seldear | Isis Awards - thoughts upon voting

Have you read the noms? Have you voted?

I've just spent the last hour reading through the nominations and I have to say, full kudos to almost all the noms in Beckett/Teyla, Caldwell/Weir, Ronon/Weir, Teyla/Other, and Teyla/Bates. I think those were all the categories I read. *thinks*

Okay, so I'm a bit pissed off that the fic that's gonna win one of those categories is actually a Sheppard/Weir pairing; unfortunately that's what you have to expect when we're talking about a minor 'pairing' fic that implies the most popular het pairing and mary-sues a character in the process.

I just wish - and I mean I really, really wish - that the Sheppard/Teyla stories had been of the same quality as all the 'bit pairings'. I mean, there are some good ones in there - I found at least one more good writer that I didn't know about (Celtic Knot on ff.net) and one writer who has written some stuff that lifted my eyebrows and some stuff that impressed me (Eclectic Trekker on ff.net) - but too many of the stories were...flat. Good ideas but mediocre execution; descriptions but no art; dramatic situations but no pacing; characters but no characterisation.

*sigh* I'm sure that some people are gonna jump on me for even implying that their work doesn't make my personal cut; but anyone who knows the faintest thing about me and fandom is that I'm a huge fic snob. Big. Huge.

Storytelling - which is what fic-writing is about - is an art. It's not about 'words on a page' - it's about crafting a story that yanks your readers in and makes them want more; it's about communication of ideas in a manner that is descriptive, evocative, passionate, and forceful. Any writer worth their salt knows that, and the ones that don't and still produce amazing work are unnaturally gifted ~~and should be burned at the stake~~.

There's a vast difference between being okay at storytelling and being good at storytelling, and an even vaster difference between being good at storytelling and being great at storytelling. I have the feeling that a lot of the Sheppard/Teyla writers haven't quite gotten that concept yet.

Mostly, I just wish there were a few more good writers for the pairings I want to see in Atlantis - even if I'm out on a limb for liking them.

Disclaimer: These opinions are those of the LJ's owner and do not reflect the thoughts of her f-list. She does not receive any kickbacks for such opinions although gifts of chocolate are always welcome.