May the 4th Be With You

The creators have been revealed for the maythe4thbewithyou exchange! I received one fabulous story (which is more than I expected, as I forgot to sign up for my own exchange (ok, technically I'm a co-mod and the other mod does the heavy lifting BUT STILL) due to the hassle leading up to the JoCo Cruise, which is when the deadline was.

The Recruit (1561 words) by ambiguously
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), The Mandalorian (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Wrecker (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Grogu | Baby Yoda
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Accidental Grogu | Baby Yoda Acquisition, MayThe4th Treat, Minor Character Death
Summary:

The Bad Batch makes a new friend.

I created three artworks:

The Bad, The Worse and the Bane (0 words) by Irusu
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett (TV), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Cad Bane
Summary:

*western music riff*
*tumbleweed bounces by*
[yeehaw intensifies]

Let's Blow Something Up! (11 words) by Irusu
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Wrecker (Star Wars: The Bad Batch)
Additional Tags: Rule 63, Explosion
Summary:

How much difference do you think there'd be, really?

He could watch her sleep for hours (0 words) by Irusu
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla
Characters: Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla
Additional Tags: shhhh don't wake her up
Summary:

In a consensual, non-creepy way, that is.

(no subject)

I'm heading into my edits on Deadwater and need to figure out what my beginning actually is, and managed to serendipitously come across this post where an editor critiqued a number of openings authors submitted. That link goes to the Adult Fantasy category, but she's got other posts for other genres.

I'm going through it and taking notes for my own use, keeping in mind that each of these critiques is specifically aimed at the entry in question, but quite a lot of it is universal.

But I just hit "I might be a bit jaded because I read so many unpublished novel openings per year, but I feel that starting a novel with a character disoriented and in pain is a trope and probably won’t stand out to agents," and OH LORD YES so many self-published fantasy novels on Amazon start like this! If they don't start with the main character disoriented and in pain, they start with the MC running from pursuit, or sneaking through a location on the way to their job which is about to go hideously wrong.