Housekeeping
Jul. 3rd, 2009 11:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadesfireMy head is still a mess at the moment, so I have vague hopes of actual content somewhere in the not too distant future. In the meantime, I've been doing a little housekeeping.
I was going to say I wrote nothing in June, then I opened a whole bunch of tabs, so apparently I write even when I don't think I'm writing.
Five people who have put Jack Harkness to bed. (674 words)
For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
taffimai in the 'Five Things' meme.
Pilferage, Pirates and Plotting. (570 words)
Written as comment-fic atwith_apostrophe's journal. Set in my SGA Pirate!verse.
Abby/McGee comment fic atmiss_zedem's journal (noticing a pattern yet?). (222 words)
Part of a kissing fest that was quite lovely.
Fifteen Things. Probably the last 3 responses to the 'Five Things' meme.
Five people who entered the Hub before the current Torchwood crew forcaersmane (drabbles, 500 words)
Five Times Sheppard didn't see it coming formiss_zedem (list-form, 214 words, probably my favourite)
Five times DEATH took a holiday foraeron_lanart (274 words, dialogue only)
That's 6 ficlets, just under 2,500 words in total. Not too shabby.
Then, of course, there's my![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
tardis_bigbang entry, which was written over a few months so I'm not sure it counts towards my June total.
Nothing Else But Change
27,000 words, Jack, Gen.
In retrospect, I wonder if the story would have been stronger if there had been more of a sexual element. Jack's reactions to the people he meets are strong, but I do feel I missed one aspect of his personality by not having him meet an old or future flame. With the retrospect of a few weeks, I'm satisfied with what's there, it's just that what's there isn't the whole story. Maybe I'll write a 'director's cut' at some point and restore what I feel is missing.
Ultimately, I think I'm always going to be interested in Jack first and Torchwood/Doctor Who second. While the latter do change him, so much of Jack's character is formed off-screen, in all those years that we don't see, that I find much richer and wider fields to play in when I don't tie him into the series chronology. Don't get me wrong, I've written my share of episode tags, but it's the unseen Jack that really interests me.
I think one of the things I'm most proud of in this story is the last chapter. Most of my stories end on a note of hope. I don't believe that every story does/should have a happy ending, but I also don't like completely depressing people. It's also in human nature to find hope in hopeless situations, so that feels more natural to me anyway. But usually that hope comes from the plot, from a twist or a reveal that leaves the characters with something to cling to. Here, I didn't want to do that. In the world that RTD has created, hope comes from people - there is nothing else. Torchwood sets out its stall in the first episode when Jack asks what was beyond death and the dead man says "nothing". This is the world the characters inhabit, where the only meaning is the one they make for themselves. Whether you agree with it or not, that's a powerful and consistent philosophy, and it's one I try to stay true to in my writing. So here, I wanted the hope to come from Jack alone.
It's not an exaggeration to say that all I needed to know about writing, I learned from Buffy, and there's one scene in particular that has informed almost every 'major' story that I've ever written. I tried to find it for you, because I think it's best to see it. Because YouTube has let me down, I think the transcript says it best (from TWIZ tv.com
The fight has moved out into the atrium. Buffy hits the ground and scrambles back to her feet as Angelus slowly advances. She thrusts, and he parries. She spins around and swings at him, and he blocks her. Her sword bounces off of his and falls with the tip onto the low wall of a planting bed. Angelus stomps on the blade before she can raise it again and knocks it from her grip. He spins around and elbows her in the face, knocking her back into a stone table, which collapses and falls with her.
[...]
Angelus plays with his sword, idly pointing it at Buffy. She looks up at him, frightened.
Angelus: Now that's everything, huh? No weapons... No friends... No hope.
Buffy closes her eyes and steels herself for whatever's coming.
Angelus: Take all that away... and what's left?
He draws the sword back and thrusts it directly at her face. With lightning-fast reflexes she swings up with both arms and catches the blade between the palms of her hands. She opens her eyes and meets his.
Buffy: Me.
Just thinking about this scene gives me shivers, and it's the root of what I'm interested to do to my characters in my writing. When you strip away everything, what's left? Who are they when they don't have any of the things that defined them? There's a similar theme in Babylon 5's 'Comes the Inquisitor' and it remains fascinating to me.
That's why I'm so interested in taking Jack out of the Torchwood environment, in taking things away from him. Who is he when there's no one around?* What does he do when there's no one watching, no one to look up to or to lead? Where does he go, what does it do to him.
I don't think I fully succeeded in answering these questions in 'Nothing Else But Change', and maybe if I had time enough to revise it, I'd get there. This is the Jack I'm interested in. Raw and stripped back, with nothing left but himself. That's when he's most interesting to me.
*Because I'm allergic to serious, I should just add that my favourite quote on this subject comes from Billy Connely: "Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on."
Wow, that went on longer than I meant it to! Thoughts, feedback and concrit is welcomed and encouraged for 'Nothing Else But Change'. I knew what I was going for, but was aware I didn't quite hit it. Anything that will help me get there next time would be much appreciated.
This...isn't really the Housekeeping post I meant it to be, but I got a bit carried away and it's now time for coffee. Maybe now I've got it out of my system I'll be able to post about what I *really* wanted to post about later on.
Hope everyone's having a good day *waves*
I was going to say I wrote nothing in June, then I opened a whole bunch of tabs, so apparently I write even when I don't think I'm writing.
Five people who have put Jack Harkness to bed. (674 words)
For
taffimai in the 'Five Things' meme. Pilferage, Pirates and Plotting. (570 words)
Written as comment-fic at
with_apostrophe's journal. Set in my SGA Pirate!verse.Abby/McGee comment fic at
miss_zedem's journal (noticing a pattern yet?). (222 words)Part of a kissing fest that was quite lovely.
Fifteen Things. Probably the last 3 responses to the 'Five Things' meme.
Five people who entered the Hub before the current Torchwood crew for
caersmane (drabbles, 500 words)Five Times Sheppard didn't see it coming for
miss_zedem (list-form, 214 words, probably my favourite)Five times DEATH took a holiday for
aeron_lanart (274 words, dialogue only)That's 6 ficlets, just under 2,500 words in total. Not too shabby.
Then, of course, there's my
tardis_bigbang entry, which was written over a few months so I'm not sure it counts towards my June total.Nothing Else But Change
27,000 words, Jack, Gen.
In retrospect, I wonder if the story would have been stronger if there had been more of a sexual element. Jack's reactions to the people he meets are strong, but I do feel I missed one aspect of his personality by not having him meet an old or future flame. With the retrospect of a few weeks, I'm satisfied with what's there, it's just that what's there isn't the whole story. Maybe I'll write a 'director's cut' at some point and restore what I feel is missing.
Ultimately, I think I'm always going to be interested in Jack first and Torchwood/Doctor Who second. While the latter do change him, so much of Jack's character is formed off-screen, in all those years that we don't see, that I find much richer and wider fields to play in when I don't tie him into the series chronology. Don't get me wrong, I've written my share of episode tags, but it's the unseen Jack that really interests me.
I think one of the things I'm most proud of in this story is the last chapter. Most of my stories end on a note of hope. I don't believe that every story does/should have a happy ending, but I also don't like completely depressing people. It's also in human nature to find hope in hopeless situations, so that feels more natural to me anyway. But usually that hope comes from the plot, from a twist or a reveal that leaves the characters with something to cling to. Here, I didn't want to do that. In the world that RTD has created, hope comes from people - there is nothing else. Torchwood sets out its stall in the first episode when Jack asks what was beyond death and the dead man says "nothing". This is the world the characters inhabit, where the only meaning is the one they make for themselves. Whether you agree with it or not, that's a powerful and consistent philosophy, and it's one I try to stay true to in my writing. So here, I wanted the hope to come from Jack alone.
It's not an exaggeration to say that all I needed to know about writing, I learned from Buffy, and there's one scene in particular that has informed almost every 'major' story that I've ever written. I tried to find it for you, because I think it's best to see it. Because YouTube has let me down, I think the transcript says it best (from TWIZ tv.com
The fight has moved out into the atrium. Buffy hits the ground and scrambles back to her feet as Angelus slowly advances. She thrusts, and he parries. She spins around and swings at him, and he blocks her. Her sword bounces off of his and falls with the tip onto the low wall of a planting bed. Angelus stomps on the blade before she can raise it again and knocks it from her grip. He spins around and elbows her in the face, knocking her back into a stone table, which collapses and falls with her.
[...]
Angelus plays with his sword, idly pointing it at Buffy. She looks up at him, frightened.
Angelus: Now that's everything, huh? No weapons... No friends... No hope.
Buffy closes her eyes and steels herself for whatever's coming.
Angelus: Take all that away... and what's left?
He draws the sword back and thrusts it directly at her face. With lightning-fast reflexes she swings up with both arms and catches the blade between the palms of her hands. She opens her eyes and meets his.
Buffy: Me.
Just thinking about this scene gives me shivers, and it's the root of what I'm interested to do to my characters in my writing. When you strip away everything, what's left? Who are they when they don't have any of the things that defined them? There's a similar theme in Babylon 5's 'Comes the Inquisitor' and it remains fascinating to me.
That's why I'm so interested in taking Jack out of the Torchwood environment, in taking things away from him. Who is he when there's no one around?* What does he do when there's no one watching, no one to look up to or to lead? Where does he go, what does it do to him.
I don't think I fully succeeded in answering these questions in 'Nothing Else But Change', and maybe if I had time enough to revise it, I'd get there. This is the Jack I'm interested in. Raw and stripped back, with nothing left but himself. That's when he's most interesting to me.
*Because I'm allergic to serious, I should just add that my favourite quote on this subject comes from Billy Connely: "Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on."
Wow, that went on longer than I meant it to! Thoughts, feedback and concrit is welcomed and encouraged for 'Nothing Else But Change'. I knew what I was going for, but was aware I didn't quite hit it. Anything that will help me get there next time would be much appreciated.
This...isn't really the Housekeeping post I meant it to be, but I got a bit carried away and it's now time for coffee. Maybe now I've got it out of my system I'll be able to post about what I *really* wanted to post about later on.
Hope everyone's having a good day *waves*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-03 02:41 pm (UTC)As for the something missing, I have to admit that I thought maybe part of Charlie's problem was that he had a bit of a thing for Jack and wasn't sure what to do with it. Though it would be nice if he did meet with one of his exes, preferably male, (but then I like my slash *grins*) maybe in the 60s.
I think it definitely counts to the list of what you've written in June. I really enjoyed it and recced it to a friend to read as well.
Nate
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-03 02:53 pm (UTC)Heh, yeah, maybe that was what was missing, and Charlie's was definitely the part I was least satisfied with. There was something going on there that I couldn't quite get at, although I didn't think a crush was it. Definitely something to ponder if I do decide to revise it.
Thank you so much for reading and for the detailed feedback - it really, really helps for going on to the next story :)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-03 05:45 pm (UTC)I guess the good thing about the Charlie situation is it left it open to interpretation; I saw it as a possible crush but someone else could see it as something else entirely. Which can actually be fun even though I kept waiting for some kind of reveal. And I thought it was cute (not sure that's the word I'm looking for but it fits best) the way he told Jack about having another him in the freezer lol. He was a sweetie I thought, and just the sort that would have intrigued Jack what with the taboo nature of the time (both with race and gender).
Pacing is something I always worry about myself. I think you did a good job with it; you didn't drag it out too long and didn't rush it. It felt natural in its progression.
I look forward to the next story :D
Nate