Thoughts on the Ship-Swap

[embolalia]

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’

Comments

[embolalia]

I'm going to go back and write more comments on it once I've thought about it more.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

it's actually squicky and triggery for a lot of people

I've actually worked them around to a place in my brain where I forget this, and forget that to a degree I used to think it, too. It was weird reading the entry on him on the bsg wiki the other day and realizing how much the show itself (or at least whoever wrote the entry) thinks of Leoben as a Bad Guy. Not that he's not weird and creepy, but the way I think of him here, at least, is as someone driven by forces no one else can understand.

[embolalia]

I think if I wrote a story about Kara and Leoben as they are in the show on New Caprica hooking up, I would feel weird about it. (I'm not commenting on your recent story with that--you wrote them different enough from what was on screen that it could work.) Here I think I changed the characters just enough for myself, especially in the IX pair of drabbles, that I saw them as two people who gave each other the things they needed. And in that context, I could be okay with them having a happy ending. But when they (well, Leoben) were weird and obsessive and demanding? I don't think I could write that story.

As far as it not being my ship, I think I've been less aware than you probably of anti-Kara/Leoben sentiment, which may well have made me more willing to go for the happy ending.

[justascrewup2]

If you're a Tricia Helfer fan, you HAVE to go. How many times in your life is she going to be in your backyard? Particularly if you're not going to any other cons coming up, or if Tricia will not be at said cons.

[embolalia]

I've never gone to a con before, so I'm not really sure what to expect. But why not? Okay, stirring myself to get dressed :)

[justascrewup2]

Yay! Hope this goes well for you. We expect a full con report :)

BTW - With the fic, I am a devoted Kara/Lee shipper, and am not a fan of Leoben as a character in the first place, so a Kara/Leoben fic is full of bad times for me. Both because of me not liking Kara with anyone but Lee and also with me feeling that a Leoben pairing would be kind of destructive. So for pairings that I don't like, I usually don't read them all all, even if it's a writer whose work I generally like, like you. Sorry :p

[embolalia]

No worries, everyone has their preferences and I get that :)

The con was interesting, a little strange. I'll write more about it soon!

[scifishipper]

1. YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE CON. They are amazing and it totally does not matter that you will be alone. There are a ton of singles and it will be fine. DO NOT MISS IT!!

2. I had a similar experience writing Cain/Gina once. I wrote the fic from Cain's perspective and the writing was very tight and controlled and precise. It was not directly intentional, but my muse decided that the voice inside her head would be very controlled - except when it wasn't - and playing off of that precision was really interesting. I agree that Leoben's voice would lend to some significant variations from Lee's. I can see how Leoben allows for a lot of mysticism and almost hero worship of Kara.

I love the challenge of writing new characters!

[embolalia]

Okay, okay, I'm going! :) Eesh, Cain. I think at this point she's more creepy to me than Leoben. Must try her sometime :)

[plaid_slytherin]

This is really interesting. To do mine, I had to basically figure out who Hoshi was and get in his head, which was a challenge since I can't hear his voice in my head. (Literally, I can't remember what the actor's voice sounds like, which is how I write all other characters.) So that was a challenge. I was worried I was going to be coming at him the wrong way and that the G/H fans would all have their own Hoshi that I wasn't writing properly.

I'm not sure the tone was all that different from my "light-hearted" tone (e.g., The Honeymooners) but it felt weird because these aren't characters I deal with much. I'm pleasantly surprised people have liked it. We will see how A/R goes.

BTW, I am trying to work up the nerve to read your story. I feel like I ought to be practicing small ship solidarity, but Kara/Leoben comes very close to triggery place for me. I'm sorry! :(

[embolalia]

I see what you mean about Hoshi; he's definitely not a character I think I even noticed the first time I watched BSG. But you got to get really creative with who he was because of that, and it was fun to read!

Don't worry, I understand people feel weird about this ship. Just so you know what you're getting into, it's 20 drabbles, ten each from Kara and Leoben, about times they pray--some from childhood, some based on times we see them pray in the show. There's no graphic violence or torture or sex, but there is a reference to Kara's deleted-scene suicide attempt. If it's not your thing, that's cool too!

[wishflsinfl]

I guess I'm one of a handful of people who doesn't have a problem with Kara/Leoben. Seriously, I just don't find it that weird or triggery or squicky. *shrug* I liked the abstract aspect of your story and the way it managed to blend some really nice details with some grand sweeping ideas.

re: ship swap story, mine has also turned out to be a big departure for me in terms of style and format. I usually tend to write straight forward, orderly, close 3rd person narratives, but my ship swap is a mix of close 3rd and omniscient (or maybe even meta, depending on how you read it) POV that jumps all over the place in time.

It's also the first time I've written Laura in depth and I really enjoyed that. Like you mentioned, it took me places I hadn't considered for her character until I was writing them. And Gaius is just plain fun to write.

[embolalia]

I'm glad you liked Prayer! I can see how people are squicked by Leoben--I went to work the morning after I first saw Precipice completely overtaken with worry for Kara. That said, the way they interact in season 4 is different enough that I don't feel as weird about it. And any story puts the author's spin on the characters; the way I wrote them, they work for me at least :)

Your comment about POV is interesting--the other story I wrote was limited POV-Kara, which I'm used to from writing K/L, but somehow it wasn't nearly the same with Leoben.

And Gaius is just plain fun to write.
Oh, Gaius! He's more delightful to me since I've dabbled in writing him than he ever was in the show :)

[wishflsinfl]

I get why K/L bothers a lot of people but I think I tend to envision them either in S1 or in S4 and not so much in S3 which I found disturbing, although not to an unbearable degree. I think I found Cavil/Ellen way more squicky. Maybe part of it is that I see Kara as a pretty tough person and a survivor? Or I'm weird. :D

[embolalia]

No, I see what you're saying--during the periods when Kara has the upper-hand (Flesh and Blood/Demetrius) her power balances out his weirdness, and they feel equal enough not to be squicky.

And Cavil/Ellen is absolutely icky, especially after the season 4 revelations. I really hope no one ships them :(