sholio: sun on winter trees (Rodney's poking me)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2006-12-03 12:32 am

I keep forgetting to mention...

My story Old Soldiers Die Hard is nominated in the McKay/Sheppard Fanfic Awards. (It's nominated under Angst.)

The interesting thing about it, obviously, is that I write gen. But just as some slash can be seen as gen (at least, I've read some stories that were described as slash by their authors, that totally looked like gen to me), some gen can certainly be seen as slash. The thought had actually occurred to me when I wrote the story that, due to the outsider POV, there's no reason whatsoever why the story couldn't be seen as slash, if one is inclined to see that. There's nothing in the story to specifically rule it out. Well, all right, Ann totally sees it as a brother-type relationship (as I do), but she's your basic "unreliable narrator", so it could just be another of the things that she's misintepreting.

So, in short, even though I wrote it as gen, I don't see any reason why it couldn't be read as slash, if someone wanted to.

I just thought I'd mention that, due to the recent WTF?-ness of a certain slash story winning a certain gen award. There are some stories that I've writen which are absolutely, 100% gen, and I couldn't see anyone sticking them in a slash category. This story, however ... it's part of the design of the story that it could be seen that way if you wanted to.

[identity profile] angw.livejournal.com 2006-12-03 09:56 am (UTC)(link)
Congrats?
ext_1981: (Default)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2006-12-03 10:36 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! *smile* yes, this is a good thing, and I'm happy to have been nominated, although it was a bit of a surprise at first.

[identity profile] sinaida.livejournal.com 2006-12-03 11:00 am (UTC)(link)
Congratulations! I really like this story. :-)
It's exactly the kind of gen story I prefer, because it's up to the reader to see it as gen or slash. And when it comes to John and Rodney I prefer to see them in a slash relationship, hence most of the stories I'm reading in this fandom are slash stories. Not because of the sex, but because of the closeness between the characters. So, when there's this closeness in a gen story, it's enough for me. *g*

ext_1981: (Default)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2006-12-04 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

And, yes ... that's mainly why I read slash, when I do -- for the closeness.

[identity profile] marf-the-river.livejournal.com 2006-12-03 02:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Of course, it's nominated. That fic was excellent! Congrats!

As for the slash thing, well, I recently learned that the slash-alerts had gone off for a lot of people in the opening shot of Echoes, so, I'd have to agree with you that people will see slash wherever they want!
ext_1981: (Default)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2006-12-04 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
*grin* Thanks!

Yeah, if people genuinely see slash in the show, it's not at all surprising that they'd see it in my writing as well. And I really *don't* mind.

[identity profile] leenys.livejournal.com 2006-12-03 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey, you were nominated, someone liked the fic enough to say so. Slash or gen be damned, go for it!
ext_1981: (Default)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2006-12-04 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! *g*

[identity profile] with-apostrophe.livejournal.com 2006-12-03 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Congratulations! Definitely deserves the recognition. Incidently, I discovered your fic through the LJ of a certain famous slasher in the fandom!

The thing about slash is that ANYTHING and ANYONE can be slashed. It doesn't matter what you intended, if the person reading slashes, they will see it as slash. Heck, last week I came across a whole comm set up for McKay/Daniel slash. Hello? They were together in one scene of Moebius, and one scene of Pegasus Project. How can they possibly.... It's like the proliferation of Lorne/Parrish stories. IT WAS ONE SCENE! Then again, shippers do it too. There's a comm out there for Beckett/Frasier. ARGH! They've never been in a scene together and never will considering she's dead! Can anyone think of a gen example of something equating to this?

Anyway - I digress. Wraithbait has a 'pre-slash' subgenre, which as far as I can tell is 'gen fics written by someone who believes in slash'. They can be read either way.

I'm bad. I tease the slashers with some stories, putting in little hints that I'm going that way and then don't. Then of course there was the fic in which Rodney categorically states that he's not gay, and John's not gay (because Jeannie thought they were) and yet I still got comments about the possibility of them finding each other in a sequel... and don't even get me started on the comment that I know was posted to try to provoke me into a slash vs gen flame war. Fortunately I saw another comment from here elsewhere complaining about something some genners had done, and got wise! I've heard rumours of gen vs slash wars, adn think it's STUPID! We all love the same guys, we interpret them differently, but we all agree on why we love them, so why does there have to be accrimony?

ANYWAY - You have problems writing short fic. I have problems writing short comments!
ext_1981: (Default)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2006-12-04 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
But I love long comments! *grin*

Those random pairings are a definite WTF? for me. I never could figure out why Lorne/Parrish had such a big following; the only thing I could think was that people who liked Lorne wanted to pair him off with someone on the show, but didn't want to break up the big Sheppard/McKay OTP. Parrish as portrayed in fanfic may as well be an OC; there certainly isn't enough of him on the show to tell ANYTHING about him.

Honestly, I don't understand the need that a lot of fans seem to have to pair characters off, especially when they really have to stretch to do so (like Lorne/Parrish). When I read fanfic, it's usually to get more of the show (20 episodes a year is just not enough!) -- and pairing up the characters in ways that doesn't grow logically out of the show just does nothing for me. In fact, pairing up the characters if they're not paired up on the show usually does nothing for me either. I'm not saying people don't have the right to enjoy that ... just ... I don't really get the appeal. I read fanfic because I like the character relationships as shown on the show, and seeing them taken off in a wildly different direction just isn't my thing at all. None of this means I object to other people doing it (even if I do quietly WTF? at some of the things that turn up online). I just don't really get it.

Pre-slash ... it sort of depends on how it's presented. I've read some pre-slash that I'd consider gen (in fact, I've had my story "Running on Empty" described as pre-slash, and I definitely wrote it as gen). But I've also encountered quite a bit of pre-slash that just *wasn't* gen, even if nothing happened between the characters. Of course, my litmus test for that sort of thing is fairly personal -- it's slash if it pings my "Sheppard and Mckay wouldn't do this in canon" radar (or should that be gay-dar? *grin*).

[identity profile] margec01.livejournal.com 2006-12-03 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
You know, I like your story so much that I just went, "Right on!" when I saw it nominated. It didn't even occur to me that these are McShep awards and that perhaps the story doesn't fit the category. Duh. I just like it a lot!

There are a few gen authors out there who I say of their writing, "If all gen were this good, I wouldn't need to read slash!" For me, it's mostly about a close or developing relationship, full of trust and caring (and humor, with John and Rodney). That's what I read fanfic for. And you come through every time.

Of course, mind you, I love the hot sex scenes, too! (g) But I don't feel cheated when they're not there, as long as the close relationship is well portrayed.
ext_1981: (Default)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2006-12-04 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
*smile* Thank you very much!

Well, like I said above, I don't think there's anything in the story to rule out a slash interpretation. Just because I didn't intend it that way, doesn't mean it can't be read that way.

And that's why I read slash too -- for the closeness. I actually skim over most of the sex scenes; I feel like a voyeur. *grin* But I love seeing the guys caring about each other in their indomitable prickly fashion, regardless of circumstances.
ext_840: john and rodney, paperwork (Default)

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/tesserae_/ 2006-12-10 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, congratulations - this is a marvelous story, and she's got the perfect voice to tell it in.

(And this is by way of letting you know I've added you to my friends list...)
ext_1981: (Default)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2006-12-17 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you very much! :)

And cool on the friending. I never mind being friended ... I'm horribly lazy about adding people back, though ... just so you know ...

[identity profile] parisindy.livejournal.com 2006-12-12 06:57 am (UTC)(link)
do you have a link for the McKay/Sheppard Fanfic Awards?
ext_1981: (Default)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2006-12-17 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
Sorry about the lateness of the reply! It's here:

http://community.livejournal.com/mcshep_awards/

[identity profile] parisindy.livejournal.com 2006-12-17 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
cool thanks