NINETEEN: Author's Notes

Contents

*Beginnings

*Influences/Reasons Why

*Writing

*The Notes

*Sequel?

Welcome to the Author's Notes for Lady of the Gate! It should be pointed out at the outset that the story was envisaged as a 90 000 word tale that would breeze along quickly. Instead, the word count blowing out to almost 200 000 was something of a bit of a shocker and accounts for the lengthy writing time.

*Three and a bit years of writing (began 19-March-2006; finished 17-04-2010)

*Three years of posting (began on 24-December-2006; finished 24-12-2010)

==BEGINNINGS==

I've been a long time reader of fan fiction and in 2006 decided I wanted to have a go at putting something of my own on the web to repay all those happy hours spent reading other peoples' efforts. I picked Stargate: SG-1 as it was a series I was beginning to work my way through on DVD and had just started reading some of the fan fiction associated with the show.

I came up with five story ideas in the early part of 2006. These were:

1) A story where one or more of SG-1 were possessed by Goa'uld parasites (this became "Behind Enemy Lines")

2) A story where one or more of SG-1 were possessed by Tok'ra symbiotes (this became "Two" - possibly won't ever be posted at . What was written is available to read on my blog - see my profile for link)

3) A crossover with MacGyver (this became "The Hunting of the Jack")

- 4) A genderbender story

5) A story heavily influenced by Livi2Jack's Stargate Revealed stories (this became "The Celestial Temple" - possibly won't ever be posted. Again see blog for posts of written material.)

==INFLUENCES/REASONS WHY==

The idea of a genderbender story came about because of two influences. One was that I had been reading the manga Ranma 1/2 since 1996, which features a sixteen-year-old boy who changes gender with the application of cold or hot water, and the associated fan fiction, many of which chose to examine in depth the emotional havoc such a problem could cause (the manga itself was mainly concerned with slapstick humour based around strange situations or very odd kung fu styles).

The second was the small number of Stargate: SG-1 genderbender fics that I had come across on that on the whole seemed merely an excuse to write slash fiction between Daniel and Jack without it 'appearing' to be slash fiction. They were on the whole uniformly poorly written (no offense intended to any of those writers who may be reading this!), usually rushing the gender change in order to get to the sex (most seemed to have thankfully vanished in the NC-17 purge). That I had no interest in reading slash fiction was simply the icing on the cake as far as terminating my interest in said fics.

So Lady of the Gate (known originally simply as Jac for want of a better title) was an attempt to tell a well told genderbender story in the vein of some of the Ranma 1/2 ones I'd read and at the same time mark my first attempt to play in the Stargate: SG-1 sandbox.

==WRITING==

Initially with Lady of the Gate I just sat down and started writing the story from the beginning (working in a combination of typing directly onto the computer and writing out in long hand on pad paper), composing the story in bites of 2 500 words with the intention that each 'bite' would focus on one event/person only. I posted on the samandjack e-mail mailing list for pre-readers and got some good responses, but by the time I'd sent out my fifth or sixth 2 500 word 'bite' I was no longer getting feedback. Undaunted I revised these 'bites' into the format of 10 000 words chapters and carried on from there.

By this point I now had a notebook in which I was writing down my ideas for the adventure (as well as ideas for my other stories). What follows is my notes with the occasional after the fact comment from me in bold. The 'missing' pages are ones dedicated to other stories of mine.

==THE NOTES==

Page One

* Jac is 24

* Sara - 6 wks pregnant in mid-Oct '04

- due May '05

In the end I decided about halfway through to terminate the adventure before events reached this birth of the baby as the story was already getting quite long

* Jon visits SGC (Nov. 26th (Fri.))

- takes a liking to a pic of Jac

(humour?)

Eventually used with Sanderson

* Munro pursues complaint - Jac

* P8X-345

- Ancient tech now at SGC in Carter's lab

- another prison device

* Cassandra?

A reminder to think about whether she would appear in the story or not

* Jac + Sara

meeting Charlie's grave - late Dec.

* Barrett - thinks Jack is off world - BLACK OPS MISSION

Page Two

* Ba'al looking for Ancients' prison (is P5X-878 where Jac's accident happened)

* Mark puts pressure on Sam to talk to Pete

- happens during the events of "Gemini" in Jan. '05

Brought forward to Christmas '04

* Jac ends up ascending?

NO

One of my four potential endings to the story

* Xmas get together Mark Carter's w Jacob + Pete

Moved to Sam's apartment

* broken justice machine on P5X-878 handing out random prison sentences (justice)

- SG-5: dead

- Jack: gender change

- Sam: hallucinations SGC

Page Three

* L'masee infiltrating ha'tak in order to help Jac

Not developed as it was better to simply gloss over this and get on with the main thrust of the story, which was Jac

* Jac becomes dependant on sarcophagus - unable to leave under her own steam?

- L'masee helps her back to SGC

V

recovery Sara's?

(Dec. '04?)

There followed a quick calendar for the later half of Season 8 based on notes from various websites about the Stargate timeline

Page Four

* Dec. '04 - Xmas without Jack

Not really explored

* Thor? - comes to check due to DNA alterations

- delayed by replicators

- turns up during "Gemini"?

Last idea was obviously dropped

Jac abducted by Replica-Carter

Dropped

* Colonel Lionel Pendergast

- commander of Prometheus

(s8 ~ s9)

V

Vala Mal Doran

Basically just reminders of people in relevant episodes

* Jack has learnt Latin

- throw pottery

Observations from my marathon screening of the series on DVD that I thought might prove useful

* Sanderson has a crush on Jac

* Kinsey keeps up denial about Jack / Jac till he goes missing in "Endgame"

Obviously I meant "Full Alert" since "Endgame" took place before the start of Lady of the Gate!

Page Thirteen

L'masee diff. to Teal'c in that he still believes that the Goa'uld (& Jac) are gods

This is me struggling to make L'masee something other than a clone of Teal'c!

There followed a detailed calendar for December 2004 and January 2005 with these dates noted:

Dec 1st: Jac tortured

Dec 6th: Munro

Dec 8th: artefact from P8X-345

Dec 10th: Jac escapes - SG-1 go to wrong planet

Dec 13th: J+L'masee make it to Alpha site

Dec 28th: visit Charlie's grave

Jan 1st: Jac takes back old house

Jan 11th~15th: "Gemini" / "Prometheus Unbound"

Jan 24th: visit Charlie's grave

Page Fourteen

- SG-1 check on wrong planet and miss Ba'al (during which time L'masee helps Jac escape) - Sanderson helps SG-1

- Jac returns at start of "Gemini" / "Prometheus Unbound" story line

- stays with Sara in Boston

- called to trial about Killian

Changed to have Jac return afterwards so that I could skip the two episodes with minimum fuss

Lt. Richard

Phillip

John

Charles

Maj. Joshua Killian

Scribbled additions to list below

Sanderson (SG-7) - 'team of scientists'

Colonel Munro (SG-15) - team injured

Cpt. Goffrey (SG-15)

Lt. Jones (SG-9)

- Daniel 'feels' there is a link between Jack and Jac - not sure what tho.

* device Ba'al used on Jac a 'tagging' device for new prisoners - Ba'al can now track her anywhere

Page Nineteen

* Mark + Pete get drunk one evening and Pete tells Mark exactly what it is that Sam is really up to

- Mark really believed the Deep Space Telemetry cover story

V

takes place before Xmas

V

Xmas dinner mark confronts Sam about the truth

* huge argument - Jacob sides w Sam

Sidestepped instead for comedy

* Mark learns of female O'Neill and assumes this is the O'Neill Pete complained about as being a rival

COMEDY OF ERRORS!

- Mark thinks perhaps Sam is 'bi'!

Dropped as I felt more gender confusion wasn't needed!

Cassandra coming to Colorado Springs for Xmas

Page Twenty

There followed a detailed calendar for February 2005 through to April 2005 with these dates noted:

Feb 1st~5th: "It's Good to be King"

Feb 15th: Hearing begins

Feb 15th~17th: "Full Alert"

Feb 20th: "Citizen Joe"

Feb 23rd: "Citizen Joe"

Feb 24th: Prison planet

Feb 27th~Mar 4th: "Reckoning"

Mar 8th~9th: "Threads"

Mar 10th/11th: "Letters from Pegasus"

Mar 23rd: "Moebius"

Mar 24th~25th: "The Seige"

Page Twenty-One

* SG-9

Col. Majorie Hill

Maj. Timothey Hannah - Gulf War veteran

Lt. Charles Jones - newly posted from Iraq

Dr David Webbes - he's not in rescue mission

V

linguistics expert

Don't recall why I bothered with the detail of Webbes!

There followed a short timeline of events from "Moebius Part Two" through to "Avalon" (and "The Intruder" for Atlantis) nicked from a Stargate web site. I've long since forgotten which site.

Page Twenty-Two

* Jac's connection with Joe

("Citizen Joe") - starts having flashes again

- she hasn't been near the device since she changed - not until events of "Gemini"

Joe attacks her in 'Jack's' house later when she's moved in in Feb.

Brought forward Jac's moving house to help with plot of "Full Alert"

Apologies to Jac from SG-1

* No contact from Thor - too busy with replicators

* No contact from Tok'Ra - too busy trying to find out what Ba'al is up to

Page Twenty-Three

- idea: Jac meeting Jon

main focus

"Gemini" - Jac kidnapped by Replica-Carter

"Prometheus" - up against Vala

Both dropped

"Good 2 B King" - Ancient tech / Harry

"Full Alert"• - Kinsey blocking truth

"Citizen Joe" - device + Joe

"Reckoning" - Tok'Ra / Jacob / Ba'al

"Threads" - Sam / Pete break up

• truth about Jac is revealed to SG-1

Even by this point I hadn't decided how to end the story, hence "Moebius" isn't mentioned.

* when above happens SG-1 finally see genetic similarity - wasn't obvious before because they didn't have any pictures of female relatives to compare Jac with - so the similarity in features to Jack went unnoticed

Dropped

Page Twenty-Four

Sanderson asks Teal'c why he was chosen for the rescue mission

- friendly face Jac would recognise

* Jac assigned to Prometheus mission?

Didn't happen

Nov. 12, 2004 - SUNDAY

* at end of "Moebius" adventure Sam speculates that the actions of the other SG-1 team (the ones who travelled back in time) made some small change that led to the events of Jack turning into Jac

* Jac made part of team that goes to Atlantis via Stargate in "The Siege Part II"

I finally decide on an end to the story! The 4 possible endings having been: 1) Jac dies; 2) Jac ascends; 3) Jac turned back into Jack; and 4) Jac stays as she is. #1 was too depressing after everything else in the story, #2 was too twee and a cop-out, after all Jac could then 'descend' as a guy, #3 was too much like pushing a Star Trek-type reset button and like ascending a cop-out after all the things Jac goes through. #4 seemed the best choice and then I realised I'd used the word 'irrevocably' in the story summary. Guess my subconscious knew where I was going with the story all the time!

Page Thirty-Nine

* "Prometheus Unbound" takes place as normal - Hammond believes he has no choice but to take Daniel with him even tho Daniel doesn't want to go

* "The Seige II" takes place in July '05?

Various time lines argue over placement of episodes. Some follow US airdates, other internal evidence. I mixed and matched for my own use

* "Letters from Pegasus" takes place 2 weeks before "The Seige"

An example of internal evidence for dating episodes

* "Gemini" set a little before "PU"

ie. teaser set before "PU" teaser; then both episodes take place at same time

- takes place as normal

Jac is not on base for these events, hears about them from rest of SG-1 during "Good 2B King"

Page Forty

Then some notes of specific episodes for points to consider

IG2BK

- Jac goes to meet Mayborne with rest of SG-1

- she helps Daniel with translation

| this is when Daniel tells Jac about "PU" events

- Jac able to activate the ship

- no evacuation

FA

- Kinsey reveals to Jac that he knows who she is in order to get Jac's attention

- Jac w Teal'c during tracking and when they move in after loss of signal

- Jac helps Sam w search program?

Last two items were dropped in favour of pairing Jac and Daniel in Russia, which I thought would be more interesting to read

MOEBIUS

- reaction to seeing Jack on tape

- still go fishing?

* Letters from Pegasus ARRIVES 10/11th March

Page Forty-One

* can't forget

- Lt. Sanderson

- L'masee

- what have done since rescue?

Another reminder about characters so that they didn't just drop out of the story suddenly and never return

Sanderson is promoted to Cpt. b4 events reach "Reckoning" / "Threads"

Didn't happen as I felt he needed to remain in a rank below that of Jac

SG-7 'team of scientists'

* Landry informs Jac of Munro's push for hearing (& date of hearing: Feb 8th) at end of G2BKing

* L'masee + Lt. Sanderson part of Jac's unit when she goes to Atlantis (Seige II)

More material for end of story

* Jac can speak Russian? (FA)

* revelation that Jac is Jack has Sam cling to engagement with Pete till events of "Threads"

Lieutenant Samuel Forrester, JAG

I sent a lot of time on Wikipedia looking at what a JAG was and the mandate/role

Page Forty-Two

* Feb. 24th - Daniel had, in downtime after PU, established the likely planet that Ba'al was hunting for: P5X-878

• SG-1 head there and Jac is forced to destroy the place to stop Ba'al (who has turned up) from getting it

- hints that Ba'al is in league with Anubis

V

Jac is already reconciled to being female 4 rest of life

- Sam has trouble with understanding that

V

events of "Reckoning" begin STRAIGHT on the heels of these events

what has Barrett been up to?

Shanahan Hansen

==SEQUEL?==

So, Jac has stepped through the gate and into the events of the Season One finale of Stargate: Atlantis. What will become of her?

Once I'd settled on an ending for Lady of the Gate I began having ideas about what could happen to Jac on the other side of the gate (a decision that happily coincided with the watching of Seasons One and Two of Atlantis on DVD). Thus during the writing of Lady I began making notes for a potential sequel.

At the time of writing this I am hesitant to write a sequel for the following reasons:

1) I want to concentrate on completing Behind Enemy Lines and The Hunting of the Jack. They have to be first priority.

2) Jac would be very much in the background for the major storyline events of Atlantis — after all she is simply a Captain and no one there knows her past. So the story would revolve more around her team's off-world adventures than the ongoing storyline of Atlantis. Which wouldn't be the same as being at the forefront of events as in Lady.

3) By this stage Jac has (hopefully) moved far enough away from Jack to be her own self (whilst still echoing Jac's main personality characteristics) and thus that makes her something akin to an OC. I personally read fanfiction because I want to explore new adventures with familiar characters I like, which is why I've never bothered to read the exciting adventures of SG-16 (no matter how well written) as I don't know them at all. I currently feel that a sequel, despite supporting appearances from the Atlantis cast which would grow in importance as the story progressed (and one character in a major role), would stray too far into OC territory and thus be potentially less interesting to read for fans of SG-1 or Atlantis. Especially since Jac would be surrounded by my OCs of Lt. Sanderson and L'masee.

But, as the saying goes 'never say never'. We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds.

— Gallicus (2010)