Welcome, community overview and guidelines

[carolyn_claire]

Welcome to The Comfy Chair! This community was created to encourage public discussion of stories written in the Stargate-verse (and other fandoms to be added, later.) The point, here, is to share reactions, views and preferences--what we like in the stories we read and what we don't, and why. Anyone can have an opinion about what does or doesn't work for them in what they read; it's all welcome, here, and all up for discussion.

Please read, remember and follow the guidelines below in order to keep your posting status:

- Any story posted or archived publicly may be discussed here; stories posted to private lists or flocked journals may not. Posters may chose, at their own discretion, to ask authors if they would mind having their story discussed prior to posting, but doing so is not a requirement of the comm.

- This is a discussion comm, not a recs comm or a snark comm. Don't just tell us that you loved a story; tell us why, what made it work for you and if there was anything about it that didn't. Don't choose a story to discuss that doesn't merit discussion--no badfic, please. Choose stories that you or others feel are well written, and tell us about anything that did work for you as well as anything that didn't. Story discussion is interesting and informative; flaming is not. Reasoned, critical discussion is welcome; save bitchy wit, snark and MSTing for other venues. Rants aren't allowed; detailed posts/essays on things like pet peeves, fanon/canon, characterization, etc., including any specific examples from posted stories, are encouraged (without any dramatic eye-rolling or teeth-gnashing, please.)

- Discussion will be focused on stories, only, not authors, posters or other commenters. Be prepared, when posting, for others to disagree with you; that's the point of the comm. It's all about opinion, and opinions on any one story will vary widely. Tactful, respectful discussion is key, but people do express themselves in different ways; comments reprimanding others for not using 'correct' language ("I think", "IMO", etc.) will not be allowed. Focus discussion on the ideas expressed and not how they're expressed. Stay on topic: the comm has a firm "take it outside" (to your own journal) rule for threads that evolve beyond story discussion.

- Discussion here isn't intended as an attack on any story or author, so no 'defense' is needed. To keep discussion uninhibited, authors are asked not to join in discussion of their own stories; friends or betas of authors are also asked not to speak on their behalf. Discussion should center on readers' views of the story as presented, not on authorial intent. Let the story speak for itself, here; write the author directly for her viewpoint or to give feedback.

- Please don't submit your own stories for discussion or request critique or feedback of your stories from the comm. If you'd like to see your completed, publicly-posted story discussed, ask a friend who enjoyed it to open a discussion post about it.

- No story posting, announcements, comm ads or off-topic discussion, please. Discussion of episodes as they relate to writing and particular stories is allowed.

- Do announce your posts to your flist, your fandom's noticeboard/newsletter, etc. to encourage participation in the discussion on your post. (This will become increasingly important as new fandoms are added beyond those the mods participate in.)

- If you have any questions about the comm, please feel free to comment with them to this post or contact me, carolyn_claire, at my journal.

Have fun! It's all about the fun.

What does it for me: SF elements in SGA stories, by Carolyn Claire

[carolyn_claire]

This post is a sort of a hybrid thing--not really a story review, not as objective or extensive as an essay, and a little bit of both, maybe. As I was thinking about a couple of stories I might like to post about, it struck me that several of them have something in common--they have a SF element in them that really impressed me. But it's a Stargate show, you may say; the entire premise of the series is SF based. And you're right, it is, but that doesn't mean that all the stories written that are based on the series are SF themed, in and of themselves. There's romance, adventure, thrillers, porn, drama, humor, all sorts of foundations for the action and interaction of the stories that aren't SF based, even though the universe, itself, invites the use of wormholes, faster-than-light travel and knowledge of life on other plants as tools to advance those stories. The stories I'm talking about, the ones that give me a little thrill reminiscent of the way the SF stories I grew up on made me feel, have SF elements at their hearts--the stories are built around those elements, and they're extremely cool.

The stories I'm going to refer to are:
Synthesis by Thingswithwings
The Ones You Leave Behind by Leah
Whipping Boy by Skinscript
The Fourteenth of Green by Kanata
Dearest by Lavvyan
( Read more... )

The Comfy Chair community is open for business!

[carolyn-claire.livejournal.com]

The comm is open, and the first post (by me) is up. Come over and discuss with us! http://the-comfy-chair.dreamwidth.org/

I'll be closing The Cuttingboard, now. Thanks to everyone who's participated; I hope you'll come join us on Dreamwidth!

Admin: We're participating in Three Weeks for Dreamwidth!

[carolyn_claire]

The creation of this comm was inspired by a desire to contribute content for DW, and its opening was timed to coincide with the 3W4DW anniversary fest. It's a standing rule of the comm that all comm content is to be hosted here--no linking to posts in other venues, such as one's own journal, is allowed, so that discussion meant for the comm stays in the comm. That doesn't preclude someone mirroring a post made here somewhere else, as long as there's no link to the mirror post--usually; for the duration of the fest, for the next three weeks, we ask that you do not mirror any posts created here anywhere else (though you can announce and link to a post made here in other venues.) Thanks for participating!