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I signed up to do a Sam Carter fic thinking that the assignment I get will give me the plot, all I have to do is write it. It’d be fun playing in the SG1 universe. However, the assignment really didn’t give me a plot at all. Instead, it listed a couple of requirements that would happily fit any fic I’d write: Team interaction, Sam as scientist and soldier, a little action, a little humor, no ship, no bad endings. There is no plot in that. Now, I have come up with a dozen different ideas, but none have any teeth. When I start writing them, they don’t even give me a scene!
I know what the problem is, too. I just don’t understand Sam. I love the character, mind, but I don’t understand her. To be honest, I have a really hard time understand most female characters on television, which is why I always write the guys.
Without an understanding of the character, I have no story, no flesh to hang on my skeleton of a plot, no reason for the characters to do anything at all. I need a plot to have a story, but I need character motivations to have a plot.
So, in an attempt to figure out how to write this story, I give you Sam Carter as I see her:Sam is brilliant and she’s brilliant at just about everything. You name a science and Sam has dabbled in it – she’s even helped with the medical side of things. She doesn’t know it all, but she knows enough to be able to do what she has to. She can think outside the box, as demonstrated by the number of times she comes up with a solution when no one else could. She goes after every puzzle with a “make no assumptions” attitude.
Sam is a decorated soldier and is an excellent officer. She is this despite a history of disliking the service, as evidenced by the fact that all her “other selves” clearly are shocked that she is with the military. (Of course, I totally don’t get the “hate the military because your father is in the military and because of that he didn’t pick up your mom on time, she got impatient, took a cab instead, which got in an accident and she was killed”. Wow. That makes no sense to me.) She is a perfect second-in-command. She provides alternatives and follows orders exactly when needed. With all that said, she does have a bit of a problem when in command. Not when she’s by herself, mind (she did great when fighting off the super soldier), but in command she tends to second-guess herself too much.
She is able to express her emotions openly and without being ashamed of them. She accepted the intense feelings for Martouf that she got for Jolienar (once she realized what was happening) as her own, without any resentment or desire to suppress them. When Daniel walked up to find them in a situation that was obviously fairly intimate, Sam had not indication of embarrassment or discomfort. She forms quick and strong attachments people: Cassandra, Narim, Orlin, Pete. She cares deeply and legitimately for all of them. She is loyal and faithful.
She has willingly and consistently put work ahead of personal life, but at the same time she obviously longs for a “family”, so much so that she was willing to ‘settle’ for Pete – someone she cared about, but who obviously wasn’t who she really wanted. In the end, she had enough courage to do the right thing even if she put it off a little too long.
Sam can see the good in every one, often to the extent of turning a blind eye to their faults. She firmly believes that the good in anyone can outweigh the bad – even more so than Daniel, I think. This is especially true with herself, when Replicator!Carter pops up, she doesn’t suspect any evilness at all, as if she can’t see herself doing anything like that.
I see Sam as someone who graduated HS early and attended a couple of years of regular college. She then went to the Air Force Academy because it was the best route to becoming an astronaut. Yet, after that dream blew up with the shuttle, she liked Air Force life enough to stay part of it.
I know all these things, but I don’t know why she is all these things. Why did she want to be an astronaut? To explore, to help humanity, to see Earth from orbit? Why does she stay a soldier when she is so obviously perfect for being a scientist? What is her center, what keeps her going, what stopped her from “settling” for Pete? What are her insecurities? What holds her back? More importantly, what drives her?
I know what drives Jack, Daniel and Teal’c. I even know what drives Jonas and Cameron. But what drives Sam? A thirst for knowledge? A drive to succeed? A quest to explore? A promise to someone or herself?
This is the key to writing Sam (or any character) and I’m completely missing it.
I know what the problem is, too. I just don’t understand Sam. I love the character, mind, but I don’t understand her. To be honest, I have a really hard time understand most female characters on television, which is why I always write the guys.
Without an understanding of the character, I have no story, no flesh to hang on my skeleton of a plot, no reason for the characters to do anything at all. I need a plot to have a story, but I need character motivations to have a plot.
So, in an attempt to figure out how to write this story, I give you Sam Carter as I see her:Sam is brilliant and she’s brilliant at just about everything. You name a science and Sam has dabbled in it – she’s even helped with the medical side of things. She doesn’t know it all, but she knows enough to be able to do what she has to. She can think outside the box, as demonstrated by the number of times she comes up with a solution when no one else could. She goes after every puzzle with a “make no assumptions” attitude.
Sam is a decorated soldier and is an excellent officer. She is this despite a history of disliking the service, as evidenced by the fact that all her “other selves” clearly are shocked that she is with the military. (Of course, I totally don’t get the “hate the military because your father is in the military and because of that he didn’t pick up your mom on time, she got impatient, took a cab instead, which got in an accident and she was killed”. Wow. That makes no sense to me.) She is a perfect second-in-command. She provides alternatives and follows orders exactly when needed. With all that said, she does have a bit of a problem when in command. Not when she’s by herself, mind (she did great when fighting off the super soldier), but in command she tends to second-guess herself too much.
She is able to express her emotions openly and without being ashamed of them. She accepted the intense feelings for Martouf that she got for Jolienar (once she realized what was happening) as her own, without any resentment or desire to suppress them. When Daniel walked up to find them in a situation that was obviously fairly intimate, Sam had not indication of embarrassment or discomfort. She forms quick and strong attachments people: Cassandra, Narim, Orlin, Pete. She cares deeply and legitimately for all of them. She is loyal and faithful.
She has willingly and consistently put work ahead of personal life, but at the same time she obviously longs for a “family”, so much so that she was willing to ‘settle’ for Pete – someone she cared about, but who obviously wasn’t who she really wanted. In the end, she had enough courage to do the right thing even if she put it off a little too long.
Sam can see the good in every one, often to the extent of turning a blind eye to their faults. She firmly believes that the good in anyone can outweigh the bad – even more so than Daniel, I think. This is especially true with herself, when Replicator!Carter pops up, she doesn’t suspect any evilness at all, as if she can’t see herself doing anything like that.
I see Sam as someone who graduated HS early and attended a couple of years of regular college. She then went to the Air Force Academy because it was the best route to becoming an astronaut. Yet, after that dream blew up with the shuttle, she liked Air Force life enough to stay part of it.
I know all these things, but I don’t know why she is all these things. Why did she want to be an astronaut? To explore, to help humanity, to see Earth from orbit? Why does she stay a soldier when she is so obviously perfect for being a scientist? What is her center, what keeps her going, what stopped her from “settling” for Pete? What are her insecurities? What holds her back? More importantly, what drives her?
I know what drives Jack, Daniel and Teal’c. I even know what drives Jonas and Cameron. But what drives Sam? A thirst for knowledge? A drive to succeed? A quest to explore? A promise to someone or herself?
This is the key to writing Sam (or any character) and I’m completely missing it.
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Date: 2006-07-21 03:47 am (UTC)From:I will re-read in the morning and see if there is anything else I can add though.