Ficathon updates, and new membership in DWA!

[fignewton]

My sg1teamficathon entry is finally, finally sent off to my marvelous beta. Currently just shy of 8,000 words, although I suspect that by the time Random finishes pointing out a myriad of problems, it’s going to be a whole lot shorter.

 

No time to breathe easy, though, because I also signed up for the sg_ep_ficathon, and that actually goes live at the end of this week. I’m about 1,000 words or so into that one, and I hope to be finished before the November 16^th deadline.

 

Except that… um. Well. ::shuffles feet::

 

I resisted through five SG-1 stories. I’ve embarrassed Daniel. I’ve given him lots of angst. I’ve given him ethical dilemmas. I saddled him with a hangover. He even gets searched very pointedly in my sg1teamficathon story (if this inspired it, my subconscious didn’t tell me!). But aside from the odd scrape or two, I never actually hurt Daniel.

 

…Until now, with story number six.

 

::sighs::

 

So, where do I sign up for Daniel Whumpers Anonymous? Because I’m not sure if it makes things better or worse that I not only whumped him, but I made it a plot point.

 

What is it about Daniel that makes whumping him so irresistable? I’m not talking about cuddling Saint Daniel while he stifles his whimpers of pain, or the team holding his hands in shifts in the infirmary while he valiantly fights for his life, or even the shippy kind of whumping, which is aimed more for the shippy comfort afterwards. Asking as a gen girl who loves a tough, capable Daniel, why is it so much fun to whump him?

 

It can’t just be the pretty. Or the hair.

 

C’mon, people. Try and handwave this one. :)

(And my apologies if you've commented in the last week or so and I didn't get back to you. My notifications have been a bit spotty, and these last days have been insane.)

ETA: And now with added inspired fic! Untitled Whumping Humor, by 6beforelunch. Because SG-1 knows they're insane. :)

Comments

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Ha!
I'm physically whumping him for the first time (I think) in my teamfic!

*joins arm with you in "first time for everything" camp*

(and I don't know why, but, yes, yes it is)
I won't even try to handwave.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Whoo! Daniel-whumping is contagious!

I won't even try to handwave.

And you call yourself an SG-1 fan?! Shame! :)

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

He does get whumped fairly often in canon to label him as a good whumpee (yes, I've seen canon vs. fanon - yes, other characters get whumped plenty).

As someone said below, I think there is something to him being the civilian - it's an extra layer of "loss of innocence" and...I don't know. Honestly, reading, I know I have a H/C soft spot and thus a whumping soft spot but that's for pretty much all the characters (less so Teal'c for some reason...)

There. handwave enough for you? :)

(but, remember, I'm the one who's always trying to find a real reason instead of handwaving?)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

less so Teal'c for some reason...

I think because for Teal'c to get hurt, he REALLY requires major whumping. And that can raise a red flag for someone who doesn't want to overdo the violence.

Yes, poor Daniel does get whumped with rather alarming regularity. But he keeps bouncing up, yay!

And the handwave scold was a joke, ya know. :)

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Exactly. With the symbiote and all Teal'c whumping almost doesn't work (though I did spend a lot of the S9 and S10 yelling at the tv to Please Stop Torturing Teal'c Already Thank You (in the one where Mitchell had to pretend to torture him and Teal'c punched the guy and said he was tired of being tortured I felt VERY vindicated))

Exactly. Also...Daniel has a stronger disconnect to his physical body than the other members of SG-1 do (um, I'm not sure about Vala because she is freakishly complicated, but the rest for sure) and I wonder if there is also something there. He bounces up and he...he just isn't going to let physical restraints stop him.

(also...he...he's stoic about. If Jack is hurt (and it's safe) he loudly and vocally lets you know it. Daniel doesn't hide it but he....deals. It's interesting.)

I know! But I figured I still had to prove I could earn my handwave card :)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Daniel doesn't hide it but he....deals. It's interesting.

Hm. I like that. Very thinky.

And WORD to poor Teal'c in S10. It was like he became The Girl (tm) and that was just... ridiculous. :p

[jjhunter]

Because Daniel will get right back up again (metaphorically, if he can't physically). He won't give up. It's cathartic and reasuring. Whumage is not what Daniel's trained for, so we civilians can identify with him more strongly. Whumpage blatantly reveals the steel beneath his normal velvet, and also reveals the team without Daniel at 100%.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like that, yes - because Daniel has what Aurora calls the "weeble gene." It's fun to whump someone that you know will keep fighting to get up again. Very nice.

To be fair, though, no one is trained for whumpage. Except possibly Teal'c and the other Jaffa. :)

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Yes, I think this is right on. And I have been very upset when I'm reading a story and Daniel fails to get up. When I first started reading fic, I was working my way happily through Stargatefan in the misguided belief that "CD" meant "character development" and read a few very, very upsetting fics. (Yes, that is a stupid mistake. I did figure it out after the third or fourth time I said to myself, "How could they do that and not warn me?!")

I never meant to whump Daniel, but look at what I did in "Charades" and "Fostering Relations"! Both depend on Daniel getting whumped. "Charades" was actually a response to reading several really angst-filled stories (some good, some...not so much) where Daniel can't talk. Everything was very serious and very sad, except for a few inappropriate remarks by Jack in one or two, and I just couldn't imagine the rest of the team maintaining that demeanor that long. Yes, including Daniel. So I consider the whumping I gave him in "Charades" an empowering whumping.

Hoo boy. And now I've started on SGA, and I started a story where originally no one was going to get hurt, but somehow now almost everyone has (but any SGA fans here will have to wait for me to finish, and then you'll actually have to read the thing, because I'm not telling who gets hurt and who doesn't!). SGA doesn't to me have the same kind of dynamic--maybe because Sheppard and Rodney both get whumped so often, and the writers like to injure Ronon just to see what he can do in spite of his injuries, but more likely because none of them have that combination of innocence and experience (yes, I just stole from William Blake) that Daniel does. Carson comes the closest on SGA, but it's still not the same. And I haven't finished s6 of SG-1, but I'm not getting that vibe off Jonas, either, though he's even more of an optimistic idiot innocent (just kidding, folks! I like Jonas, really!).

So there are my thoughts on comparative whumpage for today. Daniel is the clear winner. There's something special about Our Boy.

Welcome to the club! In the beginning, I never meant to whump him either!

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I loved Charades (and recced it!) and yes, it needed Daniel whumping. And Fostering Relations was just plain hilarious. I very much enjoyed how irritated a concussed Daniel could be. :)

There's something special about Our Boy.

That is, quite possibly, the definitive answer!

And yes! I'm pretty sure most memberships are accidental. :)

[surreallis.livejournal.com]

I'm not completely sure, because I'm in the Jack-whumping camp, and I'm pretty sure that's because seeing Jack finally broken down is just... guh. But Daniel is a different animal altogether. Maybe it's similar to why I love seeing Nick Stokes on CSI whumped. Because there's an innocence there, although... that's not completely the right word. Because despite everything that's done to him, he still doesn't lose faith in humanity.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I can't follow the Nick Stokes comparison because I don't know CSI. In fact, the only current (!) show I watched was SG-1. And yet:

Because despite everything that's done to him, he still doesn't lose faith in humanity.

Less so in later seasons, sadly, but I think you're right about this. He rises above. So we give him something to rise above in the first place. :)

And I wonder if I don't like Jack whumping because it hurts too much for me to get to that "guh" place. I like my Jack strong, yes. I think it's a little harder for Jack to bounce back.

[maychorian.livejournal.com]

Um. Because it's fun?

I dunno. I'm more into Obi-torture, myself. And yeah, when I started writing SW fic I had decided that I didn't want to torture Obi anymore than was absolutely necessary, because I had read plenty of it and thought there was enough. But well, me being who I am . . . didn't last. But I'm an h/c girl--I like the comfort. But not shippily, because I'm not into ship.

Once I get my act together and start writing SG fic more consistently, I'm sure I'll have some whumping somewhere.

Because it's fun.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Um. Because it's fun?

Hee! Quite possibly, yes. :)

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

Joss Whedon always said about BTVS - when in doubt, but Willow in jeopardy. Basically... I think the same can be said for Daniel, not because he's the damsel in distress type particularly, but he's the lynch pin for the group, the one *everyone* will be hard hit by if anything happens to him...

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'll take that one, I think. It's very much how I see Daniel, so - yes. As long as it's not reduced to tears from the team as they gather round his bedside... :)

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

Heh, I mentally whumped Daniel my first time out. But I chickened on physically whumping him in my second fic, so went with whumping the other protagonist, but delayed writing that scene and then, I couldn't whump him either. I got over it. :-D

I obviously have no issue with it now for anyone on the team. I like the "pull up by the bootstraps kind of thing", of adding that extra conflict/discomfort Daniel or the others have to work through to achieve their goals. I love reading it, and I like writing it.

And with Daniel, he gets better. The weeble gene, you know. ;-)

By the way, it's sg1teamficathon, unless you're in two. *jealous you're at beta stage*

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've noticed that you have no problem with general whumping. :)

That's a nice way to look at it - an extra challenge for them to worth through. And that kind of whumping doesn't bother me as much as the gratuitous kind of "whump poor Danny because he whimpers so prettily!" And then, of course, there's the weeble gene!

(I still say that most of the LJ generation don't even know what weebles are, must less why they wobble and don't fall down...)

Oh, and thanks for the correction there. I write all my posts on Semagic nowadays, which doesn't warn me if I'm using a non-existent LJ user name.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Because I’m not sure if it makes things better or worse that I not only whumped him, but I made it a plot point.

IMHO, whumping is always more justified (ie, "better") if it's a plot point. I.e., if it can be defended as necessary for the story/non-gratuitous. I almost never post h/c ficlets I write just for the fun of character-whumping and angst; I have to wait until the ficlet grows into a story, or a story appropriates the whumping. ;-)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Part of my very strongly agrees that yes, whumping that's needed in the story is much better than whumping that's there just for the fun of the comfort afterwards. OTOH - well, who thought up the plot that required the whumping in the first place? That's why I can't decide which one is actually worse. :)

Repost to clarify and fix html

[lyore.livejournal.com]

I agree with idhren24 and kellifer_fic above, but will also add that for me, if I'm reading H/C then I want the character I identify with most to be the whumpee. In SG-1 that character for me Daniel (and Sam, but too often I find Sam-whumping hits some unpleasant (to me) female/male power vibes). Hmm. Not sure what this adds to the discussion, but I thought it slightly relevant :)

Re: Repost to clarify and fix html

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Whumping Sam can be a bit - fraught. Too easy to go where you might not want to be.

[uniquinum.livejournal.com]

I kinda know the feeling with the sg_ep_ficathon piece, I ignored mine until about a week ago and then wrote most of it in one hit.

Because I’m not sure if it makes things better or worse that I not only whumped him, but I made it a plot point.

I suspect a big problem is that Daniel is so easy to whump, because then you get to do the "lets-fix-Daniel-and-lavish-lots-of-love-and-attention-to-him-scene".

It's a vicious cycle.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

then you get to do the "lets-fix-Daniel-and-lavish-lots-of-love-and-attention-to-him-scene".

Except that's the kind of whumping that I dislike most - "let's hurt Daniel for no other reason than that it's fun to comfort him!"

I'm delighted by teamy support in the aftermath, but I don't care for whumping for the sole reason of having the teamy support in the first place.

So maybe whumping for plot reasons is better than gratuitous, after all...

[6beforelunch.livejournal.com]

I think I'm the fandom weirdo who doesn't generally like Daniel whumping. In a good story for a good reason I don't mind it, exactly, but in general it doesn't do much for me. I think because, when I first got into fandom, I read so much of it, it got cliche for me. At this point, I prefer to see any other character whumped and Daniel as a caregiver just because it's different from what I see is the norm. (What I see as the "norm" might not be reality. I've never crunched numbers. But in my head Daniel is always the one who gets whumped in fic so when it's not him, it feels like something different.)

That's not to say I don't ever read it, or even that I don't ever seek it out, but in general, it's not my thing.

I do, however, love Cameron whumping. I'm not sure why. I think maybe it's a similar thing to what other people have said about Daniel. Cameron has this whole unbreakable thing to him, and not only does he get back up, he'll be making sarcastic and freakishly cheerful comments a few minutes later. Plus, he's got massive canon whumpage which means that when he gets hurt, you can tug at that angst too. Heh.

I've never written Cam whumping, though, except briefly in my Cam ficathon story and that was the canon post-Lost City injuries that the show gave us. Poor dear is probably glad I don't usually write physical injury fic. *g*

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have no trouble with the idea that fanon cliche has ruined a storyline for someone. :)

And you're right - there's something so much fun about Daniel taking care of wounded!Jack offworld, for example. I know of two very good stories with that theme. So, balance those two against the two thousand in the other direction, and... yeah. :)

Mitchell isn't my thing, but I'm glad he works for you!

[6beforelunch.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Daniel as caregiver can be so much fun. Mind giving links to the stories? Wounded!Jack isn't my favorite, but I adore Daniel taking care of people. :)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Hero For a Day, by Sam Walker. Daniel wakes up to find that he's been left behind for dead, that Jack is captured, and that Sam and Teal'c are stuck in the SGC under lockdown. Daniel uses archeology skills (and a lot of convenient plot twists, to be fair) to get Jack out of prison. My personal favorite bit is Teal'c calmly advocating that a concussed Daniel go rescue Jack, with the implicit suggestion that Teal'c has every faith in his ability to do it.

Night Maneuvers, by Debby. Just before Out of Mind (nod to Daniel's haircut). Daniel has to get a seriously concussed Jack safely back to the Gate. Includes the pacifist fanon, but makes up for it with a fantastic moment when Jack announces, "My job."

Now that I think about it, there are actually a lot more than two fics in which Daniel rescues Jack or the rest of SG-1. There's the one where Jack almost dies of dog slobber, and the one where Jack almost turns into plant food, and... Might make a nice themed list. :)

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Jack almost dies of dog slobber, and the one where Jack almost turns into plant food

...
...
apparently SGA fandom isn't hoarding ALL the crack...

dog slobber? really?

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yes.

Both by Jackjunkie, which I hadn't realized at first. They're both 1st person Jack POV, both PG-13 with some language. Here ya go!

Plant Food. Jack meets Audrey. Daniel accidentally discovers how to turn alien vegetation into mulch. Hurt/comfort fans will probably be quite happy with the scene where Jack practically dozes off with his head on Daniel's shoulder while Daniel bandages his wounds.

Words of Comfort. Yes, threatened death by dog slobber.

Death by dog slobber – sure would’ve made for a one-of-a-kind death certificate. I never would’ve lived that one down. In a manner of speaking. Not exactly a heroic way to go, especially after all those times coming this close to going out in a blaze of glory. I’d have probably died of embarrassment if I hadn’t already been dead.

Daniel has to keep Jack moving to get him back to the SGC and to safety.

Is it crack if it's written straight? "Crackfic" is a genre that I've never quite figured out. I mean, I've seen people call "Ninja Style" crack, and I certainly never intended for it to be. Humor doesn't automatically equal crackfic, does it?

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

...wow. I guess fandom really HAS written everything :)

Um. Okay, I am usually the last person to be able to provide fannish definitions (and I find I'm usually wrong). But...to me, um, crackfic is usually a crazy premise done in a humorous fashion. Maybe? Or it's in the eye of the beholder? I do *think* one of the markers of crackfic is not taking itself too seriously.

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Why is it that all the cool fic-a-thons have deadlines all at the same time? I totally wanted to sign up for both of these, but I wanted to sign up for the multific finish-a-thon even more, and I was afraid I'd kill myself trying to do more than one fic at once. I'm kind of glad I was cautious, I had enough angst to be getting on with just doing the one fic!

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Just so you know - I have eagerly bookmarked your story and I plan to read it as soon as I get my second ficathon fic off to beta. :)

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Cool! *dances* But take your time, I have no wish to hinder fic-writing!