So I watched the leaked version of Stargate SG-1: The Ark of Truth, and it reminded me of how much I love these things:

a) Daniel/Vala.
b) SG-1 10x20 "Unending"
c) That one danvala fic I started writing after watching "Unending" approximately twenty times (ie, the day it aired).

So I went to seek out that danvala fic (creatively titled "Unending fic") so I could read it. And I was reading along being pleased by the characterization when suddenly IT BRANCHED THE FUCK OFF INTO SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT LIKE ORIGINAL FICTION NOT EVEN FANFICTION OR STARGATE OR SCIENCE FICTION OF ANY SORT JUST LIKE BAM LIKE SO MUCH FOR DANVALA BITCHES WE'RE TALKING POLITICS NOW AND I WAS LIKE WHAT. And I don't remember exactly where I was going with the danvala fic (other than hot smexing, probably, because danvala has no plot and danvala needs no plot!*) and I am soooooo disappointed in myself.

And that all reminded me of my one great Battlestar Galactica fic (where by "great" I mean "isn't a crossover"), which I have decided to tentatively title "Sometimes You Have to Roll the Hard Six." It's about a group of Sixes that defects to the Galactica. I know what I want to do with it, more or less, but my creative inspiration for it has been flagging.

Which actually brings me to a question. Those of you who finish fic -- and there are those of you on my flist who do -- HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH PLOT? Because that's my real stumbling point. As long as I know where I'm supposed to be going I can get there, but most of the time I come up with several ideas and then am like "oh, we need some kind of conflict here to provide plot. they get attacked? aliens? bombs? SHIT RODNEY NEEDS SOMETHING TO FIX" and then panic, think all my plot ideas are stupid, and write ten-page-long conversations between Bones, Buffy, and Booth (WHO IS REALLY ANGEL, GUYS, I AM SURE OF IT). Which, okay, fun, but utterly useless in terms of advancing the plot. Because there isn't a plot. I read a lot of fucking books and watch a lot of movies, too, so why do I have so much trouble with basic plot ideas? All of my ideas go like this: "and then character X runs into character Y, and they have this humorous or otherwise interesting conversation, then... shit happens, man, hell if I know." Does anyone have any suggestions/advice? I'd really like to stick some plot into my writing** so I could actually finish it.

*Not true, actually. Danvala needs lots of plot, as evidenced by the superlong angstathon from "Unending." Which, FYI, is like one of my favorite Stargate scenes (even though Daniel is so, so cruel to Vala in it... it was probably justified, given that she HAS taken him hostage on more than one occasion). Although every scene with Vala in it is like one of my favorite Stargate scenes, so this may not be saying much.

**Part of my problem is undoubtedly that I think plot is something you just "stick in" an artistic piece to keep the plebes happy. If I thought it was as important as, say, alliteration, perhaps I would pay attention to it instead of going "oh shit, I need to create some kind of momentum in this here tale of how Rodney and John met Tyrol and Anders and told them their version of "All Along the Watchtower" sucks."