expository ramblings part the third
So I'm done with 'The Ninth Chevron' and staring at a little text file full of ideas for the next, at that point unnamed, story which had to actually add some conflict to my stories. I needed a villain, and it wasn't going to be the Lucian Alliance. In the end, conflict drives stories.
*scratches his chin and launches into a lecture*
Any story with substance has to have a conflict. It's almost universal. It doesn't have to be a physical or violent conflict. But there has to be a contest. For example, the manga/anime Saki. Japanese schoolgirls with inordinate luck, finding friendship around the mahjong table. It is about as sickeningly sweet as you can get, and even if there are no real "villains" anywhere in the story, the EPIC mahjong action still has to have an arena of competition. There is still conflict in even such an innocuous bit of fluff. Conflict doesn't have to be violent, it just has to be there to be overcome.
In the first two stories, the conflict was Sam and Cam finally getting together after two decades of missteps and missed opportunities. It was them accepting each other and being willing to lay things aside to be with one another. The missions to help Destiny provided a backdrop, and a minor villainous power in the Lucian Alliance, but it wasn't the main conflict. Nor would it be now. Stargate Universe was still airing end of first season episodes at this point. It was just coming to its climax with 'Subversion' and 'Incursion' Parts 1 and 2. Which most definitely pitched the Lucian Alliance as villains.
That's all well and good, but for me, the LA lacks a little punch. They're dangerous, yes; they're unscrupulous, certainly. But they're not grand. The Goa'uld were grand, the Replicators were grand, the Ori were grand, the Wraith are grand. The Lucian Alliance... not so much. At the end of the day, they're criminals, nothing more.
Don't get me wrong, you can tell good stories just going up against criminals. But that's not something you drive a grand plot with. And I wanted to set Sam and Cam's story in such a backdrop. Not necessarily tell all sides of it, of course, but to involve them in the thick of it. Selenis gave me the opportunity to do that. Selenis had to have a history, it had to have a reason for being and a reason for why it was as it was. Discovering that, dealing with it, would create the necessary backdrop. And my new story was going to start 'laying down the pipe' for it.
There was something else I wanted to do with it too. Up to this point the flashbacks were there really as only windows on moments. They added the history, the past. I wanted to give them more meaning. I wanted them to have their own narrative, their own part in the overall story, so I finally started giving a theme to them. I added two threads running through them that told their own stories in their own ways. It wasn't until I started writing the epilogue, however, that I really hit upon something that had me giddy for more than a day. I'm still incredibly proud of that flashback epilogue.
My, I've written a whole lot of codswallop and I still haven't even gotten to the part with which I ended the second expository ramblings. The Sam/Cam vids. While I was writing what became 'Under the Silent Stars' I started looking at Youtube following several prompts in descriptions for stories or users' profiles. There are, of course, not that many Sam/Cam videos to be had, and even less now that many of them have been deleted because of ridiculous copyright flagging - is 'fair use' even a concept American juris prudence accepts anymore? Sheesh. Being amateur works they are mostly, collections of video clips set to music and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. They manage to condense a lot of the charm and electricity in the characters' interaction with each other into lovely little bite size chunks. There were a few standouts however, videos which I found made me want to watch them over and over again, for varying reasons. Some just had amazing editing and told a great little story set to the music, such as 'Every Other Time' by MilenaDaniels (milena_d ), with music by LFO. Others had a remarkable atmosphere, like 'Halo' by valamd (scifi_tv_addict ) and dedicated to our lovely rightxhere , with music by Beyoncé. Others because they quite literally seemed to pluck my ideas of Sam and Cam out of my head, like 'Kryptonite' by CucumberMelon3200, with music by 3 Doors Down. These weren't the only videos I saw, they are my favourites. I might do another post later with more videos.
'LFO - Every Other Time' by MilenaDaniels (milena_d )
So many great things about this video, walk'n'talks, the eye!sex, Cam's 'my head wants to explode' face, starting my absolute adoration for Sam's 'confused' expression from 'Crusade' and 'Arthur's Mantle'. Oh, ye Gods, the eye!sex. The look Sam gives Cam after the little 'are you here' shoving match in 'Arthur's Mantle'. All of it, perfectly edited in time to the music. Have I mentioned the eye!sex?
'Beyoncé - Halo' by valamd (scifi_tv_addict )
Starting at 1:00 you'll see two of my favourite Sam shots, from 'Flesh and Blood' and 'Continuum'. I'm not a huge fan of Beyoncé, but I'll watch this video whenever and wherever. This video it majestic, the editing is great, the longer cuts create a slower hushed tempo, the fades make it softer, the faded zoom cuts which take a few seconds out of a scene to focus right on the sweet spot of emotional impact. I love this video.
'3 Doors Down - Kryptonite' by CucumberMelon3200
Seriously, I watched this video and had to ask myself if this guy could see into my brain. I'd been toying with the theme of Sam and Cam being each other's kryptonite since the first story, I'd written the Landry deathbed scene in 'T9C' specifically to address it. And here's a Sam/Cam video that practically screams it out at the top of its lungs. And the song is bitchin'! So much so, that I had to use it
So here I was, defining a villain, adding a backdrop conflict, giving my flashbacks a hell of a lot more work to do, I needed to do another thing. These stories had so far been fairly sedate affairs. For an action sci-fi series such as SG-1, there was very little action in these stories, only bits and pieces. I wasn't about to change the focus away from the romance, this still was meant to be a love story after all, but the addition of the backdrop conflict meant that the action would become a more involved part, it would make the story more SG-1. Which, let's be honest, could be a good thing. I just wondered if I had the chops to do it well.
I did manage to add another part of my epilogue which I'm very proud of, well, let's face it I just love the epilogue in general, 'Under the Silent Stars' is one of my favourite parts of my stories. This part I'm speaking of not only added variety to my pivot scenes for the first time, but also spelled out the real implications of the Deep Core. That, as they sometimes whisper in darkened rooms, is a story for another time, which I might never write at all. Seriously.
*scratches his chin and launches into a lecture*
Any story with substance has to have a conflict. It's almost universal. It doesn't have to be a physical or violent conflict. But there has to be a contest. For example, the manga/anime Saki. Japanese schoolgirls with inordinate luck, finding friendship around the mahjong table. It is about as sickeningly sweet as you can get, and even if there are no real "villains" anywhere in the story, the EPIC mahjong action still has to have an arena of competition. There is still conflict in even such an innocuous bit of fluff. Conflict doesn't have to be violent, it just has to be there to be overcome.
In the first two stories, the conflict was Sam and Cam finally getting together after two decades of missteps and missed opportunities. It was them accepting each other and being willing to lay things aside to be with one another. The missions to help Destiny provided a backdrop, and a minor villainous power in the Lucian Alliance, but it wasn't the main conflict. Nor would it be now. Stargate Universe was still airing end of first season episodes at this point. It was just coming to its climax with 'Subversion' and 'Incursion' Parts 1 and 2. Which most definitely pitched the Lucian Alliance as villains.
That's all well and good, but for me, the LA lacks a little punch. They're dangerous, yes; they're unscrupulous, certainly. But they're not grand. The Goa'uld were grand, the Replicators were grand, the Ori were grand, the Wraith are grand. The Lucian Alliance... not so much. At the end of the day, they're criminals, nothing more.
Don't get me wrong, you can tell good stories just going up against criminals. But that's not something you drive a grand plot with. And I wanted to set Sam and Cam's story in such a backdrop. Not necessarily tell all sides of it, of course, but to involve them in the thick of it. Selenis gave me the opportunity to do that. Selenis had to have a history, it had to have a reason for being and a reason for why it was as it was. Discovering that, dealing with it, would create the necessary backdrop. And my new story was going to start 'laying down the pipe' for it.
There was something else I wanted to do with it too. Up to this point the flashbacks were there really as only windows on moments. They added the history, the past. I wanted to give them more meaning. I wanted them to have their own narrative, their own part in the overall story, so I finally started giving a theme to them. I added two threads running through them that told their own stories in their own ways. It wasn't until I started writing the epilogue, however, that I really hit upon something that had me giddy for more than a day. I'm still incredibly proud of that flashback epilogue.
My, I've written a whole lot of codswallop and I still haven't even gotten to the part with which I ended the second expository ramblings. The Sam/Cam vids. While I was writing what became 'Under the Silent Stars' I started looking at Youtube following several prompts in descriptions for stories or users' profiles. There are, of course, not that many Sam/Cam videos to be had, and even less now that many of them have been deleted because of ridiculous copyright flagging - is 'fair use' even a concept American juris prudence accepts anymore? Sheesh. Being amateur works they are mostly, collections of video clips set to music and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. They manage to condense a lot of the charm and electricity in the characters' interaction with each other into lovely little bite size chunks. There were a few standouts however, videos which I found made me want to watch them over and over again, for varying reasons. Some just had amazing editing and told a great little story set to the music, such as 'Every Other Time' by MilenaDaniels (milena_d ), with music by LFO. Others had a remarkable atmosphere, like 'Halo' by valamd (scifi_tv_addict ) and dedicated to our lovely rightxhere , with music by Beyoncé. Others because they quite literally seemed to pluck my ideas of Sam and Cam out of my head, like 'Kryptonite' by CucumberMelon3200, with music by 3 Doors Down. These weren't the only videos I saw, they are my favourites. I might do another post later with more videos.
'LFO - Every Other Time' by MilenaDaniels (milena_d )
So many great things about this video, walk'n'talks, the eye!sex, Cam's 'my head wants to explode' face, starting my absolute adoration for Sam's 'confused' expression from 'Crusade' and 'Arthur's Mantle'. Oh, ye Gods, the eye!sex. The look Sam gives Cam after the little 'are you here' shoving match in 'Arthur's Mantle'. All of it, perfectly edited in time to the music. Have I mentioned the eye!sex?
'Beyoncé - Halo' by valamd (scifi_tv_addict )
Click to viewStarting at 1:00 you'll see two of my favourite Sam shots, from 'Flesh and Blood' and 'Continuum'. I'm not a huge fan of Beyoncé, but I'll watch this video whenever and wherever. This video it majestic, the editing is great, the longer cuts create a slower hushed tempo, the fades make it softer, the faded zoom cuts which take a few seconds out of a scene to focus right on the sweet spot of emotional impact. I love this video.
'3 Doors Down - Kryptonite' by CucumberMelon3200
Seriously, I watched this video and had to ask myself if this guy could see into my brain. I'd been toying with the theme of Sam and Cam being each other's kryptonite since the first story, I'd written the Landry deathbed scene in 'T9C' specifically to address it. And here's a Sam/Cam video that practically screams it out at the top of its lungs. And the song is bitchin'! So much so, that I had to use it
So here I was, defining a villain, adding a backdrop conflict, giving my flashbacks a hell of a lot more work to do, I needed to do another thing. These stories had so far been fairly sedate affairs. For an action sci-fi series such as SG-1, there was very little action in these stories, only bits and pieces. I wasn't about to change the focus away from the romance, this still was meant to be a love story after all, but the addition of the backdrop conflict meant that the action would become a more involved part, it would make the story more SG-1. Which, let's be honest, could be a good thing. I just wondered if I had the chops to do it well.
I did manage to add another part of my epilogue which I'm very proud of, well, let's face it I just love the epilogue in general, 'Under the Silent Stars' is one of my favourite parts of my stories. This part I'm speaking of not only added variety to my pivot scenes for the first time, but also spelled out the real implications of the Deep Core. That, as they sometimes whisper in darkened rooms, is a story for another time, which I might never write at all. Seriously.