BSG remix reveals and an attempt at analyzing why I write fic

[rose_griffes]

BSG remix reveals have been posted. I wrote The Hour Is Getting Late, a tiny fic with Tory's POV during the season three finale. Tory/Sam, PG-13.

While I think the end result is fine, I sort of wish I could ask for a do-over. It was incredibly frustrating trying to write Battlestar Galactica fanfic when my brain was wanting to focus on new show. Apparently I'm a serial fandom monogamist, and BSG is no longer in dominant position. It was only a matter of time; other than one exception, every story I've written for other fandoms was done after the BSG finale in 2009.

That made me start thinking about what factors lead to me writing fanfic. I've narrowed it down to three things. I'm thinking of that first fanfic in any given fandom in particular, but these factors seem to pop up over and over again in most of my stories.

1.) a character or pairing that I really like
BSG: Kara/Leoben. Life: Charlie Crews. Doctor Who: Martha Jones. Person of Interest: Zoe Morgan/John Reese.

2a.) the "How is that possible?" factor
BSG: In early season three, Leoben tells Kara that she'll embrace him and tell him that she loves him. In what universe can this possibly happen?! Aaaaaand then my brain told me which universe. Oops. I shouldn't ask these questions.

Person of Interest: How did John Reese and Zoe Morgan end up role-playing chauffeur and passenger again at the end of the episode? Because that final scene can't possibly fit as a same-day event; therefore they had some kind of interaction before then to tie their scenes together.

2b.) enough space to fill in an answer (the show doesn't give me enough)
Life: while Damian Lewis was amazing as flawed Charlie Crews, I wanted to know more about how prison did and didn't change him.
Doctor Who: Martha's time in 1913 working as a maid--the show had a few references to how difficult that would have been for a black woman in England at that time, but it didn't address how that could have had a lasting impact on her.

3. a noticeable portion of fandom doesn't appreciate the character/pair like I do
BSG: Um, do I have to explain about the whole "people don't like Kara/Leoben" thing? Probably not.
Life: that first fic has some Connie/Charlie UST, and Connie drew a certain amount of disdain from the fanbase.

Doctor Who: if you've dabbled in this fandom at all, you'll know that Martha Jones gets labeled 'useless' and 'clingy' and... yeah. I'm so glad I wasn't caught up on watching DW until years after Martha's season was over. Someday I'll have to make a post about how DW fandom's Martha hate had a lasting impact on my fan-related tendencies, but I'll spare you for now.

Person of Interest: after Zoe's episode aired, I was SO EXCITED, and I figured everyone else would be too... and the reaction at the comm was, "Eh, she was okay." OKAY? CATWOMAN ZOE MORGAN IS MORE THAN OKAY, y'all.

The story that fits just one of these factors: my one and only fic for Parks and Recreation. Which is probably why I haven't written any more P&R fic.

*laughs* Apparently number three proves I'm just stubborn and perverse. This isn't news to me.

Comments

[angstbunny.livejournal.com]

I was really surprised by the lack of Zoe enthusiasm in PoI fandom as well.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm glad there was a better reaction after her second episode.

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

I've loved Zoe from the beginning. I just didn't discover the POI comms until about four or five episodes after she first showed up.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Sometimes this show's fandom makes me miss fandoms for shows that had more female characters.

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

I think it all depends on the story and how the characters fit into it.

The last show that I loved with the fiery passion of a thousand suns was Human Target. It started out as a show about three male characters (an ex-assassin working towards redemption by being a bodyguard, an ex-cop who was like his AA sponsor for his redemption, and another assassin, who was unrepentant but our main character's best friend). And it was freaking brilliant. It was episode after episode of straight badass action, with them slowly revealing the mystery of who our leading man used to be and what he was trying to atone for.

Then the network execs got a look at it and decided that they needed some female characters to draw in female viewership (as if women don't want to watch good looking men on TV! HA!). So they grafted on two new female characters. a woman who suddenly became their "Boss" (and Chance's love interest) and a female thief who had absolutely no business on the show since there was almost never anything that needed stealing. They didn't fit the original concept of the story at all. They just hung out, not fitting in, for the entire second season. And not surprisingly, fandom hated them, because they didn't belong there. It wasn't an anti-woman thing, The problem was, they added the wrong female characters. If they'd added a female ex-assassin also on a redemption arc, or a female hacker, or a female cop chasing them or working with them, they might have fit better into the show. But instead we got a girly girl in high heels who was always either in the way or needing to be rescued, and an annoying teenager.

I suspect that there are few writers in Hollywood who have any idea how to write strong female characters. And oddly enough, they're usually male writers (Joss Whedon, J. Michael Straczynski, etc.). But that's a whole nother issue about women writers in Holly wood. Which I was thinking about recently when I read this -> http://marthawells.livejournal.com/479995.html

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

I suspect that there are few writers in Hollywood who have any idea how to write strong female characters.
While that's certainly an element, I think there's also the aspect of the audience being trained all of our lives to accept that male characters are the default "for everyone" setting. Fiction media with mostly female characters often gets dismissed as chick flicks, chick lit, etc. (Dismissed in how it's marketed, dismissed by a male audience because they're not supposed to identify with girls, dismissed by some of the women to whom it's marketed, because we're taught that women's stories are less important.) Plus female characters in male-dominated shows often get measured by a more exacting standard than the male characters.

Interesting link about women writers in Hollywood.

I don't know Straczynski's work, but having looked him up, I'm noticing something he and Whedon have in common--a certain degree of internet savvy. It's an interesting connection, and I'm curious if there's something to that. I know I've learned more online about writing and gender than anywhere else.

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

Straczynski wrote Babylon5, which up until the new Battlestar, had the best set of female characters in science fiction (IMHO). Ivanova is still one of my all time favorite characters.

And an interesting thing that i recently read about Whedon is that a lot of what he does in Buffy is turn the genders upside down. This isn't my idea, I recently read someone's meta post about Buffy/Spike where they talked about how Buffy was the "abusive boyfriend" and Spike was the "emotionally battered girlfriend who keeps coming back for more." And i thought that was fascinating, because as much time as the Wasband and I spent hashing over all the brilliant stuff in that show, we'd never talked about the gender roles.

Fiction media with mostly female characters often gets dismissed as chick flicks, chick lit, etc.

Generally true, but it also depends on how the characters are presented. Past favorites of mine with female leads include Alias (lead female is a spy), The Closer (lead female is a police interrogator), and mixed ensembles with strong women characters range from Hill Street Blues to CSI to Battlestar etc. On the other hand, there are shows like Rizzoli and Isles, where we get two female leads, but I can't find a way to like the show. I know they're trying for an "opposites attract" buddy show, but I just don't like the fact that they went with two stereotypes for their characters: butch/tomboy cop and overly girly doctor,

I think what most disappoints me about female characters on TV is how often they feel more like stereotypes than real people. In comedies they're always the shrewish wife or the wife that's MUCH smarter than their dopey husband. On cop shows we get the single mother or the former victim (rape, or family member murdered) who became a cop. I tend to remember things like the nurse on Hawthorne who was a war vet and had a prosthetic leg, because they don't often give us female characters like that.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

The only reason I ever watched Human Target was for the ladies, so I'm one of the people who thought they did an ok job introducing them/adding them (and were interesting). Then again, I'd watch Indira Varma read the phonebook.

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

I did rather like Indira Varma. I just didn't quite like how sort of helpless and flailing her character tended to be.

There was really only one episode where they did her character justice (Communication Breakdown) and I had hope that the writers might actually do something with her. That was the episode where they revealed that her character had grown up in a rough neighborhood and had actually been shot. But then they didn't go anywhere with that, like it wasn't motivation for her wanting to protect people so they didn't have to go through what she went through. It was just this random scene where Chance spots a scar on her shoulder. A scar that then disappeared in the VERY NEXT episode (Imbroglio) when she was wearing a slinky evening gown! *shakes fists at show*

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to come back and let you know that this post woke up my Muse.

Dammit.

Um, I mean Thank You.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Bwah, happy to take the blame credit.

Currently trying to wrangle Stanton fic myself. Urgh.

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

I'm working on an idea for a story about Jessica. So looks like the Muses are looking out for those neglected female characters, huh? ;-)

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Y'know, that name was given to me as a joke; I didn't actually intend to try and live up to it.

After that last episode, Jessica needs a voice.

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

Y'know, that name was given to me as a joke

But it's totally how I think of you every time I see your user name! Someone named you well. ;-)

Yeah, I kinda wanna redeem the character a bit. Since Nolan didn't give me what I wanted, I'ma gonna have to do it for myself.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

But it's totally how I think of you every time I see your user name! Someone named you well. ;-)
I've always wondered how much attention people pay to those names. Answer: some people do notice!

As for me, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Having read yours in passing before now, I just realized that the word I randomly perceived as squirrel is, in fact, squire. *facepalm*

Yeah, I kinda wanna redeem the character a bit. Since Nolan didn't give me what I wanted, I'ma gonna have to do it for myself.
Good. Because it was thoroughly unsatisfying, what the show gave us. I didn't expect Reese's women issues to be redeemed by Jessica's story; I just wanted Jessica to HAVE a story, a story that was about her choices. ARGH.

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

Having read yours in passing before now, I just realized that the word I randomly perceived as "squirrel" is, in fact, "squire."

*Laughs uncontrollably for at least 30 seconds* *wipes eyes*

Despite the random nature of what gets posted in my journal (Why do I NOT have the "squirrel" icon from Up?!?!?!) that is indeed "squire." I spent my first three years on Live Journal writing about helping my knight in and out of his metal pants at renn faires. Those were the three names people would likely have known me by, either in real life on on the internet. And I've never bothered to change it.

Oh Gods, Squirrel! Now I have to go see if I have that Up icon saved anywhere. *giggles again*

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

*grins* That icon would indeed be fitting, since that's sort of the voice I had in my head for the whole sequence of words.