You've been reading She Of The Very High Output, haven't you?

I have! Man, it's amazing! Where does she find the time?

I have! Man, it's amazing! Where does she find the time?

I have no idea. I've gotta admit, I kind of admire her. I mean, it's not like they're drabbles. (I don't admire her enough to read them, mind. I've been shown some of the high points, though.)

I know! I wish I were that prolific! On the other hand, part of the reason the stories are so long is that there's a lot of "He lifted his hand and placed it on the handle of the door to the briefing room. Pressing down with his thumb while pushing forward with the base of his hand, he heard the door unlatch and walked through. There were five people in the room: two brunettes, one blond, and two others. He said hello to them."

Thanks for the link, connie. I don't think I have read the first one.

Also thanks for the moosefic link. Gah! I will never, ever look a bootlaces the same way again.

And I don't think the typos were intentional. Just unbetaed. I don't know why I'm all Defendery, I really don't! It's just, in a fandom with such delights as: [snipped to protect my sanity] I feel protective of the ones that actually make me laugh!

Emily, you have a very good point. I've been away from the badfic for a while, and clearly I've become more sensitive.

There were five people in the room: two brunettes, one blond, and two others.

I have to know. Who were they? Bald, red-heads, what? All that detail, and then left hanging.

The mpreg story was funny, and more of a parody of badfic than badfic itself. Still, it left me thinking it could have been better.

She Of The Very High Output

What's scary is that I've only been reading SG fic for a couple of months, I am not involved with any online SG communities, and I'm still 99% sure I know who you mean.

Emily, do you have a livejournal?

I have to know. Who were they? Bald, red-heads, what? All that detail, and then left hanging.

Dunno. I was just parodying. But she does that! Detailed, unnecessary description, and then -- "several months later..."

I wondered who that username was! I will add you shortly.

OK, I've been reading the last part of Lanning's "Identical" series in SV fandom, and I have to say, much as I've really liked the series, this last section was *terrible*. I couldn't finish it.

And the thing is, it's technically proficient, well-written, all of that -- it's just MIND-NUMBINGLY DULL. The same scene structure, over and over, tons of dialogue and almost no description.... I was reminded of Lorrie Moore's great line that the hardest thing to do in fiction is to get your characters in and out of their cars. We see every conversational car door opening every time in this story.

Plus, and I think this is a general problem with long series, they stopped being SV characters and started being "Identical" characters. Which, now that I write it, seems like it's always the case -- I mean, a good writer has to make the characters her own to make the story come to life. But, for example, early on, there's a scene where Lex is making jokes to Jonathan Kent about what a lurid gay sex shack his new bedroom is. Even if we stipulate that these two characters have a good relationship in this 'verse, I don't believe Lex would talk about his sex life with his partner's parent except in the most oblique way, unless he was trying to anger the person or make him an enemy -- and here, as I noted, they are friendly: Jonathan actually helped get Clark and Lex together in an earlier story.

And I certainly don't believe Jonathan Kent would ever engage in witty banter. Jonathan Kent doesn't engage in witty banter with anyone. Jonathan Kent is like the Anti-Banterer. He's more the strong, silent type. But no one in this story is silent, ever.

I have to say I'm disappointed, if only because I put time into reading the rest of the series, and if someone wants to tell me in whitefont how it ends, I'd be happy to get my narrative closure fix that way. But it's also a great reminder that reading all this non-professional fiction is a tremendous writer's laboratory, and I think I've learned something as a writer from this story, even if I literally could not get more than a third of the way through it as a reader.

Are there any Stargate stories where Sam gets turned into a man? I seem to be on a sex-change kick, but the trawling I'm doing only seems to turn up Jack/Daniel, possibly because I'm looking in the wrong places.