Richard Book is Innocent (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
oxfordtweed) wrote2010-03-07 04:24 pm
oxfordtweed) wrote2010-03-07 04:24 pm
Entry tags:
This Ship Has Sailed
A secret showed up on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fandomsecrets today that instantly caused wank. Knowing full well that I was feeding the troll, I commented out of boredom,and it got me thinking a little bit.
The secret posits that most of fandom is slash. I'm not entirely sure how true that is, but okay. It is for the sake of this.
Now, I'm not denying that I enjoy the slash aspect. I've been known to don the slash goggles at times, and there are a few pairings out there that are just so goddamn blatantly obvious that it's practically canon (*coughNicholas/Dannycough*). It's right there on the screen; you don't even have to try to see it. But the more time I've spent in fandom, the more I've realised that somehow, all of my OTPs and ships are... well, het. Even my crack pairings are het.
The more I've played around in the Fuzz, and the more I toyed with the slash pairings, the more I realised that no matter how well the characters worked together, and no matter how much they made sense, I just don't feel it. I've written a huge amount of Nicholas/Danny fic, and a decent amount of Nicholas/Deskjob (and even that one particularly weird Nicholas/Tony fic), but I always really get the feeling with them that those pairings work best on a "friends first; lovers second" sort of basis. Otherwise? Pure liquid angst. Seriously. Look at... everything I've ever written with either of those pairings. I've got a bit of a reputation in the Fuzz fandom for being something of... someone who only writes angst. Which, yeah, I have written a lot of. And even my het pairing over there is nothing but constant arguments and ceramic mugs being thrown across the room (the fact that they were broken up BEFORE THE MOVIE EVEN STARTED doesn't really help their case at all, if we're honest).
But the true ridiculous part of it, at least from where I'm standing, is that I have all these ships, and I've written... three of them. Four if you count not writing Tim/Daisy. And yet, I've written seriously dozens of pairings that interest or amuse me, but I would never really consider an OTP. And most of my OTPs are either utter crack, or exist in fandoms that scare the hell out of me (or I'm the only shipper of said ship).
Another weird one I've noticed. I've only ever written NC-17 fic for one of the pairings on my list. One of them. And it was for a prompt community, so I'm not sure how much that actually counts. With these pairings, I'm far more interested in the people and the relationships that they have with one another. I want to know why they love each other, or why they can't stand one another. I don't care about what they do in the bedroom, because there's so much else going on to focus on. This is especially true in my canon ships. Monica/Chandler was created by the writers specifically to show that happy, healthy (even if slightly odd) marriages do exist. Chris/Shaz were both so adorably unsure about what the hell was going on at first, and watching them grow as a couple was quite literally squee-worthy. And how many times have we seen the Doctor lovingly stroke the TARDIS after a stressful day?
Nicholas/Danny, or Nicholas/Deskjob is... well, it's kinda hot. And that's the point. There's not really a lot of history behind them; especially Nicholas and Danny. In almost all of the fic out there with those two, they're still in that hot couple phase, when they can't keep their hands off one another (or they're having an epic row over something). Nicholas/Deskjob is... a minefield. Everyone who writes these two approaches them differently. This probably has something to do with Deskjob's role being so small that Edgar and Simon never even gave the poor bastard a name. If you ship those two, you have to create an entire history for them. And that's a lot of work.
So, I have my OTPs, and I have my preferred pairings for porn. At no point do they ever overlap. While you may see me doing more insightful fic for my preferred porn pairings, you will never (except for the one prompt fic) see porn of my OTPs. Sort of funny how that works out, really. But I think it's for the best.
fandomsecrets today that instantly caused wank. Knowing full well that I was feeding the troll, I commented out of boredom,and it got me thinking a little bit.The secret posits that most of fandom is slash. I'm not entirely sure how true that is, but okay. It is for the sake of this.
Now, I'm not denying that I enjoy the slash aspect. I've been known to don the slash goggles at times, and there are a few pairings out there that are just so goddamn blatantly obvious that it's practically canon (*coughNicholas/Dannycough*). It's right there on the screen; you don't even have to try to see it. But the more time I've spent in fandom, the more I've realised that somehow, all of my OTPs and ships are... well, het. Even my crack pairings are het.
- I've got Nicholas/Janine, whom I adore to pieces, even if they are just angst bait.
- Nicholas/Rose Tyler, and I've really no idea where the hell this one came from, but they amuse me so greatly.
- Bernard Black/Marsha Klein. Come on, think about it!
- Monica/Chandler, which is also canon, and wonderful.
- Shaun/Liz, who are also canon and wonderful.
- Sam/Annie, who are just amazingly weird.
- Chris/Shaz, who are canon and fucking amazing (and my Sam/Annie surrogate, and the ONLY reason I watched through the second series of A2A. Yes, I've read the spoilers).
- Tim/Daisy, who are my OTP of never getting it on.
- And The Doctor/TARDIS, because let's face it; she was there first, and ain't no companion EVER going to replace her.
The more I've played around in the Fuzz, and the more I toyed with the slash pairings, the more I realised that no matter how well the characters worked together, and no matter how much they made sense, I just don't feel it. I've written a huge amount of Nicholas/Danny fic, and a decent amount of Nicholas/Deskjob (and even that one particularly weird Nicholas/Tony fic), but I always really get the feeling with them that those pairings work best on a "friends first; lovers second" sort of basis. Otherwise? Pure liquid angst. Seriously. Look at... everything I've ever written with either of those pairings. I've got a bit of a reputation in the Fuzz fandom for being something of... someone who only writes angst. Which, yeah, I have written a lot of. And even my het pairing over there is nothing but constant arguments and ceramic mugs being thrown across the room (the fact that they were broken up BEFORE THE MOVIE EVEN STARTED doesn't really help their case at all, if we're honest).
But the true ridiculous part of it, at least from where I'm standing, is that I have all these ships, and I've written... three of them. Four if you count not writing Tim/Daisy. And yet, I've written seriously dozens of pairings that interest or amuse me, but I would never really consider an OTP. And most of my OTPs are either utter crack, or exist in fandoms that scare the hell out of me (or I'm the only shipper of said ship).
Another weird one I've noticed. I've only ever written NC-17 fic for one of the pairings on my list. One of them. And it was for a prompt community, so I'm not sure how much that actually counts. With these pairings, I'm far more interested in the people and the relationships that they have with one another. I want to know why they love each other, or why they can't stand one another. I don't care about what they do in the bedroom, because there's so much else going on to focus on. This is especially true in my canon ships. Monica/Chandler was created by the writers specifically to show that happy, healthy (even if slightly odd) marriages do exist. Chris/Shaz were both so adorably unsure about what the hell was going on at first, and watching them grow as a couple was quite literally squee-worthy. And how many times have we seen the Doctor lovingly stroke the TARDIS after a stressful day?
Nicholas/Danny, or Nicholas/Deskjob is... well, it's kinda hot. And that's the point. There's not really a lot of history behind them; especially Nicholas and Danny. In almost all of the fic out there with those two, they're still in that hot couple phase, when they can't keep their hands off one another (or they're having an epic row over something). Nicholas/Deskjob is... a minefield. Everyone who writes these two approaches them differently. This probably has something to do with Deskjob's role being so small that Edgar and Simon never even gave the poor bastard a name. If you ship those two, you have to create an entire history for them. And that's a lot of work.
So, I have my OTPs, and I have my preferred pairings for porn. At no point do they ever overlap. While you may see me doing more insightful fic for my preferred porn pairings, you will never (except for the one prompt fic) see porn of my OTPs. Sort of funny how that works out, really. But I think it's for the best.