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

[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.