Writing SG-1's voices
Mar. 11th, 2009 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aurora_novarumSince I am INSANE and signed up to do the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
tealc_ficathon on top of jacksamfriends and stargate_summer, I started thinking about what/who I write. And it made me think about who I write and when and how for ALL of SG-1 and how I write the characters.
I go in phases in my writing. Sometimes I'm very much Sam focused, other times Teal'c, other times Daniel...it's funny because even if I'm doing character focused fics, I'll tend to always have team moments if nothing else. Or if I'm writing "team" I'll try and give "moments" to each character. It must be the libra in me. Anyway...
Daniel Jackson
Daniel is my absolute favorite character of all the team and will get me to *read* a fic more often than not. But writing him... While I don't shy away from his point of view, I do enjoy writing "about" Daniel more that writing his pov. I started "Just a Scientist" partly because I couldn't bear to "whump" Daniel myself, but wasn't sure I was going to do Bill's POV all the way at first. I then found I liked doing the outsider perspective on him. I find I can relate to Daniel's expressions and movements and other people's observations of his words and actions are easier than writing Daniel's own perspective (because would he really think about how his face and movements are betraying his emotions?) Daniel has...layers to me, and I like keeping that hint of mystery to what he's really thinking. When I write his pov, I have to go through the maelstrom of thoughts and feelings in his head: Daniel thinks emotionally, and he thinks FAST. It's fun to play in his head, but it's exhausting.
Samantha Carter
I'm not sure how well I do Sam's voice, actually. I mean, I try and be true to her, but she intimidates the hell out of me for her techno-know-how since I have no science/engineering knowledge. I have a civilian's perspective of the military. But I do relate to Sam in being a professional in a male dominated arena and social settings. In fact, I find when I do infuse Sam with little personality quirks that are outside canon (not contradictory to, but extemporaneous), she is defaulted with what I like or may do. I hope this isn't just because she's "the girl" on the team. I don't hear Janet or Vala in my head this way. But Sam I feel connected to on a personal level.
Teal'c
Teal'c I stumbled into writing in one of my earliest stories because I saw a scene in Avalon 1, and his expressions just spoke to me as something to explore. And it shocked me how easily I could hear his voice when writing. I don't tend to think too much with Teal'c's tone outside of the plot. It flows naturally to me. Whether I get him right or not, I don't know. He doesn't sound like a Vulcan, or a Klingon. He's got a wicked sense of humor, a literal view of many aspects of the world, both a bone-weary history and an innocence at things. In truth, he should be damn intimidating to write. But I don't find him so. However, it wasn't until Fig's meme about Teal'c being awesome (she uses the term "pwnage"), that I realized I could only list about half my "teal'c related fics" because I focus on his introspection and angst as much as his humor and coolness aspects. So...I may have very warped ideas on Teal'c.
Jack O'Neill
Jack is the hardest character for me to write, and I'm still struggling when I find his voice. Reading a good Jack "voiced" fic is a beautiful gem I'm always greatly impressed with. It's a delicate balance because on the one hand you have a caustic and childlike sense of humor, but on the other there's an intelligent and dark feeling man. On the show, I tend to find there's more going on beneath the surface in any of Jack's expressions, but it's hard for me to pierce the veil to do justice to them. Jack is very calculating, but he's not self-conscious about it, so how he acts and speaks is almost an instinctual thing. Writing in his voice, it's hard to portray that without sounding clunky. His dialogue has to flow more than just checking boxes to "trees" and "oz" jokes, so maybe Jack's lack of self-analysis makes me analyze him MORE. I dunno.
Cameron Mitchell
Cameron isn't too difficult to write. I strangely have a better handle on him than Jack. He's got the wide-eyed optimistic joy and wonder factor--he always tends to see the glass half-full, but yet, he's still aware it's half a glass. He's been through too much in his past for there not to be some edge to him. But unlike Jack or Daniel, or even Teal'c with a mere expression, Cam lays it all out there. He's constantly thinking and speaking on his feet, with an eye for pop-culture trivia I can almost relate to. The trick is relaying the bouncy quality to him shown on screen to a prose concept without making him look silly. Sometimes I wonder if the way I portray the team's teasing of him sounds too harsh, because I'm not sure if the new guy but cared for teammate balance comes off in the story that well (then again, I'm not sure how well the writers portrayed that onscreen either).
Vala Mal Doran
It's no secret that Vala bugged the crap out of me in early Season Nine. When she asked Daniel in "Ties That Bind" "Miss me?" I yelled how he couldn't because she NEVER GOES AWAY! I still think Vala would've been better suited for a Harry-like role in swinging in and out of the SGC with new adventures. It's not that I don't like CB, or hated her per se. But I found she was an over the top character and would've been better in small doses. Why I am going on about this?
Because then I started to write about her in "Many Roads". It's not Vala's pov (heck, it's sort of not Daniel's), but I had to think about what makes her tick, because I won't write characters without being true to who they are, at least as best as I perceive it. And I realized how much depth and layering there was to her character...and how intriguing she was. I sympathized with Bridge's attraction to writing Vala dialogue. It's addictive. She comes up with the witty responses with no moral filter to stop her from saying them. But she has her own code...it's broad and grey and hard to figure out, but it's there. When Vala returned in S10, she had softened, but so had I in my reaction to her.
Jonas Quinn
I've only had Jonas in three of my fics, and one was more as a cameo, but I like him. I'm not sure how three dimensional I portray him. He has the bouncy exuberance of life like Cameron, but it's not filtered by the training and experiences of military people. He's young, he's smart, he's got a photographic memory, and loves food and the weather channel. Everything seems one part puzzle, one part magic to him. He's also a serious people-pleaser. I think after Season Seven, he's become more hardened and less naive, but he shares the idealism. I think I'm still working through my own ideas on Jonas, so I tend to write him clunkily, but there are moments his voice does ring clear.
I thought about naming the authors I think write really good Jack/Daniel/Sam/Teal'c/Cam/Vala/Jonas but I knew I'd invariably leave someone off and what I think is a good Daniel voice is someone else's OOC. Now that I've blathered on, how do others wrestle with their muse/voice in SG fic. How do *you* all see the characters in writing them and how do their voices sound in your heads? Do you find yourself nodding along that those are aspects you focus on in writing the team, or are you going "Aurora is so full of crap, that's not what the heart of X character is at all!" ;-)
tealc_ficathon on top of jacksamfriends and stargate_summer, I started thinking about what/who I write. And it made me think about who I write and when and how for ALL of SG-1 and how I write the characters. I go in phases in my writing. Sometimes I'm very much Sam focused, other times Teal'c, other times Daniel...it's funny because even if I'm doing character focused fics, I'll tend to always have team moments if nothing else. Or if I'm writing "team" I'll try and give "moments" to each character. It must be the libra in me. Anyway...
Daniel Jackson
Daniel is my absolute favorite character of all the team and will get me to *read* a fic more often than not. But writing him... While I don't shy away from his point of view, I do enjoy writing "about" Daniel more that writing his pov. I started "Just a Scientist" partly because I couldn't bear to "whump" Daniel myself, but wasn't sure I was going to do Bill's POV all the way at first. I then found I liked doing the outsider perspective on him. I find I can relate to Daniel's expressions and movements and other people's observations of his words and actions are easier than writing Daniel's own perspective (because would he really think about how his face and movements are betraying his emotions?) Daniel has...layers to me, and I like keeping that hint of mystery to what he's really thinking. When I write his pov, I have to go through the maelstrom of thoughts and feelings in his head: Daniel thinks emotionally, and he thinks FAST. It's fun to play in his head, but it's exhausting.
Samantha Carter
I'm not sure how well I do Sam's voice, actually. I mean, I try and be true to her, but she intimidates the hell out of me for her techno-know-how since I have no science/engineering knowledge. I have a civilian's perspective of the military. But I do relate to Sam in being a professional in a male dominated arena and social settings. In fact, I find when I do infuse Sam with little personality quirks that are outside canon (not contradictory to, but extemporaneous), she is defaulted with what I like or may do. I hope this isn't just because she's "the girl" on the team. I don't hear Janet or Vala in my head this way. But Sam I feel connected to on a personal level.
Teal'c
Teal'c I stumbled into writing in one of my earliest stories because I saw a scene in Avalon 1, and his expressions just spoke to me as something to explore. And it shocked me how easily I could hear his voice when writing. I don't tend to think too much with Teal'c's tone outside of the plot. It flows naturally to me. Whether I get him right or not, I don't know. He doesn't sound like a Vulcan, or a Klingon. He's got a wicked sense of humor, a literal view of many aspects of the world, both a bone-weary history and an innocence at things. In truth, he should be damn intimidating to write. But I don't find him so. However, it wasn't until Fig's meme about Teal'c being awesome (she uses the term "pwnage"), that I realized I could only list about half my "teal'c related fics" because I focus on his introspection and angst as much as his humor and coolness aspects. So...I may have very warped ideas on Teal'c.
Jack O'Neill
Jack is the hardest character for me to write, and I'm still struggling when I find his voice. Reading a good Jack "voiced" fic is a beautiful gem I'm always greatly impressed with. It's a delicate balance because on the one hand you have a caustic and childlike sense of humor, but on the other there's an intelligent and dark feeling man. On the show, I tend to find there's more going on beneath the surface in any of Jack's expressions, but it's hard for me to pierce the veil to do justice to them. Jack is very calculating, but he's not self-conscious about it, so how he acts and speaks is almost an instinctual thing. Writing in his voice, it's hard to portray that without sounding clunky. His dialogue has to flow more than just checking boxes to "trees" and "oz" jokes, so maybe Jack's lack of self-analysis makes me analyze him MORE. I dunno.
Cameron Mitchell
Cameron isn't too difficult to write. I strangely have a better handle on him than Jack. He's got the wide-eyed optimistic joy and wonder factor--he always tends to see the glass half-full, but yet, he's still aware it's half a glass. He's been through too much in his past for there not to be some edge to him. But unlike Jack or Daniel, or even Teal'c with a mere expression, Cam lays it all out there. He's constantly thinking and speaking on his feet, with an eye for pop-culture trivia I can almost relate to. The trick is relaying the bouncy quality to him shown on screen to a prose concept without making him look silly. Sometimes I wonder if the way I portray the team's teasing of him sounds too harsh, because I'm not sure if the new guy but cared for teammate balance comes off in the story that well (then again, I'm not sure how well the writers portrayed that onscreen either).
Vala Mal Doran
It's no secret that Vala bugged the crap out of me in early Season Nine. When she asked Daniel in "Ties That Bind" "Miss me?" I yelled how he couldn't because she NEVER GOES AWAY! I still think Vala would've been better suited for a Harry-like role in swinging in and out of the SGC with new adventures. It's not that I don't like CB, or hated her per se. But I found she was an over the top character and would've been better in small doses. Why I am going on about this?
Because then I started to write about her in "Many Roads". It's not Vala's pov (heck, it's sort of not Daniel's), but I had to think about what makes her tick, because I won't write characters without being true to who they are, at least as best as I perceive it. And I realized how much depth and layering there was to her character...and how intriguing she was. I sympathized with Bridge's attraction to writing Vala dialogue. It's addictive. She comes up with the witty responses with no moral filter to stop her from saying them. But she has her own code...it's broad and grey and hard to figure out, but it's there. When Vala returned in S10, she had softened, but so had I in my reaction to her.
Jonas Quinn
I've only had Jonas in three of my fics, and one was more as a cameo, but I like him. I'm not sure how three dimensional I portray him. He has the bouncy exuberance of life like Cameron, but it's not filtered by the training and experiences of military people. He's young, he's smart, he's got a photographic memory, and loves food and the weather channel. Everything seems one part puzzle, one part magic to him. He's also a serious people-pleaser. I think after Season Seven, he's become more hardened and less naive, but he shares the idealism. I think I'm still working through my own ideas on Jonas, so I tend to write him clunkily, but there are moments his voice does ring clear.
I thought about naming the authors I think write really good Jack/Daniel/Sam/Teal'c/Cam/Vala/Jonas but I knew I'd invariably leave someone off and what I think is a good Daniel voice is someone else's OOC. Now that I've blathered on, how do others wrestle with their muse/voice in SG fic. How do *you* all see the characters in writing them and how do their voices sound in your heads? Do you find yourself nodding along that those are aspects you focus on in writing the team, or are you going "Aurora is so full of crap, that's not what the heart of X character is at all!" ;-)
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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.
Re: Part 2
Date: 2009-03-12 04:43 pm (UTC)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!