Tipper's Green

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:05:14 GMT

After months of struggling, here's what I know.

Writing original fiction is harder than writing fanfiction.

Most of you are saying "no, duh" right now, but, honestly, I didn't really understand just how much harder it would be.

That doesn't mean writing fanfiction is easy, but, honestly, when you don't have to invent and describe all of the characters, it's just that much easier. The only thing that puts a twist on this statement is, your characterization of existing characaters in fanfiction can be an issue, but other than that....

You'd think that would have been obvious to me, but, no...no, I really didn't think about it. I mean, I've got the plot. I've got antagonists. I've got setting. I can work those three things with ease after nine years of solid fanfic writing (5 with M7, 4 with SGA). Protagonists? Not so much. I thought that, so long as I created a sort of "template", I'd be okay and, honestly, I've been creating bad guys for years, so OCs aren't a new thing, but....Nope.  Protagonists are harder. Much harder. Because you have to want to *invest* in them.

But this wasn't actually clear to me until Monday night, when I "took a break" from the original story to write the beginning of an NCIS fic, and my fingers flew. 10 pages in a matter of hours. (By the way, no, I don't write NCIS fic. At least, I never have, but I am now, because I can't get these two ideas out of my head and they're messing with my other story. I may never post the fic I write, because of fear of a five year old sandbox of characters where I've really only seen about half the shows and the fact that I apparently favor one of the less popular characters on the show, but, eh, what the heck. If my faithful friends/betas like it, I probably will).  It was just so...freeing to be able to write like that again.

I don't know why I'm posting about this. But, well, I thought it was interesting. Plus, I'm on a conference call at work right now, and I don't really need to add to the discussion so...heh.

Just curious -- has anyone else felt this difference between original fiction and fanfiction?

Wee Post. Book Meme.

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:42:48 GMT

Got this from anniehow’s journal. I admit, I don’t know what “The Big Read” is, but, apparently (and sort of sadly), they assume that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-)

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible (like Anniehow, though, only in parts.
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett.
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad .
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

55 of 100. Better than 6. I admit, I fall down on the 20th Century books, like Gabriel Garcia Marquez. What I find odd is that they at least two repetitions on this list.The Complete Works of Shakespeare, and Hamlet. And, they have the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. If you've read, say, the Complete Works, then wouldn't that mean you've read Hamlet? Same with the Chronicles. I suppose you could have read Hamlet and not the Complete Works, but then, why have Harry Potter SERIES but not, say, The Sorcerer's Stone? Or have Hitchhiker's Guide, but not the whole series?

I will say, I’m a little sad not to see some of my favorites on this list, like E.M. Forster, but I guess this publisher doesn’t publish them…?

Ultimate Dance Off!

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:22:58 GMT

This HAS to be passed on! I laughed so hard, I started to cry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkTQwP2gFxU

As my friend GateBiscuit said so eloquently, there are NO WORDS! I'm still laughing! SO MUCH JOY!

American Republicans v. British Conservative Party

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:53:59 GMT

Leesa_peerie mentioned that, in the UK, they're trying to extend the right of the government to hold a man without charge from 28 days to 42 days. What's interesting is, it's a LABOR party initiative. And, gosh darn it, aren't they supposed to be like our Dems? But, here's the kicker...our Dems aren't like your Labor, anymore than our Republicans are anything like your Conservatives...

I vote Dem in the US, but, seriously...I'd so vote Conservative in the UK right now. I voted Blair in a long time ago, and I cheered as Labor finally topped John Major. Not anymore!

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/13/conservatism/

Interesting, isn't it?

Ah, politics! How I love it!

SCORE ONE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:54:01 GMT

Having worked on a tiny part of this case on behalf of one of the detainees a few years ago -- someone I absolutely believe should never have been kidnapped from his native Albania and placed in Gitmo -- I'm so, so glad that the Supreme Court finally recognized that its job is to protect the rights set forth in the Constitution, not protecting our administration or allowing paranoia to get the better of our judicial system. No matter what you think about what's going on in Gitmo or the men there, taking away a man's habeus corpus rights is abominable.

So, YAY for the Supreme Court! And score one for basic human rights!

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/12/boumediene/

(I'm still pissed off about the Bush-Gore election opinion, but this makes up for a lot of that)

Here's a short excerpt from the article I've linked above.

"The Court's ruling was grounded in its recognition that the guarantee of habeas corpus was so central to the Founding that it was one of the few individual rights included in the Constitution even before the Bill of Rights was enacted. As the Court put it: "the Framers viewed unlawful restraint as a fundamental precept of liberty, and they understood the writ of habeas corpus as a vital instrument to secure that freedom." The Court noted that freedom from arbitrary or baseless imprisonment was one of the core rights established by the 13th Century Magna Carta, and it is the writ of habeas corpus which is the means for enforcing that right. Once habeas corpus is abolished -- as the Military Commissions Act sought to do -- then we return to the pre-Magna Carta days where the Government is free to imprison people with no recourse. "

Sci-Fi Fantasy Book Recommendations: Part Two

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:51:31 GMT

So, Fantasy. I've lived here for most of my life. I love the genre. But, I've also been burned by it. There are some writers that people love that I'm not fond of, so I won't be recommending them, but...I hope people rec them in the comments, because it's really up to you to judge.

First off, the “classic” fantasy books:

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
George Orwell's 1984.
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey.
HG Wells The Time Machine.

Of course, they're in the fiction section, not sci-fi, despite the fact that they, along with Bram Stoker's Dracula (a neat book for social history reasons, but not one of my favorites), Dicken's Christmas Carol, and others, they are pure fantasy. Don't let their "classic" trappings frighten you -- Besides being really great spun tales, they're all pretty short books and so, so clever (I haven't read Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Journey to the Center of the Earth, but they're next on my list). [Also, why this is in Times instead of Tahoma, I have no idea. The LJ Cut did it.]

Now, when it comes to more traditional fantasy, i.e. serious stuff, there's really two categories for me: Heavy and Light. The following are lighter. They're great beach reads, fantastic for something to read for fun, sort of like Harry Potter.

David Eddings Belgariad Series (I admit, I read this as a kid, so it may not be as good as I remember)
Terry Brooks Sword of Shannara series (though I'm more partial to his Landover series, below)
Tad Williams Sword, Memory and Thorn Series (again, I read this as a kid, but...loved it then)
Craig Shaw Gardner's Dragon Circle (supposedly, the author didn't mean these to be funny, despite being a humor writer, but he couldn't keep his humor out of this trilogy. Which made me love it more. B&N suggests this might be out of print, but it shouldn't be that hard to track down--he's still a popular writer. He just wrote a BSG tie in novel, for one. Bound to be at the library still)
Simon Green Blue Moon Rising and Blood & Honor (hate the cover of the latter, but the male lead is a great archetype. My favorite kind--bad guy in need of redemption)
J.V. Jones Book of Words series (I recall really liking this when I read it, but being a little disappointed by the ending. Can't remember why).
Lyndon Hardy Master of Five Magics (I actually think this is a great story because the hero never once seems like a hero, until the very end. May also be out of print, but the library is your friend.)
Alan Dean Foster Spellsinger series (first few books -- they get tired later on)

I read most of these back in my early twenties, but by the time I was reading Gardner's books, I was already leaning towards the authors with the sense of humor. That list is much longer, and below. Before I start that, though, there are some authors I haven't read, but I know other people love, so...if folks have other serious fantasy authors they can rec, please do! I know Jim Butcher ("Dresden Files") is very popular, and getting more so. People I trust really like his books. Similarly, I've been told Robin Hobb's Farseer Series is great. I keep meaning to buy those books, even though I'm not fond of her opinion on fanfiction.

As for heavier series, Tolkein (Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit) and TH White (Once and Future King) are exemplary of not just serious fantasy, but intellectual fantasy (hence the heavy). Their stories require thought. I won't link those, because I'm guessing everyone knows them. I also want to rec Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. History and fantasy combined into something that, deservedly, won the Pullitzer Prize.

As I mentioned, there are other great authors I don't particularly like, but others adore. I mean, Sam Raimi is apparently making a TV Series based on Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule, and I really disliked that book. The characters were dull to me, and I *hate* torture in novels, no matter who is getting tortured. But, as I said, Goodkind's incredibly popular, so.... What it boils down to is, there are numerous reasons I don't like some authors, but rather than list them, I'll just pretend they don't exist. Heh.

Moving on, this is the part where the list gets LONG. It's the fantasy authors who are both great writers and very funny. I love all these people and would recommend them for when you get tired of reading the books above. Basically, for the same reason that Douglas Adams got red font on the last post, so too do all these folks.

Terry Pratchett is GOD. Everything he's written is good, but the Rincewind books, Mort, Truth, Reaper Man and the Guards' books are my favorites in the Discworld. I also love his Johnny books. All hilarious and clever.
Neil Gaiman is just as good, though I didn't like American Gods that much. But Anansi Boys more than made up for it (my favorite of his "long" novels). But if you're new to Gaiman, start with Neverwhere. Especially if you've been to or live in London and know the Tube Map.
*And then there's Good Omens, cowritten by Pratchett and Gaiman. One of my favorite books of all time. But, it's a heavier read. It's more like Tolkein - save it for when you have time to savor it.
Now, for the sake of my brain, I'm going in alphabetical order as best I can:
Peirs Anthony Magic of Xanth series, the first two books (not so much the later books. If you can just read those two and none of the rest, do so.) and On a Pale Horse This is a great story, that reminds me an awful lot of Pratchett's Mort...sort of.
Robert Lynn Asprin Myth novels (though the last few have gotten tired. The first few are great, though)
Steven Brust The Book of Jhereg novels (I liked the first one the best -- seems to be a pattern, eh?)
Terry Brooks Kingdom of Landover series (I rather adore displaced everymans)
C. Dale Brittain's Yurt books
L. Sprague de Camp's The Complete Compleat Enchanter (again, displaced everyman)
Glen Cook Garrett PI Series (he's more well known for the Black Company, a serious fantasy series, but I haven't read it yet. I keep meaning to!) Oh, the Garrett series is Nero Wolfe (Garrett is Goodwin, no joke. Cook did it deliberately) meets Ankh Morpork. It's a blast. The books in the series keep getting better, by the way -- I buy them as soon as they appear on the shelves. He's tagged in my B&N register. There's only one that I didn't like.
Rick Cook Wiz Biz series -- another displaced everyman, sort of. A computer hacker. Total silliness. I read these in college. It's a library read, I wouldn't buy them. But they are fun and light. Sort of like Dan McGirt's Jason Cosmo, who reminds me of Sam Raimi's awesome Evil Dead character, Ash. I admit...I'm not sure these two are recs so much as a, "if you're bored and want a laugh" read.

[And now I'm blanking on the middle of the alphabet...um...I'll have to fill in more of the middle later].

Robert Heinlein Glory Road (I have read *one* Heinlein novel -- this one. It was great. Don't know why I can't read the rest of his stuff)
Connie Willis To Say Nothing of the Dog
Lawrence Watt-Evans Ethshar series (I also like his Dragon Weather books, but they're not as good)
Roger Zelazny Chronicles of Amber

Darn it. I know there are more than this. I'll have to go raid my shelves at the folk's house to remember them, though. Sorry! But that's a good start. Hopefully everyone reading this CAN RECOMMEND MORE! Please? With a cherry on top?

Hooray for Fantasy Books!

Note -- I'm not touching graphic novels (Elfquest, Sandman, Watchmen, etc), short stories (except for the Complete Compleat Enchanter, because that was more a series) or plays (Midsummer's Night Dream, anyone?) or other forms of art. If you want to rec them, though, you can.

Oh, another note -- I'm not really up on the more contemporary authors -- i.e., people who have cropped up in the last five years or so. Fanfiction really did eat up my brain for a long time, so I just read the authors I knew when I went to the store. So, bring on the new authors! Who do I need to read that's new?

Thanks for suffering through that. And, yes, I'm brand loyal to B&N because I worked there. Feel free to use Amazon, Borders, Dillons, Waterstone's, Crown Books, Powell's, the Strand, or whomever else you like. But ESPECIALLY your library. Above all, start at the library.

[Also, apologies for the font issues. Weird issues with LJ Cut, and I can't seem to fix it.]

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Recommendations: Part One

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:12:04 GMT

The fabulous water_soter asked for some recommendations of good/fun books to read in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Obviously, it's a massive genre, and there's disagreements over what books should be in there or just in the fiction section, or what is sci-fi and what is fantasy, what is adult and what is young adult, yadda yadda yadda, but *regardless*, I thought I'd pop the question to everyone who happens to stop by my livejournal from time to time. What do you recommend for sci-fi books?

In other words, everyone recommend something!

Me, I've been reading sci-fi/fantasy since I was about 12. That's when I moved from England to the States, and I ran out of Enid Blyton's "famous five" and "secret seven" mystery stories to read. They didn't have them here in the US, and I was devastated (they might now, I haven't checked--great books for kids, if any of you need books to give as gifts). So, I wandered into my dad's bookshelves (every room in my parent's house is filled with books. My mother's books were downstairs. Dad's were upstairs.) and, after biting my lip for a while, I asked one of my brothers to tell me what to read. He gave me Lloyd Alexander's The Book of Three (the first book in The Prydain Chronicles). I fell in love immediately. I read all five books in a couple of days, then started attacking my dad's shelves alphabetically (I'm still not sure I should forgive dad for having Piers Anthony on his shelves...<bg> More on that later).

And the long road to ruin (in the form of reading everything sci-fi and fantasy on my dad's shelves, then in the local town library) occurred.

Problem is -- I've read a lot. And I read it over the course of ages 12 to 34. Tastes change over time and, of course, at 12, everything is new and brilliant (yes, Piers Anthony, I'm still looking at you - damn you and your mad puns!), and you don't realize what's derivative and what is not for a while. I mean, look at Harry Potter. Genre breaking? Not so much, yet a lot of folks who have never read a lot of fantasy or sci-fi might think so. But, then again, who cares? Harry Potter, like everything else I'm going to list, is great fun to read.

So, where to start?

I still would recommend Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, even to someone who is older. Technically, they're for "young adults", but screw that. They're for everyone. AND they really are a great way to introduce the genre. They're a fast read (as opposed to, say, Tolkein), fun, and are quintessential fantasy. Plus, J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis and Tolkein are technically categorized for "young adults" as well -- it's all poppycock. When I worked at Barnes & Noble back in the day (for three happy years in my 20s), I would always put Tolkein in the adult section. All the bookstores do it now, at least for Tolkein. Thank you, Peter Jackson.

So what else is out there? This is where it gets trickier to recommend books, because, really, there are subsets within the genre and, after you start reading, you'll learn that you'll prefer one type of story over another. By the time I was 18, I knew I liked fantasy better. Then, about ten years ago, I fell for the humorists -- the tongue in cheek end of the genre (and it's a stellar and vast group). And more recently, the mystery writers. But before all that, I did read some of the more traditionalists, so...here goes.

I'm going to break this post into two. This part is just sci-fi -- by which I mean, outer space. There's many ways to divide sci-fi and fantasy, but I'm going with a really bright line and sticking with just outer space for now. Everything else (i.e. fantasy and futuristic stuff) will be in the next post.

If you want hard sci-fi (meaning dark, serious and richly populated with some of the most famous authors around), then some of my favorites are:

Dan Simmons Hyperion series;
Ursula K. LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness;
William Gibson's Neuomancer;
Alan Dean Foster's Pip & Flinx series (For the Love of Mother-Not and The Tar-Aiym Krang start it--I remember loving both);
Iain M. Banks Use of Weapons; and
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.

Now here's why I admit to a HUGE gap in my knowledge--I've never read Clarke, Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, Asimov or some of the other really famous, classic sci-fi authors. I'd recommend them just because they are classic, but I can't as a reader, since I haven't read them. This is because, as I mentioned, by the time I was 18, I'd learned I liked fantasy better. I'm more a "like earth, but not" sort of person. So, in the fantasy realm, I have a lot more recs. Still, if some of the more hard core space folks out there can give there two cents on the "greats", I would love to hear it. I bought Dune, but it's just sitting there...gathering dust. So bad.

MEANWHILE...

If you want more humorous sci-fi (which is my favorite--dark and funny at the same time, like Stargate), then I'd recommend:

Spider Robinson's Callahan series (beware -- the man *loves* bad puns!);
John Scalzi's Android's Dream. (A couple of other people we all "know" like this one as well - Hewlett gives it a thumbs up!);

and, above all, with lots of stars and kowtowing,

Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. One of my favorite sets of books of all time. I read sections of it over and over--just because it makes me happy.

So, yes, I know. For pure sci-fi, that was a pretty short list. It might get longer -- I need to go to my parents house and check my shelves. I dump my books on them every few years or so, so there may be more than this. But for now, that's what I've got for outer space.

All this changes in the next post. Fantasy Books. There's a lot of 'em listed in part two.

Reinventing the Four Kingdoms and Sherlock Holmes (Plus Shore Leave Query)

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:36:21 GMT

Here we are, deep in the middle of the big "gap" between SGA 4 and SGA 5. I've not read any spoilers...yet. (Friendshipper trying to tempt me into reading David Hewlett's interview yesterday was CRUEL! It took everything I had not to click on that link in her LJ! Okay--technically, she didn't write it to tempt me. She was just reporting. But, since it's always all about me, that's how I saw it. <bg>)

Instead, I've been diligently working away at the original story. The big rewrite of the old Four Kingdoms fantasy epic from my M7 days. As of now, I've written a brand new prologue/first chapter, reinvented half the characters into different people, and, curiously so far, very little except the plot seems to be staying the same. Dialogue, for example--completely different. Of course, it helps that the first book isn't very good--I don't feel so bad about gutting it. Thankfully, I've already fallen for the first woman character I created ("Oriane"), so here's hoping I can keep her real. I've been worried about writing an original female character, after so many years of writing men and writing fanfic.

I just read that. Weird, isn't it? I mean, I'm a girl. I should be able to write a woman easily....

Anyway, I'm not the only one doing a "reinvention". I got a great laugh from ew.com's popwatch page, where they digged a little on the fact that Guy Ritchie (of "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" fame, among others) is going to do Sherlock Holmes. This was the bloggers at EW's take, and it cracked me up:

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/06/sherlock-ritchi.html#more

Man, I love mad journalists!

Hope all is well out there! Can't wait until July!

Oh, speaking of...is anyone going to ShoreLeave? The con in Baltimore in Mid-July? I really want to go to the Writer's Conference thing -- where Ann Crispin and others are going to not only discuss writing in the genre, but getting published in the genre. Anyone else going? (Oh, and, yeah...David Hewlett, his sister Kate, and Jewel Staite are supposed to be there).

On The Dangers of Falling for a "Ship"...

Thu, 15 May 2008 20:08:28 GMT

I can't work today! I've only been back from vacation for five days, and yet I can not focus to save my life.

So, here's a question. This is a dead horse I'm beating, I know, but, if a relationship is canon, would writing about it still be considered Gen? I always felt that, when Cadman and Beckett were going out, or Rodney or Katie, that referencing their relationship, or using it as a plot point/source of character development, could still be considered in the Gen realm, so long as it wasn't the focus of the story. But, upon deeper reflection, it seems safer to go with the rule that Gen means no relationships (well, you can reference them, but you don't need to see them). So, ultimately, following that logic, a canon story doesn't necessarily need to be Gen, right? Because a story that explored Katie and Rodney's relationship wouldn't be Gen, but it would and could have fit fine within the canon...

So what would it be? Would a story about Rodney and Katie be Het? Even it's totally G rated, and it's just the sad tale of the rise and fall of their relationship in light of what happened around them? Or, what if their relationship was just one aspect of a larger story -- like Quarantine. What genre did that show fall in?

The reason for the question is that, I'm apparently becoming a shipper. This distresses me because most romance stories give me the heebie jeebies. At the same time, it's just another source of character development, right? I mean, people are romantic, they fall in love -- it's just another human attribute to be explored.

What I mean by "I'm becoming a shipper" is that I dreamt up a story last night that started with McKay going on a date with Keller (yes, contrary to half the fandom's opinion, I do think Keller asked Rodney on a date at the end of Trio), and, in the background, seeing Ronon's reaction to their date. I think I'm playing into the idea that there could be a triangle there (I don't know if the show will go that way -- not having read any spoilers for next season -- but it would/could be a natural progression of that storyline, if the writers wanted. See as this is a sci-fi show that's partly a comedy, they probably won't, but they could). Anyway, nothing really *goes* anywhere because the plot spins off in another direction, meaning I don't push the story into AU land, but it does crop up in later talks...I guess I'm a shipper. Who knew?

I'm trying to decide whether I should go rewrite the intro on my page, saying I'm a Gen writer. If I write this story...does that make me a Het writer? What exactly is Het? I mean, we bungle all the Slash stories into one pile. Do we do the same to Het, even though some Het is canon (while Slash isn't)? And what if the relationship isn't the focus of the story, but may start out there, and/or have an affect on the plot or characters later, does that make a story purely Het or does it make it sort of half Het, half Gen...? Of course, there are many slash stories out there that are basically Gen stories with a dash of slash added in, and they're not separated out. Although, again, Slash has the added problem of not being canon, but how much of an impact does whether something is canon have on a story's genre definition? Which brings me all the way back to the beginning of this post....

Help.

Hallloooooo!

Mon, 12 May 2008 19:12:59 GMT

I'm Back! Two weeks of fabulous pub food, mooching off my folks (and my brother), reveling in the glorious (the Crown Jewels are so SHINY) and not so glorious (Cromwell's digs...so dark and so puritan), and wishing I didn't have to come home. Except for one thing. That $2 to 1 GBP thing? BITES. I had to erase the pound sign and stick in the dollar sign not to freak out. But other than that...

It was a great trip. Our friend, one of our fellow fic writers, performed brilliantly in the ultra-triathalon she was in, including finishing third in the 32 mile run after the two ringers. When she writes about the agony of anything remotely related to extreme athleticism, she speaks from experience. LOL!

We also got to do some of the more touristy things I don't usually do when I go to Great Britain (on account of hanging out with my folks and family most of the time). Tower of London (last done on a school trip when I was about 11), Westminster Abbey (Damn that place is crowded! By the living and the dead), British Museum (one of the coolest museums on the planet), and lots of walking around. We also saw Cambridge (where we mooched off my magnanimous folks), Stratford-Upon-Avon, Blenheim Palace, Oxford, Bath, Salisbury, Wales and various points inbetween. I didn't get my friends up to the Lake District, my favorite place on earth, but I will someday!

Meanwhile, all my family is well and happy and full of vim and vigor, including my insatiable, adorable nephew of the tousled blond locks. He's adorable and thuggish, all at the same time. Can't really expect anything less of a Tipper, really. We're all adorable and thuggish. Well...thuggish. We lost the adorableness because we all ended up sort of tall. LOL! I was cute when I was two, though, I swear!

Anyway, back to the old grind (I'm at work), and I also have to reply to all the kind and wonderful people who left me reviews on Figurative Hell! I'm sneaking the opportunity to do that at work today, since I can't focus with all the construction noise (my floor is being completely redone into cubicles. Ick).

I'll try to post some pics a little later this week. Hope none of you had any fun while I was gone! Hee! (I'm such a selfish person, so, so selfish).

Off to England!

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:59:37 GMT

Sorry I haven't been around much lately! Work is still all topsy turvy, so I've been working really late hours and coming home just too tired to do anything but go to sleep. And I know I owe replies to all the comments on the ficathon! I'm so sorry! I will reply, but, damn it, I'm out of time now. I leave tomorrow for England and Wales -- for 10 days! Whoot! Going over to visit the folks (again) and my brother, sister-in-law and nephew (who won't remember me, but I'll still try to make an impression anyway!). I'm also showing some friends around the mother country -- where they'll learn I drive just as crazy on the left as I do on the right. <bg>

I just wish I could show them all of it! Alas, we're staying in the south and Wales. But I will take them to the Lake District someday. I think everyone should stand on the edge of Derwent Water just once in their life. Well...Ullswater will do in a pinch, especially if the daffodils are in bloom. Either way, still my most favorite place on earth.

Anyway, I'll be back in two weeks. Don't have fun without me!

And, yes, I still have to pack. Gah.

The Gen Ficathon Is Complete! Yay!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:10:27 GMT

Oh Frabjous Day! Callooh! Callay! The sga_genficathon authors have been revealed! (Yay!) Very cool to compare and contrast that list with the authors, now that I know who is who. Thanks for running the whole thing, friendshipper! It was great fun (albeit, if I felt it was a little overwhelming as a reader -- I still need to read half the stories -- I can't even imagine what it was like as the moderator!) Anyway, yay!

I highly recommend everyone head over and check if out, if you haven't yet. Especially the Ronon stories, which I think were my favorites (like Finding the Way, Exposure, Luck of the Draw, Ouroboros and others). Also, the humor ones? All rocked. The Master List is here.

Mine is here on LJ: Figurative Hell and Literal High Water

It'll go up on Fanfiction.net and my site later this week, after a little bit o' editing. It's got a number of errors in it from writing it way, way too fast as my poor beta will attest (I was so late, she had to beta almost the moment I was done with each section, because I was sending her another new section less than a day later. Poor NT. Above and beyond, old friend. Thanks). I'll edit this post when I get those up.

Anyway -- here's just a few story notes, if you're interested, and, later, a plea.

The story itself was really simple -- man v. elements, or, in this case, Keller v. elements. All it is, is Keller dealing both with the storm from hell, and with the storm that is Rodney McKay in full out save my team (while having typical moments of both total panic, furious anger, and self-sacrificing heroism) mode. And there might have been a landslide...or two...and poor Rodney suffering that most cliche of fanfic moments--being taken down by a falling tree. In other words--the plot wasn't really important. What I really wanted to write was a "how Keller became a member of the team" story. The whole thing was written to lead up to the very last line of the fic.

Yes, I know. Even when I'm not trying to write a team fic, I write a team fic.

But I'm telling you this because I have a plea. I want more Keller fics. Gen ones. Or, I guess I should say, *canon* ones (I'm totally happy with a human Keller who finds the guys attractive and flirts. I mean, come on, who doesn't? And, sorry, but calling a woman who has two crushes in one year a slut? Or a female Kirk? What strange, closeted world do the people who say that live in? I crush on a different guy almost every single day. I mean, have you seen Ronon? She's not blind! And who wouldn't find Rodney crushable after he saved your life in Trio? Hell, if I were Keller, I'd probably be crushing on all *three* of the guys...oh wait, I already do...<bg>)

I also say this because I really, really recommend you guys try writing Keller. ESPECIALLY those of you who may be feeling a little writer's block and might be looking to find a new way to view our SGA world. She panics, she bumbles and fumbles, she really, really doesn't want to be doing anything heroic, and she's just so incredibly, painfully human. And if you don't believe me, just run down some of the transcripts from Missing and Trio. I haven't had that much fun writing a character since I first started writing McKay.

Anyway, thanks again Friendshipper. And to Flah7, who fixed some of my medical goofs, and to NotTasha for betaing as usual. And to everyone who takes me up on writing Keller fics. I will be in your debt. <bg>

Fanfiction.net -- why do you suck SO MUCH?

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:36:48 GMT

NT just let me know that Fanfiction.net has, in an update on the 22nd of this month, removed all scene breaks from stories formed by dashes or whathaveyou. ALL of my scene breaks were dashes. I didn't like their line break thingy--it kept screwing up my formatting when they first introduced it in 2003 or so, so I stuck with dashes. But it means that now all my stories are without scene breaks. WTF? I've been posting there since 2001, never complained about anything they've done before -- but this? Seriously, what the hell? WHY? I have, what, 30-40 stories up on their site, and some of them are monsters in length. To go through every single story, every single chapter, and try to remember where all the scene breaks are....

It's evil. EVIL.

I just can't comprehend the sheer amount of tedium it will take to put them all back in one by one. Why? Why would they do something so CRUEL?

So, what do I do? Do I take the stories all down? I mean, they're not readable without the scene breaks. But I do not have the time to fix them. Ack! Anyone else have a suggestion? I honestly don't know what to do here.

Your First TV Love...

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:04:22 GMT

I don't know about all of you, but I still know who my very first, honest to goodness, hot and heavy TV crush was, and that was Face from the A-Team.

I was the ultimate prepubescent teen with a crush--I could watch him do nothing but stand in the background in a shot and I'd be happy. (Of course, that wasn't enough, and what I now know is fanfic--except that I didn't write it down--would course through my brain before I fell asleep, or at random points during the day, often in class). When in 1986, we got a VCR for the upstairs TV, I'd tape the show and watch every ep over and over, contemplating the characters and what I might have done differently. I'd read all sorts of additional layers into their actions and movements and faces, and, man, if there'd been PCs then and the internet, I would have been all over that. (Just like I do now, with SGA).

But there wasn't.

In 1998, eleven years after the A-Team went off the air, I found fanfiction, and a site called the VA Hospital for fanfic, and I read everything on there in a span of about six months. Well, everything except slash, which *totally* confused me. I honestly had no idea what I was reading. LOL! But, regardless, it was a revelation. I wrote my own first fanfic, which, seriously, is a depressing little fic which should be shown to all beginning writers as an example of how NOT to write POV, how dangerous homophones are, and how not to punctuate quotes, but there you go. I wrote it. It's out there. It was my first.

And then I moved on to M7, which is a whole 'nother story. (And, of course, I've had plenty of other crushes since Face, including from shows *older* than the A-Team I caught in reruns, but he really was the first).

Why do I bring this up? Well, partly because I wondered who all your first TV crushes are (and I mean *the* first). But also because of this:

(FROM VARIETY) – Twentieth Century Fox's John Singleton-directed A-Team movie is set for release on June 12, 2009. Casting has not yet been announced. The movie will be based on the 1980s TV show starring Mr. T and George Peppard as members of a team of former special forces soldiers, set up for a crime they didn't commit, who lend a hand to innocent people in need. The script is being written by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (Wanted, 3:10 to Yuma).

And I'm totally at a loss of what to think about this. It's not the first time the notion been floated--maybe about the third or fourth time I've seen the idea in the press--but this one feels...well, it has a *release date*. That's kinda impressive. And scary. But, here's the thing--why is it scary? I mean, am I really that silly?

Apparently, yes.

I loved the remake of 3:10 to Yuma, and if they go that dark with the A-Team, I wouldn't mind, because the action was superb in that movie (plus, come on, Bale and Crowe are gorgeous), and that was ALWAYS my favorite part of the show. But...what it they pull a Charlie's Angels? Or a Starsky & Hutch? Not that I didn't like those as well, but...

It makes me worried and excited at the same time. I mean, I really only have four shows that I know so well, I could quote almost every line: SGA, M7, A-Team and Monty Python. I love all four dearly, to the point when I almost feel invested in them somehow, and would hate to see them "messed" with. Which seems so, so silly. At the same time, the idea of something *new* is so exciting! Truth is, I feel quite ridiculous caring this much, and yet I do. What is up with that? I think I need someone to explain it to me. LOL!

So thoughts? Ruminations? Admonishments? Outright mockery?

Meme: Five Questions

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:58:48 GMT

Stolen from

leesa_perrie. Doing this from work to take a break from the slings and arrows and all that.

1. What do you see when you are looking out of the window closest to you?
Trees. Hills covered in trees. More trees. Oh. And a hawk. (I work in Central Mass, it's all trees here and hawks and falcons and little birds which attack said falcons to keep them from their nests). In the distance, I can see the gray ribbon that is Route 495 spotted with tiny glittering headlights.

2. Who was the last person coming into your room?
My secretary, wondering if my pain-filled groan from something I received over email was a call for help.

3. What is the most predominant colour around you?
Gunmetal gray and Tapioca. Yes, my office is that ugly.

4. What is right behind you?
Desk piled high with papers, plans, engineering specs and, behind that, windows (out of which I can see said trees), and on the floor is box of diet coke cans (necessary, life giving sustenance!)

5. What is on today's calendar sheet?
Heh. It's in Tipper code. On the list is: Moss-Env., S-145, TelCo, Brockton, BF-PJ, and Salem. Oh, and in big red letters: "Geoff's Birthday! Call your brother, you idiot! NB: 4 hour time diff. only." Whee! It's all joy.

Oh, and, maybe I'll steal a meme from friendshipper too. You have anything else you want to ask me, I'll answer it. Unless it's a little too personal and I don't want to. <bg>

Oh, and one more meme, for fun. Five non-life sustaining material items I can't live without:

1. Diet Coke. So, so, so sad. I'm going to die of aspartame poisoning, I just know it.
2. My computer and the internet. Or, really, any computer and the intternet. It's just more convenient if it's mine.
3. My awesome fabulous bestest shower head with the many spray options and detachable from the wall ability so you can drum the heavy spray into sore shoulders.
4. My car. I suppose I could say, any car, but, no, I think I need my car. I'm ridiculously attached to it. To the point that, if I got a new one, anything but another VW would probably make me twitch and flail in a truly pathetic manner.
5. My space heater (that sits near me when I'm on the computer). Mine broke this winter, and I barely survived the week it took me to get to Home Depot for a new one. My hands felt like icicles! For the record, this could be a real fireplace (if I had one), since that's what I grew up with. My whole family sat around the wood stove in our house like it was our family shrine. Will say this--it engendered a very close family.

M7 Fic -- Story Orphan "Allison"

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:16:38 GMT

I wrote this little snippet about four years ago and, well, as a writing exercise, it sort of stands on its own but was surely intended to be longer--to have a real story attached to it. I don't recall why I might have written it, or what story I was going to write to back it up, but...well, I found it on the ol' puter, so I figured I'd post it. A little bit of old west for you all, my former life. :)
_____________________________________________

Title: Allison
Author: Tipper
Disclaimer: Don't own M7 -- that'd be MGM, Mirisch and Trilogy. They're the creators of the characters used here.

Snippet introduction to what was probably meant to be a longer story. Takes place in town, in the late day...

_____________________________________________

Ezra nearly fell, his right leg buckling under him as he dismounted the lathered and panting nag, a testament to the exhaustion he couldn't hide. His left foot seemed stuck in the stirrup, and he had to use both hands to pull it out. With a mighty tug, he staggered backwards away from the rented mount, trying to keep both feet under him. He didn't succeed.

"I got ya," Nathan said softly, catching his backwards fall. Ezra gave a weak smile as he let Nathan steady him and stand him up straight.

"Mush..,” he paused, wobbling a little before managing to stay upright, “much obliged.” He lowered his head, hiding his face behind a hat rimmed with dust.

"Hard ride?" Vin asked, walking over to where JD was still sitting in his saddle. The kid looked at the tracker blearily, answering with only a nod.

"What happened?" Nathan asked, his dark eyes watching in concern as Ezra finally lifted his head again, the strain of the last three days showing themselves in every crease in the man's face. The healer frowned at that. "And where're Chris n' Buck?"

"We, uh," JD looked over at Ezra, who nodded, content to let the boy tell it. The kid sighed, "We came across an army unit tracking Clay Allison."

"Clay who?" Nathan asked.

"Allison," Vin spat, his tone surprisingly vicious. "Yeah, I heard of him. Just killed three men of the 9th Cavalry."

Nathan hissed, not having known that.

Josiah frowned. "Why?"

Vin shrugged, "Color of their skin? I don't know. They say he's sick in the head, though. Governor put a price on his head."

"He does have quite a reputation," Ezra said softly, looking off down the street, as if distracted by something.

"Okay, so you met up with some blue coats looking for this Allison fella. So what?" Vin asked.

"So," Ezra said, stifling a yawn, "they thought Buck might be him."

"What!" Vin wheeled around and grabbed Ezra's jacket, "They what?"

Ezra growled, quickly shoving Vin off. "If you don't mind," he hissed, brushing the lapels of this jacket down. Huge puffs of dust came off, and Ezra seemed genuinely bemused by the volume of it.

"It was an honest mistake, Vin," JD piped up. "The sketch they were carrying of Mr. Allison's face was similar to Buck's, and they are both tall, dark haired and have blue eyes."

Ezra added, "Obviously, we pointed out their error, and they moved on." He shrugged, then, much to his embarrassment, he yawned openly and felt his legs buckle a little. Nathan grabbed his elbow and held him up, this time not letting go. Ezra pretended not to notice, and also didn't pull away--he was on his last legs.

Vin stared at him a moment longer, letting the knowledge sink in, then backed off a little. JD still sat on his own rented horse, obviously still not ready to attempt a dismount. The kid had watched the whole scene almost disinterestedly, blinking very slowly.

"So where are they now?" Josiah asked.

"Chris n' Buck went with them," JD stifled another yawn. "Not sure why."

"Clay Allison's a killer," Vin noted softly. "Probably don't want him coming here."

"That seemed to be the idea, yes," Ezra sighed, leaning a little more on Nathan. "I'm sure they'll be back soon. In the meantime, you may have noticed…."

"Yeah. Where are your horses? Those nags sure aren’t them."

"Three days ride from here," JD whispered, wiping a hand across his eyes.

"Why?"

"Because we had to get back."

"Again," Vin frowned, "Why? You saying you two been riding for three days?"

"Changing mounts, yes," Ezra sighed. "We were being chased for most of that time."

"Chased?" Josiah took Ezra's other arm. "By whom?"

"Bad guys," JD leaned forward more on his saddle, and his eyes closed fully. "They're dead now. Nothin' to worry 'bout," he adding, his words slurring like syrup. Ezra leaned more on Nathan.

Vin turned to Ezra as JD started to snore while still in the saddle, and focused hard on the glazed green eyes blinking owlishly at him. "What is he talking about?"

"We, um…" Ezra blinked slowly, then sighed. "Men tried to rob a bank in Harrison. They killed the sheriff and his deputy. JD took offense at that, so we killed the bank robbers. We left Harrison. Family of the men we killed tracked us down. Tried to kill us. We escaped. Ran. They followed. They got caught in a rockfall. We didn't. We're home. I'd like to sleep now."

And with that, whatever rubber band that had been holding Ezra's mind together obviously snapped, his body folding like a puppet. Nathan grabbed him before he hit the ground. Josiah sighed, got between the two men and bent down on one knee to let Nathan drape Ezra over his shoulder. Lifting the smaller man up, Josiah turned to look at JD. The kid was leaning dangerously to the left.

Vin walked to JD's right side, and Nathan to JD's left. The tracker leaned over and pulled JD's right foot out of his stirrup, then gave him a gentle shove into Nathan's arms. The healer shifted, turned the kid and pushed him up on his own shoulder, then smiled over at Vin.

"Guess that means I'll get the horses," Vin sighed. "Get 'em to bed."

_____________________________________________

And that's all I wrote.

FYI -- Clay Allison was a famed gunfighter and notorious murderer. Like many in the west, he was idealized in the dime novels (mainly because he was very, very good looking), but his real life was uglier and, frankly, disturbing. The 9th Cavalry story is true. Of all the famous gunfighters, he truly was one of the worst--and one of the few who wasn't hanged or killed because of it. Go figure.

Anyway, that's not really important to the story, I just used his name for some reason. I even titled it "Allison." It's a little like seeing someone you know, but can't remember their name or where you know them from. I'm pretty sure I was going to trap Chris and Buck in a dangerous situation somehow, but...yeah. No clue.