sholio: Text: "Age shall not weary her, nor custom stale her infinite squee" (Infinite Squee)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2020-01-10 10:05 pm

(no subject)

Somehow it delights me to find out that S.E. Hinton (of The Outsiders) writes Outsiders fanfic (under a pen name), and also wrote to her favorite Outsiders fanfic author to tell them that she liked their work. ("It took her a while to believe that it was really me." I'll bet.) So in case you're in that fandom, the author is probably reading your fic, and some of the fic you're reading might be by her, too.

I finished a writing project today (a side story planned to be a mailing list extra ... though I might end up incorporating it in the main book; I'm not sure now) and I'm feeling somewhat at loose ends, so - you know what I love talking about and haven't talked about lately? Hurt/comfort. :D

If h/c is not your thing, no worries. If it is your thing ... or if aspects of it are ...

What are your favorite things in hurt/comfort? And is there a type of hurt/comfort you love that nobody ever seems to write?


... you know what I've been thinking about lately that you never seem to see in fic anymore? Comas. This was such a huge trope in '80s TV - it's on my mind because there's a great example in Wiseguy. And I remember a little of this in SGA fic, which was so huge it had everything. But I can't really ever remember seeing it anywhere else, even in White Collar which was a very h/c-intensive fandom that did basically everything to Neal - there MUST have been coma fic, but I don't remember any.

Possibly one reason for this, I guess, is that a realistically written coma isn't actually that much fun, because the recovery is so arduous and the likelihood of permanent, severe long-term health effects is so high. But, then, that's also true of concussions and a bunch of other things fandom really loves.

So yeah. #bringbackcomas2K20

It has also occurred to me that nobody ever writes altitude sickness. The only fic I've ever read that deals with it is the one I wrote; it's not even a canonical tag on AO3. And yet it's so perfectly tailor-made for it! It's debilitating, miserable, and life-threatening, and yet, with the right treatment it's easily curable with no lingering after-effects: get oxygen, go back to normal. If you were going to custom-design a fictional disease for hurt/comfort writers, you couldn't really do better. C'mon, fandom, don't leave me all alone here.


Anyway, favorite things - there's a lot that I love, but I think for me the best-of-the-best really comes down to the general categories of "woozy and out of it", and "desperately worried." And therefore, things that produce one or both of those conditions: head injuries, fevers, and drugs (among other things) in the first case, and for the latter, just about anything really life-threatening: getting shot, getting stabbed, being stranded far from medical help, drowning, heart attacks, etc.

(Oh yeah, that last one is another one I really would enjoy reading more of. Heart attacks. It's another one that rarely seems to get written, but has symptoms that lend themselves excellently to h/c. White Collar did have some, since Peter has one in canon.)

I think I like both of those classes of things because ... well, partly because sometimes you just like things and clearly I am wired that way, but there's just so much you can do with it from a character perspective. They both involve a sort of emotional stripping down of barriers -- pushing people to reveal a little of their inner selves without actually being pushed by the people they're around, if that makes any sense.
blackrook: (Default)

[personal profile] blackrook 2020-01-12 11:48 am (UTC)(link)
I got curious and checked AO3 - in MCU, 414 completed fics with coma in title/tags or summary. Which is not a small number itself, but, considering the abyss which is MCU... :).

Of all my fandoms, the most heavy on h/c were Magnificent Seven (TV show) and The Sentinel, and I think coma was fairly well represented, but, well, those fandoms were oh their heyday in early 2000s:). Actually, I think M7 fandom might have been your cup of tea, because it's all about found family. And since AUs were very popular, you can find any number of stories about any stage of "7 guys meet-become a team-become a family" in any setting, from Ancient Rome to Star Trek. And 4 out of 5 stories have h/c :), and a lot of variety even within one story - 7 main characters with complicated relationship+support system, so you can imagine the possibilities:).

My favorite h/c trope these days comes from Nirvana in Fire (which I recommend greatly, because, well, a TV masterpiece with wonderful storytelling and great visual). Main character there a) is a talented scholar and great strategist, whom 3 princes want as an advisor b) heads a pugilist sect and c) has very poor health - can't fight, is always cold, tires easily, etc. So, watching everyone around him - his adopted younger brother, tough warriors under his command, no-nonsense doctor, his friends and his prince - to try and take care of him, and make him take care of himself while he is busy saving the world with his brain and determination... Well, that's a treat:).
alessandriana: (Default)

[personal profile] alessandriana 2020-01-14 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
I'll gladly drag you into Mag7 fandom, if you want. :D I got in a bit late, but the fandom is still around and kicking, and the h/c is *chef's kiss* exquisite.

And, yes. NiF is delightful!