ADMIN POST: The "Secret Superpower!!" challenge

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to get this one off my desk; poor julad asked for this one some time ago:

Julad: can there be a secret superpower flashfic?
Julad: I think Weir needs one
Ces: er, yes
Ces: there can
Julad: invisibility would be v. kinky
Julad: john would be invisible
Julad: rodney would fly

Now, you don't have to go with Julad's choices, here--you can design your own secret superpower-- for good or ill, banal or extraordinary, literal or metaphorical--and give it to the character or characters of your choice (or hey--make them wish they had one!)

Today is August 2nd in Australia, anyway; stories are due August 16th at midnight.

Comments

[someinstant.livejournal.com]

Oh, damn you.

I'm just going to-- continue working on my seminar paper, like a good little grad student, and not think at all about the Story Where Rodney's an Empath. No, sir. Not one little bit.



Except-- except--

"Hey, okay, ow," said Rodney, cutting Weir off mid-sentence. "What the hell, Colonel? Could you please try to keep the manly emoting to a minimum?" He scowled across the table at Sheppard. "Some of us are trying to concentrate."

"Don't know what you're talking about," Sheppard said. His face was nicely blank, but the tips of his ears were bright fucking red.

"I'm talking about the tsunami-sized wave of longing that just about knocked me unconscious!" Rodney snapped, and then felt a wave of utter terror slam his cerebral cortex. "Will you quit that? I'd rather not die of a brain aneurysm today!"

"Sorry," John said, and stood up. "Excuse me," he said to Elizabeth, a pleading look on his face, and ran for the door.

I am So Doomed.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

You are TOTALLY doomed, my friend! (And don't give me that grad school excuse--I got tenure while moderating two communities and writing fic and being an archivist in the snow, both ways!

[hypothalamus.livejournal.com]

Please please please please please right that?

I think, after posting that tidbit, you are more doomed if you don't than if you do!

[jade-dragoness.livejournal.com]

*clutches face* I now have absolutely no excuse to avoid my 'Give Rodney Superpowers So He Can No Longer Say He's Not Superman!' plot bunny. *makes strangled noises*

[delurker.livejournal.com]

I am filled with GLEE for this challenge. Glee, I tell you!

[(Anonymous)]

Where can one leave suggestions for challenge topics? I don't have a Livejournal account and there's no point in getting one because I have way too much else to keep up on.

My idea is for a "strange lands" challenge. Observations thereof, a quest through, needing to comprehend, perceived metaphors, lessons learned, etc.

I just got done reading "The Unwound Way" by Bill Adams and Cecil Brooks, now sadly out of print. In it a group of amateur archaeologists journeys through a series of extraordinary self-contained ecosystems that once upon a time taught lessons of ingenuity and endurance to pilgrims. However, after ten millennia the systems have gone somewhat awry.... Actually the ecosystems were only important for about half the book, but they quite captivated my imagination.

I remember reading a few Stargate SG-1 fanfics along these lines, and there was one actual episode of the show ("One False Step"). It would be interesting to see what Atlantis fanfic can create.

Major spoilers of examples from "The Unwound Way" (skip the rest of this post if you don't want to know):

One system had electric eels that could process hydrogen out of the river they lived in and use it to balloon to their breeding grounds, after which they would drift back downriver and start the whole life cycle again. The characters used that to their advantage.

Another system was a closed maze built into a mountainside and inhabited by jellylike creatures. The creatures tended to end up in the lowest part of the maze, which of course was where the exit was. The characters had to find a way past them, and again it was a matter of figuring out how the creatures worked.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

This is the place! And it's a good idea--Strange Lands and Alien Geographies! Let's do it!

[neery.livejournal.com]

Um, does it have to be secret superpowers, or does any superpowers story count?

ADMIN

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Hm. That's a tough question. I'm inclined to say that sure, why not, ANY superpower is happymaking, though I think it's better if there's at least some gesture toward concealment (which I guess there'd have to be since we the viewers presumably don't know about it in canon yet.)

I, uh, tend not to turn away good stories that were genuinely inspired by these challenges. *g*

Re: ADMIN

[neery.livejournal.com]

which I guess there'd have to be since we the viewers presumably don't know about it in canon yet

Um, okay, bad phrasing on my part -- I should just have come out and said, "Secret superpower implies a power that the characters have always had, or at least for a long time. Can I submit one where they get a new superpower, on a mission or something like that?"

Just, you know, to clarify the question, not because I want you to make up a nitpicky definition. I think I've got a handle on what's acceptable now, and if in too much doubt, there's always the noticeboard. *g*

Re: ADMIN

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, I see-well, it seems to me that the story could definitely presume that they got the superpower later; there's no date specified on the superpower. In fact, lots of "real" superheroes got their superpowers that way, right?

(frozen comment)

[sandalstrap.livejournal.com]

Um, hello. There seems to be an error in the superhero entries tag, or at least the link on the sidebar. It looks like there's just an extra "http:" added in. The tags in the actual entries work, but I thought you might want to know anyway.

[sars.livejournal.com]

_wwsd_ and I were discussing today how we'd like to see a Jane Austen challenge, cause we totally want someone to write McShep Pride and Prejudice. Pretty please? *bats eyelashes*

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Offically seconds that request! :D

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Oh, fun! Maybe a broader "classic novel" challenge in general!

[sars.livejournal.com]

Sounds good :)

[kuna-yashmaa.livejournal.com]

Sorry for bothering you. I was just thinking... Rather often, when I watch a movie (SGA included) I say to myself: "Goddamn it! What this guy/girl is doing? Why wouldn't he/she do (insert story here)."

Perhaps others feel that way too (sometimes). Wouldn't it be nice to see those little stories - how one tiny change, one tiny step makes things better, not so yucky, and disgusting, and miserable.

Is it even possible to keep characters... 'in character', but give them some... I don't know... Something one can respect them for?

I don't know if it would be interesting for many humans, though. Or may be it's too difficult.

[darsnape-dracul.livejournal.com]

Would you be willing to do a Body mod challenge. Where a character had body modification [ie tattooes, piercings, scars] and someone found out, or they go on a mission and came away with pretty sparkly tattooes they wanna show off, or scars taht they want to hide?

This is mainly so that I can confirm that this fandom is a hivemind, and that rodney has sinsitive nipples becasue he used to have piercings. [someone once did that]
Or John might have a tattoo, from his Special Ops days, cause it's not like we've ever seen him with a shirt. Or Ronon has other scars from The Wraith, or Teyla has Henna [or the Pegasus equivalent] for a festival or something. Or Even Radek.

Would you be willing?

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Ready, willing, and able! VBG!!!

[exegesis.livejournal.com]

I have a quick question, as for some bizarre reason my flist occasionally refuses to show sga_flashfic messages.

Is the Secret superpower challenge over and I just missed the closing post, or is it still open? I know it was supposed to end on the 16th, so I'm just wondering.

ADMIN

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

No, we're still open for superpowers; we'll probably close over the weekend sometime,