I’m trying to get back into the habit of writing again, so time for another Random Roll! (I’m using the six-sided dice over at Random.org because I still have found my whilst unpacking.)

6. Fan Fiction (Filing off the serial numbers)
1. Hushed and White With Snow

And… whew. Of all the fan fiction on the list to end up with, this one will be the hardest to unravel because it depends on existing relationships between the characters and elements that are specific to the show.

The one saving grace is that it was also a drastic departure from the normal canon of the show and it is still a WiP, so is mostly outline. Should be a fun experiment to redo! 🙂

Summary of the Fan Fiction

Hushed and White With Snow was set in an alternate reality Stargate Atlantis where Ronon and John were lost on the other side of a wormhole for six months after being badly injured. They come back with some serious scarring, a harrowing tale of adventure, and a pint-size avian alien who has joined them into a small hivemind-trio.

But all is not happy homecomings… while they’ve been gone things have gone sideways on Atlantis. The city’s artificial intelligence has awoken, they’ve been infiltrated by friendly replicators who have either replaced or merged with fatally injured or dead crew members, and Earth is trying to get the city back under control so it can relocate it.

This is a very collapsed version of the old outline . The story is only mostly written so there’s plenty of room to revise. (And look, Imaginary Gate Team 5! :D)

Part 1 : All Roads Lead Home

• Waiting for Halling, abandonment angst, team dynamics
• Bloodshed avoidance, why aren’t you dead?
• Who the hell is that, where the hell have you been, etc

Part 2 : Ghost in the Halls

• ATA gene gone? old injuries, team dynamic, suspicions
• Language problems, us vs them mentality, lack of Athosians
• Attack, old injuries, Scary!Trill, fighting mind
• WTF?!? Lorne you’ve got some ‘splaining to do, old injuries,

Part 3 : Two Roads Diverged on a Winding Sea

• Favored Son, the price of peace
• Babysitting duties, rest for the wicked,
• Tear down this wall, alone inside my head, escape

Part 4 : Sins of my Father’s Son

• Exposition: as told by the Marines
• Flockmind, Planning the escape, Help me Obi Wan
• This is a Bad Idea(tm)
• Thinking outside the box…. when one of you is the box.
• Avengers Assemble! Valk theese vay…

Part 5 : Butterfly Effect

• Rally the troops
• Killing the Ghost
• Think like a bird
• Mind vs Mind

Part 6 : And All My Dreams Will Sweeter Be

• Getting the team together again or: Where do we go from here?

Serial Number Murdering, Engage!

So the first thing we need to do is remove all of the things that make this a copyrighted universe. The most obvious of which is to simply rename everyone. *hands everyone a namebadge that says <TBD>* To be honest, I was never that good at writing canon versions of some of the folks, so it won’t take much personality tweaking to make them sound different.

Secondly, we need to revamp the linchpins that make people think ‘Stargate!’. The floating alien city is actually something that’s relatively generic, even the fact that it’s called Atlantis could probably be glossed over. The Stargates on the other hand, will have to go. I still need a way to strand everyone in an alien galaxy and to hop them from planet to planet, but it won’t be the first time I’ve hijacked the concept (re: In Dreams of Trees).

The only recognizable thing left that is Stargate-owned would be the replicators and they are one of the most generic things about the series. Plus I’ve already warped them a bit since the originals never stooped to cyborg’ing anyone.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Honestly, I’m thinking of taking the outline and snowflaking it out  all the way down to a scene-by-scene layout. Then going back and taking what was already written and trying to fit it into the new framework.

I won’t be able to depend on reader’s familiarity with the people and universe, so there is a lot of backstory I’ll have to invent to take it’s place. But I’m also no longer bound by the existing canon, so I can play with the fictives so that they are a better fit for the story (instead of my normal habit of handwaving canon 😉 ).

As much as I’d like to just take what I’ve already written and continue on with a few find-and-replace’s that’s not in the stories best interest. So, right… onwards!

*adds story to the giant list of WiPs, but this time with a Plan(tm)!*