Aelfgyfu

I don't generally recommend SG-1 and SGA fic because I know I'm missing loads of good fic. This evening, though, just when I needed a pick-me-up, I saw this recommended on stargategenrec, and it was just what I needed.


"In Short" by penknife gives concise summaries of half a dozen episodes each of SG-1 and SGA. They're fabulous. Spoilers for all seasons. If you've seen all seasons, go read this now.

Run, do not walk, to rhymer23's Typo Fic Part 2. It is exactly what I needed after this long, long day; I bet some of you need it, too.

Remember how I congratulated the winners of the Stargate Fan Awards and said I didn't win anything?

Well, um.... shuffles feet .... Apparently I misread something somewhere. I didn't win, but "Every Day", a vignette with Rodney talking with Kate Heightmeyer, received an honorable mention for SGA Fan Fiction > Gen > Duet > McKay/Other > Episode-Based. I don't know how I missed that. I only realized because I have StatCounter on my site and can see how many people visit each story—and what link they used. About ten minutes ago, I saw that people had actually read that story (which got the least feedback of any Stargate story I've written), and I suddenly realized people were following a link from the Fan Awards that said "winners" in the URL.

I'd like to thank the Academy my loyal readers (and my especially loyal betas! And you'll have to go to the story to see who they are—and just go ahead and read the story while you're there! tee hee). I found "Every Day" a challenging story to write but a satisfying one. It's not exactly my usual sort of fare.

The winners of the Stargate Fan Awards have been announced! Go here to see the winners; I won't reproduce the list, but congratulations to all the winners! Many, many good stories this year—I had an awfully hard time choosing in some categories. I didn't even get through most of the SGA stories, but I did get through most SG-1 Gen. The nominations are still visible, so we can all continue to read our way through these!

(Thanks again to whoever nominated my stories, one each of SG-1 and SGA. I didn't win anything this year, but I had really stiff competition. I can honestly say I am pleased and honored to have competed with these works!)

I suppose I really need a more cheerful team icon. Well, don't think of them as looking worried. Think of our gang as looking thoughtful as they consider the wealth of good fic and the impossibility of choosing among some of these!

This year's Stargate Fan Awards have opened for voting, but only through the month of July! Go! Register! Read! Vote!

I can tell you myself that the awards team are very nice and quick to help if you have a problem. I should know. I've had a few already. (I don't know if it's just me. I'm telling myself that I'm being really helpful to the wonderful team of volunteers by pointing out various the little errors to them.)

As I said before: Go! Register! Read! Vote!

I've been reading about the edges of what seems to be a big dispute about warnings on fanfic. I don't want to argue here about anyone else's warnings; instead, I'm wondering whether mine are sufficient. I don't write a lot of the hot-button issues for people: I don't kill major characters, I don't want rape or any kind of non-con in my stories (heck, I hardly have even implications of sex in my stories!). I do get into some medical details, and a couple of my stories deal with PTSD, which I realized only recently I never labeled as such.

Ought I to label PTSD as such, or give any other kind of warning? For anyone who wants to look, do you think my warnings are sufficient, too vague, too idiosyncratic, or helpful?

On a related note, sg_fignewton has asked people what kinds of summaries make them read stories, and I was also discussing this on another LJ (I've forgotten whose; if you've seen my comments there, please remind me!). I realized that I've been describing as summaries I don't like exactly the sort of summaries I give for my own stories. I mean, really:
• Is "'Menace' retold from a crucial point of view" actually a useful summary, or too vague to be any help? (If I've done my job right, you figure out whose point of view within a few sentences--am I wrong to hold onto that element of surprise?).
• "Sam and her brother talk after 'Threads'"--I don't want to spoil "Threads" for anyone who hasn't seen it and so might not know of what I consider a major character and arc development, but I doubt I would read this story, if it were written by an author I didn't know and I stumbled across it on a day when I already have several tabs' worth of fic open!

My stories can all be found at Aelfgyfu's Mead Hall. (That's actually the link to the right-hand side of the bar above my entries on my LJ page, but I've noticed that people keep missing it, perhaps because they read my entries on their friends' page or in their own style rather than on my page in my style. Or maybe they miss it because it's not differentiated from the "Previous Entries" "Next Entries" etc. standard info in the bar.)

Feel free to comment on my warnings, summaries, etc.; I don't feel that I get a lot of readers, and I'd appreciate anything that could help me attract more. I'm also curious about what my friends do, and happy to talk about your descriptions, either in comments or on your LJ, if you make a similar post. (Dang, I suppose this entry is too long to start a meme! We could do:
1. Are my warnings too detailed, too vague, or just right?
2. Which of my summaries do you like best? Least?)

We're so impressed with our jokes here in the Aelfgyfu household I thought I'd share a couple of recent multifandom short-takes.

We were discussing how useless Becker is on Primeval, and I said, "Well, he was funny in his first scene, but then Lester said, 'I tell the jokes around here,' and it was all over. I mean, can you imagine if, on Stargate Atlantis, the first thing Elizabeth Weir had said to John Sheppard was, 'I make the jokes around here?'"
Brilliant Husband dropped into his Sheppard voice: "Oh. S**t." Pause. "Well, that's all I got."

Then we were talking about Star Trek (TOS) and whether or not Small Child should see the Harry Mudd episodes at such a tender age. They didn't ruin me for life, apparently, but I have deep misgivings about iamges of women in those episodes.
Brilliant Husband said, "Mudd does get his comeuppance in the end."
I said, "But the writers get to have their cake and eat it too!"
BH: "That's what writers do."
I: "Except for Joss." Dramatic pause. "Cake, or death?" "Death!"

Okay. Well, that's all I got, at least right now.

I've seen various people do this, most recently kristen_mara with Primeval, and I thought I'd join the fun! Mine will be multi-fandom, because I don't have much in any one fandom.

“Post a single sentence from each WIP you have (or as many as you want to pick). No context, no explanations. No more than one sentence!”

I will violate the rules in one way by giving an explanation: the SGA sentence isn't really mine. It's a castoff from tipper_green, given free to a good home, so I need to give her credit. I do have plans for it, but this sentence is still hers.

It turns out I don't have a whole lot of these, because I have some story ideas that are just outlines and have no actual sentences yet. Here goes anyway:

Stargate: Atlantis
Which was, of course, when the alligator chose to leap out of the water and grab his leg.


Primeval
"Stephen doesn't need a psychiatrist!" Cutter barked.

Then they had to examine the dog's poo—Hart insisted you could learn things from droppings, although even he had to admit that what he learned from this pile was that the dog's food had way too much artificial colouring.


Stargate SG-1
"The humans would call this 'sulking,' or perhaps 'moping,' would they not?" asked Loki.

Hank knew Jack was relieved Jackson hadn’t gone to Atlantis; Jack didn’t know Hank had really been hoping Jackson would make it.

I received an e-mail this morning that I've been nominated in the Stargate Fan Awards! Thanks to whoever nominated me! (For once, I didn't self-nominate.) They received over two thousand nominations, so it may be a while before we get to vote, but keep an eye on this space: Stargate Fan Awards

My nominations were for:
"Fostering Relations" (SG-1, team, set in season 7 after "Evolution": my description: "A desert planet, a Fountain of Youth device, and SG-1; what could possibly go wrong?")
and
"Every Day" (SGA, set after "Submersion": Kate Heightmeyer is Not Impressed with Rodney's claim that he's fine after recent events, but digging deeper can be painful)

I'm eager to see what else has been nominated, but I'll try to be patient: everyone needs time to classify their nominated stories, and the team needs time to deal with a huge number of stories being classified!

Thanks also to the very hardworking, all volunteer Awards Team!

(And look--I made a team icon! I need more team icons; they don't look very happy here, do they?)

Following abyssinia4077 and aurora_novarum, here are the fics I've done with the points of view I've used: ( behind the cut for length )