Blakes7 December 2001

blakes7@lists.lysator.liu.se

67 participants
252 discussions

Re: [B7L] Mary-Sue
by feste＠brandywine.net 31 Dec '01

31 Dec '01

>Nico wrote: >But now I'm worried that an original character I'm going to use in my >fiction is a Mary Sue, although she's definitely not perfect or universally >adored. I'm basically adding her because I think it stretches probability >too much to use existing characters like Jenna (so Blake lied about her >death) or Avalon (though I am using her in one story) or a miraculously >saved Cally. And the crew *are* going to meet new people, stands to reason >(she says, desperately). I'm with Sally: go forth & try it. It's tough to write original characters without invoking dear Mary Sue, but certainly it can be done; there are any number of precedents in B7 fiction. I think the secret is to keep her from being the center of every scene & of everyone's thoughts & of everyone's emotional lives. >Mind you, I've also created Vila's mother, and she's rather like mine. Is >there a term for that? :-) I love the "Mummy Sue" suggestion! feste feste(a)brandywine.net "Figs are sweet, but fictions are sweeter." -- William Makepeace Thackeray

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Servalan
by Helen Atkins 31 Dec '01

31 Dec '01

Was she named after the serval, because she shares so many characteristics with servals, or did the writer/s just like the name? _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com

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Strange italics
by Mel Saxby 31 Dec '01

31 Dec '01

I've been having some weird problems with my mail, but italics ain't one of them. Mel

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query re my posts
by Sally M 31 Dec '01

31 Dec '01

Dear Everyone Joyce has just informed me that some of my posts are coming up as italicised on the digests (and appear to infect everything after them with italics as well) and this has started in the last couple of weeks. I have not the faintest idea why this has happened - I haven't been doing anything at all that I can think of differently - but in order to try and prevent it (which will be fun if I can't work out why) could people tell me if they are also getting the problem? (both digest and single-post recipients?) and - if they can recall - any of the specific posts that did it? _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

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Re: Did everyone leave the planet and not tell me?
by Mel Saxby 31 Dec '01

31 Dec '01

Re my slightly bizarre message, I've just worked out I've got mail-receiving problems in Outlook. Switched back to Express and got the last few days backlog of messages, so now feel like a total twerp. But I'm glad I'm not alone after all, it was just too wierd. Mel --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.311 / Virus Database: 172 - Release Date: 12/27/01

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All Quiet On the Blake's 7 Front
by Mel Saxby 30 Dec '01

30 Dec '01

Did everyone leave the planet and not tell me? :-) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.306 / Virus Database: 166 - Release Date: 12/4/01

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Re: Original plans for B7 season 5 and a new series
by Mel Saxby 30 Dec '01

30 Dec '01

Nico wrote: Tony Attwood may be putting out a special edition of 'Afterlife', and perhaps a sequel. Aarggh!! No offence to Tony Attwood, but I thought 'Afterlife' was absolutely horrible, and bore very little relation to either characters or series as most fans viewed them even at the time. It might have been interesting as an original novel, without Avon and Vila, but as B7 it failed very badly. I bought it with high hopes, years ago when it first came out, and was deeply disappointed No trace of how Avon might be dealing with shooting his best friend in a tragic misunderstanding, or the loss of his crew. No sense at all of the man who stood protectively over Blake's body at Gauda Prime. I didn't expect a total emotional wallow, but some indication of feeling would have been nice. It just didn't work at all for me. Mel Saxby --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.306 / Virus Database: 166 - Release Date: 12/4/01

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Re: [B7L] Mary-Sue
by Bizarro7＠aol.com 30 Dec '01

30 Dec '01

In a message dated 12/29/01 8:08:34 PM Eastern Standard Time, feste(a)brandywine.net writes: << >I've also come across Peggy-Sue Servalan in the Bizarro zines. Is this a >variation on the theme? Mind you, the Bizarro stories seem to have a lot of >fans and writers lurking lightly-disguised in them. >> No, actually the first name "Peggy Sue" was picked for Servalan's first name because we thought it would be an unlikely surprise....sheerly for contrast against her image. Whatever else a fan might guess about Servalan, they probably wouldn't expect the sort of wholesome, corn-fed, middle-america type name a gal in the 50's was likely to be given. In all the 30-(very)-odd Bizarro 7 stories that I and Annie wrote, we mocked a great variety of things, all the way from the alleged charges against Blake to fanon to fanzine bootleggers...but we never parodied Mary Sue. I've come to the conclusion that a Mary Sue is the entre' most fans invent for the first story, the inspiration to attempt their first fanfiction being a compulsion to inject themselves into the universe they've fallen in love with, via a story. In the guise of an infallible, souped-up version of themselves, they become admirable and worthy of interacting with their hero(s). They are seldom aware that it's uncommon for any other fan reader to enjoy the result except themselves. Once the Mary-Sue is exorcized from their keyboard, things generally improve from that point forward. Leah

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Re: Self-insertion (was Re: [B7L] Re: Blakes7 digest, Vol 1 #787 - 11 msgs)
by Helen Atkins 30 Dec '01

30 Dec '01

Thanks for the Mary-Sue links, and Tim, thanks for your comment- >Seriously. Role-playing is the ultimate in collaborative self-insertion This was quite an eye-opener for me. My husband was a semi-professional games master for a while, and played many different parties in the same "world". Some of them inevitably ran into each other. We were always amazed at the way people would cheerfully fly interstate for the privilege of hiding in the next room to other people they'd never met, so they could be present at the launch of some particularly devious double-cross (some even insisting that the "event" be taped), and the way real-world relationships could be strained by an in-game betrayal. I think you've helped me understand this a little better. And speaking as a techie, I don't think I ever want to play a magic-user again... _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

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Spelling query
by Sally M 30 Dec '01

30 Dec '01

Nicola wrote: <I've decided on 'tarial' instead of 'tarriel' or 'tariel' cells, but which is the accepted spelling of the following?> I go for tarial, mostly. Unless I forget :-) <Is it: Zonda, Keezarn, Kerril and Malodar as on Judith's site and in the Sevencycopaedia or: Zondar, Kezarn, Kerrill and Malodaar as I've seen elsewhere on the web and in some zines?> IMO, it's Zondar, Keezarn, Kerrill and Malodaar. For the etymologically sound and technically inarguable reason that I think they look nicer :-) _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com

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Blakes7 December 2001