What kind of slash do you like?
Aug. 2nd, 2003 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmagrant01I've been reading a lot of fan fic lately, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about what it is I really like in a good slash fic. After a few conversations with other slashers, I'm curious to know what other people think. Below I describe what I like and don't like in a fic, and I'm hoping this starts a conversation about what people generally like to see and why.
[Disclaimer: These are my opinions, and none of these comments are directed at any particular author or fic. If you disagree with me, great! But don't take anything here personally!]
So first of all, I'm not an OTPer. In fact, I'm the opposite -- I like pretty much Any Possible Pairing. (Probably not a surprise, coming from me!) I appreciate a good Qui/Obi story, no doubt about it, but what I *don't* like are mushy, fluffy, overly romantic fics in which the boys are destined for each other and declare their undying love before having glorious sex for the first time. I'm even more likely to hit the delete key if Obi has been "saving himself" for Qui, or if there's any whiff of a soul bond in the air. Or if Obi decides at the age of 17 that he is ready for a long-term commitment with his master, and Qui accepts this without question. Or if either of them says "I love you" only moments after they've recognized their mutual attraction. Unrequited love for a period of years is another turn-off, especially the old "Obi has never gotten over his padawan crush and is in love with Qui despite never having his feelings returned and is perfectly content to be lonely and celibate if he can't have his master" fic. Just doesn't do anything for me.
Why do I feel this way? Well, I've never liked "chick flicks" or romance novels. I much prefer conflict, characters dealing with inappropriate attraction for each other, and characters giving in to lust (because of stress, mistaken identity, or under the influence of chemicals) and then dealing with the consequences afterwards. I like angst. I like characters misunderstanding each other and hurting each other, and then working through their problems. I like insecurity, and people being forced to deal with their fears. I like people discovering their attraction for each other as a surprise, and resisting a relationship at first. I like stories that deal with the consequences of sex. Hot sex scenes are great, of course, but what does it mean for the characters? How does it affect them, positively and negatively? I like to see mediocre, merely comfortable sex occasionally, because that's realistic in a relationship. I like awkward sex, especially the first time.
I like Qui/Obi fics that deal realistically with the power differential between the characters, not to mention the age difference. I admire authors who either deal with it, or set the fic in a universe in which master-padawan sexual relationships are socially acceptable, and make me believe that universe makes sense.
I admire authors whose stories seem perfectly aligned with canon, but I love alternate universes as well. I love happy endings after a really angsty fic, but admire an author who has the balls not to give me a happy ending when it makes the story work. I like genuinely original plots and scenarios to get two characters together, or in which to explore an established relationship. I like to see new interpretations of characters that I thought I knew well. I like darkness and strife.
I suppose that fan fic is not an means of escape for me, so perhaps that explains my preference for realism and my rejection of what I see as pure romantic fluff. I like reading stories that make me think, that affect me physically, and that draw me in and make me care about the characters.
So, what about you?
[Disclaimer: These are my opinions, and none of these comments are directed at any particular author or fic. If you disagree with me, great! But don't take anything here personally!]
So first of all, I'm not an OTPer. In fact, I'm the opposite -- I like pretty much Any Possible Pairing. (Probably not a surprise, coming from me!) I appreciate a good Qui/Obi story, no doubt about it, but what I *don't* like are mushy, fluffy, overly romantic fics in which the boys are destined for each other and declare their undying love before having glorious sex for the first time. I'm even more likely to hit the delete key if Obi has been "saving himself" for Qui, or if there's any whiff of a soul bond in the air. Or if Obi decides at the age of 17 that he is ready for a long-term commitment with his master, and Qui accepts this without question. Or if either of them says "I love you" only moments after they've recognized their mutual attraction. Unrequited love for a period of years is another turn-off, especially the old "Obi has never gotten over his padawan crush and is in love with Qui despite never having his feelings returned and is perfectly content to be lonely and celibate if he can't have his master" fic. Just doesn't do anything for me.
Why do I feel this way? Well, I've never liked "chick flicks" or romance novels. I much prefer conflict, characters dealing with inappropriate attraction for each other, and characters giving in to lust (because of stress, mistaken identity, or under the influence of chemicals) and then dealing with the consequences afterwards. I like angst. I like characters misunderstanding each other and hurting each other, and then working through their problems. I like insecurity, and people being forced to deal with their fears. I like people discovering their attraction for each other as a surprise, and resisting a relationship at first. I like stories that deal with the consequences of sex. Hot sex scenes are great, of course, but what does it mean for the characters? How does it affect them, positively and negatively? I like to see mediocre, merely comfortable sex occasionally, because that's realistic in a relationship. I like awkward sex, especially the first time.
I like Qui/Obi fics that deal realistically with the power differential between the characters, not to mention the age difference. I admire authors who either deal with it, or set the fic in a universe in which master-padawan sexual relationships are socially acceptable, and make me believe that universe makes sense.
I admire authors whose stories seem perfectly aligned with canon, but I love alternate universes as well. I love happy endings after a really angsty fic, but admire an author who has the balls not to give me a happy ending when it makes the story work. I like genuinely original plots and scenarios to get two characters together, or in which to explore an established relationship. I like to see new interpretations of characters that I thought I knew well. I like darkness and strife.
I suppose that fan fic is not an means of escape for me, so perhaps that explains my preference for realism and my rejection of what I see as pure romantic fluff. I like reading stories that make me think, that affect me physically, and that draw me in and make me care about the characters.
So, what about you?
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no subject
Date: 2003-08-03 02:34 am (UTC)I think it depends on my mood for what I want to read. Sometimes I do want to read romantic fluff and sometimes I want more angsty, or action, or AU. I think the only thing I'll truly shy away from are really hard-core BDSM or bestiality stuff, but some pain is not a problem, particularly if it's written well.
I do like stories that make me believe that the characters are real. Make Obi too whiny and I'll likely stop reading, make Qui really obtuse and I'll probably stop again. I like Q/O for their intelligence and hearts. I am thoroughly in love with them.
Sometimes I just need a good PWP!
I have barely looked at other fandoms, TPM is pretty much it (save Alex's Sublevels and some Pirates) but I'm sure eventually I'll branch out and read other slash types, which may end up seeming so different from TPM that I'll be surprised.
Right now, Q/O is a cocoon for me. A safe place for me to work out some personal angst within the confines of the Jedi Order. And it works for me.
Now I'm not sure if I answered your question very well.
O_o
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 07:02 pm (UTC)You said it, and better than I could ^_^
Before I went into the TPM fandom, I once read an online article about cliches in fanfic. One of them was "Whimpering soulbonded Obi-Wan". I didn't understand that then as well as I do now.
I am an OTP-er - but it takes time to get to that stage. Occasionally I may read a particular pairing, and then I read a fic with another pairing that converts me in that instant. And I stay with a conversion like that.
Other fandoms - I was in the LOTR and HP fandoms before I came into this one. Curiously enough, it was the HP fandom which brought me here, by virtue of Telanu's work. She writes both HP and TPM.
As for what I don't read - That's interesting. Because seven years earlier, I would have said I didn't read slash. ; )
Because (speaking for myself) good authors can (and have) made me change my mind. I used to avoid reading non-con like the plague, until I found writers who wrote it so well that they made me care even as I was thinking Please, don't do this to them. I tend not to like pain as a whole, but I'm not sure how much of this is due to my personal bias - I can't understand how pain could be enjoyed, but that's just me.
And my view on canon is - Whatever works. ^_^ I don't think canon should stand in the way of a good fic.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 10:09 pm (UTC)I guess it depends on the fandom. In TPM, Q/O was *the* pairing that got it all started, and then it branched out from there. I was attracted to the fandom at first because a) it was Star Wars, b) it was slash, and c) it involved a character who looks a lot like Ewan in my head. Now that I think about it, I basically only read Obi-centric pairings... Hmmm... And I'll read any pairing with Obi in it, to be honest. When I first started reading in TPM, it was almost all Q/O -- and I love Q/O, but that "whimpering soul-bonded Obi-Wan" thing is just hard to avoid sometimes. You don't get that in Obi/Bail, or even Obi/Anakin.
And as for what I won't read -- well, it's really hard to squick me these days! Thanks to Nimori, not even bestiality is an auto-"no" anymore. I've learned not to say "never" to most things, but bad or cliche-d writing is going to remain firmly on that list.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 09:43 pm (UTC)Maybe I'm just too picky! :^P
no subject
Date: 2003-08-05 12:32 am (UTC)My focus is also on post ATOC fic of which there is very little, but is an interesting playground for all sorts of new ideas and pairings.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-05 01:34 am (UTC)I hear ya, sister! The more I think about it, the more I realize that I'm into any Obi-centric pairing. Obi doing anybody, male, female, whatever. Must be that crush on Ewan...