On behalf of a friend: Big Damn Rec Post. (below the rant, that is)
Today, I had a quite frankly frightening and most of all aggravating conversation with a friend, ancient_leah, about writing and reviews. To get it right from the beginning, it wasn't leah who was aggravating me, it was the fact that apparently, good authors like her get so little appreciation in German fandom that they (or in that case, her) are seriously contemplating to go on hiatus and consider to simply stop publishing and maybe even writing.
She did not say that and I believe her that she doesn't want to but she did say that she's fed up with the almost total lack of reviews to her stories (absolutely undeserved, trust me) and good stories focusing on niches in general and quite frankly, so am I. Let's just tell it like it is, German fandom is small and most of the stuff you find is crap (seriously, ask leah, she actually still reads some of that stuff). There's almost zero appreciation for stories not focusing on main ships (McShep greatly outnumbers everything else, and unfortunately, it's mostly not even good Mcshep and you can actually gather that from the goddamn summaries) and/or focusing on OCs, minor characters and rare pairings and all people seem to want to read is slash and crack, and most of that crack doesn't deserve that label by half (read: it's bad crack. As in might give you horror trips and kill you bad, not laughing your ass off bad).
I'm fed up with it and leah is, too and quite frankly, her stories are almost the only thing still keeping me in German fandom (okay, that and the opportunity to seriously piss people off whenever I feel like it). There's one other younger author I think has potential (and who, incidentally, also gets reviews from probably two or three people max while some crappy, misogynist high school McShep clusterfuck scores reviews left, right and center and yes, that's the rule in German fandom) and deserves some encouragement and I might start to read another one or two authors' stories but that's it (and German fandom isn't that small, after all).
Maybe this sounds like review envy or something but I swear, this isn't about nepotism or anything. This is about good authors not getting their due and people rewarding crap and me being afraid of losing one of the very few good authors German fandom actually has because she feels underappreciated and probably also screwed with because she's doing her research and putting a lot of work in likable, exciting, three dimensional OCs, complex personal relationships, intriguing plots and a very detailed universe of her own (and also had the good grace to allow me to play with and in it a couple of times, usually ending up with one of her characters being chewed out one way or the other... mh...)... and just never gets any fucking reviews.
So, for the love of God, if you read German and don't mind OC SGA teams and want to read and advance some quality German fanfic, please go and read leah's stories and most of all review, review, review (if you don't want to or can't at ff.de, just PM her or leave her a comment in her journal, please - also, if you don't read German and still would like to read her story... maybe kindly ask her if she could consider translating them?):
Human of the Week, introducing Lieutenant Jenna Wells - the main OC from whose POV the series is mainly told - Lieutenant Jason Ferrier, Jenna's best friend since the Academy, Sergeant Adam Faraday, the only NCO and Marine of the team and, lo and behold, a certain Lieutenant Matthew Kemp (known best from the episodes Tabula Rasa and Be All My Sins Remember'd and whoa, was I surprised that someone else shared my assessment that Kemp did not die there). From the first paragraph, I loved Jenna and her voice, sarcastic with an underlying vulnerability and the very special power of being able to try and make herself believe almost anything and I loved Jenna's team mates and yeah, I really loved the rather aggressive stand Jenna had towards her new team leader, Matthew Kemp. Those two... well. Well. :D
News of the Week, giving Team Kemp a little reprieve after Human... or not. Because it heralds the arrival of someone very important in Jenna's life: Major General Jonathan Wells. Gives us a first real glimpse into the rather... complicates relationship Jenna has with her father and a glimpse into what she'll probably have to deal with in the next story.
Team of the Week, in which Jenna Wells and Matthew Kemp need to learn to at least barely tolerate each other and we meet Jenna's nemesis... her father, a certain General Jonathan Wells (and boy, do Evan Lorne and John Sheppard in my Protect and Survive series wish leah and I never joined 'verses...). I think I learned to love to hate General Wells in there and I kept wishing Jenna would just kick his goddamn ass and stop reaching for his appreciation and love... but then again, she wouldn't be Jenna if things were easy for her so yes, that story is awesome, too.
Episodes of the Week, giving us POVs other than Jenna's, too (her team mates', that is) and making me go "YAY!" at the end because of something I won't tell you because that would be spoiling and I do want you to read those stories so I can't tell you everything!
Freitag, a nice little one shot following Jenna after Episodes and introducing someone new to her life... her private life and showing a somewhat different side of her than just her sharp tongue and hedgehog side. She was kinda cute in this and don't tell her I said that because I'm sure she's gonna do something ugly to me... such as inspiring a really evil plot bunny or something...
Deception of the Week, her current story, with a really intricate and elaborate plot and some shocking events (such as Jenna starting to get an inkling her eager beaver team leader might be kind of human after all...) and the reason why Thomas Moore from Minor Characters hated me for lending him to leah. What I love about this story (aside from the amazing plot) is that it's a big step in Jenna's character development and challenging her and her team and I think it's leah's yet best story in the canon timeline. This is awesome!
leah also took a step at the TLM timeline, just like I did in the Defining Moments series (actually, the joining of our 'verses started when we decided to join our TLM verses... so since Defining Moments is the TLM AU to Protect and Survive/Minor Characters, leah's and my canon timeline verses are also joined). Her TLM stories veer off after Episodes/TLM and just hurt so good:
Worst Case of the Year, takes off sometime after TLM and deals with a devastating event for Jenna's team, leaving her traumatized, sealing herself off from the remaining people in her life and just plain lonely. I knew what would happen when leah started posting chapters for this story but I was still shocked (and quite frankly, I never really touched a couple of the chapters again because of what happened was just so terrible and sad). Jenna gets her heart broken, in probably the worst way possible and I honestly didn't know for whom on her team I felt sorriest. Definitely not a happy story but oh so worth the read.
Encounter of the Year, which takes place roughly four years after Worst Case. Jenna has been back on Earth for four years, having quit her active service in the Air Force almost right after coming back from Pegasus and just having returned from four years in Europe for a new job at NASA. In a chance encounter in Washington, D.C. she meets Matthew Kemp again and suddenly all the stuff she tried to burry deep down is back. I loved the roller coaster of Jenna's and Matt's reacquaintance and Jenna's painful process of realization that you just can't run away from trauma. leah's extensive research into PTSD and coping mechanisms is stunning and works so well in this story. I actually go back to reading it every few months just because it's so good.
Lessons of the Year, intended to be a collection of one-shots from the 'verse. Currently, leah's got one story posted and I've read another three that she will hopefully post as well because they're all great, detailing important steps for Jenna and Matt to find a way back from trauma and hurt to something that might even pass as Life After Pegasus.
Last but not least, she also gave us a Christmas story last year, Nicht in Stimmung, that was a lot of fun and inspiring me to write and post a Protect and Survive Christmas story, taking place a year later, being told from Laura's and Evan's POV, respectively (and yes, I promise to get back into posting Protect and Survive chapters here, so you can get to actually read it in the correct order).
So, go there and read it, if you read German (or are German, for I know there are a couple on my flist) and most of all tell her that you read it and if you like it. She deserves it. And look out for another German fandom rec post here. I'll see if I can get it up sometime next week.
PS: Is it just me or did LJ really change the layout of the WYSIWYG menu? And where were all the extra breaks coming from suddenly? *iz confused
She did not say that and I believe her that she doesn't want to but she did say that she's fed up with the almost total lack of reviews to her stories (absolutely undeserved, trust me) and good stories focusing on niches in general and quite frankly, so am I. Let's just tell it like it is, German fandom is small and most of the stuff you find is crap (seriously, ask leah, she actually still reads some of that stuff). There's almost zero appreciation for stories not focusing on main ships (McShep greatly outnumbers everything else, and unfortunately, it's mostly not even good Mcshep and you can actually gather that from the goddamn summaries) and/or focusing on OCs, minor characters and rare pairings and all people seem to want to read is slash and crack, and most of that crack doesn't deserve that label by half (read: it's bad crack. As in might give you horror trips and kill you bad, not laughing your ass off bad).
I'm fed up with it and leah is, too and quite frankly, her stories are almost the only thing still keeping me in German fandom (okay, that and the opportunity to seriously piss people off whenever I feel like it). There's one other younger author I think has potential (and who, incidentally, also gets reviews from probably two or three people max while some crappy, misogynist high school McShep clusterfuck scores reviews left, right and center and yes, that's the rule in German fandom) and deserves some encouragement and I might start to read another one or two authors' stories but that's it (and German fandom isn't that small, after all).
Maybe this sounds like review envy or something but I swear, this isn't about nepotism or anything. This is about good authors not getting their due and people rewarding crap and me being afraid of losing one of the very few good authors German fandom actually has because she feels underappreciated and probably also screwed with because she's doing her research and putting a lot of work in likable, exciting, three dimensional OCs, complex personal relationships, intriguing plots and a very detailed universe of her own (and also had the good grace to allow me to play with and in it a couple of times, usually ending up with one of her characters being chewed out one way or the other... mh...)... and just never gets any fucking reviews.
So, for the love of God, if you read German and don't mind OC SGA teams and want to read and advance some quality German fanfic, please go and read leah's stories and most of all review, review, review (if you don't want to or can't at ff.de, just PM her or leave her a comment in her journal, please - also, if you don't read German and still would like to read her story... maybe kindly ask her if she could consider translating them?):
Human of the Week, introducing Lieutenant Jenna Wells - the main OC from whose POV the series is mainly told - Lieutenant Jason Ferrier, Jenna's best friend since the Academy, Sergeant Adam Faraday, the only NCO and Marine of the team and, lo and behold, a certain Lieutenant Matthew Kemp (known best from the episodes Tabula Rasa and Be All My Sins Remember'd and whoa, was I surprised that someone else shared my assessment that Kemp did not die there). From the first paragraph, I loved Jenna and her voice, sarcastic with an underlying vulnerability and the very special power of being able to try and make herself believe almost anything and I loved Jenna's team mates and yeah, I really loved the rather aggressive stand Jenna had towards her new team leader, Matthew Kemp. Those two... well. Well. :D
News of the Week, giving Team Kemp a little reprieve after Human... or not. Because it heralds the arrival of someone very important in Jenna's life: Major General Jonathan Wells. Gives us a first real glimpse into the rather... complicates relationship Jenna has with her father and a glimpse into what she'll probably have to deal with in the next story.
Team of the Week, in which Jenna Wells and Matthew Kemp need to learn to at least barely tolerate each other and we meet Jenna's nemesis... her father, a certain General Jonathan Wells (and boy, do Evan Lorne and John Sheppard in my Protect and Survive series wish leah and I never joined 'verses...). I think I learned to love to hate General Wells in there and I kept wishing Jenna would just kick his goddamn ass and stop reaching for his appreciation and love... but then again, she wouldn't be Jenna if things were easy for her so yes, that story is awesome, too.
Episodes of the Week, giving us POVs other than Jenna's, too (her team mates', that is) and making me go "YAY!" at the end because of something I won't tell you because that would be spoiling and I do want you to read those stories so I can't tell you everything!
Freitag, a nice little one shot following Jenna after Episodes and introducing someone new to her life... her private life and showing a somewhat different side of her than just her sharp tongue and hedgehog side. She was kinda cute in this and don't tell her I said that because I'm sure she's gonna do something ugly to me... such as inspiring a really evil plot bunny or something...
Deception of the Week, her current story, with a really intricate and elaborate plot and some shocking events (such as Jenna starting to get an inkling her eager beaver team leader might be kind of human after all...) and the reason why Thomas Moore from Minor Characters hated me for lending him to leah. What I love about this story (aside from the amazing plot) is that it's a big step in Jenna's character development and challenging her and her team and I think it's leah's yet best story in the canon timeline. This is awesome!
leah also took a step at the TLM timeline, just like I did in the Defining Moments series (actually, the joining of our 'verses started when we decided to join our TLM verses... so since Defining Moments is the TLM AU to Protect and Survive/Minor Characters, leah's and my canon timeline verses are also joined). Her TLM stories veer off after Episodes/TLM and just hurt so good:
Worst Case of the Year, takes off sometime after TLM and deals with a devastating event for Jenna's team, leaving her traumatized, sealing herself off from the remaining people in her life and just plain lonely. I knew what would happen when leah started posting chapters for this story but I was still shocked (and quite frankly, I never really touched a couple of the chapters again because of what happened was just so terrible and sad). Jenna gets her heart broken, in probably the worst way possible and I honestly didn't know for whom on her team I felt sorriest. Definitely not a happy story but oh so worth the read.
Encounter of the Year, which takes place roughly four years after Worst Case. Jenna has been back on Earth for four years, having quit her active service in the Air Force almost right after coming back from Pegasus and just having returned from four years in Europe for a new job at NASA. In a chance encounter in Washington, D.C. she meets Matthew Kemp again and suddenly all the stuff she tried to burry deep down is back. I loved the roller coaster of Jenna's and Matt's reacquaintance and Jenna's painful process of realization that you just can't run away from trauma. leah's extensive research into PTSD and coping mechanisms is stunning and works so well in this story. I actually go back to reading it every few months just because it's so good.
Lessons of the Year, intended to be a collection of one-shots from the 'verse. Currently, leah's got one story posted and I've read another three that she will hopefully post as well because they're all great, detailing important steps for Jenna and Matt to find a way back from trauma and hurt to something that might even pass as Life After Pegasus.
Last but not least, she also gave us a Christmas story last year, Nicht in Stimmung, that was a lot of fun and inspiring me to write and post a Protect and Survive Christmas story, taking place a year later, being told from Laura's and Evan's POV, respectively (and yes, I promise to get back into posting Protect and Survive chapters here, so you can get to actually read it in the correct order).
So, go there and read it, if you read German (or are German, for I know there are a couple on my flist) and most of all tell her that you read it and if you like it. She deserves it. And look out for another German fandom rec post here. I'll see if I can get it up sometime next week.
PS: Is it just me or did LJ really change the layout of the WYSIWYG menu? And where were all the extra breaks coming from suddenly? *iz confused