Speak Stiltedly and Wear a Yellow Shirt

It’s strange to wake up without 2,000 words hanging over my head. I didn’t write a thing today, but maybe tomorrow I’ll start in on the short story that I’ve wanted to write for a few weeks now.

I don’t hate the characters as much as I thought I would after spending four weeks with them. On the other hand, I think I’d have trouble writing fluff after 50,000 words of Serious Plot. I could write something short, gen, and episode-like, like “Revisions.” I enjoyed the Twilight Zone plot of that episode.

Warning: Spoilers for SG season 6.

I’m still stuck in Season 6 of Stargate SG-1. (I’m that far thanks to Jerie’s ceaseless efforts to spread the SG love.) “Disclosure” (617) was a frightful low, not just in the total absence of Jack but also with the Kinsey acting like a great big whiny brat. The government can’t make up it’s mind who’s running the Stargate program eps never work for me. I didn’t buy the logic of his whining to foreign ambassadors in order to get a domestic policy change. I also didn’t understand why the Thor ex machina worked here but not in season 7. The West Wing it ain’t.

So I was despairing in the desert of no Jack when I started “Forsaken” (618). And there was Jack! Looking back on it, I’m not sure it was all that great an episode. I just enjoyed the challenge of trying (and failing) to figure out what exactly was going on.

The real thrill was “The Changeling” (619). I’m not big into the Jaffa Rebellion arc—it’s just as clunky and cheesy as the NID Politics arc—but at least the Jaffa have an excuse for being cheesy. The Goa’uld made them that way. And they turn the cheese into something almost moving.

So I’ve come to expect Jaffa Cheese from the average Teal’c episode; Teal’c with lines makes up for it. Instead, I got Teal’c Decheesed, plus a mystery to figure out, plus pleasant lingering questions like:

1. Did Daniel actually do anything?
2. What happens now?
3. If Teal’c can speak colloquial English when he’s dying, why can’t he do it every episode?
4. How does he know so much about firemen, anyway?

Jack and Sam were phoning it in, but they were still cute as firemen. Jonas stole every scene he was in, as usual. Ascended!Daniel is a little too saccharine for my tastes, but I hear he’s descending soon. I’ll miss Jonas.

There’s a drabble and an icon in the LiveJournal. That’s all you’re getting today (Thursday), since I’ll be out of town.

Ok, I’ve succumbed to the infectious first lines
meme, but only so far as to post some first lines from my
stories. The first set are what was intended by the meme; the rest
are there for fun. Feel free to fic with any of them.

Generic first lines:

(more…)

A BRAD meme, by way of Rocky:

Who was your first beta?

Jade.

What was the story and fandom?

The fandom was Voyager, but I was writing a few stories at once. It may have been The Unity of the Multiverse.

Are you still writing in that fandom?

I try not to. The muse has moved on and it’s always best to move on with her.

Which beta(s) had the most impact on your writing?

I’d have to say Jintian, for pointing out my wandering POV. But see the question below about qualities I look for in a beta reader.

What is your favorite story or series of what you’ve written and why?

I’m fondest of the filks, really. Although the musicals are my greatest filky achievement, the Khan-filk I Will Revive is currently nearest and dearest to my heart.

Who was the beta?

The betas just nod and say “very nice, Jemima” when I send them filks. I’m not sure they want their names involved, but they can ‘fess up in the comments if they’d like.

What are your next two favorite stories or series of what you’ve written and why?

Moving on to actual stories, I pretty much agree with the fans on favorites. People are reccing “The Dance” almost 4 years after B’Elanna the Muse wrote it. Why is it my favorite? Because of the incredible muse high I had while writing it.

It’s harder to pick another. I’d like to name an SG fic, but my favorite is my unfinished SG novel, for its theme. Of things you can read now, I’ll go with another VOY standard: The Museum. It started out as a loosely-linked AU series but then it came together to an unexpected resolution. I got to do all sorts of character assassination and the Borg got to assimilate the Alpha Quadrant along the way, so fun was had all around.

Who beta-ed your most recent story?

Jade and Jerie beta all my Stargate fic. Lately they’ve been doing drabbles in batches of ten and campaigning for longer fics.

What do you consider the most important quality in a beta reader?

The same as in a writer—she needs to love the show. Familiarity with canon and fanon are vital, because a beta reader is not (for my purposes) an editor; she’s a test reader. You can’t know whether a story is coming across well unless you’re familiar with the genre and the background.

What do you consider the most important thing to be accomplished in a beta read? (Grammar, spelling, continuity, plot, character, canon, fanon, hand holding, other?)

It depends on the strengths and weaknesses of the author. Grammar and spelling aren’t a problem for me (though the betas still find stuff), so I just want to know in general that the story is working. I’m behind on Stargate canon, so Jerie is very helpful there. Jade is always on the lookout for good kissyface opportunities.

How has your writing changed from your first stories?

It’s better from a technical standpoint, but it’s gotten worse in some ways. I don’t spend the time on my fanfic that I used to. My SG stories aren’t getting the love that VOY did. Fortunately I’m a faster writer now so things have evened out more or less, but I still haven’t written The Great SG Ship Story.

What do you attribute that to?

The good I’d attribute to practice and learning more about fiction writing (for the sake of my original fiction, but the fanfic benefits, too).

The bad I’d attribute to laziness, shows going off the air, and the flight of the Muse. I feel guilty now about writing fanfic instead of original stories, so I don’t put the work into fanfic that I might have in the past. I’ve also done most of the things I was inspired to do, especially in Voyager.

The kissyface I attribute to Jade.

Ten new drabbles are up on my Stargate fic page, mostly from season 5. Thanks to Jerie and Jade for betaing. They haven’t specified a favorite drabble this time.

There was one Stargate (SG-1 and Atlantis) panel at Noreascon, and it was one of the most entertaining events I attended. Because most of the attendees I know are Real Writers, the comments on media fan writing have been snide at best, so it was great to see panelists get up in front of a huge room of people and admit to writing fanfic and lusting after Michael Shanks.

The most interesting comments were about the future of Atlantis—that the characters are blander than the SG-1 cast and the situation inadequately dramatic. More than one comparison to Voyager was made, and outside of VOY fandom such comparisons are not positive.

Unfortunately I had to leave right after the panel, so I didn’t get to meet my fellow SG fans. I suppose there’s always the Internet.

Disease of the day: Bird flu in swine.

And you thought Scotty was making the whole thing up! Physics Web reports a glass breakthrough:

Scientists in the US have developed a novel technique to make bulk quantities of glass from alumina for the first time. Anatoly Rosenflanz and colleagues at 3M in Minnesota used a “flame-spray” technique to alloy alumina (aluminium oxide) with rare-earth metal oxides to produce strong glass with good optical properties.

Thanks to MarsNews.com for the link. Also via MarsNews: the ESA wants to build pretty Space houses on Earth.

There are ten (yes, ten) new drabbles up on the Stargate fic page, for the first ten episodes of Season 5. The Betas’ Choice for this batch is Black Widow, a drabble coda to “2001.” The Author’s Choice is Chaka Zulu, inspired by the real Shaka Zulu.

This brings the Stargate by Drabbles project up to 70 drabbles, a fine biblical number to go with Alas, Tollana. In a few months I may even reach a drabble of drabbles.

Weather of the day: The Perseids (spaceweather.com), but I’ve got clouds.
Contest of the day: Die J/C Die is open for voting once again.

I’d say it’s an honor just to be nominated, but since self-nomination was allowed I can’t even go that far. Let’s say, it’s an honor not to have nominated myself for the 2004 Stargate SG-1 Fan Awards.

I can’t really complain about my failure to place; I didn’t read or vote because I was out of town during the duration. I don’t know what the fic was like. But cgb thinks it was a wash and I respect her opinion. I may never know whether the best ficcers won, and I’ll probably be happier that way.

I can complain, however, that I got 1500 hits directly from the Awards site during the course of reading and voting, and not a single person sent feedback. I admit that due to technical difficulties the feedback form was not linked from the stories at the time, but my email address was on every single story. Does no one in this fandom send feedback?

Fortunately, I’m not in it for the feedback. Three “new” Stargate drabbles are up. I actually wrote them before I went away (thus the June dates on them), but I’m just putting them up now. The betas are in no way responsible for my being too lazy to polish them up. And the drabbles are: Marty’s Memories, on “Jolinar’s Memories,” Under the Ice for the 7th season cliffhanger, and yet another 2010 drabble, The Way the World Ends.

Season 5 is in the works, and I’m trying to catch up on the S3 and S4 episodes I skipped.