Hardest character to write

[Ancient 1]

I'm curious as to if other fanfic writers have the same problem as I.
I find it really hard to write 'Sam' in my stories. I can't get into her head like the other characters. Watching from the show, the impression that I get from her that she's full of contradictions. Her reactions are more inconsistent than the rest. We often don't get to see her thinking for herself as she'll most often obey orders.

Therefore for all the rest of you;

Which for you is the hardest character to write and why?

All that plkus you may have to speak techno-babble. That could prove difficult too.

[Revet]

All that plkus you may have to speak techno-babble. That could prove difficult too.

For me writing Sam has been quite easy, even with techno-babble (which i often pull straight outta my-make upon the spot) But the again in the past i've really focused on the more emotional side.

But the hardest characters for me to write are Teal'c and Jack.
T because its hard to fit him in scenes with a lot of rapid reactions between characters without slowing the pace, and Jack because it can be difficult to come up with some of the great banter he shares with other people talking to him.

[ibwolf]

I've only recently ventured into writing fanfiction. To some degree I was surprised by what characters I found easy to write for and whom I did not.

For Stargate, Jack is by far the easiest to write for (for me that is). His offbeat comments tend to jive well with my own sense of humor and his general character is (at heart) fairly simple. Duty, loyalty and good doze of general all purpose irreverance.

Teal'c (as others have noted) can be difficult to write lines for. To be honest I've allowed him to fade perhaps a bit too much into the background. The truth is I've never been especially fond of the character.

Sam is relatively easy to write for. Technobabble comes easy, but I try and both keep it to a minmum AND have it make some sense (at least internally consistent). To be honest though, I never touch the whole 'soft side' thing that the show has been (trying to) dealing with lately (Pete and all that). My model for Sam is the one who went with Thor to kick some Replicator ass.

Jonas is fun. I tend to abuse the character a bit, he's the new guy after all (my current fic takes place during S6) so he's sometimes not quite 'in' on what's happening. Like Teal'c though, he has a tendancy to fade.

Haven't done much for Daniel....


My favorite character to write for is John Crichton (Farscape). This surprised the hell out of me because I had initially found the prospect a bit intimidating. John tends to get VERY lively dialogue after all. However I found writing for him to be very liberating. With Crichton there is no such thing as over the top. That's just plain fun. And writing scenes between him and Harvey is pure delight.

[aschen]

Maybe you should just save Sam for the science stuff.

[sam_carter_oneill15]

I'm curious as to if other fanfic writers have the same problem as I.
I find it really hard to write 'Sam' in my stories. I can't get into her head like the other characters. Watching from the show, the impression that I get from her that she's full of contradictions. Her reactions are more inconsistent than the rest. We often don't get to see her thinking for herself as she'll most often obey orders.

Therefore for all the rest of you;

Which for you is the hardest character to write and why?

i think the most difficult character for me to write is Teal'c because he is so stoic... jack is the easiest for me cos my humor is exactly the same...sam is fairly easy to write to cos i think deep down she is very falliable and i can see that in her...thats just me anywho
sam

[CKO]

for me i guess it has to be Teal'c... if anything add a few 'Indeed' and an eyebrow raise and sometimes try dialogue (ususally a few lines here and there)

jack by far is the easiest for me to write (cuz im basically just as sarcastic as well), i can write most everyone else semi-good in one way or another.

[Guest]

for me i guess it has to be Teal'c... if anything add a few 'Indeed' and an eyebrow raise and sometimes try dialogue (ususally a few lines here and there)

jack by far is the easiest for me to write (cuz im basically just as sarcastic as well), i can write most everyone else semi-good in one way or another.

Have to agree with you... Teal'c is the hardest for me to write. He is a visual character in the series. His actions are they way he communicates most often. I can picture exactly what I want him to do, but trying to convey that in words is difficult. If he had been given more lines over the years, he might be easier to write. Maybe season eight will make it easier since he seems to have had more line in 10 eps than in the previous seven years!! LOL!

[whisper99]

The hardest character for me to write is Teal'c. Just like everyone says, it's all about the 'indeed' and raised eyebrow. I mean, there's only so many ways you can interject that sort of thing in a story before you just want to write the character out of the scene all together. I think if I wrote a story that focused on him as the main interest, it'd be easier. I may have to try that one of these days.

The easiest for me I think is Jack. The whole irreverence thing isn't always that hard to do. I know some people like that so it's not usually hard.

Sam is ok, but I can't get a grasp on the technobabble. Egads...when I have a scene that something techie needs explaining, I cringe, procrastinate and generally try to think of 100 other ways to get whatever needs saying without her going into full on geek mode.

I find that if I treat Daniel as two separate characters it's easier to write him. I consider the differences in the character due to the pre Ascended and post ascended storylines. I find the pre-ascended Daniel to be more of a bright-eyed bushy tailed type whose personality is not so jaded. The post ascended (some S7 but mostly S8) Daniel almost reminds me of somebody who is just going through the motions cuz he's supposed to. It's like he's got some serious PTS issues to deal with but nothings being done about it. Somebody wrote a fic to explain Daniel's 'twitchiness' and too happy attitude after Janet died which was a good explanation. But my take on it is more like this:

Daniel's characterization reminds me of myself - I once had a job a HATED. I would go to work every day and have to tell myself in the parking lot...ok...If I don't laugh, I'm going to cry. I used to get complements from outside vendors that they never worked with anyone so cheerful and happy with their job, with such a great attitude and sense of humor. LOL! If they only knew So, when I see Daniel now, that's what I think is going on behind those glasses Either way, I find him pretty easy to write, as long as I remember not to write a post-ascended Daniel in a pre S6 fic.


And I'll add these just cuz:

Hammond - It's hard to write him without calling everyone 'Son'.

Fraiser - She's ok except, like Sam, it's hard for me because I actually have to research whatever medical whatsis she's going to fill the team in on.

Harriman - All I ever have him do is open the gate. Boring for him (and me too!)

I haven't written with Bal(sp?) yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I like bad guys...especially bad guys with an agenda. And I think conquest of the known universe counts as a pretty decent agenda.

[Angel of Fire SG1]

I think Sam's the hardest to write

I find Teal'c & Daniel pretty easy....I never really thought about writing them. Jack is sometimes hard sometimes easy, depends on what I'm wanting him to do

He's pretty easy when he's just, being a General or a Colonel...but its when you have to pull off the emotional stuff that he's more difficult!!

Hammond doesnt really do much besides giving orders in my fics

Currently writing one about Walter Harriman hehe....finding that harder than I thought it would be

But its fun trying

[zats]

I've always found Sam the easiest person to write for--I have about forty fics written (but none posted, yet) and I'd bet that about 35 of them are from Sam's POV. Maybe it's because I can identify with her the most--my reactions are inconsistant, depending on if I've had time to mull over something. I'll say something and then contradict it ten minutes later. I'm a brainiac, technobabble is my native tongue. And a lot of the classes I'm in are male-dominated. I just try to imagine what my (or her) first reaction would be, and then her later one. Added to this is the fact that she is a scientist, and has to be able to analyze something based purely upon the data that she's given, moral or personal feelings aside. She can focus, and I can write for that.

A few fics I've read have Sam living her life almost as an actress--portraying what people want to see (mostly the Good Girl) but keeping her feelings hidden. Most of my angst fics come from that direction.

I've always found Teal'c the hardest to write for. He's not my favorite character, is awfully hard to judge, and sometimes I wonder if he knows more than he lets on--if there's something else lurking behind the deadpan "we have a Stargate. We need a DHD persona". He's always seemed more of an enigma than anyone else on the show to me.

Jack's the second easiest to write for. I'm a wise@ss, rather like him, so it's easy to toss the gags in left and right. Daniel's next, but he's a little too openly emotional. Writing for him can sometimes be a bit of an information overload: he notices everything. Sam's a bit more focused, and Jack mostly doesn't care. Teal'c...we're back to the same issue with not being able to gauge just how much he sees.

But that's just me.

[Vicki]

I've found that I've got a better grasp on writing characters once I've met the actor.

Having met Torri at the Stargate Universe con a couple of weeks back, my Elizabeth Weir has actually started speaking to me, and I feel more comfortable writing her now! It was the same with Paul McGillion; I immediately felt as though I had a much better grasp of him.

This may explain why I find Janet one of the easiest for me to write, although I think I've put a lot of myself into her character, which may help. *g* There's also the fact that as she's my favourite character, I've tried to work out her backstory, so I feel as though I know as much about her as I do myself, and because we've not been especially limited by the show, I *can* have her childhood and family as I've envisioned it.

I struggle often with Hammond, which is possibly why I don't tend to use him if I can get away with it.

Teal'c's one of the hardest for me to write regularly, although sometimes I can manage him scarily well.

Jonas I will struggle with as well, which is partly, I think, because we've not had as much screen-time to get to know him as much as the others.