I like her better than Carson

[schneefink]

For the December meme, a question by devon: Which SGA character(s) do you identify with most? Why? (If it's not too personal) If you don't ID with any, whose voice comes most naturally to you?

"Identify" is maybe too strong a word, but the character I felt the most kinship with was Dr. Jennifer Keller, season 4. In season 5 they added more and more romance to her storyline and that wasn't really my main interest, and in addition there were a couple of times when I thought her development could have been better done. But in season 4 I liked her a lot: a smart young woman out having an adventure - in another galaxy, where everything's different, you don't know anyone, you have to replace your predecessor who everyone loved and admired, and you suddenly have many responsibilities that you're not sure you can fulfill, but you also can't afford to fail. I really liked "Missing", for example, where Teyla and Jennifer discover the Athosians are missing and are hunted by mercenaries, and Jennifer doesn't really know what she's doing but does her best anyway.

But she's not the character I found easiest to write. In SGA fandom I discovered that I found the Pegasus characters much easier to write than the characters from Earth. Their backgrounds, experiences, worldview I can make up. But the Earthers: they're socialized in very specific groups that I don't know, like the US Air Force, academia, international politics... Jennifer, as a doctor, would probably be one of the easier ones. But she's still from a culture I don't know, namely the US. Which state is she from? What does that mean? Where did she probably study, what was the environment, how did she get to her position this fast?
Now I could write her, but back then I found it difficult. (I was too lazy to want to do much research.) And she also wasn't one of my favorite characters, Teyla and Ronon were, so I spent more time thinking about their backgrounds. I don't think I ever wrote about Jennifer, actually, and now I kind of want to. I had a few sketches and outlines, but never finished a story. (I'd have to rewatch at least season 4 and currently don't have the time for that. Maybe one day.)

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

I think she got a bum rap. She was a great character, and fandom hated on her because she was a girl who dared to interfere in their OTP.

[schneefink]

Yeah. I wasn't a big fan of her with McKay either but that's no reason to hate on her. I think in addition to that came that there was very little Sheppard in season 5, which fans were disappointed by, and they blamed Jennifer because she got more screen time.

[tielan]

See, this is unusual in that most of the time the characters that people identify with are also the ones they like most (and project into).

I didn't mind Keller as a character in the show; I felt she got a bit of a bum deal, and that the writers shoved her into tropes that limited rather than expanded her character growth. However I really liked her in the SGA Legacy books; the authors did her pretty well there.

[schneefink]

I'm not awesome enough to be Teyla or Ronon ^^

In general I don't think I really "identify" with many characters, that's a pretty strong word. I can often empathize particularly well with certain aspects of certain characters, but that doesn't mean I like them. Or I can wish I was more like a certain character, but that doesn't mean I identify with them.

[devon]

This was maybe an oddly worded question, because I happen to ID with characters pretty hard. If I'm watching or reading a fandom, I'll get way more into it if I ID with someone.

I like your answers. I think it's pretty cool to be able to write characters who don't have very much canon background - that part is hard for me. I love Teyla and Ronon, but the character-I-feel-most-like is probably John. If I hadn't fucked up school so spectacularly, it might have been Rodney, but I'm not capable of his level of education despite being smart.

Thanks!

[schneefink]

I enjoyed Pegasus worldbuilding :) The show didn't do it enough.

On the rare occasions that I do identify strongly with a character I feel more vulnerable as a viewer/reader because I take everything that happens to that character more personally. So I'm glad it doesn't happen all the time.

[sholio]

I always liked Keller and thought there was so much potential to her story -- because yeah, she's a newcomer to this weird and wonderful city full of people who already know each other, pushed into a job she didn't really want, with a load of other people's expectations on her. It's hard! I would be very happy if you wanted to write her someday; I was especially interested in her relationship with Teyla, after Missing, and wished it had gotten some screen time and development.

[schneefink]

I was frustrated in season 5 because I wanted to see her grow in her position, and we didn't get to see that the way I wanted it to. We saw some of it, maybe I'm doing her a disservice here, season 5 wasn't my favorite in general so that probably plays a role. I wasn't a fan of her relationship with Rodney, which doesn't help. (Though I absolutely hated how certain parts of fandom bashed her for that. Ugh.)

I'm not sure if I'll get back to writing SGA one day, but if I do I still have stories to tell about Jennifer. (And Elizabeth. So many stories about Elizabeth that I didn't manage to write.)

[dhampyresa]

I loved Keller and her team-up with Teyla is one of my fave SGA eps.

[schneefink]

Such a great ep! Jennifer overcoming her fear, and even shooting people.