But how nice that that should stop you, Mr Swinton. And how rare!
I worked out today why, despite having a zillion and one SG1 plot bunnies running round and round my head (and having had them for the better part of a month now), I still haven't applied fingertips to keyboard and actually written any of them. Despite feeling quite comfortable with the characters (more so, in fact, that I am with some of the characters in the NewWhoVerse, which I've already written in), and even having the odd line or two of dialogue or interaction springing fully formed from the depths of my subconscious.
I realised it while reading a space military novel by the name of The Outback Stars, by Sandra McDonald - yet another ex-military author who's gone into SF novel writing (and yet another one for whom it shows).
It's because, I've concluded, the idea of writing anything even vaguely military freaks the hell out of me. And this would be on account of the fact that, quite simply, were I to do so, I know full well I would have absolutely no idea what I would be talking about. And yes, I realise that this is true of 90% of SG1 fandom, and that it didn't stop them. It's also true there's some godawful writing in the fandom generally, and not just because the writers have no idea whatsoever about actual military protocols (I'm realising just how little most people have as I read through the various meta discussions on redial_the_gate).
I know this is, to a certain extent, just an excuse. After all, it is, of course, true that if I wanted to *check* various details before including them in a fic, there are several resources out there I could use. Y'know, that whole "research" thing writers (well, good writers, anyway) are so keen on?
But I think, to be honest, it's the conceptual idea of trying to write something that takes place in this whole other world that has rules and processes and a culture that I know nothing about except what TV shows me - that I've never actually been anywhere near myself - but that some of the people who might well conceiveably read any fic I wrote set in it could actually inhabit on a daily basis. Yeah, it's daft worry - but I suspect it springs from the same part of me that categorically refused to sing Betrayal at Serenity Valley at the Con if Elizabeth Moon was going to be there to hear it - although as it happened, that was never an issue, thanks to the BCoD and the fact that she appeared to have absolutely zero interest in the filking sessions.
Ehhnnnhhhh - maybe I should, I don't know, start with a drabble or five before I move to writing things that might require me to research things.
Or maybe what I need is a challenge - it worked wonders last time I felt like writing something and didn't know what to write. OK, a challenge it is. So. For all the SG1 fans on my flist (well, the ones who read fic anyway), give me two or more SG1 characters (ideally one of them Cam or Daniel, because they're the ones that seem to generate the most plotbunnies for me at the moment) and a prompt, and I'll do my best to write you a fic around it (although do bear in mind I'm only halfway through s10, and haven't seen either Ark of Truth or Continuum).
Let's see how *that* goes, shall we?
I realised it while reading a space military novel by the name of The Outback Stars, by Sandra McDonald - yet another ex-military author who's gone into SF novel writing (and yet another one for whom it shows).
It's because, I've concluded, the idea of writing anything even vaguely military freaks the hell out of me. And this would be on account of the fact that, quite simply, were I to do so, I know full well I would have absolutely no idea what I would be talking about. And yes, I realise that this is true of 90% of SG1 fandom, and that it didn't stop them. It's also true there's some godawful writing in the fandom generally, and not just because the writers have no idea whatsoever about actual military protocols (I'm realising just how little most people have as I read through the various meta discussions on redial_the_gate).
I know this is, to a certain extent, just an excuse. After all, it is, of course, true that if I wanted to *check* various details before including them in a fic, there are several resources out there I could use. Y'know, that whole "research" thing writers (well, good writers, anyway) are so keen on?
But I think, to be honest, it's the conceptual idea of trying to write something that takes place in this whole other world that has rules and processes and a culture that I know nothing about except what TV shows me - that I've never actually been anywhere near myself - but that some of the people who might well conceiveably read any fic I wrote set in it could actually inhabit on a daily basis. Yeah, it's daft worry - but I suspect it springs from the same part of me that categorically refused to sing Betrayal at Serenity Valley at the Con if Elizabeth Moon was going to be there to hear it - although as it happened, that was never an issue, thanks to the BCoD and the fact that she appeared to have absolutely zero interest in the filking sessions.
Ehhnnnhhhh - maybe I should, I don't know, start with a drabble or five before I move to writing things that might require me to research things.
Or maybe what I need is a challenge - it worked wonders last time I felt like writing something and didn't know what to write. OK, a challenge it is. So. For all the SG1 fans on my flist (well, the ones who read fic anyway), give me two or more SG1 characters (ideally one of them Cam or Daniel, because they're the ones that seem to generate the most plotbunnies for me at the moment) and a prompt, and I'll do my best to write you a fic around it (although do bear in mind I'm only halfway through s10, and haven't seen either Ark of Truth or Continuum).
Let's see how *that* goes, shall we?