One of the things that’s important in a long-running RPG is making a memorable plot that attains definitive closure. You don’t want players feeling like they have unfinished business and want to go Do More Things.

So, for instance, say you start dropping hints early on of some sort of epic Magical Badass, like a lich queen or something. Early on, the players don’t find out much; just that there’s someone called Zola who is behind a whole lot of strange shit, and a lot of it is not good. And they are never quite sure what she is. Wizard? Dragon? Lich? But eventually they find out: She has many forms, but her true form is one of the Medusas. Not the modern watered-down species that fall for the mirror crap and you have to meet their gaze, but a true abomination from beyond the veil, whose stare can turn whole armies to stone.

The reason this works as a plot is that the players will never speak to you again once they realize you spent six months building up to the reveal that the big cheese is the legendary gorgon Zola.

[EDIT: I feel vaguely disappointed that this is probably my most popular post ever.]

[NEW EDIT: Okay now that the pornhub joke has 100x as many notes I yearn for the halcyon days when this was it.]

Here’s a comic I made for today’s edition of Le Monde Diplomatique in Germany. Click to enlarge the images and read it in English, or click here to read it in German.

-Jake

If posting fic online has taught me anything, it’s that I have no idea how the reader will react to anything. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not the faintest clue.

Fics that I think I scribbled off just to get them out there get the kindest, most rapturous feedback. Fics I slaved over, agonized over, bled my soul into get a couple tepid replies. Fics I thought were me revealing the darkness and weird kink that lives in my brain, scared to even post it for fear of judgement, get, “Aaaw that’s so sweet!” replies. Baffling.

My conclusion? You just never know. You really just can’t know. When I did a workshop with 20 other writers I would try to guess what their critique of my story would be and I was right maybe 1 in 20 times. Only one other writer would have the same critique for my story that I had. And it wasn’t even always the same person.

The encouraging part about this is, if self recrimination, the fear that you know what people won’t like about your story, is holding you back, just say fuck it! You’re almost certainly wrong! All you can do is make it the best story you can for the energy you have. And yeah, sometimes that means scribbling it out in an evening and kicking it out to the void of the internet before you can change your mind or worry about editing it more than once because then you’ll never post it.

It’s all chaos, man. You don’t get to decide what the audience thinks. All you can do is create it and put it out there for them to decide.

girl help I'm getting they/them'd by well-meaning people who don't know what a tomboy is

The devastating difference between how much time it takes to write something vs how fast people read it lol

You know it’s funny, in the early days of this fic I was interested in everyone knowing about Leia at some point. I’m less invested in that now. And if I had to pick one person I don’t want to know at this point, it would be Anakin. In the early stages of your fic, I think it would have been a wake up call that would prompt some major character changes. But over the course of the fic, he’s grown so much I don’t think he needs that hurt. I think it’s very unlikely at this point that Vader would happen. It’s simply not necessary in my mind. And he deserves to grow without that shadow over his shoulder.

People I do want to know include Shmi most of all. To a lesser extent I’d like Padmé, Bail, and Obi-wan to know, though that has more to do with progressing relationships with those people. Other characters I’d be interested in the reaction for the lol’s, like Mace Windu.

So you’ve changed my mind on the subject, at least. Good job, lol

I honestly cannot tell you how much this comment excites me. As is pretty obvious from how far we've gotten in this story with Leia keeping her secrets, I'm very partial to the "do people really need to know" line of thought, for so many reasons. But I really appreciate this observation, because I think it really is at the heart of why DLB Leia doesn't wan't to talk about her past. Part of it is her fear and worry. But equally important to her is how telling the truth will impact the people around her. And there is so much of her history that can really only hurt people. She's very aware of that fact. And while, like you, there may have been a point where she wanted to rub Anakin's face in Vader's choices, she is also getting to a point where she wouldn't want to hurt Anakin specifically by bringing those choices us. Because they aren't his choices or his mistakes to bear.

I feel like I got to explore the idea of a reveal a lot last October when I ran the Tricks for Treats prompts. It was fun to think about doing the story differently for a bit.

this might be one of the most minute and minor things. Leia Lightsaber colors. What is your vibe. I feel She is more Blue then Green, but she is absolute type to Go Purple. could see a Yellow. Not sure on white for the Vibe, but Possible. This is clearly very important and I should totally bother you about it.

Gonna be real, I know nothing about lightsaber color lore. Based on, like, vibes? Purple is fine for your canonical Leia Organa. I think it's fun when she has a purple saber in a story.

With Galen losing a limb recently I imagined that maybe Anakin would mention his similar injury only to realize... Anakin never lost his hand, right?

Figured I'd send the ask bc I can't be the only one who could use a reminder.

Anakin does in fact have all his limbs still. His very brief duel with Dooku on Geonosis while he and Leia were rescuing Obi-Wan did not result in any loss of limb. (Galen's loss of an arm may have inappropriately amused me because of this.)

Just finished a reread of Don’t Look Back and 1. Incredible, flawless, Top 10 Star Wars Fics for sure and 2. I have moved onto the tumblr prompts and have been slightly (more than slightly) ensnared by the Immediately Kills Palpatine au. If you’ve got the time and brainspace I would be v interested in there being more of it, maybe Anakin and Leia arriving on Tatooine and/or more Obi-Wan fallout?

I have, sadly, actively prohibited myself from writing any more of this AU. If I let myself keep going, it will become A Thing. And given that DLB is currently just under 600k and counting of posted words (oh man, I do not want to think about how many words I've actually written for this fic and how much is left), I cannot afford to have another Thing in my life. No matter how sorely I may be tempted.

I recently realized something and it absolutely killed both me and my friend who has been graciously dealing with me bombarding her with things about DLB, so I thought I’d spread the fun.

Ahsoka, itty bitty brand new Padawan baby 14yo Ahsoka, is canonically about 5’3. She is two inches TALLER than Leia.

Well…that is a fact I had no idea about and will need to contemplate for an extended period of time.

(tweet 1) (tweet 2) (article)

"I can fix him" You can't even fix your sleep schedule bestie

Did they ever reveal how Captain America was thawed? Because I’m picturing a bunch of Shield agents with hair dryers and I don’t think that’s quite right.