Synopsis: The Beast Within

Mine is a Stargate SG-1 novel. That's an existing franchise based on the TV show. This is not fan fiction; I fully intend to get this one published once I complete it. I've spoken with the series editor and have a go-ahead from her, though I can't get a contract until I can submit an outline and first chapter.

My plot is hazy, but it does seem to be emerging, painfully. It deals with SG-1's discovery on a distant planet of a culture transplanted from the Southeastern United States. The humans were taken there as slaves by the Goa'uld, powerful alien creatures that are mainstays of the Stargate universe. They were taken in the 19th century, much later than any other Earth-based Goa'uld activity that the team has encountered so far.

If you've ever seen the TV show or movie you'll remember that the Goa'u'd are parasites in the form of snakelike creatures about a foot long. They burrow into a human host and completely control his or her actions, while keeping the human body alive for hundreds or even thousands of years.

I want my Goa'u'd to feel more alien than many of the ones seen on the television show. So in addition to having alien-feeling emotions and motivations, this particular group of Goa'uld will take as hosts not human beings, but a kind of alien water creature similar to a wingless dragon. The creature is highly intelligent, and malevolent in its own right, and communicates by telepathy. There is precedent on the show for non-human Goa'uld hosts.

I began writing without a clear idea of my plot. I'm on Chapter 5 now, and it's coming along. But I'm still not sure where I'm going with it. This makes me nervous; I'm usually more of a follow-a-detailed-outline kind of writer.