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.

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: 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.

[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.

[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.

[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 :)

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.

[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.

[lizziec]

Don't suppose you have some links do you? :) I like messy, complicated pilots :)

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the very one :)

[anamarya.livejournal.com]

i'll try to make a list with them when i find the links (hopefully that would be no latter than tomorrow)

[lizziec]

Yay! Thank you :)

[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.

[anamarya.livejournal.com]

ok, i think that is faster and safer if i just post them when i remember their names. if i'm not asked i'll not say anything about the plot cause i know that there a people that are totally against spoilery information. but i'll just say that even if the end is sort of happy the journey is.... complicated.

first it's "All is not lost" http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3624056/1/

and then "Live to regret" http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3858882/1/

there is at at least one more that ihoped to find but i just can't remember the title.

anyway - it's not a baby fic (and as far as i remember it's still a work in progress) but involves kids - sort of - did you read The Long Road Home by Uberscribbler ?

[(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 wasn't into AU fics at all when I joined fandom. I couldn't understand why someone would take pilots out of the BSG universe or alter it to the point of unrecognizable. Now, though, I crave AU because I find the world of canon to be too confining and I want to see my babies (pilots) in all kinds of different scenarios. Also, real AUs might mean that Kara doesn't die and that they can actually have a shot at being together.

I have many favorites for AU, but I'll give you the first two that I read and loved. Both are pre-mini/academy-ish fics and I think for AU newbies, that is the best place to start.

My first AU: Borrowed Time (http://workerbee73.livejournal.com/8197.html) by workerbee73. It has a bit of a tough ending, but also dovetails nicely right into the series. And it has smokin' hot truck sex. WOW.

My second: Academy Pilots (http://taragel.livejournal.com/69923.html) by taragel. All the marvelousness of a taragel fic with young and fresh pilots, screaming hot UST, melty shower sex and a damn satisfying ending.

Other more far-flung AUs can be hard if you are not an AU fan, but these are marvelous (and deliciously long). :)

[winegums.livejournal.com]

AU/crossovers can feel flat depending on the fandom, and with BSG I think a good fic needs to keep pilots in character. And I get where you're coming from - so much of what makes pilots especially appealing comes from the very specific circumstances of their story in canon, that it's difficult to imagine a different fandom/different story recreating that.

But for a slightly different kind of AU that is still kind of compliant with the BSG universe (you'll see what I mean if you've read it), I'd suggest the Dollhouse crossover, Did I Fall Asleep, Part 1 (http://tulipfic.livejournal.com/56564.html) and Part 2 (http://tulipfic.livejournal.com/56731.html), which are fantastic if you're familiar with that show.

And there's also the Frakked Up Fairy Tale series by innibis, some of which are pure crack but some of those are set in the BSGverse - I'm especially fond of Cinderella (http://innibis.livejournal.com/44626.html) and Beauty and the Beast (http://innibis.livejournal.com/51480.html). They do a good job of bending the tropes of the story to fit Lee and Kara, do check them out sometime.

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec, love. I'm happy the pain was worth it in the end. *hugs*

[winegums.livejournal.com]

re: Frakked Up Fairy Tales, the world in the two I recced remains the same as in BSG- Twelve Colonies, pilots are pilots, Cylon war etc etc (and Zak is in both stories), but they do diverge from BSG canon somewhat.

[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?

Re: Song fic

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

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

[anamarya.livejournal.com]

i think that BSG is the only fandom where i actually read and enjoy AUs. and it's sort of strange. but at least for me it works if the author keeps the pilots (and the rest) in character. and there are a lot of those around.

for example, i read recently a cross with Dark Angel and it kept the story pretty much in canon - if you don't count the fact that some of the characters are transgenics and that Alec makes an appearance (btw i keep trying to convince myself that didn't had anything to do with me liking the story).