SGA story updates

[tielan]

So, I'm late on my lostcityfound "We'll Always Have Pegasus" story. It was supposed to be in last Friday, but I still haven't finished it. And, looking at the twists and turns that have just arisen from what I thought was going to be the end of the story, I suspect we're only halfway through at 7,500 words.

I haven't had a chance to check if late entries are allowed, but the mod sounded pretty firm on the 'get your story in or you're in default' the last time I checked the comm. Oh well. It's an open challenge, at least, so no-one's losing out from my delay.

--

Not so with my sg_flyboys ficathon entry. It's not done yet, either - one more reason that I think I should put off the WAHP challenge, which is a "take a prompt and write it" challenge, as compared to this one, where I'm making an entry for someone and someone is making (has made?) an entry for me. (Sorry about the delay if you're reading this.)

The story for this ficathon has gone slightly epic, too. *grr* I think I can wrestle it down, though - mostly by writing this as a "background track" to the epic story that wojelah evilly encouraged me to map out the other night.

--

One of the things I'm thinking of doing to get through this year is to post one story (or one chapter of a story) every Thursday/Friday night. It'd be a regular, weekly thing for the people still reading this LJ. I've got quite a few WIPs to finish, and this would be one way of setting a goal to get them finished. (Because a WIP is a sin in the eyes of my muse, and she keeps poking at the plotbunnies. More worryingly, after enough poking, the plotbunnies reanimate. Have you ever had Zombie Plotbunnies wandering around eating your brain?) I don't know if I'd be prolific enough to manage a story a week, though - especially with some of the longer WIPs. And I really really want to write Sarah Connor Chronicles fic, but...

--

I'm still not wholly reconciled to the end of SGA, or the way things went in the last season. Moments of bitterness still emerge from time to time. My most recent dump of thoughts into an file was related to how all the things that were supposed to make Stargate Atlantis different from Stargate SG1 were steadily removed, downplayed, ignored, or pushed to the back of the show over the seasons. Ironically, they were all the things I liked most about the show - the things that held the most potential.

Comments

[madjm.livejournal.com]

And I really really want to write Sarah Connor Chronicles fic

Awesome! Do it! *waits* :)

I'm so disappointed in this last season of SGA (most especially), for reasons that we've discussed before. And yet, I still kind of find myself looking forward to the movie they're doing. Isn't that ridic? You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now. Chances are it will be "Rodney and John save the world eleventy with Teyla and Ronon exchanging a look or two over the wackiness of these earthlings who are silly even though they are like Big Damn Heroes Who Save the World All The Time."

I am, however, writing fic again. I realized the other night that it's been more than two years (!!) since I started working on my J/T alphabet challenge, and I've written about three or four stories out of the 26. That's pathetic. I'm finishing it this year.

[tielan]

And yet, I still kind of find myself looking forward to the movie they're doing.

I know the feeling. I suspect it's irrepressible hope, that maybe something good might come out of mediocrity. We both know better than to hope - it only leads to pain and suffering in the end (at least with this set of PTB), and yet...

[katstale.livejournal.com]

*hugs* If it's any comfort, you aren't alone in the late-ficathon-story-turns-epic dilemma. And to make matters worse, this one I offered to do as a pinch-hit, so the prompt was already late when I got it. I'm now up in the 30k range and it's still got at least another 10k to go. But now I'm rewriting parts of it, so who knows how long it will be by the time I have it in shape enough to post? *headdesk*

I wish you the best of luck finishing those WIPs. I also decided to attempt to finish up a number of mine during '09. Since I've had decent success at NaNoWriMo, I joined a similar comm where you commit to write from 200k-350k words during the year. So far, I'm adding about a word a day to my minimum requirement to actually meet my stated goal of 350k. (They called that level Insane, lol. So of course, I HAD to go for that one. *grins*)

I've got mixed feelings about the end of SGA, but I can't really say I'm completely unhappy with it. I am trying desperately to ignore (for now, at least) the muse's attempts to come up with tags to fix some of those things that annoyed me the most. I don't know, I think maybe I'm partly still in denial that this was really the end. (Not counting the movies, if they actually happen.) I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens down the road a bit.

[tielan]

It wouldn't happen to be getyourwordsout would it? Because I signed up for that on the "insane" level, too.

Um. I'm not sure where my wordcount is. I haven't really been keeping track of it.

I have a major plotbunny idea for the SGA finale, except that it's got a time limit to it. And I don't really have the time to write it, what with everything else going on right now...

[katstale.livejournal.com]

Yep, it is getyourwordsout. I've been doing a bit of guess-timating on the actual counts because of the rewriting but I'm fairly sure it's pretty accurate. (I can't do track changes because I don't use Word and my preferred word processor doesn't have that feature.) I downloaded the spreadsheet off the website and have been filling that in daily and wincing at all the zero-days I've had already. Also been watching the minimum climb very steadily day after day, so I really need to stop that & finally kick my tushie into gear and *write* 1k or better every day on a regular basis.

I'm not even going to attempt a tag for the finale in the foreseeable future. I'm not going to let myself get caught up in new stories until I finish up some WIPs. It will take some doing to out-stubborn the muse, but then I am my father's daughter so...*grins*

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I watched the last four episodes in two days (actually, that's not true: I didn't watch "Brain Storm" at all, and I wish I hadn't watched Vegas), so my train of thought is still going full steam and the anger is fresh. Feel free to hop on over and vent (or tell me where your posts are so I can vent in your threads!).

I am pretty sure you can post WAHP whenever you're done.

[tielan]

Heh. I saw your posts, but didn't click.

The reason being that I really want to avoid actual venting right now, since it only makes me annoyed and unable to concentrate on anything else except how pissed off I am.

I'm getting mad even typing this and thinking about it. *wry smile*

Any of my review threads are under the reviews tag - but the last eps I watched were Prodigal and Enemy At The Gates. I couldn't bring myself to watch the others without the inevitable fuming, and rather than subject myself to the badness, I figured I'd avoid them.

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

You're not the only one who was of two minds about the end of SGA. I've read posts from a number of people who were just as disturbed by the implications of Atlantis ending up on Earth and what that meant not only for the people of Pegasus but for the team itself.

I was underwhelmed overall and that made me sad. I loved SG-1's ending because it was all about the team - with their warts and all. I kept feeling like TPTB really didn't give a crap because they have the bright new shiny of SG Universe to play with. And y'know, fine, let them go there.

My most recent dump of thoughts into an file was related to how all the things that were supposed to make Stargate Atlantis different from Stargate SG1 were steadily removed, downplayed, ignored, or pushed to the back of the show over the seasons. Ironically, they were all the things I liked most about the show - the things that held the most potential.

This.

[tielan]

I kept feeling like TPTB really didn't give a crap because they have the bright new shiny of SG Universe to play with.

Oh, yeah. *grimace*

It's like they couldn't work out what to do with the interesting stuff in SGA, because it's non-standard and involves a lot of original thinking and unusual perspectives - and they just don't have that.

The thing is, I'm watching episodes of shows like Dexter and Sarah Connor Chronicles and they just show how pitiful the writing and directing in SGA is - so much more nuance and possibility in all the character interactions, and with nothing more than a few lines in passing, or a glance and a smile.

I'm not sure if that makes my disappointment worse or better.

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I'm watching episodes of shows like Dexter and Sarah Connor Chronicles and they just show how pitiful the writing and directing in SGA is - so much more nuance and possibility in all the character interactions, and with nothing more than a few lines in passing, or a glance and a smile.

Yeah, I get the same feeling of dissonance when I watch things like The Unit, The Closer, Saving Grace and Leverage. All these shows (three of which are short term on TNT) me feel like they value their viewers by giving us good writing and intriguing storylines. It's not personalized fan service which I think the Gate programs sometimes did and poorly at that.

I'm not sure if that makes my disappointment worse or better.

I think it's a mixture of both and I'm right there with you.

[tielan]

It's not personalized fan service which I think the Gate programs sometimes did

See, most recently, I felt rather like SGA was practically a mastubatory experience for the writers. First over David Hewlett, then over Jewel Staite.

The whole point of the show was lost, because they were too busy writing what they wanted to write instead of what the show and the possibilities required them to write.

It's like going into a ficathon, where the person given your assignment doesn't like what they've been given and doesn't even make an effort to put something decent together - they just drop the ball entirely.

So, yeah. Disappointing under any circumstances.

[chyti.livejournal.com]

I am new to sci-fi this and Eureka are the only sci-fi shows I watch so maybe I am not sure what an ensemble sci-fi show is suppose to look like but if it is anything like the other ensemble shows I watch SGA fails terribly. There were so much potential that was just overlooked for nonsense.

I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of writing a televised show but when the writers put their favorite characters over the show it just leads to a bad, unbalanced mess.

On the other hand I have gotten great satisfaction in yours and some others fanfics,and while I don't miss the show would missed it if you stop writing.

[madjm.livejournal.com]

And I really really want to write Sarah Connor Chronicles fic

Awesome! Do it! *waits* :)

I'm so disappointed in this last season of SGA (most especially), for reasons that we've discussed before. And yet, I still kind of find myself looking forward to the movie they're doing. Isn't that ridic? You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now. Chances are it will be "Rodney and John save the world eleventy with Teyla and Ronon exchanging a look or two over the wackiness of these earthlings who are silly even though they are like Big Damn Heroes Who Save the World All The Time."

I am, however, writing fic again. I realized the other night that it's been more than two years (!!) since I started working on my J/T alphabet challenge, and I've written about three or four stories out of the 26. That's pathetic. I'm finishing it this year.

[tielan]

And yet, I still kind of find myself looking forward to the movie they're doing.

I know the feeling. I suspect it's irrepressible hope, that maybe something good might come out of mediocrity. We both know better than to hope - it only leads to pain and suffering in the end (at least with this set of PTB), and yet...

[katstale.livejournal.com]

*hugs* If it's any comfort, you aren't alone in the late-ficathon-story-turns-epic dilemma. And to make matters worse, this one I offered to do as a pinch-hit, so the prompt was already late when I got it. I'm now up in the 30k range and it's still got at least another 10k to go. But now I'm rewriting parts of it, so who knows how long it will be by the time I have it in shape enough to post? *headdesk*

I wish you the best of luck finishing those WIPs. I also decided to attempt to finish up a number of mine during '09. Since I've had decent success at NaNoWriMo, I joined a similar comm where you commit to write from 200k-350k words during the year. So far, I'm adding about a word a day to my minimum requirement to actually meet my stated goal of 350k. (They called that level Insane, lol. So of course, I HAD to go for that one. *grins*)

I've got mixed feelings about the end of SGA, but I can't really say I'm completely unhappy with it. I am trying desperately to ignore (for now, at least) the muse's attempts to come up with tags to fix some of those things that annoyed me the most. I don't know, I think maybe I'm partly still in denial that this was really the end. (Not counting the movies, if they actually happen.) I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens down the road a bit.

[tielan]

It wouldn't happen to be getyourwordsout would it? Because I signed up for that on the "insane" level, too.

Um. I'm not sure where my wordcount is. I haven't really been keeping track of it.

I have a major plotbunny idea for the SGA finale, except that it's got a time limit to it. And I don't really have the time to write it, what with everything else going on right now...

[katstale.livejournal.com]

Yep, it is getyourwordsout. I've been doing a bit of guess-timating on the actual counts because of the rewriting but I'm fairly sure it's pretty accurate. (I can't do track changes because I don't use Word and my preferred word processor doesn't have that feature.) I downloaded the spreadsheet off the website and have been filling that in daily and wincing at all the zero-days I've had already. Also been watching the minimum climb very steadily day after day, so I really need to stop that & finally kick my tushie into gear and *write* 1k or better every day on a regular basis.

I'm not even going to attempt a tag for the finale in the foreseeable future. I'm not going to let myself get caught up in new stories until I finish up some WIPs. It will take some doing to out-stubborn the muse, but then I am my father's daughter so...*grins*

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I watched the last four episodes in two days (actually, that's not true: I didn't watch "Brain Storm" at all, and I wish I hadn't watched Vegas), so my train of thought is still going full steam and the anger is fresh. Feel free to hop on over and vent (or tell me where your posts are so I can vent in your threads!).

I am pretty sure you can post WAHP whenever you're done.

[tielan]

Heh. I saw your posts, but didn't click.

The reason being that I really want to avoid actual venting right now, since it only makes me annoyed and unable to concentrate on anything else except how pissed off I am.

I'm getting mad even typing this and thinking about it. *wry smile*

Any of my review threads are under the reviews tag - but the last eps I watched were Prodigal and Enemy At The Gates. I couldn't bring myself to watch the others without the inevitable fuming, and rather than subject myself to the badness, I figured I'd avoid them.

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

You're not the only one who was of two minds about the end of SGA. I've read posts from a number of people who were just as disturbed by the implications of Atlantis ending up on Earth and what that meant not only for the people of Pegasus but for the team itself.

I was underwhelmed overall and that made me sad. I loved SG-1's ending because it was all about the team - with their warts and all. I kept feeling like TPTB really didn't give a crap because they have the bright new shiny of SG Universe to play with. And y'know, fine, let them go there.

My most recent dump of thoughts into an file was related to how all the things that were supposed to make Stargate Atlantis different from Stargate SG1 were steadily removed, downplayed, ignored, or pushed to the back of the show over the seasons. Ironically, they were all the things I liked most about the show - the things that held the most potential.

This.

[tielan]

I kept feeling like TPTB really didn't give a crap because they have the bright new shiny of SG Universe to play with.

Oh, yeah. *grimace*

It's like they couldn't work out what to do with the interesting stuff in SGA, because it's non-standard and involves a lot of original thinking and unusual perspectives - and they just don't have that.

The thing is, I'm watching episodes of shows like Dexter and Sarah Connor Chronicles and they just show how pitiful the writing and directing in SGA is - so much more nuance and possibility in all the character interactions, and with nothing more than a few lines in passing, or a glance and a smile.

I'm not sure if that makes my disappointment worse or better.

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I'm watching episodes of shows like Dexter and Sarah Connor Chronicles and they just show how pitiful the writing and directing in SGA is - so much more nuance and possibility in all the character interactions, and with nothing more than a few lines in passing, or a glance and a smile.

Yeah, I get the same feeling of dissonance when I watch things like The Unit, The Closer, Saving Grace and Leverage. All these shows (three of which are short term on TNT) me feel like they value their viewers by giving us good writing and intriguing storylines. It's not personalized fan service which I think the Gate programs sometimes did and poorly at that.

I'm not sure if that makes my disappointment worse or better.

I think it's a mixture of both and I'm right there with you.

[tielan]

It's not personalized fan service which I think the Gate programs sometimes did

See, most recently, I felt rather like SGA was practically a mastubatory experience for the writers. First over David Hewlett, then over Jewel Staite.

The whole point of the show was lost, because they were too busy writing what they wanted to write instead of what the show and the possibilities required them to write.

It's like going into a ficathon, where the person given your assignment doesn't like what they've been given and doesn't even make an effort to put something decent together - they just drop the ball entirely.

So, yeah. Disappointing under any circumstances.

[chyti.livejournal.com]

I am new to sci-fi this and Eureka are the only sci-fi shows I watch so maybe I am not sure what an ensemble sci-fi show is suppose to look like but if it is anything like the other ensemble shows I watch SGA fails terribly. There were so much potential that was just overlooked for nonsense.

I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of writing a televised show but when the writers put their favorite characters over the show it just leads to a bad, unbalanced mess.

On the other hand I have gotten great satisfaction in yours and some others fanfics,and while I don't miss the show would missed it if you stop writing.