author_by_night (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
author_by_night) wrote2007-06-21 07:27 am
author_by_night) wrote2007-06-21 07:27 am
Entry tags:
Why so little genfic?
Disclaimer: Entry inspired by a secret on the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomsecrets community.
Something I've noticed in almost all of the fandoms I'm in or know of - Heroes, Harry Potter, Wicked the book, Wicked the musical, Rent, Pirates of the Carribean, Supernatural - is that there's a huge emphasis on romance. Actually, often smutty romance, at that. Meanwhile, in all of those fandoms, save Pirates of the Carribean, the themes of friendship and/or family seem just as important, but they are not given the same amount of screentime. Well, I don't really know if that's the case with Supernatural, but gazing through the comms, it certainly seems to be the case. Also admittedly, Rent is clearly about romantic love, but there's still themes of friendship there too. (Mimi and Angel, Joanne and Mark - a friendship that probably wouldn't normally happen, all things considered - and Mark and Roger.)
I don't have a problem with people's shipping preferences - to each his/her own, right? If you want to write Petrellicest or Wincest, more power to you. Same with if you want to ship Remus/Sirius ( a ship I can see on some level anyway), Harry/Hermione, or Will/Jack.
But I have a general question - why is it that in these fandoms, non-romantic relationships, canon or not, do not generally get equal writing time? Even I have to admit that my entrance into the HP fandom came with musings about whether or not it'd be Harry/Hermione or Hermione/Ron, if Remus/Sirius was plausible, etc. I only became a genfic person later on. And even then, I still shipped Remus/Tonks (which wasn't canon at the time) and Ron/Hermione.
So what is it about romance and smutfics that gains so much more popularity, and why do people see the need to put canon friends and siblings in romantic and/or smutty situations?
Discuss. :)
fandomsecrets community.Something I've noticed in almost all of the fandoms I'm in or know of - Heroes, Harry Potter, Wicked the book, Wicked the musical, Rent, Pirates of the Carribean, Supernatural - is that there's a huge emphasis on romance. Actually, often smutty romance, at that. Meanwhile, in all of those fandoms, save Pirates of the Carribean, the themes of friendship and/or family seem just as important, but they are not given the same amount of screentime. Well, I don't really know if that's the case with Supernatural, but gazing through the comms, it certainly seems to be the case. Also admittedly, Rent is clearly about romantic love, but there's still themes of friendship there too. (Mimi and Angel, Joanne and Mark - a friendship that probably wouldn't normally happen, all things considered - and Mark and Roger.)
I don't have a problem with people's shipping preferences - to each his/her own, right? If you want to write Petrellicest or Wincest, more power to you. Same with if you want to ship Remus/Sirius ( a ship I can see on some level anyway), Harry/Hermione, or Will/Jack.
But I have a general question - why is it that in these fandoms, non-romantic relationships, canon or not, do not generally get equal writing time? Even I have to admit that my entrance into the HP fandom came with musings about whether or not it'd be Harry/Hermione or Hermione/Ron, if Remus/Sirius was plausible, etc. I only became a genfic person later on. And even then, I still shipped Remus/Tonks (which wasn't canon at the time) and Ron/Hermione.
So what is it about romance and smutfics that gains so much more popularity, and why do people see the need to put canon friends and siblings in romantic and/or smutty situations?
Discuss. :)
no subject
One of the things that attracted me to fanfic in the first place was the idea that, collectively, fandom could explore an almost infinite number of variations of the canon characters/settings. The idea seemed so fun and creative! After being here for a while, though, it's become clear to me that while the potential variations may be infinite, in practice they're quite limited. And while there's nothing wrong at all with the shippy/romance choice per se -- I enjoy reading it! -- after a while, the sameness of everything begins to bore me. I can keep things "fresh" for a while by moving from fandom to fandom, but eventually even that stops working.
There are so many stories we could be telling, but we often only seem to tap into the same 10% over and over again. It leaves me feeling a little disappointed sometimes.
no subject
The bulk of my writing is shippy, and I feel this as well!
Granted, my 'shippy' is usually more action-adventure-y or has some serious drama worked in.
Someone above said that plot takes time and effort and all they want is teh sexx0rs. I know that I love the plottiness, the time and the effort, but 90% of my readers don't appreciate the little touches. Most of them just want the emotional hit from a ship fic.
In a discussion with a friend, she once observed that fanfic is basically masturbation for the fan. Most fans read smut to get off - more emotionally-pscyhologically than physically. It hits their buttons, sings their arias, creams their panties, and shoots their highs.
And, as I once observed someone else exclaim after trying to write a team-fic. "It's so much effort to write team! I'm sticking with the characters I can write." So, she's pretty much a one-pairing horse now.
Path of least resistance (and most feedback), yadda-yadda.
Actually, I was asking for gen recs on Supernatural a month back and received a grand total of 2 responses. Granted, most of the people reading me are SGA, not SPN, but I know quite a few of the f-list are SPN fans...they just don't do gen SPN.