minxy | Entries tagged with meta

I have been thinking, as I get ready to move (again) about the kinds of things I’m leaving behind and the kinds of things I will find in my new place. My Mom, at one point, wondered what kind of sport I’d find myself practicing back East. I said, somewhat tongue-in-cheekily, that it would probably involved the reservoir lake twenty yards past the front door of my house.

Today is the 37th anniversary of Title IX. I am going to turn 32 a week from tomorrow. I have always been an athlete, since my Dad taught me to throw a football (I grew up in the Midwest.) While I have adjusted to my brain occasionally having fits and starts and migraines and shutting down, which took a little bit of readjustment of my sense of self, I am deeply, deeply grateful that my body has remained uninjured, unbroken, and strong enough to allow me to remain an athlete into my fourth decade.

Today I am reminded that I should also be grateful for the laws that have insisted that I have a right to play this hard.

( My brother has called me hard-core about sports; it’s possible that he’s right about it, but I’ve never run a marathon, or anything. I go that distance in a boat. )

Cofax's post on Title IX

A few days ago I posted a meme loosely paraphrased as the "name something you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it," meme, but bracketed it with discussions of short stories and most people started chatting to me about stories (not complaining! great recs!)

Except Pixie, who had so many questions it'll take multiple posts, I should imagine. (Actually, I'm still open to questions, though my week just got a lot busier, oy.)

So, first up, the fandom post:

The fandom question(s) was (were):

( How you write and conceive of stories (...) ? )

( Do you have lots of WIPs? (not really, but here are ones that I do have:) )

( Do you think you'll ever move on from writing gateverse and write in a new show? )

( I don’t have the guts to run for president, is what I’m saying. I do have the guts to fight for a career in academic biochemistry and biophysics, though. It’s a personality thing. And at the moment I am brave enough to navel-gaze in public. )

I've been meaning to post this for a while, and a technical difficulty this morning has me waiting an hour or so for data I should already have in hand. Thus, therefore, as a result: rather than continue to comment all over the three of you posting this morning, I shall post myself.

Title: The God of Poets Has Two Hands -- Author's Commentary
Fandom: Stargate SG-1, spoilers for S10, Line in the Sand
Warnings: Navel-gazing, patting of self on shoulder.
Word count: nearly twice the original story's count (~5,000 words now)
Authors Note: great thanks, as always, to

rydra_wong for discussion and beta. Thanks also to

synecdochic and

paian for discussions and encouragement.
Prompt: the burdens of leadership - [I talk] about a strong, demanding love. And I have seen too much hate. (MLK Jr)
Story without the authorial intent inserted into it may be found here: The story at Choc_Fic.

( Poet's author commentary, in which I talk about Beowulf, Arabic bards, the Tragedy of Bra'tac's Heroism, the impracticalities of segregating the castes too much and a different kind of feminism. All before lunch. )

**
end

**

So Foothold was on the rerun circuit tonight. Foothold has always been one of my favorite episodes, not just because it starts so plausibly and just gets creepier and creepier (Foothold, AKA the one where giant cockroaches take over the SGC in an homage to Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.) I actually really dig this episode because the team, mostly being a rather kick-ass duo of Sam and Teal'c, are smart enough to trust each other implicitly when reasonable, and blow each other away if necessary (fortunately, that little incident was actually shooting an alien *impersonating* Colonel O'Neill, because actually offing your superior officer is probably just as against the regs as boffing your superior officer.)

Not to mention that some of my favorite recurring guest characters are in this one, and Major Davis's levels of snark ("Are you sure that's a GOOD IDEA, COLONEL???") are unmatched, and Maybourne is fabulously self-serving as always.

Let's face it, though, Sam is awesome in that episode: she's rational and logical and trusting and capable and always thinking. And she almost single-handedly saved the day. I think you might learn all the canon you really need to know about Sam in this episode. Plus, she and Teal'c are adorable.

This is not to take away from Teal'c's contributions, of course, because he figured out the whole thing, got the response started by waking Carter and providing a leather jacket, then sent her off to deal with politicians while he voluntarily stayed behind to kick-ass, get knocked out twice, and tortured in a fit of self-sacrific and biceps. Now, we know from season 9 Teal'c's feelings on politics, and it took until, what, season 10? For him to express fatigue about the whole torture thing, so I think what we can conclude here is that Teal'c is wicked smart, and felt like he'd arranged things quite satisfactorily.

Actually, though, I'm posting to remind you that

abyssinia4077 is currently hosting a commentficathon in her LJ with a prodigious list of prompts available here. I wrote! I did! Here, have a header:

Title: The Darkness Around Us Is Deep
Prompt: Teal'c/Cameron, burn
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: S9 or 10, nothing specific
Category: PWP, commentfic

You might also head over and read

rigel_7's Sam and Teal'c apocamoment,

holdouttrout's almost OT3 between Jack and Sam and Teal'c, or

surrealis's beautiful friendship moment between Daniel and Sam post-Forever In A Day (Who was asking for that recently? Was it Princess of G?).

abyssinia4077 herself wrote an amazing backstory for Jolinar and Qetesh. And all in a comment or less, my people.

...so I shan't apologize for the Friday spam.

This is the Teal'c translation post! In it, we shall attempt to illustrate: formal language, humor, brevity and non-wallpaperness.

tielan, in a very nice post titled Five Suggestions On How To Write Teyla, issues this challenge, which I'm adapting:

From the following ten things, choose four and in one paragraph each, describe how Teal'c would:

--answer the telephone when a telemarketer calls
--tell a funny story
--dance alone at home
--cry (you pick why)
--argue with a truck driver
--vomit
--flirt with a waiter/waitress
--play with a small child
--eat a lobster
--wake up to have breakfast alone
--prepare to go out for an important dinner

Okay, so.

( Describe how Teal'c would answer the telephone when a telemarketer calls. )

( Describe how Teal'c would argue with a truck driver )

( Describe how Teal'c would play with a small child )

( Describe how Teal'c would prepare to go out for an important dinner )

OKAY. Quick illustration of Jaffa wordage vs. other teammate's phrasology:

Question: Did that hurt?

Jack would say "Ya think?"
Daniel would say "Ow, yes. Can I have...? Yeah. Thanks."
Sam would say "What? I'm fine. Did we get the results?"
Teal'c would say "Excruciatingly" and continue doing whatever needs doing.

Question: So, movie night Friday?

Jack would say "As long as it isn't one of Daniel's 'educational' movies."
Daniel would say "As long as Jack doesn't talk through the whole thing (like last time)" ("Hey!" "What?" "You talked through Indiana Jones." "Oh please, that movie was completely historically inaccurate!")
Sam would say "Sure! Come get me before you leave, okay?"
Teal'c would say "May I contribute a movie or beverage?"

Statement: I think it's worth pursuing.

Jack would say "Cool, let's pencil it in. Lunch?"
Daniel would say "I really think P48-225 is a bigger priority."
Sam would say "Great, I'll get everything prepped."
Teal'c would say nothing, because he wasn't asked a direct question and doesn't feel the need to speak simply for the sake of making noise.

Anyone else? Thoughts?

Okay, so I consider myself a fairly well-read person, on account of I like to read, I read quickly, and I enjoy little more than getting lost in a great world. I've been as fannish about some books as television shows, back in the day.

So imagine my shame when fandom started collecting a list of non-pinkish-beige SFF authors and I realized how few of the authors on this list that I hadn't ever heard of.

This is the list, btw: ( Scifi/Fantasy Authors of Color, suggested by fandom and collected by matociquala )

Aside from Louise Erdrich (who was a favorite, lo 15 years ago), Kazuo Ishiguro (who has been high profile for a while) and the graphic novel The Changers by Ezra Clayton Daniels (v. cool, recommended.) I really, really hadn't ever heard of these authors. And I don't think it's for lack of paying attention.

Race issues are alive and well and living (among other places) in the publishing/PR industry, my friends. And, possibly, in my selective vision, but I'm educable.

Now, scifi writing is not always my cuppa. I lean towards fantasyish stuff, but often as not YA these days, because I want to just fall into it, you know? Plus the shorter length and quick read works well with my lack of huge amounts of free time (on account of which) And the covers can be soooooo cheesetastic on SciFi books, but I'm not really in it for the covers, (or rather, I shouldn't be.)

BUT, then I heard this from ltlj (she has it under flock, so I shall summarize): Charles Saunders wrote a story back in the 80's called Imaro, notable for being a fantastic black hero character in a sword and adventure type novel. The marketing was wretched, and despite critical acclaim from Black Gate (link goes to a review alongside Tolkien) and

ltlj, among others, the books never gained a foothold.

Now the reprint is under threat of cancellation due to poor sales, so a grass-roots campaign is underway.

So Imaro is a mixed-race warrior in a fantastic Africa, from what I gather. His journey begins as a quest for acceptance and continues as he becomes more independent of what other people think. Saunders has been lauded for his world-building, and Black Gate, among others, say that the African setting is a character in it's own right (as well it should be, from one who has actually been there. Africa is a vast, incredible, romantic place, I'm still a little in love with it.) An interview with Saunders is here.

So, I just went to Night Shade Books and spend $14 on the first novel. It twinges a little as throwing money at the problem, but honestly, I don't think that's what it is. There was also this brilliant idea thrown about somewhere that suggested that perhaps a book by a WoC could be donated to a local library. That sounds like a marvelous idea to me.

There's a long list of WoC that I've never bloody-well HEARD OF, my people. I'm starting with Saunders.

ETA: there is a comm called

50books_poc for anyone who wishes to participate in the intention to read 50 books by a person of color by ibarw next year. I signed up, and others have too. You could watch that comm and catch short recs or reviews of these books if you want a little more information before running off to buy (and, of course, you want my or other's opinion.)

ETA2: The first week of October is a apparently banned books week. The lovely

sanguinity has collected some links here.

Current Music: Stolen Car

Clearly no one consulted my schedule when they picked this week to open up one of the most interesting topics currently relevant in the first world. No, because I had a major deadline yesterday and today and last week, and there was another major deadline earlier last week, and I was out of town over the weekend and stuff.

But I really can't blame anyone else for signing me up to rec at

stargateficrec for the first time this month. So.

In celebration of

ibarw (yes! This week has it's own comm! Lots of fascinating linkage over there, so wrastle your liberal white guilt or rage or pain or whatever and go do some learnin') I've been reccing Teal'c at

stargateficrec with a rec a day.

So far, I've recc'd None But Ourselves (the Redemption Song remix) by

cofax7 and Incredible Luck, Annoying Charm by

ana_grrl.

And I'm totally miffed that

abyssinia4077 and

rydra_wong recc'd Water Moon, Almost a Statesman, With the Dying and Speak the Living over there before I could. *sulks*

So,

rydra_wong suggested a meme for this week, titled Grab Your Character of Color and Pimp Liek Whoa.

Rules: Just grab the Character of Color/Colour of your choice, and then pimp like whoa. Dedicate a post to telling everyone why this character is hot/cool/angstful/interesting/awesome and should be getting more fannish love.

Feel free to use any means at your disposal: picspam, essays, fics recs, vid clips, interpretive dance - whatever works for you.

We can always use more celebration of the diversity of characters out there, and it's hard to go wrong with squee.

So, to no one's surprise (though I'm considering chatting about some other CoC at some point this week) I'm going to talk about Teal'c.

In an effort to avoid telling, not showing, how OMG Not!Racist I am, I'm going to talk about fanfiction and Teal'c. I am going to celebrate our beautiful man, and I will count it a win if you find yourself thinking about something... Teal'c-y, and thinky, and perhaps writing a story about him (I shall enable with links at the end.)

To begin with, I've updated my Masterlist of Teal'c Recs. It's substantial anymore, and not just because I'll include any story on there that includes Teal'c in a notable role, even in a team fic, even if the POV is another character's. It's valid, I think, though I absolutely do not feel the need to do that with the other teammates.

So, I have meta'd on Teal'c before, and you can find that here: On Teal'c, backstory, my stories, freedom, owning choices, poetry, hobbies, voice and the all encompassing question: why is Teal'c underloved by fandom?

( So, why write Teal'c? Why even pay much attention to him? )

( Then, there's the finale (which will, I feel a little silly noting, have spoilers for the finale) )

( which we leverage into talking about stages of grief )

( But that's just Teal'c )

I seem to be out of steam for the moment, but I am tempted to post a sort of tongue-in-cheek Know Your Jaffa Voice! translation post, but that will wait for another day.

If you are even mildly interested in considering some prompts, I suggest you check out

choc_fic, which has oodles of prompts going right now, and various deadlines for them in September. The idea there is that there will be fic and art posted throughout the month, all celebrating characters of color on every single day. There's been an extra-special extension of the deadline to allow for IBARW, so limited time, etc.

There's also anna's probably just a little tacky post-kerfluffle multifandom inter-racial ficathon or rydra_wong's supplimental Emergency "Brother From Another Planet" Fic Challenge (because Anna's interracial pairings are limited to same-species, and some of us have a little too much love for Cameron/Teal'c.)

Folk are also encouraged to postpostPOST for IBARW, and I think a Teal'c story would be an excellent kind of thing to post. (Shut UP, voices!)

Current Music: Shadowboxer

Day two of hydrating after lots of fantastic boating over the weekend has me drinking hot wellness tea that smells of peach. It sounds odd, but when I'm attached to my computer for hours and hours I like hot liquids just to make up for the lack of movement. And at some point I make myself switch over from caffeinated beverages.

So I have six pages of science research training proposal written and it occurs to me to ponder why it feels so odd to call myself a writer. What is it about the word that has such strong connotations of fiction and a publishing firm, I wonder. I have no answers, I'm just wondering.

Clearly, seeing as how it's two o'clock, my productivity window for the day is closed, obviously. Unless there's something magical in this peachy wellness tea.

I was meandering around, as one does when one is procrastinating and waiting for the water to heat in the electric kettle, and browsing through issues of Science and Nature and such. And naturally I go straight to a fanfic place when I read the planetary science headings, which proclaim the discovery of a population of comets in the main asteroid belt differing in origin and temperature from those in the outer solar system.

Well obviously, says the fanfic part of my brain, we should be alarmed about those comets (sure, maybe it's the Asgard, you know, but Maybe It's Not.)

*sips tea*

*flips page to see the artsy side note to the aging article that shows the moon goddess Chang E who apparently stole the elixir of immortality from her husband*

Anyone else immediately think that was a painful divorce in which the moon goddess came away with the beach house and the sarcophagus? No? Just me, then.

( I really think that it's highly unlikely that Sam Carter could've continued to read the big five journals; she'd have to stick to the purely theoretical physics stuff just to sleep at night. )

I should go back to work, but Katie's Wandering Blind is calling me. (In a little bitty fanfic voice. "Minx!" It says, "Miiiiiiiiiiiinx....")

Have gotten beta comments back with the stamp of approval... hang on, lemme get this straight *puts on reading glasses, just at the tip of nose* it looks in great shape! Ha! Never mind where she goes on to berate me mercilessly about my comma splices! Just you never mind that.

Because, flist, *takes off reading glasses thoughtfully,* this fic took some wrassling, yes it did. Sweaty, dirty, not by-the-rulebook wrassling that hopefully leaves the viewing public not a little turned on. Yes, unlike my last fic, this one is pretty smutty. It is also a smidge creepy, on account of it's for the Through the Gate Darkly ficathon. Myself, I had to toss a coin to decide between taking a hot or a cold shower at the end of it, that's how mucky it got forcing this story to get written. Why, you ask? Probably because for the first time, I believe, I had a prompt from someone I know. What's more, I really respect her writing, and I have more than a vague idea of how she would write this prompt herself, which is just a smidge intimidating. But done. Almost. Barring last minute tweaking. And fixing those comma splices, obviously. Posting tomorrow.

Solution, for anyone who finds themselves in a similar embarrassment of riches, was to write the story she wouldn't have written. And then wrastle with your characters until they get on with it! Darn those pesky moral compasses. DARN YOU, CHARACTERS! DON'T YOU KNOW THIS IS A DARK FIC??? NO CONSCIENCES ALLOWED.

Makes a girl long for the simpler days of writing Jaffa voice, where the words are precise, the silences speak volumes and no one ever talks about how they feel, not even when proposing marriage.

So I thought I'd natter on about Teal'c for a minute, and the appalling canon silence about him that is so rife with potential fanfic. Also because posting fanfic even remotely about Teal'c leads to such fascinating discussions with people.

( Teal'c Meta )

They say write what you want to see, so I think now would be a good time to thank

moonshayde for running the

tealc_ficathon last year. Hope we can do it again, actually. If you're interested, I recc'd absolutely everything as it was posted from that ficathon and the synopses are here. Also as well, there's my big ol' list of Teal'c recs. Who luvs ya, baby? Teal'c also figures in pretty loudly in a lot of my fic that's not specifically from his POV (like any time Cameron is in the same room with him,) so if you'd like to meander through my other stuff, you'll find it here.

That was much more subdued that the Sam meta fic from once upon a time. Feel free to chat or ask questions or whatever in the comments so I don't feel like I'm giving poor T short shrift.

Current Music: Gumboots - Paul Simon

Two quick John/Rodney recs:

cesperanza: Learn Something New, not worksafe.

cottontail73: As The Stars Fade Out. Actually, you could probably read this at work. The kissing is described, the rest isn't explicit.

Pimping a challenge:

The darkside challenge, open to gen, het and slash at

dark_gate, looks amazing, and it was apparently spurred by this discussion of the domino effect within the team of going darkside. As people are musing about it in posts, though, talking about what a darkside character would do, how they would get there, I'm reminded of the discussions of non-con, and the recs I made for PTSD aftermath fics. I also recced a couple of just darkside-ish fics to

princessofg yesterday, and it's bringing me to a long-brewing meta on trauma, pain, flesh wounds and the timescales of healing.

It's completely tangential to the darkside discussion, but hey.

( Sexy wounds, and what comfort to which hurt. )

I've always wondered if there were cumulative effects of ribbon devices, or zats, or lingering symptoms of sarcophagus use that don't fade over time, or if naquada could ultimately act like heavy metal poisoning in a person's blood... Somebody write me that story?

All of which is to say, injuries hurt, even little ones that the show never let us see effect the characters and didn't last the week to the next episode. I might suggest that exploiting the subtleties of pain or fear would be a much more novel and often entirely appropriate way of exploring character than resorting to sexual violence purely as a way of showing the seriousness of the hurt.

Of course, write what you want to write (caveat caveat). I'm just sayin'.

Seems to be the meta-ing hour in my head, as

rydra_wong is collecting another round of fantastic posts and discussions about race and discussion and people's egotistical and defensive reactions to same, even when their personal racism or lack thereof is completely beside the point... but I think it might just inform what I'm writing at the moment, as I tend to get sarcastic about the loadedness of the race question and the white inability to discuss the topic and not our intentions. Maybe I can say what I want to say a little more subtley another way, without, you know, resorting to satirical verbal bitch-slapping.

( I shall fetishize the alien in my own particular idiom... )

I'm also thinking about the discussion with Thea and Rydra about whether Teal'c drinks alcohol. I want to believe that he will turn down alcohol while on a mission and that maybe he always viewed his time on Earth as a mission; one in which he could never afford to let his guard down. And I want to see Mitchell ask him about it. I want Cameron to see the difference when Teal'c comes back to live on Earth and I want someone to teach Teal'c the difference between sipping, pulling and chugging; hard alcohol and mixed drinks and beer and wine; top shelf and well drinks. I don't know if I want a team moment or a romantic insight slashy moment or what, but I'm clear on one thing: I really want someone else to write it. Keep in mind, please, that barring a complete absence of alchohol dehydrogenase in the Jaffa physiology (unlikely) T would have the tolerance of an elephant.

Anyway, writing: I came across this blog at Powells (biggest independent bookstore in the galaxy and I love that it's in Portland) City of Books website which takes the first paragraph of novels about to be published and discusses them as they stand alone. Cool idea. First Paragraph Previews.

In reading through one, a commentor mentioned that one of Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing (1. Never open a book with weather) had been broken, and in checking out the other rules I must agree, both with the rules and the exceptions to each of them. I love the rules about 'suddenly' and the judicious application of exclamation points. Heh. Now I'm considering buying 'When the Women Come Out to Dance' since that's my favorite title of the ones I see there and I've never read Leonard. Anyone else read him? Wonder what the first paragraph looks like. Bet there's no weather.

Current Music: Take Five - The Dave Brubeck Quartet

For a good time, read Thirst by

resonant8, then go comment here. John/Rodney, PG-13 or R, something like that. One of the best Rodney POVs I've seen yet, very good thought processes for him. Yum for first time fics. *snicker*

And, incredible Jack/Daniel friendship fic. Echoes of Autumn by

moonshayde. Very nice. And good to read because I'm still teasing through the teamficathon assignment story idea and it's hard to switch mindsets into gen when you've been so 'shippily/slashily oriented.

Firefly/Alias crossover by

vaznetti. Oh, WIP in shorts. Sadly, am now committed to the WIP and must watch carefully. Is too short, though! Too short now! I want a Sark-pet

Autumn by

wisdomeagle. Firefly, gen. Oh. Oh, so gorgeous. It's... EVERYONE SHOULD GO READ THIS. It's lovely, and it's appropriate for Halloween. Oooh! Here's a line: "Somewhere, some calendar marks today as All-Hallows Eve, and the ghosts of all their old battles float to the ground into a leaf-pile of memories."

Fruition (the quince fic) by lyrstzha. More Firefly goodness. Simon/Mal, for like, half a SECOND *starts, then glares at plot bunny who bounced energetically forward*. Naw, it was cute little Firefly fluff. "...Your brother know you’re up here pontificatin’ on food?" Hee! Quince.

I have a thought on my fandoms and whether I'll read fanfic in them.

( This is stream of consciousness: be thou warned. )

And that is my story, and my ode to the beauteous writers of SG-1. How I love thee. How I love thy stories. How I sometimes wish the Bridge Studio people would hire you full time...

Yes. Stopping now. *G*

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: I Second That Emotion - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles