“Duchess Satine Kryze had glided into the room, sometime while the men had been talking. Obi-Wan felt as though an electric shock had coursed through his system. The minute his eyes landed on her, nerves buzzed. Joints stiffened and froze. His heart hiccuped. Breath snagged in his throat, like a thread on a broken piece of fingernail. And the moment their gazes collided, time momentarily stood still. It was as though the world around them had frozen to allow them a moment to assess how they found themselves. It had been many, many years since they’d seen one another; and much had changed since then. They were no longer children. No longer searching for just the right niche in the galaxy to fit themselves into. When last they’d seen each other, Obi-Wan had noted a maturity about Satine, one that had been thrust upon her along with the title of ‘Duchess.’ It had tensed her face in a way that was an obvious mask. New and uncomfortable, not fitting quite right. But now, in its place, was a smooth, natural regality, honed from years of ruling. An innate presence that came from within her. Where once there was a careful measured aspect to her steps, was now a calm confidence. The walk of a woman who understood and accepted both her power and her poise.”
I cannot thank you all enough for your continued patience while my life got thrown upside down, turned inside out, then had to settle. This chapter is shorter than normal, but I really have been itching to get something out there to you guys!! Hope y’all enjoy it!
What appealed to you about the idea if writing a Skywalker sister story? What made you want to do it, and make a romance with obi?
There’s just something that’s so interesting about writing about a Skywalker. They’re such a through-line for most of the Star Wars franchise, and I think it’s really fascinating to see how just a few people––from the same family––can have such a wide-spread impact on the galaxy at large. And her being Anakin’s sister just… it’s such an interesting character concept to me. Because in writing his sister, we get the perspective of his development into Vader from someone who’s known him for his entire life. Not from a mentor’s perspective, or from the perspective of a lover/wife, but that of a sister. Someone who wants the best for him, who would do most anything to see him succeed and see that he stays safe. The thought of being able to write that was such a draw. Because what I feel like the prequels kind of lack is the true depth of his transformation. How gradual and subtle that journey to Darth Vader was. It was slow enough and subtle enough that all those closest to him didn’t really notice something was wrong until it all exploded. And I wondered: would a sister notice things that others didn’t? Would he confide in her more than he did others, or would he try even harder to hide it to convince her that he’s okay? Not only that, but we get to view the softer, more caring side of Anakin that we only get glimpses of in the prequels; we got more of it in the Clone Wars, but god do I love seeing Anakin be soft and concerned about those that he loves.
And in thinking about making and developing Anakin’s sister, I thought it would be interesting to see how the same or similar circumstances would affect them. They’re siblings, and they have similar characteristics, but they are fundamentally different people. Where Anakin is brash, I saw his older sister being more measured and patient––probably partially because she had to look after him. So, where Anakin’s path led him to the Dark Side… would Elara’s? Would the way that she chose to go about things lead her down a different road? I LOVE parallels, and this seemed like a perfect parallel to use.
As for making it an Obi-Wan romance––for as much as we all love to say that he’s the epitome of a perfect Jedi, he’s such a lover. Something that the Clone Wars brought about confirming with Satine. He loves, and he loves whole and long, and probably passionately. But being raised and trained as a Jedi, where the Code frowns on such things, he has to learn to hide that. He’s a passionate man, if not quietly so. He’s steadfast in his beliefs. Then enter Elara: someone who is so lovely, passionate about both those she cares for and what she’s working for/towards. She challenges him. Because she’s a contradiction. She is, for all accounts and purposes, a lover and an empath. To have someone who has the same training, who for the most part has the same ideals, too, challenge him on love and passion? That just tickles me. And it’s been so much fun to write and develop the romance. Because these two love birds are SO stubborn, and I’ve loved writing their journey from tentative allies to would-be lovers. We’re now at a point in the story where I’m just ITCHING to keep writing, because we’re finally coming to a lot of stuff that’s just going to be so satisfying!
Replying to @elizabeth0020 for: Hello!! I’ve always wondered how you decide what arcs/episodes you’re going to write? There are sooooo many, how do you know what’s a good one for your story vs one that isn’t? And a second question (if you feel like answering lol): how do you picture all the details you wrote? Like lighting, movements, facial expression etc? You’re so good at that and I’ve always been amazed at how you come up with them!
I love answering anything and everything, so never worry about sending me too much! I don’t often get to talk about the technical stuff (like the questions you’ve asked), so I love getting any chance I have to talk about them! (So hold on tight, ‘cause this is a ramble! 😂)
So, for the first question regarding the arcs... I picked out what episodes/arcs I thought were beneficial when I did my first watch through of the Clone Wars this past summer. I had a google doc that I wrote down all the episode names in, then jotted down the preliminary ideas. Let me tell you, with a show that has seven seasons of 20+ episodes, it was... so daunting to even think about narrowing down what episodes and arcs to use. It was what initially deterred me from using any of them at all. So I started to look for things that I felt would directly impact Elara, her character, and her development. For example, I didn’t really use all of “Cat and Mouse” because the episode, on a whole, wouldn’t have Elara much involved in it. It did, however, provide a wonderful backdrop for her time on Christophsis, which is why I didn’t nix it entirely. Aside from forcing Obi-Wan and Elara to be tied together, “Dooku Captured” and “The Gungan General” were used to introduce her to Hondo, whom both allows her to be more playful, and showcases her knowledge of the seedier side of the galaxy. And there are plenty of episodes that I love and adore that I just... don’t think would fit. For as much as I love “Senate Spy” and the introduction of Clovis, there’s no way for me to put Elara into that episode and not have it feel forced. That’s another huge thing I look for when picking episodes; if Elara doesn’t feel like she would naturally fit into the storyline somehow, even if it’s indirectly, I’m not going to force her into it. That’s when I do things like mention the events of the episode in a chapter (like with “Clone Cadets”) instead of doing a whole episode. So Clovis is obviously going to get a mention (she’s Anakin’s sister and Padmé’s bestie, of course she’s going to hear about the debacle), but the whole episode won’t be written out.
Then, of course, you have the arcs. The ones that I had immediately chosen are (and these probably come as no surprise): Ryloth, Mandalore, Mortis, Slavers, and Deception. The arcs I find easier to choose because you have a chance to work with more surface area so to speak. It gives me a chance to really flesh out Elara’s part in the story, focus in on her and her emotions and how she’s tied to this particular plot. With the Mortis Arc, for example––Elara is a Skywalker. She is strong with the Force, and in the “Balance” verse, considered a Chosen One. That ties her into the Mortis Arc very interestingly, since it’s not just Anakin going God Mode. It’s going to lend me the chance to really dig deep into Elara, her connection to the Force, to the Light and Dark (the Daughter and Son), and her relationship to being a Chosen One. At first I was like ‘holy shit I’m never gonna be able to do this arc,’ and then when I buckled down and really thought it over... I realized it’s going to be really important for her as a character, and particularly her relationship with Anakin (stay tuned!). It also probably comes as no surprise that a lot of the arcs (and episodes) that get picked are influenced by whether or not Anakin or Obi-Wan are in them. Which is why I almost turned a blind eye to the Umbara Arc until someone brought it up. I did a rewatch of it and knew I had to include it, too. Because that’s going to be an awesome opportunity to flesh out how close Elara is to the 442nd, and be able to contrast her ideals as a General against those of Krell. A lot of the picking of episodes and arcs ends up being trial and error. I wrote the first four-ish pages of “Clone Cadets” before I realized it just didn’t flow right.
All this being said, I like to envision Elara is around for all of the Clone Wars episodes, so I’ve got lots of fun little random snippets for things that I’ll probably never write, but figure would happen in some part of a CW episode.
And after all that, here we finally are at your second question! ☺️
Coming up with all those small details is actually an amalgamation of things at work. I do attribute a lot of it to my training as an actor/theatre artist. I think about how, if I were directing it, how I’d want the movements to look, and how that would translate on both a small scale, and a large scale. A touch of a hand for Obi-Wan and Elara can feel like a world shifting movement––but come off as nothing but a simple, friendly gesture to their fellows. On a small scale, what makes the difference is the way the touch happens. How light the pressure of the touch is, how long it lasts, how slowly their fingers brush against the other person’s hand... all those things help me figure out the mood of that touch and how they’d respond to it. Also, when choosing words to describe movements I often think about the attitude attached to it. A ‘turn of the head’ when Anakin’s being moody may end up being a ‘swivel,’ or the ‘arch’ of an eyebrow from Obi-Wan is more sarcastic than a gentler ‘raise.’ I often agonize picking out those sorts of words. I’ll sit there and try them over and over again, then put them all into a Thesaurus website because I worry I use the same words too much. The thesaurus (particularly when writing Obi-Wan), is my best friend.
When I write mannerisms for canon characters, I use a lot of reference for. I’ll literally just scroll through gifs, watch movie clips, or rewatch the scene I’m writing to pick up on character-specific mannerisms. A couple chapters ago I was describing Anakin’s angry face, and I just looked at images of him from Revenge of the Sith (him alone in the Council room, him being knighted as Vader, his expressions on Mustafar, etc.) I’ll also do this for vocal ticks/inflections. I will also unashamedly admit I will sit there and compose my face into whatever expression I’m trying to describe. Sometimes feeling it physically, or physically composing it helps me come up with words or ways to describe the look. Same thing with touches AND with vocal inflection. Do I sit by myself and read what I’ve written aloud in my best Obi-Wan Kenobi cadence? Yes, yes I do. And has it helped me figure out what words/phrases do and do not work? Yes, it absolutely has!
Also, a lot of describing the details of motion/facial expression/touch gets affected by music for me. Like, if you listen to “Stairway to Heaven” as played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra while reading, say, the scene in “The Gungan General” where Obi-Wan and Elara wake up pressed up to one another... that song is just THE feel of that moment. Listening to the right music when writing (the little details especially) is big for me. Kinda like how “Blue Monday” is the music that works best for the bunker scene in “Storm Over Ryloth.”
There are also a lot of details that I pull from real life. I remember when I wrote Elara seeing Naboo for the first time—and consequently grass, trees, and flowers, too—it was summer time for me. I was staring out at the trees and the way the light filtered through them, watched how they swayed... the grass had just been cut and the breeze smelled sweet... and I was like ‘god, imagine experiencing this all for the first time.’ So I took what I felt and elevated it a little, tried to add a kind of wonder to the things that we all, for the most part, kinda take for granted. I like pulling on experiences I’ve had in real life as a basis.
I ask attribute a LOT of my detail work to my training as a theatre artist. I think about lighting now differently than I did a couple years ago; because I learned what kinda of light fit different moods. Like the scene of Obi-Wan at Dex’s would feel completely different if I’d described the light as cool toned. It would lack a sense of hope. His reminiscences would be sadder, it would feel more stark. The warmer tones suggest that there’s still heart and hope, a possibility for things to get better, and that reflects his inner life better than colder, bluer light. Or how I used light when I wrote Elara seeing Watto again after 10 years to describe her struggle between Dark and Light in that moment. She stepped out of the sun and into the shade because, for a moment, she almost gave in to the Darkness. (Inspired by the scene in Force Awakens where Kylo asks for Han’s help and the light shines down on them... with hints of red low lighting to hint at the struggle... only to have the light disappear as he overrides his own vulnerability, reverts to the Darkness and kills his own father).
I also love using physical objects as emotional triggers, like is done in theatre quite a bit. A good recent example being Elara’s lightsaber. Obi-Wan having it reminds him of his worries regarding her safety, and his struggle with choosing what path to take in regards to his feelings towards her. Or Elara with the Snow Blossom. These things have the ability to spark different emotions depending on the situation. On a good day, the Snow Blossom will make her smile; on a bad day, it may make her feel more sad than happy. And sometimes they don’t have to be objects—they can be bruises or scars or healing wounds. Having something physical spark an emotional response can be really helpful, and has actually helped me though rough spots in my writing.
I could literally go on for hours about all of this kind of stuff! So thank you for asking about it and giving me a chance to discuss it even a little bit! ☺️
