December unscheduled posting meme: Gen fic

[sholio]

mific asked: You've written a lot of great Genfic. What is it about Gen that you like?

Thank you! :)

The flip (though accurate) answer is that, unless I specifically concentrate on getting other results, everything comes out gen. I look at canon and the kind of thoughts that run through my head are things like, "What if they fell out of a plane into the wilderness? That'd be awesome!" or "What if they were werewolves?" or "This plot development really needs everyone to sit around and talk about ethics for awhile" ... and then I write 20K of it. XD I'm just not a shipper by nature; even in the cases where I enjoy pairings (and I do enjoy a lot of canon pairings and a number of non-canon ones as well), I tend to be more interested in writing about the pairing doing something completely non-couple-related together -- investigating a jewel heist, fighting dinosaurs, etc -- than in exploring their couple dynamic on a date or whatnot. (The date would probably be crashed by dinosaurs. Actually, that'd be fun. *makes mental note*)

As a reader, I have enjoyed plenty of stories, in a skilled writer's hands, that were all about couple dynamics and nothing else. I admire the ability of other writers to do this! It's just not my fundamental setting as a writer. I'd actually like to get better at it, because I know that one of my big weaknesses as a writer is developing an emotional plot to complement the action plot.

But you know, even on the emotional side of things, I find gen relationship dynamics -- in general, though not always -- more fun to explore. I guess I'd say for me, there's more untapped territory there. We've all seen the getting-together story a million times, and I've read plenty of playful or touching or beautiful takes on it, but am not compelled to write it myself very often.

And also, most times, it's the gen character relationships (siblings, parents & children, partners, awkward nascent friendships, sympathetic enemies, etc.) that make my heart flip. Couples don't do it for me nearly as often, though there are some, and also quite a few relationships that I can enjoy on both sides of the gen or ship divide.

Mostly, I think what it comes down to is that gen is my default setting, for most things. It always has been.

Comments

[newredshoes]

I identify with so much of this! But mostly yes, I have always been a bit puzzled that so much of fandom goes right to relationship stuff first. It's just not my default setting either, which is a great formulation for it.

[sholio]

But mostly yes, I have always been a bit puzzled that so much of fandom goes right to relationship stuff first.

YES. I mean, there's nothing wrong with relationships! I can enjoy them too! But a lot of people treat that like it's all of fandom, or like it's the only reason why someone would be in fandom, and ... no? There are so many other possibilities out there!

[loki_of_sassgaard]

Man, I wish there was more genfic out there. I just haven't any patience for people who say that it's boring or pointless. I'd rather read about how everything might be different if an event at the beginning of canon had changed than read 2000 iterations of two characters getting together and falling in love.

[sholio]

Yes, me too! :) I have no problem with shipfic (I have quite a few pairings I love reading) but there are so many interesting stories to explore with canon twists and episode tags and gen AUs and ... oh so many story possibilities!

[loki_of_sassgaard]

Yeah, I've got a few pairings I quite like, but I find myself looking for AUs or something where the pairing is already established before too long, because I can only handle these people falling in love at first sight so many times.

[philomytha]

Oh yes, yes, yes to all this. There are some ships I really love, mostly the canon Vorkosigan ships, and I can have fun writing other ones, but my heart belongs to genfic and the fascinating and complicated platonic relationships and situations. And yes, when I look at canon the first questions in my head are always prompts for genfic.

[sholio]

Yep! There are times when my brain brings me a shippish scenario (and increasingly, I'm finding it fun to play with complicated, not-quite-ship and not-quite-gen sorts of things, as irritating as it is to figure out how to properly tag them). But most of the time, and especially with the stories-of-my-heart that I want to write the most, it's the platonic relationships I enjoy playing with, and platonic prompts that my brain serves up to me.

[mackiedockie]

I figure I land in the same camp--unless fulfilling a fic request, I trend to the gen. I think I prefer an occasional tease of a relationship to the sticky fulfillment :) Plot steals my attention. Though I do appreciate the happy resolution of a lonely character scenario. With moderation. :)

[sholio]

Yeah, pretty much! I write shippish stuff from time to time, even porn, but I just keep circling back around to the gen in most cases!