A handful of John/Teyla recs

[tielan]

Fic
"Adrift" by beatrice_otter in the sg_rarepairings ficathon.

Vids
Rihana's "Unfaithful" by obfreak:
Really spiffy editing, slightly angsty, clever interpretations, and some incredible John/Teyla shots throughout. I've played it about six times in the last week - that's a lot for me, since I don't go for vids.

Embrace's "Nature's Law" by tray_lord:
Again, cool editing, nice shots, the ratio's a little odd (stretched vertically), but it's still a very enjoyable vid.

As always, if you like John/Teyla, I recommend leaving feedback.

There should be at least two more John/Teyla entries in the ficathon - allisnow and jeyla4ever are definitely writing John/Teyla (one because I swapped assignments, and the other because it's my assignment).

--

If the john_teyla_fic entries aren't in by Christmas, I'm thinking of asking the organisers to assign me a pinch-hit for the new year.

The only thing I hate more than pinch-hitting is watching people receive nothing in ficathons - I've had it happen to me, and I've done it to others before.

The only thing I hate more than pinch-hitting in a ficathon, is seeing half the entries still undone (especially for a 'pet' pairing of mine).

The only thing I hate more than seeing half the entries undone is writing a ficathon entry for someone who doesn't at least say 'thank you'.

Sure, the entry's not always what you want - geeze, once I asked for a Wes/Faith story in a ficathon and got Wes/Illyria in script format with zero plot because the writer was either too lazy or too mediocre to actually try - but at least say "thank you for trying!"

I've been given assignments that made me go WTF!? And then I sat down and tried to write something that might fit/satisfy the person I'm writing for. I can't guarantee that the person will like it, but I can guarantee that I've done my bloody best to produce something that I can be proud of, and the person who requested the story can say, "Okay, not what I expected, but I admire your pluck/ingenuity/insanity/ability to BS" or some such shit.

All things considered, I'd rather not have to pinch-hit.

There's something infinitely satisfying about sitting back and reading good fic about a favourite couple that you don't have to write yourself or pester other people to write for you. People who ship popular pairings are incapable of comprehending this simple pleasure, because they might have a lot of crap writing in their pairing, but there's also a correspondingly higher ratio of good fiction.

This is one of the big reasons why I hassle my f-list and ask for John/Teyla fic: because I like to read them and there's just not enough of it about. I try to write the pairing as much as possible, to rec it, to encourage the people struggling for feedback whose stories I like. It just seems that nobody writes John/Teyla stories for the joy of writing stories about them. It's only on request or for ficathons, or because someone's forcing them to do it.

Which is, once again, depressing.

And even I'm not doing so well on the writing front. The muse has been holding a P-90 to my head all night to no avail. "Not tonight, honey, I have a headache."

Frankly, I don't care about the P-90. I just loathe being this little lonely island out in the middle of nowhere which all the major shipping lanes (unintentional pun) completely ignore, and to which half the weekly trips out by small charters just get cancelled anyway.

Comments

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I don't care about the P-90. I just loathe being this little lonely island out in the middle of nowhere which all the major shipping lanes (unintentional pun) completely ignore, and to which half the weekly trips out by small charters just get cancelled anyway.

That was...brilliantly worded. I am in awe.

I have never had a ficathon where I didn't get a story...or even where I had a late story, though it has happened to others on the Masterlist. I am currently running a ficathon and I am already back-up writing for someone (with NO PLAN AT ALL), so we'll see how that goes. Hope it all works out for you!

[tielan]

Actually, it's not even a "lonely" island - it's just a very small one surrounded by bigger ones with more people. 'Small' is fine - I just wouldn't mind a few people to party with from time to time.

I seem to be unlucky with ficathons. Or too demanding. My detractors would say I'm too demanding. Probably, so too would most of my friends.

Actually, the Teyla ficathon over at teylafen earlier this year was awesome. I organised that and got almost all the stories within the week, and had the pinch-hits covered by the end of ten days. Twenty-eight stories - it was like being given a handful of precious stones. Some were agate and some were diamond, but they were almost uniformly awesomely beautiful.

Best damn ficathon I'd ever seen or organised.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

That ficathon is on my list...but it's a very long list so I don't know when I'll get to it.

I am sure my ficathon will be okay...we've already had a better turn out then I was expecting and I know most of them anyway, so I am sure it will be fine.

[skandrae.livejournal.com]

The only thing I hate more than pinch-hitting in a ficathon, is seeing half the entries still undone (especially for a 'pet' pairing of mine).

And this is what's driving me nuts about myself at the moment - because I do have these stories in my head, but can't get them out. As soon as I sit down to the computer or the pad of paper, everything's gone. And I hate being one of those still-owing people.

My muse packed up all her stuff weeks ago, and took off for parts unknown. T_T

[tielan]

I understand that people are busy or uninspired, and that it's a really, really bad time of year and there's been a series of ficathons and...

It just irks me to look at the JT ficathon masterlist with it's column of unfinished fics like missing teeth.

*bakes cookies and offers them to skandrae's muse.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

I like. It just seems that nobody writes John/Teyla stories for the joy of writing stories about them. It's only on request or for ficathons, or because someone's forcing them to do it.

That seems to be a general trend though. Or at least something I see in a lot of fandoms and in a lot of pairings.

I wonder how much of it is natural fannish progression. You watch a tv show, it totally hits you, you are brimming full with sparkling new ideas, you rush to write them all down on paper and ... and ... then they are gone. And people slowly start slumming along with ficathons, prompt communities gift fics and the like.

Which makes me wonder, errr, what about the time pre-livejournal, I'm pretty sure people were writing without those tools then (though I'm guessing they probably had themed challenges and the like as well). So what changed?

Sometimes it seems that writing for ficathons/communities/challenges/gifts makes it easier for people because maybe it gives them a reason. Like if anybody (even just in their own minds) were to question them *why* they wrote a fic it might be easier to say "Well, I wrote it for this friend/prompt/ficathon, it wasn't meant to be successfull" than to say "I wrote it because I thought it was awesome and the world didn't necessarily agree". With a requested fic, it can still turn out awesome and popular and when they don't turn out, well, no harm done. You are still a success because you have fullfilled what was asked of you (the prompts that a friend gave you, write 100 fics with a pairing, answer a challenge).

If you are (or claim to be) less ambitious about your fic it means that you are putting yourself out there less [innerself: Bullshit! Being ambitious with what you set out to do is a *good* thing!]. And livejournal is a very public place. Where everybody can see your success or not success, everybody can see how many comments or what kind of comments you get.

Or maybe it really is running out of ideas. Or maybe especially with lesser pairing the contact with the other people who like it is so much more important that writing personalized fics forges (or is supposed to forge) a tighter bond.

Maybe the next challenge of some challenge community should be "Go home, spend one week away from the internet and come up with a completely new and independant plotbunny and write that. Or write that story you secretly always wanted to write (and then cry and get depressed if you don't get enough feedback for it)."

[tielan]

I dunno - I'd disagree. There are dozens of McShep stories posted up everyday, a handful of Shweir, people even spontaneously write Liz/Ronon.

But my favourite J/T writers (or any J/T writers, really) haven't produced anything spontaneous for months.

You might have something about the bonding aspect - in a discussion I had in sgatlantislight's LJ, I noted that the J/T section of fandom is splintered. There are schisms all over the place. Some people won't talk to others, the people on the forums and mailing lists generally disdain the LJ writers, and there are 6 or 7 communities for the pairing with the same 60 people subbed.

There's no cohesion, no interaction, very little friendliness - and any attempts to bring cohesion or interaction seem to end up blunted or left by the wayside.

And yeah, it's very depressing to write something I think is awesome, and have 99% of the people reading this journal disagree. I don't really get a choice about writing, plotting, or planning, though - it just happens and the characters rarely let me escape to other stories or ideas. My brain just pumps out the story ideas.

[jeyla4ever.livejournal.com]

Interesting that you write this when I just found out that I'm writing your request...that alone is freaking me out! LOL

here's my perspective...

I read anything JT....why, because I love that pairing...I can't read anything else..why? because If don't see the pairing I won't enjoy it...that's that!

Now, you are so right about leaving feedback...I have been writing for hmmm maybe a year or less....the only thing I wrote for enjoyment before that was my Xmas cards...I'm trying to see this year if I can get away with online Xmas cards...LOL

I don't like to write, period!

but for JT...SGA...I find it so much fun...and relaxing...and challenging...hence I"m writing more than I care to admit and I find that personally I'm getting better as I go along....still, I don't expect to change my profession any time soon and I don't consider myself anywhere near to most of the JT writers out there...actually, I can't think of one that I can say at least I write like that....they are all good in my book and waaaaayyyy better writers than me...but then again...for me it's not a competition...!

Like you wrote..not everyone gets the characters as portrayed in the show..but still...my theory is ...if it's a story and it's a good story, then I read it based on the characters in the story, not the ones in the show...someone took time and effort to write this..who am I to say whether it sounded like John or Teyla or whomever....it's someone's work and if I find one thing that I like..even one..I leave a message..and for me...the fact that the writer wrote JT is good enough for me...LOL...I'm easy to please!

There are very few JT fics that I don't like...actually, I can't off the top of my head think of one right now...if I find one that feels like something that could happen in the show or that the characters are like the ones I see in the show...that's just an added bonus for me as a reader!

My first ever ficathon was very challenging. I've only done one, last month's JT challenge ficathon. To think that someone has something in their mind and then to wonder if you are even close to what they want, for me, is a bit challenging.

but I love a good challenge..

And then, I got no feedback from the ficathon members.

what does that mean, I don't know....it upset me at first..I don't know if any of them left me a review in fanfiction,but most of the reviews are from people who regularly read my stuff anyways.

do I expect everyone that reads it to leave me a feedback..NOPE! but the fact that no one left me one, did struck a nerve!

For days I kept asking myself, should I continue writing? Was it that bad? Should I just go back and keep reading other fics and leave the writing to the experts?

When I gave my first chapter two Witchblade and Snoggingpicard (God bless their souls) I cringed and I kept writing to them that I felt like I just handed them my first born...LOL...and in a way, I still do everytime I give them a fic, never mind when I actually post it...LOL

I got into these ficathons because like you, I want to read more JT and I love the writers out there for JT and wish they did more, however,now that I know what it feels like to be in a ficathon and to wonder if you did what was asked or not, I doubt I'll ever do another one again, and certainly, I won't pressure people into writing again. It has to come from within, at least for me!

so, Tie...your fic is coming...I promise you that!
as long as I"m alive and kicking I am writing it....but, this first experience did kill my muse a bit...and I"m trying to find it...and then I find out this morning that I'm writing for one of my icons.....YOU...and well, let's just say that I'm going to try even more to make this one even better than the others.....but the first thing that I've learned is that I"m the one that has to be happy with it..and until I am.....you won't see it....but I am hoping that it will be posted before Xmas....

jeeperes....I rambled....sorry!

hugs
Camy

[tielan]

Wasn't your story posted to fanfiction.net? So, mightn't the LJ people have commented at ff.net?

I understand being set back by the lack of feedback on LJ, though - if there are John/Teyla readers, most of them never respond or are very casual LJers. This section of the fandom seems extremely segregated, with no group talking to any other group.

[ideal-girl.livejournal.com]

Okay, seriously, I never comment, I'm just crazy like that. So, um, hi!

If the john_teyla_fic entries aren't in by Christmas, I'm thinking of asking the organisers to assign me a pinch-hit for the new year.

In the new year? I may be up for that. I wish I had more reason to write John/Teyla. They are totally my canonical OTP!

And thanks for including my fic on your other post -- you're so sweet!

[tielan]

If you need a reason, I'm more than happy to set you some!

Your story was awesome and I'd love to see more of your work in the John/Teyla area of SGA.

I'd love a writing-buddy, too - someone who really does like J/T in canon and is willing to bounce ideas back and forth and occasionally write . I have friends who are good with the bouncing ideas, not so much with the writing .

No problem. As I said, the fic was awesome!