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Stargate
Fan Fiction.
Every fandom has different styles and quirks. Here's an A-Z rundown on what you're likely to see when reading Stargate fan fiction.
Action
Stargate fan fiction is based on a science fiction adventure series, after all. Intrigue, exploration, physical danger, emotional trauma, and many other dramatic elements show up on a great number of stories.
Bonding
Many stories feature what some would consider gratuitous bonding. Here's the formula: put two characters of choice into a dangerous situation where they only have each other to rely on. Wound one worse than the other. Give them some time alone in said dangerous situation where they have nothing to do but talk to one another. Bake for up to 30 pages or until done. Let cool, then have them rescued and let the repercussions settle before serving.
Comforting
A lot of personal damage occurs on-screen with Stargate. Loved ones are harmed or lost, painful history is dredged up, physical damage is inflicted by the malevolent and the unintending. Because of the nature of series television, there's little or no time for the characters to deal with all the crap that's laid on them week after week. A high percentage of Stargate fan fiction deals with the repurcussions of what is seen on-screen, and how the characters cope with them.
Daniel
Daniel Jackson gets a lot more press time around here than he does on-screen. He's quite possibly the most popular character in the fandom. Daniel has changed much more than his teammates throughout the series, so stories set early in the season will portray a much more naive and preoccupied version of the character, and later stories will feature his increasing sarcasm and defensive withdrawl. This is only a generalization, however, as each author's interpretation of Daniel differs slightly. Solo Daniel stories are common, but the biggest chunk is Jack and Daniel friendship and relationship fiction.
Enslavement
It's not surprising that a series that deals with slavery, mental domination, enforced mining, and the occasional dungeon should lead to fan fiction where such elements occur. It's not uncommon for characters to be captured by Goa'uld or other alien cultures or even fellow humans, tortured for information, imprisoned for accused crimes, or kept as a source of genetic material.
Friendship
The Stargate movie set the stage, and the series ran with it. Even the most action-heavy episodes and stories contain a strong emphasis on the interpersonal relations between the members of SG-1 and with those around them. While it is rarely stated outright, actions between all the characters clearly show how much they are important to each other, and how much they care for each other. This is one of the strengths of Stargate SG-1.
Goa'uld
The Goa'uld, for those of you who didn't read the Enemies page, are a race of parasitical, snake-like aliens who spend all their time dominating and enslaving "host" species, like humans. A host is a person that a Goa'uld invades, usually from the back of the neck; the parasite wraps itself around the spinal cord and takes control of the host's nervous system. Not fun. Signs of Goa'uld infestation include glowing eyes, weird voice, and enhanced strength. Many Goa'uld spend their time impersonating various deities in order to control their massive slave populations, and fighting each other for power and resources.
Hurt
It seems fan fiction authors are something of a sadistic lot. There's a special term to describe significant physical and/or mental abuse of a character: Whumping. Generally, hurting occurs in the context of bonding (see above). The combination of whumping and bonding is called Hurt/Comfort, or H/C. H/C is a prominent genre in Stargate fandom.
I
First person is a very common style of writing here. While stories are written from a variety of perspectives, you'll generally find first person to be from Jack's POV, or Daniel's. There's also a common style where the writer switches between the POVs of several main characters in a story, with the name of the speaker at the top of the section where a switch occurs.
Jack
Since Richard Dean Anderson is the ostensible star of the series, his character's interactions with others is heavily emphasized. However, because of other factors, there is not much solo Jack fiction. Instead, Daniel-Jack friendship and relationship stories offer the strongest work on the character. Jack-Sam relationship stories are also rather abundant.
Love
Doesn't the world always need just a little more love? Fan fiction writers think so. Het and slash feature, respectively, heterosexual and homosexual romances between on-screen characters. Common heterosexual pairings are Jack and Sam and Daniel and Sam. Common homosexual pairings are Jack and Daniel and Sam and Janet. Not all het and slash is graphic, or even contains sexual content. Use the story's MPAA rating as a guide to how explicit a given story is.
Slash
Some of the best stories in this fandom are slash stories. Slash is fiction where two male (or two female) characters are attracted to one another. Because of the heavy emphasis on-screen of Jack and Daniel's friendship, this translates extremely well into a relationship-based story. Many authors write both gen and slash, and both excellently. Slash does not have to be graphic, or even contain sexual content. Use the story's MPAA rating as a guide to how explicit a given story is.