DPP - Roundup and a final question ...

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

First of all, I want to say a huge THANK YOU all of you who participated in this week's DPP posts. You can't see me, but I'm giving you all a slow clap. And if you missed any of this week's posts, here's a recap:

On Valentine's Day, we discussed great pilot kisses. Don't forget to check the comments where there are hothot GIFS and photos.

Then we talked about poetry that reminds us of pilots. If you like poetry at all, there's some gorgeous stuff posted in there!

On the third day of Christmas Pilot!Shipping, we talked about the point of no return, the moment when Kara/Lee was doomed as a 'ship, and whether there was, in fact, any point of no return at all.

Next up was a day of quintessential Pilots scenes along with some fan favorites. Again, make sure you look at the comments for prettiful things!

On Friday, I wanted to know whether switching genders would have made a difference to how we viewed this relationship. The result was some very interesting and thoughtful comments which I am still mulling over.

Yesterday, I took a day off... (Sorry, I'm a lazy nugget!) And today I leave you with a slightly different question. A few friends and I were discussing the evolution of PIlots!Fic and whether fic written before the end of the show had a more hopeful and optimistic bent which was crushed out of fandom by the ending of the show. For myself (and I may not be the best example due to not being very prolific), I've been writing fic since episode 1.3 or so, and I think I've always been gloomy and depressing and angst-obsessed, long before the finale. (For me, this show was always all about the angst, even though I appreciated the rare moments of levity and laughter!) But I'm curious to hear what you think.

Again, thanks so much to everyone for participating and making my first DPP week so much fun!

Comments

[lyras.livejournal.com]

I came to BSG late, so I guess the fic had already evolved - I'll be really interested to see what everyone else has to say about that!

For me, I am all about the angst generally - it's what draws me to pretty much any pairing. So, yeah, I would probably have been writing angsty stuff regardless of the ending. The ending represents a block, for me, because I wanted to write stories of after the show was finished, and I find it hard to get around that poof.

[nazkey.livejournal.com]

Welcome! Yay! A newbie to our comm!!!! You're gonna love it here. I promise!

[nazkey.livejournal.com]

Hah! I love your question and you know why!

Well, let's see ... I joined the fandom way after the show was over and after I mainlined the whole series in about a week and was desperate for some fic. What I noticed is that fics written before even S3 had a more "hopeful" quality to them in relation to K/L. There were worlds of possibilities. After S3 (especially after EoJ & Maelstorm), the fics took a decidedly darker turn IMO. It wasn't so much about "oh, this COULD happen" as "oh, I WISH this would happen." Most post finale fics are "fixes."

Now since we've had this discussion before, I am NOT saying that any of the fics are bad or lackluster or that there are no hopeful fics post finale. Absolutely not. It's just that their "vibes" and "energy" are different ... well, to me. Beautiful writing is beautiful writing, so my comments are in no way a criticism. It's just a feeling I have.

I'm still woefully behind in reading all the fic that's out there, but I find that I can usually tell when a fic was written simply by its tone. It's not even necessarily author specific, even though some authors clearly write angst more than fluff and vice versa. I don't know, maybe it's just me (and since I started the discussion you reference above, I felt I should comment first)

By the way? YOU ROCKED THE DPP this week bb!!! *slow clap* for you!!!

&hearts

[lyras.livejournal.com]

Cheers! I've been around for a while, but don't have time to comment much. Especially when everyone else provides such full, well-thought-out responses. :)

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Hee! I came to the fandom after the show was long over, so my perspective is all retrospective. But I will say that some of the first, and most indelible, fic I read were "Academy" style stories written by authors like mercurial_wit, stars_like_dust, brynnmck, and daphnaea. Also sangga's beautiful stories, most of which are set in the very early days of season one.

It's interesting to go back to these stories in light of what happened on the show during the years after they were written. At the time of writing their authors mostly conceived of them as fitting within canon, whereas of course "Daybreak" ended the idea that Kara and Lee might have known each other at the Academy, and questioned the "long-standing friendship" vibe that most early writers assumed from the start. I feel like most Academy fics were meant to be bittersweet, but with a hint of hope, as if these missed opportunities and the tragedy of Zak were the beginning of a longer story, a story that would give Kara and Lee a chance to redeem their difficult past and make good on the potential that had been there from the beginning. But knowing how the story ultimately went, these bittersweet stories become tragic in retrospect, because we know that the potential there was never realized.

But other than that, I'd say that people's stories have been as varied as the authors themselves. There have been many joyful, funny, happy ending fics and many angsty, bittersweet, tragic ones. I haven't really noticed a greater preponderance of angst in later versus early stories. I think it really depends on the writer and their proclivities. I suppose the difference is that happy stories tend to get labeled as AUs in some way, because now canon is closed, so to speak.

[anastashial.livejournal.com]

I came in somewhere during the series initial run but honestly can't say when and then backtracked to watch the beginning.

I haven't written fanfiction in a while, although the urge has recently returned. All of mine was written pre-series ending. Most of it is drabble length fluff and revolving around Lee and Kara as a family. Three children, President Lee, and them on a present day Earth are the key features. I've done only one or two attempts at what I describe as soft core porn (frankly I tend to get bored at most of the long descriptions of sex in porn stories and skip over it. There are some exceptions, generally those where the descriptions deal more with the emotions involved and are not overly clinical.) I've also written at least one story involving char death, and one relating to an incident during their training. I did start one story about Lee being tortured by the Cylons that a potential beta reader told me was too intense. I never finished the entire piece. The portion of it after his rescue by Kara and Karl, where he is still extremely frightened, is posted on one of my journals.

One of the reasons for my lack of recent fanfiction efforts has been my involvement in RPGing which started in late 2008. In every case I've played Lee and tended to take him into the game at a point where something particularly negative has happened in his life. Those have included the punches traded with Kara the morning after, his desire to die after his Blackbird ejection, and his walk along the beach witnessing the destruction of the Pythian Earth. This leads me to play his character with a quite lost and pessimist attitude, at least at first. I've been told by some that it's out of character for Lee, but I don't see it that way. I'm also a fan of the ruthlessness he displayed in Black Market and have used that part of his personality for an original character role. Although I do include some of Lee's more positive char traits I like exploring his dark side.

I have had the opportunity to play him against Kara which has been interesting because she's not usually from the same place in the timeline that he is. It's made for some complicated experiences. These not only encompass the "wrong place-wrong time" dynamic they've faced, but also highlight the fundamental differences in the way they deal with life that can make their relationship so difficult.

While I've thought several times about doing a post poof piece I've never really gotten my head around where it would go, and there are already so many good ones out there. I'm think I'm much more likely to do some more of the Lee self reflective moments around canon events then anything else at this point.