Fan fiction, slash/het and general musings about romance (long)

[blpurdom]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "pigwidgeon37" <pigwidgeon37 at y...> 
wrote:
> Ebony wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> >We were talking about what a mature teen/adult writer can "get 
> away with" in a fic without the audience getting squicked.  We 
> both came to the conclusion that slash writers can get away with a 
> whole lot more than your average het writer.
> 
> >I quote Al with his permission:  "I think the way straight 
> romance is perceived when written explicitly - people take it to 
> be like a Barbara Cartland story or a trashy romance because of 
> long term association.  Whereas gay romance is more cutting edge 
> and contemporary - a la Armistead Maupin et autres."

I think that when you're talking about the audience that will read a 
slash fic, you're already talking about a self-selected audience 
that has gotten over one hurdle (same-gender relationships) and 
isn't going to be "squicked" by the characters being in a physically 
intimate situation (in fact, I'm guessing that they went to read the 
fic IN HOPES that the characters would be in this sort of 
situation).  If folks really have a problem with these kind of 
relationships, why are they reading these fics?  Chances are they're 
not, which brings me back to the self-selected group.  When you're 
preaching to the choir you can get away with more than when you're 
broadcasting to the general public.

> You gave the examples of Barb and R.J.Anderson, who have very 
> different writing styles and also different ratings. Barb's sex 
> scenes are more explicit, true, but to describe them, the 
> words "cliché" or "trash" or "sappy" are the very last to come
to 
> my mind. Of course, when Harry and hermione have sex for the first 
> time in "HP and the Psychic Serpent", it's steamy, but then sex 
> *is* steamy (or at least it should be), there's no way past it. 
> But the author doesn't use any worn-out and trampled-on clichés 
> and that's why it comes over as adult, yes, but never as trashy.

Well, thanks.  It's a very fine line.  I also use very careful 
language; none of it is really anatomically specific.  It's loaded 
with vagueness and euphemism.  I think I've only ever used the 
word "nipple," for instance, to refer to that body part on a male, 
never a female.  And that's the most specific anatomical word I've 
ever used (it wasn't in a sex scene but a snogging scene).  No one's 
going to mistake these scenes for Penthouse letters written in the 
third person.  

I've received mostly positive feedback on these.  For instance:

"Chapter 26 is one long highlight from start to end! That DADA 
lesson - I hope that the lessons in [it] are not directly borne of 
personal grief, for they are written as poignantly as one could care 
them to be - that tender, wonder-filled bedroom scene and those 
reactions with everyone showing their care for Longbottom. And what 
a conclusion to the chapter, too."

Which brings up another thing; it's not the focus of the chapter.  
As the above shows, a lot was going on in the chapter where H & H do 
more than just sleep in a bed for the first time....

On the other hand, while one person called it "tender" and "wonder-
filled" someone on ff.net repeatedly complained, "too much 
information!"  Everyone has different thresholds, I think.  I do 
warn about this content right up front, however, so I'm surprised 
when readers are surprised.  Did they think I was kidding?  As I 
said, what I'm describing may be adult-oriented, but the language 
certainly isn't, and for the euphemisms and vague references to make 
sense you actually have to use your imagination a good bit.  (For 
instance, in one chapter, I mention the buttons on a nightshirt 
being undone; what is revealed when this occurs is never 
specifically stated.  If you want to imagine that the person wears 
body armor under such a garment, you have that freedom.<g>)

> Take the love letter Severus writes in "If We Survive": It's 
> wonderful, it's romantic, I'd barter my own grandmother to get 
> such a love letter. 

I DEFINITELY have to get around to reading this.<g> Gah!  So behind 
in my reading...

> Same goes (IMHO) for more or less explicit sex scenes: I really 
> don't buy that, once people see "SLASH, rated NC-17" written in 
> big, fat letters at the beginning of a story, they don't know what 
> expects them (I myself being the only exception, for I'm no native 
> speaker and simply didn't know what "slash" meant- well, I found 
> out soon enough and liked it a lot). If they read it all the same 
> and afterwards give the author a good bashing, they're not being 
> honest with themselves. They punish the author because they feel 
> guilty of having secretly enjoyed what they read.  

I don't know that you can say that across the board.  I think some 
folks are squicked by the idea of anyone imagining these characters 
in sexual situations PERIOD, let alone same-gender situations.  It 
does make one wonder why they'd read an NC-17 slash fic, feeling as 
they do, but some folks might consider it "investigating."  OTO, I 
think if you're investigating this sort of thing and purporting not 
to like it, you REALLY need to get a life!  If you're reading 
fanfic, it should be because you enjoy it!  This is supposed to be 
fun!

--Barb