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

[cesy.livejournal.com]

For me, the first question hangs a lot on whether the angsting is about the lack of a specific partner (i.e. sighing over a specific person) or in general about being lonely - the former would not count as gen, but the latter would.

Also, the canon/not-canon divide is key for me, in terms of both the casual mentions and the "casual implications" (I can't think of a better term than that, though that doesn't quite say what I mean) of reading a child a story or having a fight with an ex or angsting over death. But I think that's less about whether it's actually gen or not, and more about whether I'd expect the author to state the relationships in the headers - I don't tend to mind if an author makes a casual mention of a canon relationship in a gen fic, but I'll tend to be thrown if they make a casual mention of a non-canon relationship in a gen fic and they haven't mentioned it in the headers (particularly if the non-canon relationship is incompatible with my personal canon).

[alias_sqbr]

For me, the first question hangs a lot on whether the angsting is about the lack of a specific partner (i.e. sighing over a specific person) or in general about being lonely - the former would not count as gen, but the latter would.

Oh yes, I definitely meant the latter (stupid uneditable polls)

I'll tend to be thrown if they make a casual mention of a non-canon relationship in a gen fic and they haven't mentioned it in the headers (particularly if the non-canon relationship is incompatible with my personal canon).

Yes, me too.