I'm not a big Vala fan, although I figure I better find a way to write her. I find season 9/10 and movie Daniel very intriguing, and without writing Vala, I'm very limited in terms of time frame.
You may be surprised writing Vala. The trick is writing her and not "your perception of her" (which is true of all the characters actually, I guess I've finally hit the theme of my own meta).
The first three times I tried writing Vala, I got a lot of venting done, but it didn't sound right. But it was cathartic and got me to focus and trigger on what makes her tick for me...the fourth time trying to write the scene, it finally clicked and it's one of the few definitive "ah-ha" times I've had writing a character. But then again, Vala's not everyone's cup of tea.
Characters seem to be about the same for me, whether I'm writing in their point of view of outside it.
The characterization is always the same, but the tenor of the whole fic will change based on who's pov. Sam may sound different to Teal'c's ear than to Jacob's ear, just because of their relationships with each other. The "flawed narrator" is what helps enrich the story. That's the thing I always try and still flail over in writing--keeping the root characterization accurate while playing with it from alternative perceptions.
My instinct is to write entirely from the third person, and that's what I did for my first 3 stories, or so. I stopped doing that when I realized that no one else wrote that way and that it is more challenging in a lot of ways, too.
Do you mean first person? Writing with an "I" narrator? That's a big discussion on its own (someday I want to write a meta on that). A lot of writers (including some of my early ones) start out with first person narration. It can be a good thing, but it can be difficult because you've got an added obligation for the character's voice as "I" rather than the distance of "he/she" to have the tone abolutely perfect or you've lost the reader. Third person limited is often the standard (but by no means the only) pov to play with in fanfic. (Someday I want to write a second person pov fic.)
And I had a though about Daniel. One of the things that makes him difficult is that he changes not only from season to season, but occasionally, episode to episode. It's one of the things I love most about writing hime, but can lead to terrible errors in characterization if you're,say, watching a lot of season three while writing season eight.
Good point. Daniel's characterization is the most noticably changed over the years. It's true of the others too, but you have to watch when/how you're setting the characters as much as who's doing the talking.
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branchandroot
Part 2
Date: 2009-03-12 03:16 pm (UTC)You may be surprised writing Vala. The trick is writing her and not "your perception of her" (which is true of all the characters actually, I guess I've finally hit the theme of my own meta).
The first three times I tried writing Vala, I got a lot of venting done, but it didn't sound right. But it was cathartic and got me to focus and trigger on what makes her tick for me...the fourth time trying to write the scene, it finally clicked and it's one of the few definitive "ah-ha" times I've had writing a character. But then again, Vala's not everyone's cup of tea.
Characters seem to be about the same for me, whether I'm writing in their point of view of outside it.
The characterization is always the same, but the tenor of the whole fic will change based on who's pov. Sam may sound different to Teal'c's ear than to Jacob's ear, just because of their relationships with each other. The "flawed narrator" is what helps enrich the story. That's the thing I always try and still flail over in writing--keeping the root characterization accurate while playing with it from alternative perceptions.
My instinct is to write entirely from the third person, and that's what I did for my first 3 stories, or so. I stopped doing that when I realized that no one else wrote that way and that it is more challenging in a lot of ways, too.
Do you mean first person? Writing with an "I" narrator? That's a big discussion on its own (someday I want to write a meta on that). A lot of writers (including some of my early ones) start out with first person narration. It can be a good thing, but it can be difficult because you've got an added obligation for the character's voice as "I" rather than the distance of "he/she" to have the tone abolutely perfect or you've lost the reader. Third person limited is often the standard (but by no means the only) pov to play with in fanfic. (Someday I want to write a second person pov fic.)
And I had a though about Daniel. One of the things that makes him difficult is that he changes not only from season to season, but occasionally, episode to episode. It's one of the things I love most about writing hime, but can lead to terrible errors in characterization if you're,say, watching a lot of season three while writing season eight.
Good point. Daniel's characterization is the most noticably changed over the years. It's true of the others too, but you have to watch when/how you're setting the characters as much as who's doing the talking.