Writing SG-1's voices

[aurora_novarum]

Since I am INSANE and signed up to do the 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!" ;-)

Comments

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Hm, interesting stuff here!

(And for the record, I do prefer "Teal'c is awesome" to "Teal'c pwns the universe," but it just seems to work out that way in the comments, heh.)

I'm with you on Daniel! Love him to pieces, love to write his POV, and still find it a challenge. ::squishes Daniel::

Sam - I don't know. I guess I've avoided writing from her POV when there's "real" science going on, and the only time I, er, pretended to be writing in her language, I shamelessly swiped stuff from research online and kept it as vague as possible. :) OTOH, when I'm writing about other aspects of Sam, she flows quite well. Or maybe I just think she does.

Teal'c - oh, yes, word with Teal'c. He should be impossible and somehow he flows. I haven't yet managed to write real introspection with him, though. That may be why a certain ficlet-by-request is taking so long. ;)

And again, word with Jack, who I want to get right and am reluctant to imagine that I can. I've written very little outside fluffy pieces from his POV, although my Alphabet Soup for him was good. I think. And it was anything but fluffy.

Can't write Mitchell. Can't write Vala. Haven't tried Jonas. Have I mentioned how much I love your ability to spread your squee with such inclusiveness to such a fantastic degree?

One other thing you're very good at, Aurora, is writing original characters and their perceptions of the team. You get that distant voice right.

I agree that it's not wise to try and create a "complete" list of authors with good character voices, but I can't help but say that Tallulah Rasa and Random get both Daniel and Jack's voices so perfect that I am always in awe. So goooooood. :)

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Much to my surprise, my JackSam fic is shaping up to be from Sam's POV. I love her to bits but I find her very difficult to write--for similar reasons to the ones you have. The science angle is not even close to my bag so I have a lot of difficulty knowing what to do with her.

Daniel is little difficult for me to write for different reasons. From a perspective of temperament and general philosophies, I feel like I understand and identify with him. What often gives me trouble is that I think that I regard him with a little more skepticism than some fans do, so I tend to second guess a lot and feel a lot more tentative about what I do with him. (I have a sneaking unease that my FIAD wip is turning out to be a mess. There may be begging for help sometime this year.)

Teal'c, to my surprise, has turned out to be a lot of fun for me to write. He intimidated me a lot at first because I didn't really know what to do with him. Once I started trying, I found that there's a lot to dig into and have fun with. Still waters run deep, as they say, and that's a lot of fun to play with.

Jack remains my favorite to write. I think I dance on the line--and probably over the line--of Mary Sueing him sometimes, but I really love the character and his many facets. He's deceptive, because he presents himself as simple and uncomplicated, but the more you dig, the more there that's, well, there.

As I've been writing this out, I think I've figured out part of the reason why I think Teal'c and Jack are easier (or at least easier for me) to write than Sam or Daniel. I think Sam and Daniel are a little more what you see is what you get. The person that presents on the surface is pretty much the person that's there when you get to know them better. I'm not saying that they're simple or uncomplicated--I think there's plenty of depth to both of them. And I think they're very interesting. But I do think that their general outlines are pretty clear. Jack and Teal'c both present as straightforward, sort of meat and potatoes kind of guys. On one level they are. But there's a lot beneath the surface of both of them. Some things that we know. Some things are hinted at and explored in cannon. But I think their general outlines aren't necessarily so clearly and sharply defined as the others. I think there's enough mystery that remains about them as individuals that allows for a bit more interpretive freedom with them.

I'm not sure how much sense the above paragraph makes. And someone else can likely look at the same four characters and have a perspective that's completely flipped from mine. But that's how they present to me.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

At the risk of sounding like someone who should spend quality time in a padded room, I tend to start with dialogue when I write. Which means I'm listening to the characters have a conversation and then figuring out what the story is around the conversation.

My Teal'c's all right. I'm very weak on Sam and Janet. Never written Jonas, but don't hate him.

Would it be rude to ask your opinion on whether I do well with Jack? Because I think I use his POV more often than anyone else.

[nandamai]

I am a very aural person. My head is a noisy place. I re-hear conversations I've had in real life, and I hear the voices of three-quarters of the original SG1 very clearly when I'm writing. I feel like I have them down pretty well, though I've definitely made mistakes. (I don't hear all the characters I write in fanfic. The Matrix, for example; I never got Neo's voice right and I was miles from the ballpark with Trinity's.) When I'm stuck on a plot point in a story, I will sit down and just write stream of concsiousness in 1st person from one of the characters, and 90% of the time it gets me out of the jam.

I think Teal'c's voice is kind of a trick question. I hear him, and I know what he's going to say most of the time. But I think that's partially due to his having a very small vocabulary on the show. He says things over and over, so his intonation (like his eybrows) is drilled into our brains. Actually getting Teal'c is harder than getting his voice, much more so than with the others. I tried to write a fic from Teal'c's POV once and it wasn't even like pulling teeth, it was like a black hole. Nothing. And it was for a ficathon, so I never got a chance to go back and do it right.

Daniel is the one out of the four who gives me fits. I don't hear him most of the time. I have to put a lot of effort into writing dialogue for him, and dialogue is usually easiest for me. It's odd, because I share most of his interests and some of his education, and my personality is closer to his than to any of the others. I think perhaps our worldviews are very different.

I have no clue with Cam and Vala.

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 think, not that I'm trying to get all Obi-Wan on you, I think this is one of the easiest things to do as a writer, and something we have to work against. I once had teenage Sam thinking that her favorite TV shows were Nova and Magnum, P.I., and Magnum was entirely me, not Sam. No doubt there are many other examples in my stories.

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

I pretty much never go anywhere that could be construed as head-shrinky and thoughtful with my fics, so the ability to write a character's dialog is a lot more useful to me than actually understanding why they are the way they are. I know a lot of fans spend a long time analysing everything characters say and do in order to have the most accurate picture possible of what's really going on in the characters' heads...and I find posts about this kind of thing fascinating because it never occurs to me to even wonder about most of the stuff people bring up. I'm usually too busy going "Ha, that last line was really funny! I like it when Daniel makes a face! Hee!" *fails at being serious fangirl*

But as far as how I go about writing different characters: the more a character dialog style and personality resembles mine, the easier time I have writing them, unsurprisingly. Jack is a wise-ass who compartmentalizes liek whoa, and I am a wise-ass who compartmentalizes liek whoa, so writing him is usually a cinch for me.

For the same reason, I have a REALLY HARD time writing Daniel sometimes because he's so much more emotional and idealistic and concerned than I am. I understand where he's coming from on an academic level most of the time but I usually don't get why he chooses to communicate and react the way he does, which makes him fun to watch but hard to write when he's doing his Impassioned Anthropologist thing. I can't write serious!Daniel, only sarcastic!Daniel. Sarcasm I understand. Seriousness is puzzling to me.

I had a hard time with Sam at first, but now she seems to be my favorite POV to write, for some reason. Not really because I understand her any better than anyone else, though, because I don't. I think she's awesome but honestly I think I like writing for her POV because doing so requires the smallest number of filters between what's happening and how she perceives and portrays what's happening. Jack can't just tell you what's happening, he has to add snark, which is fun but also work. Daniel is the same only substitute "commentary and inscrutible Daniel-type brainings" for "snark." Teal'c is good at just giving you the facts, ma'am, but he gives them to you in elaborate syntax and with lots of big words and no contractions. Sam seems like she pretty much knows what's going on and doesn't really need to add anything. So writing Sam POV is Marie going "I'm too lazy to work really hard on this."

Teal'c dialog was always easy for me, but writing from his POV scared me silly. Once I did it in "Sufficient Illumination," though, I was all "This is so much fun! Ha ha! I get to use enormous words in narration! Go me!!" It's fun to see things through him.

I'm trying to think what I do when I'm having trouble "hearing" a character's voice. Honestly, it boils down to the mental equivalent of straining to hear something just out of earshot. That and writing my Arguments With Fictional Characters. Those help a lot more than they should, sometimes. So yeah, I try to eavesdrop on them and yell at them and then they talk to me. I may have the most dysfunctional muse/author relationship ever.

Wow. My thoughts on yaoi writing SG-1, let me show you them. Apparently I only have opinions about the classic team, though I've written Cam, Vala, and Jonas at least once each. *shrug*

[beanpot.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...

I find Teal'c the easiest to write. He just flows and I don't have to wrestle with him and sometimes I feel like I "get" him more than others.

Sam is also easy to write. If I need science stuff, I go to my science back up team.

Jack I can take or leave in that sometimes he is okay, and other times, not so much.

Cam...sometimes I feel like I can write him and other times I have to do some serious edit to prevent him from sounding like a stereotypical redneck.

Vala...I don't know if I've written her enough to go there. Same as Jonas. Oddly enough, the only time I've really written them is in the same fic.

Daniel. I can't write Daniel. I don't even know how to start writing Daniel - he baffles me. Plus people are so *ardent* about him, I am terrified of getting him wrong.

I also like to explore the "others" - Hammond especially. Finally, Granma Mitchell. She rocks my characterization world.

[sg-wonderland.livejournal.com]

It should be apparent to anyone who has read my fics that Daniel is the man! At least for me. I remarked to starting-gate the other day, that I tend to think of Daniel's mind process as not being quite linear. He goes off on tangents, always arrives where he originally intended, and usually far ahead of other folks.

I find Daniel quite easy to write because I 'hear' him so clearly in my mind. I do mostly dialogue because that, frankly, is what I'm best at. I suck at action scenes and background so those are usually pretty bare-bones.

I like to write Jack, too, because he covers so many different ranges of motion and you can always count on him as the character on whom to 'bounce' other people's anger or angst or horror. You just have to be careful not to caricature him; it is dangerously easy to fall into this trap. Don't make him too much of the son-of-a-bitch or dumb-as-a-post. WE know he cares deeply for the people whom he loves and I like to show that part of him.

Sam is the one for whom I simply cannot be satisfied with my writing. I've only done a few and I'm not terribly pleased with any of them. I try not to make her too 'math-y' or 'science-y' but if you don't show enough of her intelligence, then you do a disservice to the awesome genius she truly is.

Teal'c was initially pretty hard, but once I learned his 'cadence' he practically rolls for me. I adore doing Daniel and Teal'c because this is the relationship that initially hooked me on Stargate. I came for RDA and stayed for these two.

I've never tried Jonas and only done limited Cameron. Vala, I've only ever done with Daniel because I just like the fact that she brought Daniel to a different level of emotion.

BTW, I lurve your fics!!

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

Daniel draws me to fic and I usually write about him in some way, but I feel my strongest characters are Jack and Teal'c. There is something about me that the characters I am least like are the ones I tend to write the best. It's like the distance helps give me proper perspective. I hear their voices more clearly.

This is not a hard and fast rule since it doesn't necessarily apply to other fandoms. But I find it's the case for SG-1.

Interesting analysis :)

[nomadicwriter]

I find Jack by far the easiest of SG-1 to write, because he has the most distinctive and idiosyncratic voice. (I think I'm the opposite of many people; I'm very very attuned to the rhythm of people's speech, so the more complicated and quirky a voice, the easier I find it to pick up. It's like it provides me a more detailed 'pattern' to work from, if that makes sense?) Teal'c is possibly my favourite, though, because he has such a powerful voice; very dignified and measured yet also dramatic, so writing in his POV, even if nothing much is going on, is like writing a speech - all maximum impact sentences.

Daniel's voice I find easy enough to capture because of the distinctive babbling delivery, but I don't really like writing from his POV. I think it's because he's not really an observer character - he's a force of personality, in there smashing at other people with his opinion instead of sitting back and listening to them, and that tends to work better narratively when viewed from the outside.

Sam I find is the hardest of the classic team to capture because she doesn't really have any obvious vocal quirks to tap into, so it's characterisation doing all the work. You can ramble about nothing in your Jack voice and still have it sound like him, but Sam voice has to be expressing ideas that are quintessential Sam for it to sound like her and not be too generic. I find it much easier to write Sam in one of her rare cranky moods than just standard Sam behaviour.

[ultranos-fic.livejournal.com]

Despite the fact that most fics I've written are Sam's PoV, she's actually kind of hard for me. But not in the way that's really obvious. See, I hear her too clearly and I'm really comfortable crawling around inside her head. The problem I always run into is to make sure she keeps sounding like Sam and not like me. :) Because it's very, very easy for me to blur the line too much and let her slip into my vocabulary. (In some ways, "Substance" was totally cheating.)

I have no idea if that makes sense.

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh, LJ ate my comment.

Um, but, in summation, yes about the Daniel thinking FAST - that's one of the reasons I find him so very difficult to write. He kills me.

And I find Jack easiest, except his military/command side, which I would love to get better at doing, because I think it's a significant part of him.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I agree with you about writing from Daniel's point of view: there's so much going on in his head it can be hard to pack it in.

When I get a story idea, for whatever reason, it usually comes complete with the point of view. Sometimes it's obvious: "Better Than Revenge" is Teal'c's take on the events of "Shades of Grey," so it has to be Teal'c. Sometimes, though, it's not, and I don't have a story until I have the point of view. I played around with some of the scenes in "Charades" for months in my head, but it wasn't a story until suddenly I knew it was all from Sam's point of view, and then the rest of the plot just started to fit into place.

What's really hard is that occasionally I realize I need a different point of view: either I've got more than one point of view in a story and I have to rewrite a scene from a different point of view, or I have to introduce a new point of view. I usually end up wondering if those worked at all--I've had betas (mostly my husband) catch moments when I left in a sentence from the original point of view! Augh! (I had written a good chunk of "The Unrelenting Past" when I realized it needed to be partly about John Sheppard, and therefore partly from his point of view; I realize I'm digressing, but he was the one I've found hardest to write, harder than any SG-1 characters--perhaps because I feel fairly little for him.) Am I the only one who ever does this?

I haven't written Jonas yet. I like him, but I don't have a story for him. I also haven't done Vala's point of view, for the same reason. I did Cam's a little. Mostly, though, I've written the original four. I don't really have a preference; the story decides for me, somehow.

[http://users.livejournal.com/traycer_/]

Wonderful thoughts on character! And I agree with you on Vala, except that I loved her character from the very beginning. :) I haven't written a fic with her in it, mainly because I don't know her that well, but I think I will at least give it a try one of these days. She is such a great character!

You know, the first fic where I switched POVs so that everyone could have a chance, I was so sure Teal'c would be the hardest to write. But he was actually one of the easiest, next to Jack of course. :) I just took in his mannersims and his thought process, mixed them together and it worked out just fine.

It turned out that Daniel was my problem child in that story. I had a very hard time finding his voice. He has since become an easier POV to write, but for awhile there, I was all for giving up on him. *g*

As for Jack, Colonel Jack is the easiest for me to write. I don't claim to always have his character down pat, but he is definitely easier. Probably for all the reasons you listed in your post. He has a warrior mentality, like Teal'c, yet is vulnerable and has his own set of insecurities that I just love to explore. As for General Jack, I have a tendency to pretend he hadn't changed, and write him in the same way as Colonel Jack. I've turned a blind eye, so to speak. :D

And Sam. Do you know that I see Sam as a strong character with a feminine side, yet extremely unsure of her self in her personal life? She is in her element while she is working or doing the things she loves, but I don't know. She just seems to push people away. *shrugs* I don't know, sometimes I think I portray her wrong anyway.

I figured that Sam, Jack and Teal'c were easier to write because they were all warriors, and somehow I could relate to that. Nowadays, I know better. I write their characters based on their traits and backgrounds. I become the character that I write, and let the muse free.

How do *you* all see the characters in writing them and how do their voices sound in your heads?

This is a very interesting question. Everyone sees something different in the characters, and because of their preconceived notions, they tend to think that someone else's characterization can't be right. Take my Hammond story, for example. Someone wrote a comment saying that Hammond would never have participated in a massacre in Vietnam, even if ordered to, while I am of the opinion that we all make mistakes, and Hammond has said himself that he always "follows his orders". Her Hammond was born a saint, while my Hammond did some pretty horrible things in his lifetime, but learned from each and everything he did.

The same thing goes with a few writers who have Sam wringing her hands and going weak at the knees when Jack is badly hurt. Sam Carter?? lol Are we watching the same TV show?

But yeah. You pretty much have everything laid out so neatly on these characters. We write what we see, and hope that others read what we see.

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

Well, this is interesting...

My first thought is while I know who I fine the easiest to write, that has little to do with who I might write most sucessfully. ;) Only the reader can tell me that, and it's pretty subjective as characterization takes a lot of twists and turns out there.

I identify most with Daniel, and I find him the easiest to write. I usually have a pretty clear idea of what I think Daniel would think in a given situation. Whether I'm correct about that is something entirely different.

I'm fine with Jack when it's adventure or comedy, but I have a lot more trouble when it's serious. I make him talk to much, or at least I did in a story I'm working on currently. I had to cut out a big chunk of his dialogue and give most of the rest of it to Sam.

Sam. I have a lot of trouble with her. Part of it's the science. Part of it is a serious affinity for sarcasm. Part of it's that I just seem to have trouble writing female characters--beyond weird, I know, what with me being female and all. I have even more trouble writing Janet.

Teal'c is tough, but the rules are pretty clear. My big trouble with him is keeping him involved, especially when there's nothing Goa'uldy going on.

I usually know what to have Cam say, that part's easy, but it can take weeks to get the accent right, especially if the story is from his point of view, like the last one. There just aren't many southerners to observe up here in Canada.

(Note: does anyone know what the cat just walked on that made me not be able to insert text in previously written text without overwriting it? This is a problem!)

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. I'm thinking of going the 'Where's Waldo' route, and having her on a different spurious mission at the beginning of each late season story. ;)

I've got a Jonas story in the works, thanks to a ficathon, and I'm not finding it very easy to keep him from being rather generic. That will have to change, and quickly

Characters seem to be about the same for me, whether I'm writing in their point of view of outside it. 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. I think I'll try another third person story one of these days, though...

Addendum: the test problem went away, must have been post related. 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.

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

I'm like Ultranos - Sam comes WAY EASY but sometimes too easy. I have moments where I'm really scared that I'm writing me more than her and our skillsets science-wise aren't identical, but I *get* her on so many levels. (I find Rodney similarly easy. I've known a heck of a lot of Rodneys)

Vala is hit and miss. I've really only solidly written her PoV once, and after a few minutes it came really easy, but she doesn't really speak to me in terms of writing more.

Teal'c I love and I find it really easy to write him from other PoV's. My Teal'c PoV, though, has often been a struggle.

Daniel is my next easiest after Sam. Though I think I maybe make him too teenage angsty (there is some theory that people don't develop emotionally much beyond whatever big childhood trauma they experience...so maybe that's okay :) )

Jonas - um. The bit I've written him has really made me want to write more.

Cam - is very hit and miss. Sometimes he's been really easy and sometimes he's been really hard.

Jack is my enigma. The Jack PoV fics I've written (actually, very few and far between) have often come easily, so long as they popped into my head but trying to force his PoV is the most painful thing ever.

(come to think of it, I'd venture the vast majority of my fics are either Sam or Daniel PoV. Would be interesting to actually calculate)

[petite-stars.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... very interesting post :)

Sam - I find her the easiest by far to write. Whether its because she's my fav character or because she's female I just don't know. I struggle writing the science but I get into her head easier than anyone else.

Daniel - I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with him (for so many reasons...)... I find him easy to write and capture his voice but I worry that my own personal feelings towards his character come through, so I am so careful when I write him and sometimes I think I simplify his complicated character a bit much.

Teal'c - I just can't get into his head. I've tried, but I know writing him is an area I have to improve on...

Jack - Hmmmm... I find his humour hard to capture. But also, he has a depth to his character that I am probably a little too innocent and (dare I say it) young to really write well. I try! But I prefer to write him from another's observations of his character.

Other characters... Jonas (never tried), Cameron (vaguely interested, but find him too simple/not real) ... Vala (can't STAND her in the show, and have only written her once in fic)

Good topic!!

[a-loquita.livejournal.com]

This is a really really interesting discussion you've got going! Go you! :)

I have to say that in general, it often surprises me which character I tend to gravitate toward writing from their POV. It's not necessarily my favorite character on the show, or the one that is closest to me as a person. And I find that very odd?

Also, I think Cam and Vala are among the easiest to write because there's less we know of them, only having 2 season's worth of material. Thus, there's more creative license for you as a writer to fill in what you like and how you like. With 10+ years of canon for all the others, I certainly find that more daunting. Also, I blame some of the inconsistency in the way the writers on the show wrote for Daniel and especially for Sam, which I think sometimes translates into me having difficulty writing from those two characters pov. Difficult to keep someone in character in a fic, when there are moments in episodes that I feel weren't very in character for that person. Know what I mean?

Anyway... I could babble about this forever so maybe I should cut off here :)

[arafel-sedai.livejournal.com]

My goodness....just reading this post has been intimidating!

I've written a few stories on fanfiction.net and only posted one here... (Most of my little musings have been for Enterprise) So, I doubt I have any right to comment other than the fact that, despite my love/obsession with Stargate, I have a really really hard time writing them at this point.

I can recognize what I like or who I think has tagged the characters; and the really funny thing is I can see one of the characters perfectly in different authors written entirely different ways...but it is still THAT character.

My babble, let me show you it.

[annerbhp.livejournal.com]

Way late to the party, but just had to say this is all very interesting (though now has me second guessing myself. lol) I did the tally and unsurprisingly, I think, Jack is by far the pov I write most, and he's the one I hear most clearly in my head, and he's my favorite character. Rather what I would expect. He's closely followed by Sam, but like many other people have commented before, sometimes I have to sit back with a critical eye and make sure I'm really writing Sam. I'm not convinced I have a handle on her, because she is such an interesting mix of capable and kick ass and analytical, but she's also pretty dented, and emotionally repressed to some extent and can be really, really dumb when it comes to her personal life. And also rather self-conscious to some extent, but only in parts of her life. Daniel came in third in POVs and I like writing him, but again, not sure I nail him. And Teal'c scares me to death. lol

I guess I don't tend to think out my characterizations first, I just write the scenes and dialog (often rather stream of consciousness) and I usually learn how I feel about characters or how I view them when I sit back to revise and find these little kernels hidden in the text, like little prizes at the bottom of the cereal box. Because the harder I try to consciously pin something down, the more illusive it becomes, if that makes sense. It's like one of those water tube things where the harder you try to hold on, the quicker it slips out of your fingers.

Well, there is my babble. Lol. Very interesting topic, Aurora!

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

I haven't got the right 'handle' into SG1 yet... which may explain why the three plotlines swirling maniaclally in my head are all crossovers so that Jim/Ezra/you'really-don't-want-to-know can take major POV stage...

It always comes down to the voice for me, the characters I can get the voice clearest and quirkiest.