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icarusAs you all must have heard by now, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gaiaanarchy is posting her last unfinished SGA fics and leaving the fandom. Usually when I read dramatic departures, well, I remember my friend Red who left an old forum of mine. Annually. But Gaia I believe because her motivating forces are pretty strong (a 29,000 word story and only one review? Ouch). And she's also putting her WIPs out on the front lawn as a sort of SGA yard sale -- without the tags that read "50 cents or best offer."
I'm not departing the fandom but I do have a WIP to put out on the front lawn. Or rather, part of a WIP. But it is complete. In a way. At least... you have the ending. It's been in front of you the whole time, like that Easter Egg that's in the most obvious place that no one ever finds.
A year ago I wrote a story called Last Port Of Call. It was only the first part of a (roughly) 24-part long fic. There was a storm of controversy at the time with a lot of interesting feedback that would probably make my year if I were doing a thesis in Psychology and Gender Relations. I had enough material for a guaranteed A, I'm sure of it.
I never told anyone (well, okay, I toldauburnnothenna) but at the same time I posted it (and by same time, I mean the same day), I also posted my story outline for the rest of the story.
Yep. That's right. I gave away the rest of the story. Without telling anyone that's what I did.
You see, when I told people that I knew that they'd like Last Port Of Call as a whole once it was complete -- I really knew. Because the same people who hated the first part loved the story outline. Yes, I do know, because you reviewed it and you told me you loved it. (ETA: It took a tremendous amount of discipline on my part to not point this out to you guys at the time, to put the story first before winning an argument. But I'm writer first and foremost and I'm not going to spoil my own reveal, no matter how tempting.)
The story outline was About 10 Days Before The Wraith Attack.
I even used a little of the same dialogue. I thought for sure that would give it away.
Part of why I posted the outline was that I was afraid the story was so big, and so difficult, that I would never finish it, and I wanted everyone to know the end. At the same time, I didn't admit it because I still wanted to give Last Port Of Call the good ol' college try. After I posted them I thought, "Okay. I'm going to have a little fun with this." I planned to post Last Port Of Call as a WIP and see who figured it out. (There was one person who did just from what I posted, noting with tongue-in-cheek that it was the same premise with even the same dialog. Ding-ding-ding, you win a prize, you smart cookie.)
It was going to be cool because About 10 Days Before The Wraith Attack was John's perspective with 20/20 hindsight, his gloss of events, while Last Port Of Call was the LP of what really happened. Both were going to be written from a very tight John viewpoint. It started to turn into an interesting exploration of memory and how we re-write it in hindsight.
But after the storm, I found that the story had changed in my mind. There was a fierce demand to write Rodney's point of view and I felt a need to defend the story rather than writing it as I intended. I wrote a second chapter... and it came out from Rodney's point of view, which really wasn't the story but rather an answer to the unhappy women who criticized it. It had changed and... wasn't that exploration of memory any more. It shrank and became just what people wanted. It made people happy. Gave those who needed to see Rodney's perspective what they wanted. But I'd lost the structural integrity of the story.
So here you go. Here's the ending of Last Port Of Call.
gaiaanarchy is posting her last unfinished SGA fics and leaving the fandom. Usually when I read dramatic departures, well, I remember my friend Red who left an old forum of mine. Annually. But Gaia I believe because her motivating forces are pretty strong (a 29,000 word story and only one review? Ouch). And she's also putting her WIPs out on the front lawn as a sort of SGA yard sale -- without the tags that read "50 cents or best offer."I'm not departing the fandom but I do have a WIP to put out on the front lawn. Or rather, part of a WIP. But it is complete. In a way. At least... you have the ending. It's been in front of you the whole time, like that Easter Egg that's in the most obvious place that no one ever finds.
A year ago I wrote a story called Last Port Of Call. It was only the first part of a (roughly) 24-part long fic. There was a storm of controversy at the time with a lot of interesting feedback that would probably make my year if I were doing a thesis in Psychology and Gender Relations. I had enough material for a guaranteed A, I'm sure of it.
I never told anyone (well, okay, I told
auburnnothenna) but at the same time I posted it (and by same time, I mean the same day), I also posted my story outline for the rest of the story.Yep. That's right. I gave away the rest of the story. Without telling anyone that's what I did.
You see, when I told people that I knew that they'd like Last Port Of Call as a whole once it was complete -- I really knew. Because the same people who hated the first part loved the story outline. Yes, I do know, because you reviewed it and you told me you loved it. (ETA: It took a tremendous amount of discipline on my part to not point this out to you guys at the time, to put the story first before winning an argument. But I'm writer first and foremost and I'm not going to spoil my own reveal, no matter how tempting.)
The story outline was About 10 Days Before The Wraith Attack.
I even used a little of the same dialogue. I thought for sure that would give it away.
Part of why I posted the outline was that I was afraid the story was so big, and so difficult, that I would never finish it, and I wanted everyone to know the end. At the same time, I didn't admit it because I still wanted to give Last Port Of Call the good ol' college try. After I posted them I thought, "Okay. I'm going to have a little fun with this." I planned to post Last Port Of Call as a WIP and see who figured it out. (There was one person who did just from what I posted, noting with tongue-in-cheek that it was the same premise with even the same dialog. Ding-ding-ding, you win a prize, you smart cookie.)
It was going to be cool because About 10 Days Before The Wraith Attack was John's perspective with 20/20 hindsight, his gloss of events, while Last Port Of Call was the LP of what really happened. Both were going to be written from a very tight John viewpoint. It started to turn into an interesting exploration of memory and how we re-write it in hindsight.
But after the storm, I found that the story had changed in my mind. There was a fierce demand to write Rodney's point of view and I felt a need to defend the story rather than writing it as I intended. I wrote a second chapter... and it came out from Rodney's point of view, which really wasn't the story but rather an answer to the unhappy women who criticized it. It had changed and... wasn't that exploration of memory any more. It shrank and became just what people wanted. It made people happy. Gave those who needed to see Rodney's perspective what they wanted. But I'd lost the structural integrity of the story.
So here you go. Here's the ending of Last Port Of Call.
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-27 04:38 pm (UTC)If that's why you write, then by all means, one should go.
One should also bear in mind that the not everyone reads at the speed of light and between the sga Big Bang and the daily mcshep, some of us are behind on reading new stories daily.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-27 04:54 pm (UTC)She says that it's a sign. I would take it the same way.
There are other issues as well, ones that I don't share. She doesn't like the overlap between TPTB and fandom. It makes her feel uncomfortable.
I think that she tends to write intense angsty, rich stories, and the SGA fandom isn't very receptive to angst. This year it's especially true I'm finding.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-27 07:48 pm (UTC)I've been in one fandom or another since 1973. Do you know what a LOC is? They were few and far between and precious when and if they arrived.
I've also experienced more than one author threatening to "take their ball and leave" because they felt entitled to more than they were receiving. I'm not saying that that's what Gaia's doing, I can only say what behaviour I've observed in the past.
I realize that in this day and age one expects immediate feedback to anything put up in the hopes of entertaining others. And if she's not been getting the comments she feels she deserves over the past year then by all means, do whatever you feel is necessary to maintain sanity.
I can only speak for myself but I've read through her story summaries and can honestly say that only one appeals to me. There is so much to read on the net and it comes faster than ever. You can be the best writer out there and if your summary makes me say, "Huh. Don't care." Reading it, when there is so much out there that does call to me, isn't going to happen.
I feel I should say that any vehemence you may be reading into this stems more from my fence issues right now than anything else.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-27 05:24 pm (UTC)So it isn't just that the McShep Match and the SGA Big Bang is taking center stage. This, for her, has been going on for the better part of a year.
Where there's no interest it's natural for people to move on. Yes, yes, we're all supposed to be writing in our garrets for the love of writing -- but I'm willing to bet that's not why anyone posts. ;)