So if you hadn't noticed yet I'm experimenting with new layouts. This, in case you're interested, is one Ms Mara Jade. Creation of Timothy Zahn and inhabitant of the Star Wars Extended Universe. I'm a Star Wars fan, more the EU than the actual films 'cause lets be honest here - Lucas kinda sucks as a writer but his concepts and the universe he created are incredible. First EU novel I read was Heir to the Empire, fully expected to hate it and to be honest the core characters (Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie et al) kinda bugged me a little but then there was this enigmatic little character in the background - Mara Jade. Seriously screwed up moral compass, but she was determined to do what she believed was right. She fit into every single situation she encountered, she was a master manipulator and she got what she wanted. I loved her character from the moment she raised her eyebrow at Talon Karrde.

Mara was my first real foray into fandom, I read everything I could get my hands on and when it became obvious that the other SW:EU writers were brushing her under the carpet I started writing little scenes of my own based around her. One of these days I will brush off my SW writing and maybe post it here. I wrote mostly gen Mara ficlets, sometimes I'd ship her with Karrde, sometimes with Corran (almost never with Luke oddly enough - I could never quite get his character voice down somehow) and then in reading the X Wing novels (Stackpole is my second favourite SW:EU writer after Zahn) I discovered this other fascinating character. Iceheart. Ysanne Isard, So yeah, after that I wrote femslash. :)

Then something happened and I stopped reading SW fic and started reading BtVS fic. Gradually I stopped writing Mara and started writing Xander (and later Faith) and my SW fanfom faded into the background. I'll be honest and say the New Jedi Order series of books was very nearly the final nail in the coffin of my love for SW:EU but, like season seven of Buffy, I'm going to take the very bad with the very good. I've been re-reading NJO for a while now, for most of the books it's only the second time I've read them, and despite where some of the writers have taken my fandom I can still see glimmers of the characters I love in there. So I'm reminding myself why I chose to use Mara Jaded as my screen name, why this fictional character inspires me, why I started writing again.

Okay - that was random there. I might not even stick with the layout all that long, after all - I kinda hate green!