Thoughts on the Ship-Swap
Well, this process definitely got me to write something I wouldn’t have written otherwise. I wasn’t set against the pairing or I wouldn’t have accepted the swap in the first place, but I probably never would have come up with this. I spent a lot of time discussing how to write these characters (mostly with Deborah, my swapper!) in a way that I don’t really with Kara/Lee because I already know how I write K/L. There have also been some good conversations about the process in general on Epics. In the end, I wrote Kara/Leoben in a very different way than anything I ever wrote for Kara/Lee--formatting, tone, all of it isn’t something I would think to do for Lee. I suppose what I’m saying is that Leoben as a character influenced the way I wrote him. Maybe my jokes this week about Leoben taking over my brain aren’t really jokes :)
Prayer was not at all what I set out to write, though in my initial notes there was actually a kernel of an idea about “five times Kara prays for Leoben” that I nixed because it wasn’t enough of a plot. I tried to write a piece with a plot instead, and did a draft, and may yet post it when I have time to make it work a little better. And the whole time, I guess, this was percolating in the back of my brain. Working on bsg kink bingo helped too, got me comfortable writing drabbles. (One of the creepier Leoben drabbles I typed start to finish and it was exactly 100 words. Gave me shivers myself!)
Writing for me has always been a way of exploring how I feel about characters or even about real life if that’s my topic. It’s sometimes easier for me to see my own perspective once I get it all out on paper. This story is like that to almost an eerie degree. In Leoben VIII, when he realizes the Kara in his visions was always reincarnated Kara--I didn’t know that until it was sitting on the screen in front of me. I’ve also found in rereading this piece how much their arcs are the same: Kara prays for strength and eventually gets it from Leoben; he prays for guidance and eventually gets it from her. It’s weird to have these things come out of your own brain and only realize it later. Really weird. I’m really happy with how it came out though--even before I reread it enough to understand how it all worked, I could feel it and was super excited as I finished the last lines of XX. I know there’s not a huge fanbase for this pairing, but people seem to like it, and that feels good, too.
Alright, enough rambling for now. Thoughts? Do you all find you’re writing in a different tone/format/style since you’re not using your usual pairing? How’s it going?
(ALSO apparently there’s a con going on 25 minutes from my house this weekend and Tricia Helfer is doing a session in a few hours. I’m trying to decide how awkward I’d feel going alone...or if it’s worth the money since I’m going to be unemployed after this week.)