DPP: Recommendation Wednesday

[lizziec]

Yesterday was some utterly brilliant speculation about what storylines might play out if Pilots ended up in some other sci-fi series, and amaliak wrote a fabulous little ficlet of Pilots in the Doctor Who universe. Please go and read it, and leave her some feedback on it because it really is lovely.

Today's DPP is hopefully something that will make the middle day of your working week go a bit faster, and get you on the ride to the weekend by distracting you from how much Wednesdays can drag. It's a fic recommendation exchange with a twist.

We all have types of fic that we tend to avoid because the vast majority of that sort of fic is poor at best, but it's entirely possible that we are missing out on some awesome fic because of our prejudices about that type. It is also almost certain that what one person may hate with a passion another person may not - in fact, if you're someone who loves that type of fic you may know just the piece of fic that will change someone's mind.

So today I want you to bring your fic prejudices to the comments section. What do you hate to see in fic? Tell us why you usually hate to see it. Then I want you to check out the other comments and see if you can recommend something that will change the commenter's mind about a type of fic that you like or love.

Hopefully by the end of today we'll have some brilliant recommendations, and some people who have changed their minds about what they previously hated :)


Lee and Kara are pretty happy to be half way through the working week because they have sexytimes plans for the weekend

Comments

Questions?

[lizziec]

Post them here.

Song fic

[lizziec]

When I first started in fandom about 12 years ago I came to hate song fic with a passion. It seemed that song fic was an excuse to avoid actually writing proper descriptions and getting a few extra words from the lyrics to your favourite angsty song. So now I just don't read it.

By song fic I mean fics that include lyrics from the song, not one that is merely using one line as a prompt.

Can anyone help me get over it? :)

Re: Song fic

[anamarya.livejournal.com]

i would not say that i hate them but i do avoid them. especially if half of the whole thing is part of a song. if there are only a couple of lyrics here and there -like couple of chapters away it's ok for me.

Re: Song fic

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I'm not really fond of songfic too - not that some of the ones I've read aren't good, but I end up skipping the actual song lines in the fic. Which is a problem if most of the fic IS song lyrics.

Re: Song fic

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

I don't even understand songfic. What is it?

Re: Song fic

[elzed.livejournal.com]

Ahaaa - no, I'm afraid I am joining in with the hate. And like you, I don't read it.

Re: Song fic

[rirenec.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever read one - I avoid songs in books and therefore think I missed half of LoTR because of it :) So I don't think I'll be able to convince you.

Re: Song fic

[pressdbtwnpages.livejournal.com]

For me the hardest part about reading songfic is that it works best if the reader knows the song. If not, there's no real connection.

They're one of those things that young writers seem really drawn too, and I was been guilty of committing a few myself. A few years ago I made a point of trying to write a quality songfic, but it wasn't for BSG, so I won't link it.

Re: Song fic

[embolalia.livejournal.com]

Nope! I've never liked these either. I haven't seen many around for BSG but the ones I've read in other fandoms seemed to let the song create all the emotion of the piece, and were therefore often melodramatic just because some things work for lyrics but not for dialogue, you know? At this point I mostly avoid them altogether.

Baby fics

[(Anonymous)]

I do not like baby fics and have never finished any. Do not take me wrong, I like the idea of them having a child and part of me wish they did in season 4. After all their connection is so strong that it is only fitting that there was a physical result of it. I would not mind the poof so much if Lee was left in the field with their child. All the baby fics I tried to read just did not cut it for me and I did not find either Kara or Lee very believable in them. I would be very grateful for any recommendation of a good and believable (short or medium-length) Kara/Lee baby fic. Thanks.

Re: Baby fics

[lizziec]

I'd like to recommend you try rayruz's "No Haven for this Heart" - it's my favourite babyfic and I found it really quite believable in terms of pilots' characters.

Re: Baby fics

[amaliak.livejournal.com]

Baby fics are often handled (for a myriad of reasons) but i will recommend amidala_thrace's Insanity Underrated (http://jedionpaper.livejournal.com/26795.html). Unfinished, obviously,and not really considered Baby Fic but there are babies in it, and handled in a very interesting way. One of those "happily ever after is frakking hard work' fics. Heavy on the angst.
Totally worth it.
cheers.
--Lex

Re: Baby fics

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

I can help you out.
WIPs that I love even though they will probably never be finished:
I Shall Believe (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4059606/1/) by Chione
The Weight is a Gift (http://lila82.livejournal.com/20867.html) by lila82.

Mushy one-shot that I love anyway: Naming Conventions (http://literarylemming.livejournal.com/185392.html)

One that is just perfection: Soft Spot (http://beyond-insane.livejournal.com/570364.html)

Long story that I like: Ill-Conceived (http://becisvolatile.livejournal.com/106257.html)

Hilarious maybe-pregnancy fic: Life is Tough Enough (http://thefannishwaldo.livejournal.com/233081.html)

And beautiful, stunning, flawless pregnancy fic: places to stand (http://stars-like-dust.livejournal.com/190156.html)

[winegums.livejournal.com]

As far as BSG and pilots go, I tend to avoid babyfic. Not because it isn't well-written, but somehow pilots in domesticity with a kid just feels all wrong. And this is despite the fact that they tried to play daddy and mummy to different kids in canon.

Though there was one fic where Kara was pregnant after the UB flashbacks and had to give birth while Leoben shut her up in the dollhouse.....that one was really good at dealing with pilots as parents, especially since they don't settle into ga-ga happy domesticity straightaway.

[lizziec]

I was going to recommend rayruz's "No Haven for this Heart" but I have a strong feeling it's the fic you were referring to :) If it's not, please do read it because it's one of the best babyfics I've read :)

[sammy567.livejournal.com]

I've said it before, I'm really not of fan of baby fics. It bugs me that most those fics imply that the shiny happy futures involve Pilots with a baby. I find that thought doesn't respect Kara's standpoint on being a mom. My only exception is Rayruz's No Haven For This Heart, probably b/c it wasn't cliche, and she changed maelstrom's outcome.

Really not a fan of pilots dying. It depresses me way too much. Maaaybe if they live happily ever after in the fields of Elysium? Eh, I dunno. Maybe if they haunt Baltar and move his stuff and make him think he's going insane. I'd rather not be convinced otherwise of this.

Oh, and I agree on the songfic, mostly because I just skip over the lyrics. I feel like songfic can only be appreciated if you listen to the actual song while reading the fic. Otherwise, it should be called lyricfic.

And I'm not a fan of affair fics. Not because I'm against the situation, but more because I'd rather not acknowledge the plot device that was Dee and Sam.

[anamarya.livejournal.com]

I've said it before, I'm really not of fan of baby fics. It bugs me that most those fics imply that the shiny happy futures involve Pilots with a baby.

yes, that tends to be annoying. but during the years i found a couple of good fics that involved babies without being all shinny happy future and all that. usually they were messy, complicated and strangely in character.

[lizziec]

Yay! I love No Haven for this Heart too :)

As far as death is concerned I recently read sci_fi_shipper's All That Matters three part fic which is wonderful if you can stand it. It does get very sad, but the ending is just beautiful. If you're going to try it though I strongly recommend you have a box of tissues on hand.

[word-vomity.livejournal.com]

I don't 'get' AU fic. Like completely different settings or fandoms coming together stuff. If it happens within the Battlestar universe, I'm cool with it even if many liberties are taken plot-wise, but otherwise...

People love it and I'm completely...meh. *shrugs* I don't hate it or anything, just have never really gotten into it or understood the draw. But the level of excitement that other people have over it makes me feel like I must be missing something.

[(Anonymous)]

Totally agree. I never understood different time periods or crossovers. I read a few fics that were good and well written but the two main characters had little in common with Lee ad Kara from BSG. They were likable and had some of their character traits but they just felt so different in the new setting.

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of fics that put Kara and/or Lee through torturous situations without any payoff. I got that big time in the show and getting invested in fic that I generally expect to have a hopeful ending, at least, is somewhat, well, infuriating. Any fics of this type that are worth the ride anyway?

[anamarya.livejournal.com]

you mean the kind of story where they keep getting injured, kidnapped, grounded, etc? and there is no end to that?

[(Anonymous)]

I love academy fics and never really considered them completely AU. After all they were mostly written before the airing of the finale episode and up to that point did not contradict the canon. Up until the end of the show I was convinced that Kara and Lee were the same age, knew each other before Zak and were probably in the academy together because it fitted so well in what we saw of them. At that time I did not even know that a fan fiction existed.

In my personal canon I think that to a certain degree some of the academy fics could have sort of happened during the time period between Kara and Lee's first meeting and Zak's death. I like to believe that Kara and Lee spend a lot of time together at that time being assigned to work together on some military project. That would lead to them knowing each other well, being comfortable flying and fighting together resulting in mutual respect, trust, friendship and love the way we see it in the Mini and Series 1. Working together and becoming friends would also helped them to learn to control (to a degree) the never ceasing UST but would also lead to Lee and Kara associating his/her feelings and attraction for the other pilot with shame, guilt weakness and disgust at him/herself, which is also something we see a lot on the show,

What I like about the academy fics is that despite no frat regs, bad timing, history, Zak, Dee, Sam, guilt, destiny or the end of the world, the pilots are not together as a couple in majority of them. That is I think the core of the problem. The above mentioned things are not the reasons why they are not together on the show, they are merely excuses to cover up that they are both too scared to be together.

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

No, Academy fics are not completely AU, but they are extra-canon and fictitious enough to fall into the AU category for me. I agree that the appeal of Academy fics is the UST and the fact that pilots tend NOT to be together for the same reasons as they are on the show - fear, bad timing, personal demons. A good Academy fic captures all of that effectively.

[deborah-judge.livejournal.com]

Weddings! I've never liked reading about weddings in fic, with any pairing, but there's got to somewhere be a funny, crazy Kara/Lee wedding fic that subverts all the usual romantic tropes and ends happily anyway.

[amaliak.livejournal.com]

Well, i don't know about happy, but certainly low on the angst factor is something short i wrote a while ago:
over on dreamwidth because i can't find the original LJ comment entry (http://amaliak.dreamwidth.org/2654.html) (written quick and dirty for another DPP ages ago).

/shameless self promotion

cheers.
--Lex

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Here's another one: I really don't like first-person PoV fics. In general, sure, but specifically for BSG they just don't work. Which is fine, considering that most of this fandom's fic is third-person pov anyway, and most of it - at least whatever's on LJ/dreamwidth - is good.

[pressdbtwnpages.livejournal.com]

I agree. I wonder if it's because Lee and Kara are such complex, contradictory characters, you need the barrier of omniscience to make them read well?

I mean, even RDM couldn't keep them in character.

Academy fic

[lizziec]

Possibly a heresy - I tend to avoid academy/young pilots type fic, working from the assumption I won't like it. Is there fic out there that will show me that it's worth it?

Re: Academy fic

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

See my two recs above by taragel and workerbee73. THEY ARE AMAZING. Written masterfully and not to be missed. EVER.

GO NOW AND READ THEM. You will not be disappointed.

Sorry, it got collapsed and you'll never find the comment: HERE (http://no-takebacks.livejournal.com/205717.html?thread=11093141#t11093141)

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

*is very very late to the party as usual*

Fic dislikes/peeves:

- Dee or Sam as the 'villain' (I doubt anyone could recommend one of those that I'd like because of this aspect. Some I have liked in spite of it.)

- Fluff! I just don't see the point. Not a fan of the sugar overdose. (Though I do enjoy comedy - but there's a fine line.)

- Leoben. *shudders*

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

Totally agree on the first point. I've enjoyed many a fic in spite of that aspect, but I don't appreciate it in and of itself.

I do like fluff though. :)