thoughts on writing fic-with-ship-in vs. shippy fic

[tielan]

This is a personal observation in my own writing of John/Teyla, as defined by a lot of my problems in the SGA Big Bang challenge.

I seem to have to do a lot of team setting up before I can get into actually writing about the pairing. I don't know if it's writing style, or an awareness that most of my audience doesn't automatically believe that John and Teyla are OMG SOOOO HOT FOR EACH OTHER or SOUL MATES 4EVAH and so I can't assume that everyone knows they care about each other.

I just have to do the setting up first. I want the context to be in the broader set of Atlantis and amidst the other characters - as though this is a snapshot from a segment of someone's life, and not just a romance novel where the sole purpose is that the two people come together.

I admit, my preference in both reading and viewing is for "fic with ship in" - whether in SGA, Bones, BSG, or any other show - even novels, I prefer to have a little more than just "man and woman beloooong together! it is fate!!111eleventy!!" So maybe it is a writing style/perspective thing? Writing fic-with-ship-in (where the focus is on something else and the relationship is incidental) vs. writing shippy fic (where the focus is on them getting together).

Anyway, right now, I'm seriously tiptoeing around their feelings for each other. We're sort of at the friendship-plus stage (friendship-plus-possibly-more), and I suspect that my Big Bang submission - assuming I get it finished - will be more John/Teyla friendship than John/Teyla relationship. The relationship is liable to happen in the second part...which is probably going to be another 40,000 words.

I could have signed up for the McShep & gen section after all, since I'm only going to get through the first third (which is a story in and of itself, mind). I guess this'll be a tryptych - rather like my SG1 Honour Bound series was supposed to be (I lost momentum between the 2nd and 3rd story - rather like Melanie Rawn's Exiles trilogy, which is forever going to be a duology). Theoretically, anyway. We can hope.

*sigh* I really want to write the ship, but I can't just skip to the second part - I have to go through the first part first. And it's difficult because this is all setting-up kind of stuff, so it's going really slowly. And, I fear, infodumping a lot. ARGH!

We are at 6,500 words, hoping to make 10,000 by the end of the weekend. At that point, we should definitely be in Atlantis, probably with Rodney's POV. Hopefully with Rodney's POV. Please don't go all sulky on me now, Rodney, I need you to play nice!

greenconverses? Happy Birthday! You have AU birthday fic coming your way but it won't be posted until the end of the weekend 'cos I am teh ebil and like to make you wait. *mwah*

Comments

[tielan]

I understand that it's so much easier to write just one aspect and behave as though everyone else is background; but it's harder for me to do in longer stories.

I hope you get it all worked out, though.

Me, too!