When I was saying about Sam being "the girl", I meant that she's a blond chick and I'm a blond chick and thus I could relate to her but hoped I wouldn't self-insert with her. But I tend to view each character individually--I've never thought about it in terms of writing female characters rather than male. But that gets into a whole 'nother kettle of fish regarding mysogyny in fandom.
Thinking more on this, I think that really, my problems with Sam and Janet aren't that they're female, it's that Jack and Daniel's approach to things are more similar to my own. I have an easier time putting myself in their shoes.
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.)
Boy, I was really unclear! I'm still messed up by the time change and very tired... I meant third person objective or omniscient rather than third person limited. But that statement wasn't true anyway, my first story was from Jack's point of view. I would like to write a team story like that, but it would take a lot of work to do so without distancing the reader.
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.
What an interesting point! I'm not sure I do that at all! That's definitely something to think about!
Re: Part 2
Thinking more on this, I think that really, my problems with Sam and Janet aren't that they're female, it's that Jack and Daniel's approach to things are more similar to my own. I have an easier time putting myself in their shoes.
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.)
Boy, I was really unclear! I'm still messed up by the time change and very tired... I meant third person objective or omniscient rather than third person limited. But that statement wasn't true anyway, my first story was from Jack's point of view. I would like to write a team story like that, but it would take a lot of work to do so without distancing the reader.
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.
What an interesting point! I'm not sure I do that at all! That's definitely something to think about!