A poll about gen fanfic

[alias_sqbr]

This post is about fanfic. If you are not into fanfic, just be grateful I used a cut and scroll on...

In Words, Words, Words pandarus talks about the way fanfic about same sex couples get classified as "slash" when the equivalent story about an opposite sex couple would get classified as "gen", and in the comments gives a specific example ("Child via mpreg is read a story" below) which really got me thinking.

So, first, a poll, about different types of stories. It doesn't matter what definition of gen you use, as long as you're consistent. Assume these hypothetical stories are otherwise totally free of references to sex and romance.

[Poll #1392668]
(Sorry for the stark same sex/opposite sex dichotomy, but the whole slash/het divide isn't really designed for the possibility of trans/intersex/genderqueer characters. Or threesomes etc. Someone else will have to do another poll :))

I must admit I'm guilty of this myself. I tend to classify borderline stories as not-gen if the mentioned couple sticks out at me, and having been raised on a diet of heteronormative fiction where any two members of the opposite sex can plausibly get together with no warning, but none of the same sex ones can, it's the same sex couples that tend to jolt me more. Now I'm not one of these people who gets really uptight about categories, and I read plenty of (boy and girl) slash, but I still don't think it reflects very well on me.

I don't have a paid Dreamwidth account or I'd post over there with my nice comments policy. So assume it applies, though even if you don't like it you're welcome to take the poll.

(*)I am thinking of a Spike/Buffy story I read once. I don't think the child's conception was ever explained. Maybe Spike had become human? I back-buttoned pretty quickly :)

Comments

[lizbyrd.livejournal.com]

I am pretty staunch about gen = no romance at all, but I decided to make allowances there for canon partnerships.

Your last question is something I've been thinking about recently, because the effect of having canon GLBT characters is to make slash less plausible in my head (which caused writing my Richard Jury fic to require an awful lot of maneuvering the characters into the state of mind where their relationship would be plausible).

[havocthecat]

Yeah, the general definition I've seen for gen is no pairings at all, whereas het is opposite sex pairings, and slash/femslash are for same sex pairings.

[lizbyrd.livejournal.com]

Hehe, general definition. XD

I do constantly see (on del.icio.us and reclists) people tagging het fic as gen if it isn't explicit, and just... no! That's not what gen is!

[havocthecat]

I know! I don't get that! I might define something as gen if it's got blink and you'll miss it pairings of any persuasion, like, someone talking about X character and Y character and how happy they are, but that's about it.

Of course, people automatically assume slash = porny fic, which is also totally not true. I kind of get on people for assuming that, when I want to write femslash about adorable high school aged characters who hold hands and run around a lot, that I want to write porn. But no! Handholding and mild smooching is totally all I'm looking for there. (H2O:Just Add Water, I KNOW, but they're darling.)

[alias_sqbr]

And then people say "I would read femslash but have no interest in lesbian porn". Bah!

[alias_sqbr]

Oh that's interesting. So your logic is what: the fact that same sex relationships have the chance to be on-screen means that any that aren't on screen mustn't exist?

[lizbyrd.livejournal.com]

Something like that. I would put it more like, given that GLBT people are acknowledged as existing in the canon, if Character A is interested in members of his/her own sex it would have been mentioned in canon.

You could probably still work with "Character A is interested in members of his/her own sex and just never realised it before".

[alias_sqbr]

Well, GLBT people are acknowledged as existing in real life (by most people anyway :)), and there have been plenty of GLBT people I've known for years, sometimes quite well, without realising, sometimes because they were closeted or didn't identify that way yet, but often just because it never came up. This is less plausible with first person stories of course :)

[lizbyrd.livejournal.com]

I'd say, less plausible with viewpoint characters rather than specifically first-person. Certainly with minor characters I could believe it.

But if the main character is a bit of a womaniser I'm going to find it (even) harder to buy that he's bi if there are actual GLBT people in the canon.