Samuel Peterson > Recent Status Updates

"Master Bondara epitomized what Darsha hoped to become one day. The Twi'lek Jedi Master lived in the Force. Always still and complacent as a pool of unknown depth, he was nevertheless one of the best fighters in the order. His skill with a lightsaber was second to none." When did this book come out? 2001? Yeah, this was a year before Mace Windu and Yoda showed the world what they were capable of.

Yep, knew it. Sith Holocron. Although theirs are more pyramidal in shape, not cubic.

A red glowing cube? Sounds more like a Sith holocron than a Jedi's.

Ooohhh, another comic reference. The Black Sun assignment referred to by Sidious comics from a series of Darth Maul comics from Dark Horse.

Pete, you better have your Spidey-Sense now! That's Bullseye you're tangling with! And he just took down the Green Goblin...with playing cards!

I'm disappointed that in this section of "Making Converation" there isn't an option that says, "So...papaya?" 😆 Too niche?

"Consider what the purpose of all this writing is for your character. What drives them to write? What do they get out of the process? Check all that apply, and then consider what all of that says about them.
○To excise demons, literal and figurative."
I'm sorry, what? Lol.

This section about boredom reminds me of the times when Sherlock Holmes is bored in the BBC show.
BANG! BANG! BANG!

Dreams are probably the most common writing trope. It highlights a character's innermost thoughts, feelings, desires, wants, and fears.

Cloud watching sounds a little childish, but perhaps that's the point. It's a moment of play and relaxation for the character, allowing them to be their younger self.

All these questions that focus on in-universe music and songs remind me of the songs written in the Redwall books. Some of them are toe-tappers, some of them are work songs, and some are dirges. Some are funny, and others are a bit more violent to the peaceful listener or funny to the violent one.

Oftentimes, in very serious genre fiction, things like favorite foods, drinks, treats, music, games, and hobbies are what introduce us to the characters. Luke plays with models, hangs out with friends, and flies in a skyhopper in his off-time in ANH. Frodo eats and drinks with friends, reads out in the fields of the Shire, and plays make-believe. These things are needed to be dropped for the hero to go on their quest

"A commonality of the universe that often gets overlooked, particularly in very serious genre fiction, is that no matter how bleak people's circumanstances, they still have ways of finding joy. Games, music, food and drink, inside jokes, little hobbies...Your character probably has something that amuses them in their off-hours. And being able to confidently point to these activities helps humanize your character."

Awww, some father-daughter time of changing costumes and trying out different looks. And May has a good eye for bringing the old red-and-blue.

Again? Where's his Spidey-Sense? He's had that since the beginning.

Ehhhh, Exar Kun reference! I'm trying to remember which came first in terms of design: Exar Kun's lightsaber from the Tales of the Jedi comics, or Darth Maul's when Episode I was in development.

"How can you tell if a Neimoidian is lying? His mouth is open." Lol! I love how there are Star Wars versions of colloquialisms!

An "antistress capsule"? Nute Gunray is such a stressful and anxiety-ridden alien that he needs anxiety medication! Lol

I've been enjoying the Maul: Shadow Lord series on Disney+ so far. So I thought I would walk down memory lane and read the Darth Maul books that took place when Darth Maul was in his prime before the events of the films.

"What Their Home Reveals
"Your home is so much more than a place where you rest your head. It's an extension of your personality, in ways both conscious and subconscious. It is a statement you send out to visitors, neighbors, and passersby. If you want to get to know your character, just look around their home, and how it's decorated."
"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit."

"Packing for Travel...
"Consider what they pack and what they leave behind. What kind of clothes do they bring? Do they have medicines, toiletries, or comforts they bring along? Do they need weapons or protection? What kinds do they pack? How much do they pack?..." And this is why Tolkien just had Gandalf give Bilbo "a little nudge out of the door" in The Hobbit book; to not bother with these sorts of questions.

"The contents of a character's wallet (or purse, or coin pouch, or billfold, or big burlap sack with a dollar sign on it, or just what they've got jammed into their pockets) tells you so much more about them than what you might expect.
It tells you how much money they keep on hand,...their economic standing, national allegiance, comfort among strangers...photos and keepsakes speak to their anxieties, their fears..."

So, MJ doesn't know?! What were those looks then? Those words before?

Again, Spidey-Sense. Although in this situation, it's more like "Daddy-Sense." I just love her little face.

Where's your Spidey-Sense? Idiot. Lol

Now the discussion of vehicles and what characters ride as being an extension of themselves remind me of Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Those fandoms and the genres they are in put those sorts of concepts into prominence, and therefore, we are drawn to the vehicles and the characters who use them.

These questions of weapons and how they are treated by the characters, their connections to the weapon or weapons, and how it says about them, reminds me of the Sequel Trilogy and how they treated Anakin's/Luke's lightsaber. How those moments are written is also an extension of how the writer and director treats those weapons.

"There is a moment in every gladiator story where they bring out the big wheel of weapons, and dramatically say to the gladiators, 'Choose your weapon.' There's a reason that moment works so well. Every weapon on that rack tells a story. In that moment, fighters navigate the specific kinds of offense and defense offered by each weapon, and how they might counter one another. What they're doing...is signaling intent"

"As the saying goes, 'The clothes make the person.' But that's only part of the story. What you wear, what you ride, what you spend your money on—every one of these reveals so much about you. What you own signals who you want to project into the world. Whether that version of yourself is real or fabricated...either way, it's incredibly telling." There's also the phrase from Kingsman: "Manners maketh Man."

"If the life you had stolen from you twenty years ago was suddenly given back to you, are you obligated to try and relive some version of it? Because if you did feel like you had to relive that life, wouldn't you just be twenty years behind the curve for...forever or something like that? I mean, I'm a smart guy, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to do now." Usually it's Uncle Ben telling him. Who's it this time?