Whaleverse Q&A

[sholio]

More happy!

With all the many stories over at sgabigbang, the mods are offering each writer an opportunity to put up promotional material for her story. They had a list of different options - we can have people write DVD commentaries or reviews for us, or we can solicit questions and do a little Q&A, sort of a mini-interview with us!

naye and I both loved the idea of a Q&A. Here is your opportunity to ask questions about A Clear and Different Light - questions about the writing/collaborating process, what gave us the idea for this or that, clarification on anything that seemed unclear, more info on anything in the world-building - basically, any question that you have, anything you wondered about while reading the story ... please ask!

We will be writing up the answers together and posting them at sgabigbang in a few weeks.

So! Questions?

Comments

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

I kind of want to ask how you even got the idea, yeah, and which one of you came up with it. Also, I know you had planned to make this gen, so I'd like to know which scene it was that made you realise you were, in fact, writing McKay/Sheppard. :D

Oh, and! The whales, do they usually take an interest in humans? Rodney seems to be just about the only one who can understand them (except for Ronon and the Satedan script thing), so why were they hanging around Atlantis anyway (apologies if I just managed to miss that somehow)?

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

Whaleverse?! LOL! :)

I LOVED the idea of how the wraith possessed people/moved about/oily/etc. That was just too cool for words. So, curious on what prompted that idea.

Also, love magic in general, so how hard was it to write the magic aspects - or what did you look at for inspiration?

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

This may sound like a kind of odd question, but I was wondering if you knew in your own heads what happened in the 'off-camera' time, during which John settles into Pegasus and does all the snooping that you tell us he does - I know that if you'd included it you wouldn't so much as had a novel as a series of novels, but I just wondered if *you* knew what happened. Was it the kind of adventures we see on the screen, or was it a bit lower key than that?

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

The whales (I can’t resist asking about the Whales).

How do you perceive the whales? You went with mammals rather than the large fish (Flagisallus spp.; c.f. ‘Echoes’), was that a conscious decision? And are we talking Humpback or Killer Whale scales?

The Whales’ telepathic method of communication, why do you think only Rodney can telepath the whales: his genius; his propensity to manipulate math or an innate skill?

The Whales sing… so do they have a spoken language?

[trystings.livejournal.com]

I haven't finished yet (almost though, 30 pages left) and it's an amazing story. I'd love to know more about the writing/collaborating process. The fic is so cohesive and in one style, I can't tell it was written by two people. How did you manage that?

[(Anonymous)]

In canon there are other surviving Satedans--does Whaleverse have other Satedan refugees somewhere offscreen, or is Ronon the last living Satedan?

Actually, any backstory on Ronon would be great; what the fall of Sateda was like, for example. The section where John visits Sateda was deeply, deeply creepy and horrifying in a way that writing seldom manages. Loved it.

[bell]

I'm still reading (and loving!) the story, and I'd love to know more about your writing/collaboration process. :) How did you divy up the writing? Was there problems in different writing styles-- if so, how did you work that out? If not, any particular reason why? What resources did you use to write together (google docs, swapping word docs through email attachments, sitting together with pen and paper)? And how much/in what way did you two plot the story? Any interesting anecdtores/explanations about the process?

Thanks~.

[kristen999.livejournal.com]

How did you guys come up with the idea to give Ronon wings? It really worked, but for me it was such an interesting gift.

Naye said the original ending was far more complex than what you guys wrote...what was it? :-P

When did you guys realize you were going to write slash? I had forgotten the genre rating and the story read gen to me all the way to the climax scene in the chair room...so was it at that point or earlier?

thank you!