Hi, great blog! Wookiepedia is useful but sometimes not as specific as we need it to be–like now. I was wondering, was it ever mentioned if the Legends!Organa-Solo children went to school? And I know Winter helped take care of them as babies and when they had to hide, but what about scenarios like picking them up from school? Was it still her, their parents or some sort of governess? I’m writing new canon but would like to know if there are clues to that in the books. Thanks!

Considering the sheer number of incidents where the kids had to be evacuated, go on trips with Leia or Luke, move to a different planet, including some unknown to everyone but the family, I would say they probably never went to school. I’ve read almost everything in the New Jedi Order era, and I also can’t recall them ever going to a formal school on any planet. I do know that they had a tutor named Drall Ebrihim in 18 ABY, and that in 22 ABY they went to the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin IV for training with Luke. In between those two things, they were again being rushed all over the galaxy. So in short, it’s unlikely they ever went to school, but they were homeschooled for at least a short time. It’s also a possibility that Winter or C-3PO gave them a few informal lessons, and that they learned a lot just from travelling as much as they did.

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

What’s a small purchase that has a canonical price? Like, for the equivalent of “that and a dollar will get you a coffee”.

Hmm. There aren’t a lot of canoncial prices, especially for small things. Off the top of my head, a ration pack costs five credits. That may or may not fit the sentence. Bantha stew also costs five credits, at least at the restaurant for which the price is listed. Perhaps something more recognizable could be a blue milkshake, which costs exactly 2.7 credits, apparently. Lots of different types of donuts cost about 1-2 credits, and the general term “donut” is perfectly acceptable to use. That’s pretty much all I’ve got. Hope one of those works!

~ Jacen

pomrania:

inquisitorius-sin-bin:

freshbrainss:

imperialremnant:

deducecanoe:

roane72:

askshivanulegacy:

bobafctt:

tips for writing Star Wars fanfic/Star Wars roleplay things

it’s not concrete; it’s duracrete

viewports are the windows on ships

not a plane; ship or speeder

it’s not steel; it’s durasteel

books are rare; holorecords or datapads

it’s not a glass pane it’s transparisteel

caf is the equivalent of coffee

it’s not paper it’s a flimsi

medcenter is a hospital

Star Wars can be very similar to things we’re already used to, but getting familiar with some of these terms can make your writing really fit in with the universe

This is brilliant! Here’s another:

It’s not a movie; it’s a holovid

It’s not a phone or cell; it’s a holocom or communicator or just comm (unit). You normally comm someone instead of call them.

Searching our standard terms in Wookieepedia will normally provide you with one or several in-universe alternatives. The other items exist, they’re just either archaic terms or really low-tech versions of what’s commonly used (like concrete is a real thing, but just extremely less durable and strong than the more advanced and common duracrete).

I’ve seen ‘permacrete’ used in the latest books as well.

Back in the day weren’t the “glass” windows on x-wings and ships called like invisa-steel or something? That stuck in my head from the Thrawn trilogy I think. I remember sitting there in deep contemplation over how the hell you make the molecule chains in metal transparent and worrying about carbon chains and shit because what’s what you do in 10th grade.

I remember seeing med center used as medbay and sickbay as well, and dishwasher as sonic dishwasher? (correct me if wrong tho, I can’t remember v well). But here’s some more:

bandaids = bacta patches
bathroom = refresher
watch/clock = chrono
first aid kit = medpack, medkit
motorcycle = speeder bike, swoop bike
camera = holocamera
internet = holonet
shower = sonic shower(?)

Correct any of these if they’re wrong ;P also they’re all legends I think and I’m not sure if any of them are in new canon.

I love this, because it’s not condescending or pretentious…just fans letting newer fans know ways to improve their fic. I love the films, but I haven’t been able to get access to so many of the books and comics yet (even though they’re waiting in my Amazon cart for pay day), so this is awesome. And I’ve basically been living on Wookieepedia lately, too!

I can’t find a canon instance of it but

refrigerator = conservator

I just know I’ll be needing some of those in the future.

@writebetterstarwars maybe add those to your list?

Thanks @pomrania! In the meantime, I’m sure you guys could use this list.

There’s an unpleasant-for-everyone situation, and someone tries to laugh at the other person’s lame joke. It sounds like a (creature) being strangled; what would the “creature” be? Like, as a general expression someone would use, not that they have personal experience of those sounds.

Honestly, you could pretty much use any small animal. Probably one from your character’s homeworld or somewhere else they’ve spent time, and possibly something vaguely feline, in order to follow the real-life expression. A nexu could be a good one to use. I know you write for Rebels a lot, so perhaps a loth-cat, a sabercat or a puffer pig. I’m sure mynocks would make a pretty bad sound when strangled, and most people know what mynocks are. One more thing, off the top of my head, could be the shriek-hawk from Mandalore. These kinds of expressions usually vary from planet-to-planet and culture-to-culture, so feel free to ask again if you need something specific to one world.

I hope that helps!

~ Jacen

Is there a Galaxy Far Away equivalent of the “Navy alphabet”? If there isn’t, do you think I should use the real-world one? :o

kaelinaloveslomaris:

writebetterstarwars:

I can’t find any evidence of there being an in-universe equivalent. Perhaps there was no canonical need for it, as most modern communication forms left little room for mishearing a word or letter. If there is a need for it in your story, there’s no reason why you couldn’t just use the real-world one.

~ Jacen

I would assume they’d just use the names of the Aurebesh characters (Aurek, Besh, etc), but that’s just my guess.

Yes, that could work very well. Thanks for the idea!

Is there a communication device, handheld, that someone could use to communicate with someone on a different planet? My character is trying to be discreet while conversing with the Rebellion on Yavin 4.

kaelinaloveslomaris:

writebetterstarwars:

Sorry to say, there is no such device. Anything sending transmissions that far needs a bigger power source than, say, a comlink. However, you could do a couple things. One, get a regular old comlink message to someone who has access to a subspace or hyperwave transceiver, someone within about 50 klicks of your character. Two, have the character themselves get to a more powerful transmitter, like you would find on a ship or maybe a private building.

It’s also important to note that the Empire shut down large portions of the HoloNet (the network used to carry hyperwave transmissions), causing the Rebellion a lot of trouble when it came to communicating with each other. It also didn’t cover a lot of the Outer Rim, but there were secret channels used by the rebels. Subspace transmissions were not routed through the HoloNet, but they did take significantly longer to reach their destination, and they were easier to intercept. Think about which would work better for your story.

I hope that helps!

~ Jacen

In the same vein, if you have someone using a comlink while on a Star Destroyer, could it somehow piggyback on the Destroyer’s transmitter to get enough power to reach someone on a different planet?

I suppose it could be possible, if they managed to get a feed between the comlink and the Destroyer’s subspace transmitter. They would likely need a direct, physical connection, or at least some sort of tampering with the transmitter itself.

Is there a Galaxy Far Away equivalent of the “Navy alphabet”? If there isn’t, do you think I should use the real-world one? :o

I can’t find any evidence of there being an in-universe equivalent. Perhaps there was no canonical need for it, as most modern communication forms left little room for mishearing a word or letter. If there is a need for it in your story, there’s no reason why you couldn’t just use the real-world one.

~ Jacen

Is there a communication device, handheld, that someone could use to communicate with someone on a different planet? My character is trying to be discreet while conversing with the Rebellion on Yavin 4.

Sorry to say, there is no such device. Anything sending transmissions that far needs a bigger power source than, say, a comlink. However, you could do a couple things. One, get a regular old comlink message to someone who has access to a subspace or hyperwave transceiver, someone within about 50 klicks of your character. Two, have the character themselves get to a more powerful transmitter, like you would find on a ship or maybe a private building.

It’s also important to note that the Empire shut down large portions of the HoloNet (the network used to carry hyperwave transmissions), causing the Rebellion a lot of trouble when it came to communicating with each other. It also didn’t cover a lot of the Outer Rim, but there were secret channels used by the rebels. Subspace transmissions were not routed through the HoloNet, but they did take significantly longer to reach their destination, and they were easier to intercept. Think about which would work better for your story.

I hope that helps!

~ Jacen

What are some general things that the galactic senate does? Is there a galactic budget that has to be passed? Do they handle treaties or sentient rights? Do they mostly just drink coffee and argue? Any big crises when Bail was a young senator?

The Galactic Senate’s main job is to settle disputes between worlds or organizations, handle treaties and governing laws of the Republic, allocate resources and money among the citizens and manage defence forces.

They do take care of sentient rights (through the Rights of Sentience clause in the Galactic Constitution) and all treaties between planets that are part of the Republic. A lot of things are taken care of in smaller committees and subcommittees, unless, of course, it’s a matter that concerns the Republic as a whole.

The Republic’s budget is overseen by the Financial Committee. One of the only known members of this committee happens to be Bail Organa. The Allocations Committee also oversees the budget, namely the parts relating to taxation and government revenue. The Financial Appropriations Committee supervises grants from the Republic to charities, organizations and projects, and also has a stake in the final budget. It is unknown exactly how these committees operate, but it is reasonable to assume that the budget must be passed by at least two separate bodies, one of them possibly being the Senate.

The only major event I can think of that happened early in Bail’s career would be the Invasion of Naboo and subsequent Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum. Even though he wasn’t yet a Senator, Bail spoke at the meeting where the vote was held. After Palpatine was made Chancellor and Bail Antilles resigned, Bail Organa took his place in the Senate.

And yes, a lot of the Senate meetings were primarily arguing and drinking coffee, or as it’s known in-universe, caf. It takes a lot to get over 2000 Senators to agree on anything.

I hope that’s helpful. Good luck with your story!

~ Jacen