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All fic is AU. Discuss.

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    All fic is AU. Discuss.

    What's your opinion? Should we write/read fic at all? What about the stuff that veers so much from Canon that it's hardly recognisable as Stargate?

    As a writer, do you feel vindicated when an idea you had (and/or wrote) turns up as a plot (point) in a later series? Or is it annoying?

    And, the big one: why do you write/read fic?
    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

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    #2
    i get a kick out of it when an idea of mine shows up. Like the Imagers from Smoke and Mirrors....i had that idea three years ago or more.

    I consider it a compliment if an idea i have shows up in the show, to me it's a bit of an affirmation that maybe my interpretation of the characters isn't that horribly off from the show.

    as to why i write....well i like sam. i like to explore more than the superficial stuff the show gives us.

    when i first found fic, it annoyed me that there was a distinct lack of sam fic out there, so that's why i started to write
    Where in the World is George Hammond?


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      #3
      Fic is gonna happen regardless of whether or not it "should". I have no problem with the idea of fics- it's a great outlet, it helps you develop your writing skills, gives you some possible insight into characters, etc- but I do feel that some people abuse the privilege. What I find particularly offensive are deathfics. And by "deathfic" I mean a fic written for the express purpose of killing off a character, not as a way of creating drama or a relevant plot point or to explore the surviving characters, but for the sheer spiteful purpose of making a character dead. I think it's sick and not a little disturbing that some people could feel so strongly about a FICTIONAL character that they not only wish him/her to be dead, but will go to great lengths to describe HOW he/she should die.

      Speaking more generally, I don't read a lot of fics because first of all, I'm extremely anal about things like grammar. Seeing some of the atrocities performed on the English language (barring folks who have a genuine reason for poor skills) makes me cringe. I also can't stand to see characters acting in ways I consider to be "out of character". I want my fics to be as true to canon as possible.

      If any of MY ideas ever showed up on the show, I think I'd be deeply disturbed. But once the shock (and paranoia) wore off, I'd be kinda pleased. I'd see it as my idea being "good enough" for the show rather than, "Hey! Those @$#% ripped me off!" Not that I'd actually think of it as MY idea. Nifty coincidence, maybe, and fun to think of it as "mine", but in reality I know that coincidences of that nature happen all the time. *shrug* That's Hollywood for ya. hehe.

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        #4
        they're very much nifty coincidences. I wrote a fic in a zine that bears a bit of a resemblance to Death Knell (just in a basic similar plot way) but i know full well there's no way in hades anyone from the show even saw it. Just a case of GMTA.

        with people using the imagers to immitate other folks, well that's a gimme idea, you can't create a device like those and never have them used again unless you go out of your way to destroy them. It's like sarc's showing up in fic, the show placed these devices in the universe, it's not a huge leap to think that anyone will never use them again.
        Where in the World is George Hammond?


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          #5
          Originally posted by Skydiver
          Just a case of GMTA.
          OT: What does GMTA mean?

          In the sense that fic is by definition not cannon, then yes all fic is AU. Should people read/ write it? Reading it doesn't hurt anyone, and at worst is a waste of time. Writing it also seems mostly harmless (with the exception of hate-fic: sad, and real-people-fic: downright creepy) and could help folks improve their writing or get the feedback they need to show their work to a wider audience.

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            #6
            Originally posted by xathras
            OT: What does GMTA mean?.
            Great Minds Think Alike.

            I've written a couple of very fluffy fics involving real people, but it was strictly for parodying purposes and had them acting wildly out of character. I'll admit, though, most real people fics are best left alone (or even unwritten) and one or two of mine probably kinda pushed the limits. *shrug*

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              #7
              I have to admit though, Shadow - your fics are always a fun read!
              Nola
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                #8
                Originally posted by Nolamom
                I have to admit though, Shadow - your fics are always a fun read!
                Only if you're a sick, demented little freak like me.

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                  #9
                  real person fic is spooky...so is bashing death fic.

                  closest i've ever come and ever will come to real person fic is the wormhole extreme fic where sg-1 goes to wormcon and meets the actors...and some real fans show up in the fic.

                  but all of these fans sent me thier anecdotes and gave permission to have cameos, that was part of what made it fun
                  Where in the World is George Hammond?


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                    #10
                    most fan fic are created to be add-ons to the show and thus stay as canon as possible. it helps create the feeling that the fic is a part of the stargate universe as the readers know it. the reason i like writers like Badgergater is because her stories are believable. the essense of the characters are captured, what we read in the fiction is almost like what we'd see in the show.

                    there are fics out there where characters are obscenely out of character...like extreme jack and sam jealousy where jack goes and gets drunk everytime he sees sam with another guy. the ones where sam weeps uncontrolably *sp* at the sight of jack with another women and then must resign immediately. and in jack/sam or janet/dan or any other ship fic for that matter...the type of thigns the "lovers" say...some of the ship fic that i've read are just major cliches from plot to lines...things that the characters would never say in any situation. there are the ones where the entire sgc is trying to pair up sam and jack. or the ones where daniel is the source of every bad thing that happens to the team. it's just not believable...

                    was i way of with this answer? >.< sorry >.<
                    My flickr photography.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by angsty_otaku
                      most fan fic are created to be add-ons to the show and thus stay as canon as possible.
                      They may stay as canon as possible, but they still haven't actually happened on the show so it can't be canon, itself. It's still AU.

                      Originally posted by angsty_otaku
                      was i way of with this answer?
                      Not at all. That's one of the reasons I avoid shippy fic like the plague. I'm not a shippy person anyway, but the atrocities performed on characterization by a majority of shipfic just boggles my mind. Some of them are as bad as deathfics- speaking strictly in terms of the gaps in logic, the mental contortions and the flat-out contrivedness of it all which get used in order for the characters to do what the writers want them to do.

                      And no, I'm not saying ALL shipfic is bad. I know there are some excellent authors out there. But there is a LOT of shipfic and not all authors are... careful about keeping the characters relatively in canon. Although if you really want to get technical, the problem isn't related strictly to shipfic. There's a lot of genfic out there that exhibits the same problem.

                      Originally posted by angsty_otaku
                      or the ones where daniel is the source of every bad thing that happens to the team.
                      Been reading some of my fics? Nah, hopefully I'm not that bad, unless I'm parodying situations.

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                        #12
                        Yeah. I wouldn't say that you MUST read fic though. Saying that, I avoid all titled AU's and crossovers unless the author has a very strong line of arguement and reasoning throughout the story.
                        I don't really see the point of AU's, becaue the writer can get away with anything and can reason it on the fact that's it written in an Alternative Universe.
                        Writing true to the storyline and characterisation of Stargate takes more skill and discipline.

                        Seeing as I am in the process of writing my first fic, I don't have alot of my ideas come up in Stargate. I imagine I would be annoyed if they took my original idea and then carrying on my storyline into something that I didn't like.

                        I read Fic cos I can and I want to.
                        Honk if you love cheese

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                          #13
                          Fanfic is fun. It's an opportunity to close a scene or fix something that you felt was lacking. I read fic that is canon, and fic that isn't. The only thing that bothers me is when the characters act completely out of character from how you believe the character would act in that situation. (if that makes any sense).

                          I also enjoy AU fic. Even co-wrote one. The fun with AU fic is that you can take the characters out of character because you change the dynamics that make them who they are. For instance the Sam from the AU in POV couldn't imagine joining the AF, while our Sam couldn't imagine not joining. What made the difference? What was the defining moment that made the paths separate? These same "what if" questions make for numerous scenarios in AU fic and can be quite fun to play with.
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                            #14
                            I enjoyed reading this thread from way back in 2004.
                            Calculus and Alcohol don't mix. Never drink and derive.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by mathpiglet View Post
                              I enjoyed reading this thread from way back in 2004.
                              Don't you love stuff like that?
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