026 so we can reblog them! After the week is over, we’ll share a masterlist with links to the works.
You can show your appreciation in many ways; however, please keep in mind that it has to be a creation of yours of some sort (e.g. don’t repost other people’s fanart, gifs, or unedited pictures; don't use AI). Rec lists should include a link to the original source both for fanfic and fanart (more on this after the cut).
🔥 The prompts
Monday 8/17: Names / Dates
Tuesday 8/18: Snow / Stars
Wednesday 8/19: Favorite scene / Favorite quote
Thursday 8/20: Afraid / Amazed
Friday 8/21: AU / Canon divergence
Saturday 8/22: Now / Forever
Sunday 8/23: Free day!
You can use only one of the daily prompts, combine both, reinterpret them, or skip the day if you can’t think of anything. If you’re not able to post on the same day for a prompt, you’re still encouraged to share it through the week—just don’t post works for a certain prompt before the day corresponding to that prompt.
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FAQs and Rules under the cut - please read!
💕 Can I post my work to another site and share the link on Tumblr?
Yes! This is a good option for people who might want to create explicit art that could be taken down on Tumblr, write a long fic or multichapter, or make videos or playlists.
💕 Does it have to be a new creation? Can I finish and post a WIP?
It has to be something that has never been posted anywhere else before, so finishing and sharing a WIP is okay! If it doesn’t fit any of the prompts, you can share it on Free Day.
💕 Is this event open to all ratings?
Yes! Just remember to add a note at the top if your work is rated Mature or Explicit, as well as if it has any major trigger warnings, and use a “Read more” cut if you’re posting the whole work on Tumblr so everyone can safely browse through the entries.
💕 Are there any length or quality requirements?
There’s no min. or max. length for fanfic or quality level for art, but please note that AI-generated works won’t be accepted. For gifsets, there’s a minimum of two gifs (that must be made by you!). For playlists, there’s a minimum of five songs. For rec lists of fic or fanart, there’s also a minimum of five recs. Some more questions you might have about rec lists:
- How do I share someone else’s art without posting a picture? You might post a thumbnail that crops a preview of the piece; if the piece has a title, you might use that; you might describe it; or you might say something like “this piece by [artist]”, and link to the source.
- What if I found a fanart on Google? Try to find the original source using reverse search image.
- What if I can’t still find it, can I just say “credit to the artist”? In that case, please just don’t share the piece.
- What if I know the artist but don’t have a link to the original source? Naming the artist and linking back to where you found it is okay, in that case.
💕 Can I write for canon/Legends and include other pairings?
All canons, time periods, headcanons and AUs are welcome, and you’re allowed to include side pairings, except for R*eylo. However, keep in mind that this is a Han/Leia appreciation week - at the risk of sounding repetitive, works should focus on appreciating Han and Leia’s relationship!
💕 What’s the time zone for the event?
Please don’t worry too much about time zones: when we say “day”, we always mean “whenever that day is for you in your part of the world” - i.e.: if it’s Monday for you, you can post your work for the Monday prompt.
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Do you have any other questions? Don’t hesitate to send us an ask or to message one of the mods: @lajulie24 @hanorganaas and @otterandterrier
I know the Star Wars extended universe treats “spice” like it’s this big scary drug, but I kind of like to imagine that it’s basically just space weed, and the only reason Han got in trouble with the Imperials over Jabba’s cargo is that he was evading import tariffs.
If we’re just looking at mentions in the original trilogy, is there evidence it’s even a drug and not something you put on bland food to make it taste like something? What if Han was just carrying a cargo of like cilantro, mint, etc, none of which grow on Tattooine and are thus highly expensive and heavily taxed commodities?
I am fully prepared to believe that the infamous Han Solo ended up in a life-or-death vendetta with the most notorious crime lord in the galaxy because somebody didn’t want to declare taxes on three thousand kilos of cilantro.
Every who pays a certain amount of attention to Star Wars knows this story already, but I was lucky enough to hear it recounted first-hand last year, so I’m gonna give it yet another retelling.
So The Husband and I were at Sci-fi Weekender (a British based annual Sci-fi and Fantasy convention) last year, and one of the guests that year was Kevin J Anderson, one of the very notable Star Wars Expanded Universe writers. During one of the events, a quiet little interview in a cafe on the event site, he fielded a question from an audience member about what it was like to write for a franchise like Star Wars which often had lots of cooks working on one broth, and he had the following to say (wording recounted as best as I can from memory):
“So in one of my stories, Han Solo, he, he travels to this asteroid planet called Kessel, which is where a lot of Spice comes from, these Spice Mines of Kessel, and I got to really describe the effects of this Spice, this terrible drug and the addiction and all this and before publication I get this call, I get this call from the lawyers, and they say “Kevin, you say in this story that Spice is a drug, you can’t say that, you can’t say that Spice is a drug”, and I say “What? What do you mean it’s not a drug, of course it’s a drug”, and they say “Han Solo used to smuggle Spice, and you cannot, let us be clear, you cannot imply that the Hero of Star Wars used to be a drug dealer”. And I just stood there, at a loss for words, and I eventually said “So what is it then?” and they said to me, very sternly, “It’s a food-additive”. Now, now obviously this is ridiculous, and I won’t back down, and they won’t back down, and none of us will back down, and the book is very close to getting pulled, which I don’t want because I worked hard on it and they don’t want because they already paid me the advance, and eventually, with this great air of superiority they say “OK Kevin, we’ll take this to the top. WE’LL TAKE THIS TO GEORGE”. And they go to all this trouble, this was a long while ago when such things were not so easy to arrange, they go to all this trouble to set up a conference call with all of them and me and with George Lucas and they say “George, Kevin is trying to say in his new book that Spice is a drug, it’s a food additive, tell him it’s not a drug, George”. And there’s this long silence on the other end of the line and eventually George says “It is a drug, though. It’s, it’s a drug, it’s a food-additive? What? Of course it a drug, it’s space heroin, what else would it be? What?” And that was then end of that.“
lots of life things happening! good and bad. a time of loss but also joy. it’s weird man! and my motivation to write is fluctuating a lot, engagement has been down a bit which doesn’t help things, but in hoping to get back on the wagon this friday with ch 40! hard to believe that’s 2/3rds of millennium 🥲
The most underrated act of kindness is letting people be. Let them mispronounce a word, talk too much about a show they love, or get excited about something you don't understand. Everyone got something that lights them up. let them shine, even if it's not your thing
in millennium, georgia, storms roll in with unending rain, houses remember the dead, and the kenobi estate sits heavy with secrets. when han, a rootless mechanic, takes a summer job there, he’s pulled into the lives of twins leia and luke — heirs to a legacy of fire, loss, and a curse that could claim them both on their twenty-second birthday. as old ghosts stir and the past presses in, han learns that love and loyalty in millennium are as dangerous as the dark forces that shaped it — and that some inheritances can’t be escaped, only survived.
millennium is a southern gothic, star wars au following the characters of the original trilogy.
chapter thirty nine — han and leia reckon with everything the day held, finding old momentos of a life left behind.
