sholio | Fic-a-thon story #2: Postcards to Jeannie

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Fic-a-thon story #2: Postcards to Jeannie

The second fic-a-thon story is done!

Title: Postcards to Jeannie
Characters: Teyla, Rodney, Jeannie, Sheppard, Ronon
Rating: PG-ish?
Genre: Humor/drama
Spoilers: Rather large ones for "McKay & Mrs. Miller"
Summary: Teyla starts sending postcards to Jeannie on Earth. Soon the whole gang gets into the act.

This is a very image-intensive story. It's been broken up into a number of pages to make it load quicker.

Click here to start reading "Postcards to Jeannie"

The fic-a-thon request was for a Teyla/Rodney friendship story, and I decided to do a multimedia-type story because I love them and have never done one before.

ETA 7-14-07: There is now a sequel.

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I don't even have the words to tell you how much I enjoyed this. I can't even imagine how much work must've gone into this, but it's absolutely beautiful--the text and the visual images.

Thank you so much! :) It *did* take a lot of time, but it was FUN time, basically just playing with Photoshop and giggling over some of the characters' comments as I wrote them. And I'm really glad you liked it!

Thank you for putting a huge grin on my face. This was wonderful.

Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it. :)

Wow - I loved Teyla and Jeannie's freidnships, the postcards, Teyla's heartbreak, the team being all team-y and annoying and loving and caring so much for each other...
Rodney and Jeannie's relationship was very much the one in the episode too.
Great stuff ;-)

Thank you so much! And, yeah -- especially with Season 3 being what it is, I just LOVE the team's affectionate bickery-ness, with so much love for each other concealed under all the sibling-like poking at each other. I'm glad it came through.

Awesome story! Your words, tone and visuals (pictures, handwritting, scribbles) were spot on for each character and in depicting the growing bond between them. There were so many nice touches - the unlikely understanding between Rodney and Teyla, Ronon as Madison's role model (ack!), Jeannie's lengthier notes to Meredith over time, Teyla's role in the team, the ever present John-Rodney snark.... and this may be totally random, but when I saw John's spaceship sketch, I immediately though "OMG, Firefly" which is also just perfect for our Reluctant Rebel Sheppard too. Thank you! -lis

ahahaha, Firefly! Actually, Sheppard has reminded me of Mal for some time. Or, rather, Mal is what Sheppard might be like after losing all his friends and going on the run. Which is a very depressing thought, come to think of it. Ahem! But anyway, I'm really glad that you liked it and that the team bond came through, since that's what I was really trying to get across. I can just see them all gathered in the cafeteria, scribbling on Teyla's letters ...

WOW! This was a fantastic blend of the visual and written. I really liked how you started with two people corresponding, which eventually expanded to include the others and insights into Teyla and Rodney's relationship. Perfect.

Thank you so much! And thank you for rec'ing it too! I've never tried doing a mostly-visual story before, so this was a whole lot of fun for me to make. I'm glad people have enjoyed reading it as well.

I really enjoyed this, the combination of text and images worked very well.

Thank you very much! I enjoyed doing it. Hey, I'm basically a cartoonist at heart ...

That was brilliant! Wonderful visuals, and the voices were spot-on. I can see these correspondences really happening, and the interludes were just enough to add depth and context.

Thank you so much! I just loved the idea of Teyla and Jeannie as pen pals. I started out intending to do the whole story in letter format, but there were certain parts of it that I just couldn't convey properly. Ultimately, the contrast between what actually happens and what parts of it they put in their letters turned out to be interesting, too.

That was very sweet, and I really like your Teyla/Rodney interaction.

I have to ask: That picture with the bright yellow maple, where was that taken? I know I recognize it, I just can't pin it down.

Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it.

The picture is one that my husband took of the computer science building at UIUC in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. I suspect many campuses with red brick buildings look very similar, though.

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sholio - 2006-10-03 17:05 (UTC) - Expand

How completely *gorgeous*, both the story and the art. Thank you very much for starting off my morning so well!

You are very welcome! I'm glad you liked it!

That was all kinds of goodness. It's comfy? Does that make any sort of sense? You wrote a comfy fic, where the team is just right, and gives that blooming feeling in the chest.
Very strange (not the fic, the feelings it produces), but much appreciated.

Thank you! And I think I know *exactly* what you mean by "comfy". I've only realized this recently, but I seem to have a particular "kink" (if you can call it that) for cozy, family-type bonding scenes. Like, the whole team sitting around a fire drinking hot cocoa (which would inevitably disintegrate into snarky hijinks, but that's half the fun). I'm noticing that these scenes are creeping more and more into my stories -- not that I'm trying to stop them by any means -- and the feeling that they give me is just that ... sort of a comfy, cozy, snuggly feeling.

Oh, this is such an absolutely amazing story! I really, really loved the images. The homemade cards were great, and the illustrations to the story are amazing, too.

And the text part of the story was just as nice. The voices were all perfectly in character. I loved the sense of growing friendship between Jeannie and Teyla, and all the wise-ass comments Rodney and the rest of them scrawled over each others postcards.

Thank you very much! I'm so glad you liked it. I could just picture all of them sitting around and scribbling all over each other's postcards and letters. It was a lot of fun to write. :)

This was so much fun to read! I was so sad to see it end. Shall I be the obnoxious person and ask for a sequel? Why, yes. Yes I will. Sequel please? ;-)

Thank you! And, you know, I loved doing this one so much that I'd like to try another multimedia-type story at some point in the future. So there may well be a sequel. :)

It would be awesome to have Teyla for a pen pal ...

What a gorgeous, gorgeous story, both in content and presentation. I could hear the voices of each character from the show as I read, and as a sometimes postcard fiend, I loved the whole idea of the post cards--and then, of course, there's not enough room on them in the end so it's just letters. Bravo!

Thank you so much! Yes, I love postcards and letters, and it makes me sad that the internet's superceded them in a lot of ways. I was a total postcard/letter junkie as a teenager, with penpals all over the place. And I enjoyed doing the story progression, with the two of them starting out with little postcards and ending up sending long chatty letters to each other.

This is marvelous! So next year when I am many others nominate it for the Stargate Fan Award for SGA stories, should it be for multimedia or humor? I'll do both. Bet it'll win, too. Wonderful way to make the story even better.

Thank you so very much! Um ... *blush* I don't know, actually. The thought hadn't even occurred to me that the multimedia category might be for things other than music videos. But, I'm very, very flattered that you liked it that much!

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ann-i-blessing.livejournal.com - 2006-10-04 02:29 (UTC) - Expand

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sholio - 2006-10-04 03:28 (UTC) - Expand

gorgeous and touching. this kind of thing can end up gimmicky or distracting but it didn't -- the emotions and story came through beautifully. really, really well done! thanks!

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it and didn't find it too over-the-top. I know what you mean about gimmicky-ness sometimes detracting from a story.

This was wonderful! I enjoyed all of it, but the interludes when John and Rodney realize why they're worried about Corlan really made me happy. And the last bit, when Rodney's sharing his story, had tears running down my face. I really found that believable. Poor Rodney.

Wonderful, wonderful stuff.

What a lovely, creative way to tell this story! The story itself is so sweet, well-written and in character for all of them, especially Teyla and Rodney! I love your postcards, and the idea of the team writing to Jeannie, and that it gives John, who has no one to write to (we assume) someone at home to care about. Thanks for this; now I have to go read your other SGA stories!

Devon

I'm not on livejournal, (yet) but my email address is devonflakes@yahoo.com

Bingo! You got what I was trying to convey with John! That's it exactly -- he enjoys writing to Jeannie, in part, because he doesn't have anyone to write to himself. Thanks!

Ok that was just AWWWWWWWWW. Realy you just made my day, thank you, I can´t tell you how much I love it.

It´s the first multimedia-type story I ever read, are there more to find on the net?

Squeeee!!

Thank you ever so much! :)

There are actually quite a few of them that I've seen, but most tend not to be as long as mine; they're mostly along the lines of a form that a character has filled out, or something of that nature.

sga_flashfic is where a lot of them turn up. I do love them, perhaps because they help flesh out the SGA world and make it seem more real.

Here are a few to get you started:

Rodney's Scrapbook of Death
Imaginary Gate Team 5's mission report
Zelenka's Annual Performance Review
Mission SNAFU Report Form

There's a really hilarious (slash-centric) "Rodney's Diary" fic around somewhere that I absolutely cannot find; it's somewhere on LJ, though. I thought I bookmarked it but apparently not.

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shortnudel.livejournal.com - 2006-10-05 14:44 (UTC) - Expand

Here via shetiger's rec and so, so glad I came.

This was a wonderful story. I loved the letters back and forth, the different ways that Teyla made postcards (such a Teyla thing to do), how Madison wanted to be Ronon when she grew up, the complete and utter love that the team has for each other and John and Rodney realizations that they didn't want Teyla to leave them. I absolutely ADORED the friendship between Rodney and Teyla, too. It read so true to me and I just loved it.

Thank you so much! I've been on a total team-love kick lately. I think Season 3 has done this to me. They are just such a wonderfully close bunch. And yes, Teyla would totally do handmade postcards and be the coolest pen pal EVER.

This is simply marvelous - I could hear Teyla and Jeannie in my head, which is always a good sign for a story. And the Rodney/Teyla interactions were absolutely precious - Teyla may civilize him yet! All in all, a wonderful story, great presentation. Definitely going in the memories.

Thank you! That is seriously cool that you could hear them in your head. I know exactly what you mean and it has always been the hallmark of a good fic to me, so ... thanks!

This has been one of my most enjoyable reading experiences ever. The story and the postcards are beautiful. I especially love Madison's drawing of the team. It really did look like a four-year old drew it. I also love any and all Rodney/Teyla interaction which this story had plenty of.

Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it that much. My sister -- who beta'd for me -- said of the Madison drawing: "I laughed for a minute and a half straight." *hee* It was actually kind of cool to just sit down with my Wacom tablet and scribble on the screen like I was four years old.

I loved this story. It brought tears to my eyes a few times...and made me smile and laugh and feel good at the end. I loved how much creativity you put into this.

Thank you ever so much! I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

This is so good, and so well produced. Thank you for sharing!

You are welcome, and thank you for commenting!

Postcards to Jeannie is all kinds of awesome! Loved all the drawings and postcards. But I loved the Teyla/Rodney interludes best.

Thanks! I'm glad you liked the interludes -- I'd started out intending to try to do the whole story with the postcards and letters, but there were certain parts of it that I just couldn't convey because the best parts would be the parts that were left out. And ultimately, that does create an interesting dynamic in the story -- what they wrote about, and what they didn't.

Awww... I was so unhappy to see this end! The voices were just dead-on, and I can't believe how long the images must have taken. Such a good interaction between Teyla and Jeannie, and Teyla and the boys. It was just charming and wonderful!

Thank you very much! It did take a while, but it was total play -- I loved doing it. And I also really enjoyed playing with the different character dynamics. I'm glad you liked it!

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