There are a lot of great quotes about writing out there; these are some of the most insightful, thought-provoking, or ‘ah ha!’ ones I’ve come across.

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‘I’ve always liked how in Star Wars, they’d just show you the mundane, everyday things peppered in with the fantastic. It just gave it a believability that most sci-fi movies never can get across.’

-Phraggle, from this picture (emphasis mine)

Before reading this quote, I mainly thought about the things in Star Wars that most fans do: The lightsabers, the battles, the wars, and the Force. But thanks to this insight, I realized that, for all the futuristic things we see in Star Wars, we also see a lot of ordinary, everyday things:

*Political struggles of a struggling democracy

*50’s style diners

*Ordinary, boring jobs (moisture farmers, bartenders, and the like)

*Recreation (podracing, Colosseum fights, holographic chess, etc.)

*Repairing old, beat-up, spacefaring technology that, contrary to most science fiction, does indeed wear down and break.

All these things, while minor, and background details for the most part, give the Star Wars universe a feel of being lived in, of existing beyond the main conflict, and that the characters who inhabit this world have the same issues we face, as well as enjoyments. When applied to other stories, whether they’re set in the reality, the future, the past, or in alternate dimensions, it lets writers create a living, breathing place that invites the audience to imagine what’s happening beyond what’s presented to us.