Five fanfic clichés

[vilakins]

From fannish5: Name five fanfic clichés you secretly (or not-so-secretly) like.

Five fanfic clichés

1. Most of them survived the shootout on Gauda Prime. They did. I generally consider Blake dead though because Gareth Thomas demanded it as part of his contract, so he's the only one that would not have been brought back in the hoped-for fifth season. I admit to killing Dayna off regularly too because having the whole crew survive is a bit much, and she looks so dead when she falls.
   
   
2. Vila fell wrongly. Well, he did; the impact should have thrown him forwards. When he's on the floor, he's lying unnaturally straight with his arms by his sides and his hands lifted from the floor, so he's playing possum and not that well. I usually do give him some sort of injury for added realism, but still, he's alive at the end and he survives. No really, he does.
   
   
3. Gan is a gentle giant. I know there are people (two of whom wrote a book) who believe him to be a woman-hating psychopath, but:
   - he's kind to others and psychopaths aren't; they don't think of others as people
   - he's protective of Vila, and psychos like to prey on the weak
   - he serves hot cocoa on the flight deck
   
   
4. Vila is a vegetarian. I know he could have been joking, but I really like the idea and it fits his character; I can imagine the thought of eating dead animals really repelling him. I'm amused that my Vila's liking for cheesy toast seems to be catching on.
   
   
5. Dev and Tel Tarrant are related. With only one letter's difference, how could they not be? I watched B7 reruns back in 2001, 6 eps a week, and was so certain that Del Tarrant was a Federation plant, I built up quite a lot of evidence pointing that way. All right, the edifice toppled eventually, but it's not going to waste; it's being trotted out in my WIP (the big PGP AKA Lynx). In that, and in my fanon in general, Dev happens to be Del's unlikeable uncle, and the whole family have names started with De.

Comments

[shimere277.livejournal.com]

I usually kill poor Dayna too. She's shot with a different gun than the others. But I did one PGP where only Avon and Dayna survive - because she's shot with a different gun than the others.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Another reason is that Dayna's main skill is explosive devices, and I usually find pilots, gunfighters, thieves, and unstable geeks more useful in my stories.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

I'd be perfectly happy to kill Dayna :) but she was shot with the same gun as Deva... and I usually want to save him.

And I never pay heed to what Gareth Thomas (much as I admire him) wanted or insisted. Or any of the rest of them - or even Boucher or Nation for that matter. It's very simple, really - canonically, GT doesn't even exist...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I watched part of a songvid yesterday which turned out to be Blake so I stopped, but not before I saw Deva shot. He looks like Arlen got him in the arm and he takes cover, then falls, so I don't think he was killed outright like Dayna seems to be.

I suppose I just tried to write a fifth season when I started to write B7 fanfic, but I've had Blake survive in quite a few stories since then. :-) Some people have OTPs; I sort of have a one true fanon, but I'm happy to write other possibilities.

So I did get it right ...

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

I got him shot in the shoulder in my story if you remember.

BTW ... now I am all kitted out with new comp and lots of flashdrives, if you have the old files for that I wouldn't mind it back so I could tidy it up. Didn't you say you'd got copies of it somewhere?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I've got them on my HD and on GMail; I'll send them when I get home tonight.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of them, it's just the way it is.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

:-D It is, isn't it!

[hafren.livejournal.com]

I don't think any of them except Blake is shot more than once, and it's a damn sight easier even for trained personnel to miss with a gun than folk generally think. Plus we know the Feds have stun-guns. I've no problem with them all surviving. Even Blake, on the ground that (a) futuristic surgery could be wonderful and (b) plodding onwards when you've already been shot twice argues either extreme stupidity or a confidence born of body armour.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

[nods] I've used the body armour more than once; bullets from such close range would penetrate it enough to produce the only blood we see and knock him out. Even without armour, stomach wounds don't kill immediately; Blake would have about 15 minutes to be treated or put in a lifepod.

The Feds did have stun guns, or whatever they used in Project Avalon, but they'd need a reason to use them here: to take Blake alive perhaps? Arlen didn't know about the others being there.