The babyfic meme
Feb. 22nd, 2011 10:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snick_backupQuin was lamenting the erotica meme and wondering why fandom couldn't ever spend that much attention on something else, and lo! ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ghostyouknow27 and I wrote a meme! Which I suspect Quin also will not be terribly interested in, alas; maybe somebody out there will write her a dragon meme, hmm?
1) Do you dislike, tolerate or enjoy fiction in which characters get knocked up?
Enjoy. (I know, you'd never have guessed.)
2) Does this vary depending on medium or author?
Not so much medium: fanfic, profic, movies, I'm up for any of them. I'm very equal opportunity that way. As for the author, if they're good at other kinds of fic then they're usually good at babyfic. The converse is also true.
3) If you like babyfic, which do you more enjoy reading about: the pregnancy or the baby?
The pregnancy. I suspect this is some kind of flaw in my character. Also it's why there's been no more Seraphverse fic in quite a long time, although I do have plotty ideas for several substantive fics. They may still happen, because I love the 'verse. We'll see.
4) Do you enjoy reading about, ah, "specialty" reproductive scenarios such as mpreg, weird alien biology pregnancies, demon pregnancies, etc?
Do you even have to ask. Yes, mpreg is my guilty pleasure like no other. However I'm also often fascinated by weird alien reproduction; see Bloodchild by profic author Octavia Butler for mpreg+alien symbiosis. (I have no explanation for why the punctuation is wonky, nor why it's on the Washington Post website in the first place.)
5) Are you okay with "impossible" pregnancies assisted by some plot device? If so, do you have a preference for what kind of plot device it is, such as , such as a spell, hermaphroditism, "prophecy baby," time travel, genderswap, wacky science, pure handwaving, etc?
If the other elements of the story are good and the plot device isn't just ridiculously stupid, I'm pretty forgiving. In this context, I probably like time travel the least, but then I'm not terribly excited about time travel fic in the first place.
6) Do you prefer fpreg (someone with female sex organs carries the baby) or mpreg? Mpreg, of course, being a variation of "impossible" pregnancy.
Yes? Definitely yes. I get different things from each. Mpreg is more likely to explore a lot of things I'm interested in seeing explored; fpreg is much easier to find and, on average, of much higher quality.
7) How do you feel about supernatural babies in fic? They're psychic, they drink blood, they have wings, they're a hybrid, they're super strong, they will SAVE THE WORLD, etc.
I am generally opposed. Babies are plenty enough of a curveball without making things weird. I'm more interested in seeing how my characters of choice deal with a plain everyday infant than some angelic, psychic, ridiculously precocious, mystically enhanced kid. (Could that be a swipe at Twilight? Surely not.)
Hybrid kids could be cool in certain circumstances, but first you'll have to convince me that it's even possible given their parents' respective species. In particular, the concept of vampire/human hybrid is just bizarre to me. Vampires may be a species in the mystical sense, but certainly not biologically.
8) What characters do you most want to make beautiful babies together? What characters should never be allowed to reproduce?
I love this question, and I have no idea how to answer it. I think Spike/Buffy+kids could make a very happy family together. They're the ones I'm most committed to. Spike in general, really. I think Buffy'd take a fair bit of convincing, however.
Otherwise, I think I have no opinions. Except that Helo and Sharon should clearly get the chance to have another kid someday. And that the idea of Gaius and Six having a child of their own pretty much breaks my brain, and now I want to see it happen, darn it.
9) Are you interested in reading fic in which a character gets an abortion?
Not terribly. I've read three or four, and though they were well written, it's just not a scenario that I'm too interested in exploring except for completeness' sake. It's the pregnancy and the consequences thereafter that fascinate me; cutting that short defeats the whole purpose for me.
10) By necessity, almost all baby fics involve someone deciding against abortion. Is there a line of reasoning for having a child that you particularly like or dislike? "I want to create life for once," "Abortion is wrong," "I'm in love with this baby," "This is my/__'s only chance to have a baby," etc. Would you rather abortion not be considered at all?
Characterization is everything here. In the Buffyverse, for example, I'd expect nearly all the characters to at least consider abortion (assuming the pregnancy was unexpected, which is the case in the vast majority of the babyfic I've read). It'd be OOC for them not to. Likewise their reasoning for continuing the pregnancy - it has to make sense for that particular character. I can't think of any Buffyverse character who'd say abortion is wrong, for example.
11) How do you feel about other characters influencing the pregnant character's decision to have the baby?
Again, depends totally on the characterization. For some reason, the Willow in my head is totally gung ho about other people having babies, even though she has practically no interest in them herself.
12) How do you feel about fics in which abortion is not an option? Either the physical act of abortion is impossible (the baby generates self-protective force fields, an abortions is a major health risk to the pregnant person, no one can figure out the "undoing" spell, etc) or external factors necessitate the pregnancy (the world is infertile, childbearing is mandatory, the baby's destined to save the world, etc).
Depends entirely on how deftly it's handled and how self-aware the author is about what they're doing. Like, the force field or whatever it was that protected Connor was just stupid. And 'childbearing is mandatory' can go bad places really easily. I was reading a fairly dreadful thing recently about a social structure in which certain people were basically sold into slavery as child bearers, which could have been really interesting if the author had cared about anything except getting her main ship - child-bearer/master - together. The emotional responses were pure fantasy or else very, very squicky indeed. I'm still not entirely sure which the author was going for. (ladyofthelog, despite the similarities this isn't actually the fic I was telling you about.)
On the other hand, Buffy's pregnant with Dawn inangearia's fic Fin Amour and she carries her to term as part of her Slayer duty, but she hates that she's been given basically no choice about it. The characterization there feels very genuine. And it's possible to do that with any of the other scenarios as well. Pretty much any of those can be good the writer's willing to write the consequences of their premise.
I do think it's nearly always more interesting to see the characters choose to carry on the pregnancy, though. Assuming the characterization is good, watching a character choose to do something drastic is just about always more interesting than watching him/her be forced to do something drastic.
Let's be honest, though: babyfics with really dark beginnings are a serious guilty pleasure of mine. Mad scientist experimentation, threat of racial extinction, post-apocalyptic pregnancy - I eat that stuff up with a spoon. Sometimes the kinks do not agree with the opinions, yanno?
13) How do you feel about teenage pregnancy in fic?
I very rarely see it. I think I'd generally be opposed, especially if the character hadn't graduated from high school yet. Especially since, asghostyouknow27 points out, it tends to get romanticized when I do see it.
14) Are you okay with pregnancies / babies being used as plot devices to get a couple together? In your opinion, do some plot devices work better than others? The pregnancy itself brings a couple together vs. character a realized that character b had his child __ years ago, for example.
I've read a number of such fics and some of them do work, although I think my preference is for either non-shippy pregnancy/babyfics or fics in which the couple's already together. A baby's a huge life change; it's not like a person is really going to have the time, energy, or emotional reserves to embark on a new relationship at the same time.
15) How do you feel about self-improvement through pregnancy?
"Yanno, my boobs are just too perky. They should sag more! Gee, how can I fix that..."
Ahem.
Ah, I assume we're talking about all those stories where having a baby magically fixes a person's emotional problems. To which I say, feh. There is no magical fix to most emotional problems, and I'm pretty sure a baby brings more than it fixes.
That said, I've talked with a lot of folks who've actually had kids who say it forces you to grow up and changes your whole life perspective. That alone is hardly a reason to have a kid, though. And I've met plenty of other folks for whom it clearly didn't work that well.
16) If character a is impregnated by character b, what is character a's obligation to character b and vice versa?
I think I do not have sufficient opinions on this one. Pass.
17) Do you prefer that non-canonical pregnancy be warned for in a fic?
I think this is one of those places where warnings double as advertisements. I will absolutely be more likely to read a fic that warns/advertises for babyfic. In fact I'll often read something just because the summary makes it sound like a babyfic. (And 2/3 of the time I'm right.)
However, if it's not a major element of the story, then no, I shouldn't think you'd need to say anything. Although mpreg, other weird pregnancy-related tropes, miscarriages, and violence towards a pregnant person or baby should probably all be warned for regardless.
18) Are there certain ages of babies/kids that you prefer to read about?
Not really. The trouble with babies is that for several years their only narrative purposes are as plot devices and props. After they start developing into characters, things start to get really going, except writing interesting OC children is hard.
19) Do you have any squicks specific to pregnancy stories? What will make you stop reading?
Bad science is a biggie. If you just had sex the night before and you're puking now, then whatever you're puking for, it's not because you're pregnant. Unless you're carrying twins or more, you probably won't start showing until month four; you won't be able to feel the baby moving until around month five. Unless you're a vampire, a god-king familiar with your body on the cellular level, or some other unusual being, I don't think you'll ever be able to hear/feel the baby's heartbeat at all without at least stethoscope. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this one.)
I've also got a tic about accelerated pregnancies - I've seen everything from a couple of months to a few days. Physically, this is would be mortally stressful on both the baby and the person carrying it without much heavier duty magic than is usually described in these scenarios.
And yes, I love mpreg ridiculous amounts, but male lactation? DO NOT WANT.
20) If you're an author, have you ever written a pregnancy/baby fic?
Yes. More than once. And I have three separate WIP's going as we speak. My secret's out, isn't it?
21) What would you like to see in more pregnancy/baby fics?
Emotional honesty. Better science. Less sap. (Don't get me wrong, I love sentiment, but it has to be earned. And even when the baby is totally wanted and the parents are totally thrilled, there are still plenty of moments of frustration and discomfort and embarrassment and terror.) Fics that explore pregnancy and its effect on the pregnant person as interesting in its own right rather than just a shipping mechanism. More het mpreg. (One of these days I'll write a post on why I think het mpreg is so much more interesting than slash mpreg. And it's not even just because I like het better than slash!)
And there you have it, folks.
ghostyouknow27 and I wrote a meme! Which I suspect Quin also will not be terribly interested in, alas; maybe somebody out there will write her a dragon meme, hmm?1) Do you dislike, tolerate or enjoy fiction in which characters get knocked up?
Enjoy. (I know, you'd never have guessed.)
2) Does this vary depending on medium or author?
Not so much medium: fanfic, profic, movies, I'm up for any of them. I'm very equal opportunity that way. As for the author, if they're good at other kinds of fic then they're usually good at babyfic. The converse is also true.
3) If you like babyfic, which do you more enjoy reading about: the pregnancy or the baby?
The pregnancy. I suspect this is some kind of flaw in my character. Also it's why there's been no more Seraphverse fic in quite a long time, although I do have plotty ideas for several substantive fics. They may still happen, because I love the 'verse. We'll see.
4) Do you enjoy reading about, ah, "specialty" reproductive scenarios such as mpreg, weird alien biology pregnancies, demon pregnancies, etc?
Do you even have to ask. Yes, mpreg is my guilty pleasure like no other. However I'm also often fascinated by weird alien reproduction; see Bloodchild by profic author Octavia Butler for mpreg+alien symbiosis. (I have no explanation for why the punctuation is wonky, nor why it's on the Washington Post website in the first place.)
5) Are you okay with "impossible" pregnancies assisted by some plot device? If so, do you have a preference for what kind of plot device it is, such as , such as a spell, hermaphroditism, "prophecy baby," time travel, genderswap, wacky science, pure handwaving, etc?
If the other elements of the story are good and the plot device isn't just ridiculously stupid, I'm pretty forgiving. In this context, I probably like time travel the least, but then I'm not terribly excited about time travel fic in the first place.
6) Do you prefer fpreg (someone with female sex organs carries the baby) or mpreg? Mpreg, of course, being a variation of "impossible" pregnancy.
Yes? Definitely yes. I get different things from each. Mpreg is more likely to explore a lot of things I'm interested in seeing explored; fpreg is much easier to find and, on average, of much higher quality.
7) How do you feel about supernatural babies in fic? They're psychic, they drink blood, they have wings, they're a hybrid, they're super strong, they will SAVE THE WORLD, etc.
I am generally opposed. Babies are plenty enough of a curveball without making things weird. I'm more interested in seeing how my characters of choice deal with a plain everyday infant than some angelic, psychic, ridiculously precocious, mystically enhanced kid. (Could that be a swipe at Twilight? Surely not.)
Hybrid kids could be cool in certain circumstances, but first you'll have to convince me that it's even possible given their parents' respective species. In particular, the concept of vampire/human hybrid is just bizarre to me. Vampires may be a species in the mystical sense, but certainly not biologically.
8) What characters do you most want to make beautiful babies together? What characters should never be allowed to reproduce?
I love this question, and I have no idea how to answer it. I think Spike/Buffy+kids could make a very happy family together. They're the ones I'm most committed to. Spike in general, really. I think Buffy'd take a fair bit of convincing, however.
Otherwise, I think I have no opinions. Except that Helo and Sharon should clearly get the chance to have another kid someday. And that the idea of Gaius and Six having a child of their own pretty much breaks my brain, and now I want to see it happen, darn it.
9) Are you interested in reading fic in which a character gets an abortion?
Not terribly. I've read three or four, and though they were well written, it's just not a scenario that I'm too interested in exploring except for completeness' sake. It's the pregnancy and the consequences thereafter that fascinate me; cutting that short defeats the whole purpose for me.
10) By necessity, almost all baby fics involve someone deciding against abortion. Is there a line of reasoning for having a child that you particularly like or dislike? "I want to create life for once," "Abortion is wrong," "I'm in love with this baby," "This is my/__'s only chance to have a baby," etc. Would you rather abortion not be considered at all?
Characterization is everything here. In the Buffyverse, for example, I'd expect nearly all the characters to at least consider abortion (assuming the pregnancy was unexpected, which is the case in the vast majority of the babyfic I've read). It'd be OOC for them not to. Likewise their reasoning for continuing the pregnancy - it has to make sense for that particular character. I can't think of any Buffyverse character who'd say abortion is wrong, for example.
11) How do you feel about other characters influencing the pregnant character's decision to have the baby?
Again, depends totally on the characterization. For some reason, the Willow in my head is totally gung ho about other people having babies, even though she has practically no interest in them herself.
12) How do you feel about fics in which abortion is not an option? Either the physical act of abortion is impossible (the baby generates self-protective force fields, an abortions is a major health risk to the pregnant person, no one can figure out the "undoing" spell, etc) or external factors necessitate the pregnancy (the world is infertile, childbearing is mandatory, the baby's destined to save the world, etc).
Depends entirely on how deftly it's handled and how self-aware the author is about what they're doing. Like, the force field or whatever it was that protected Connor was just stupid. And 'childbearing is mandatory' can go bad places really easily. I was reading a fairly dreadful thing recently about a social structure in which certain people were basically sold into slavery as child bearers, which could have been really interesting if the author had cared about anything except getting her main ship - child-bearer/master - together. The emotional responses were pure fantasy or else very, very squicky indeed. I'm still not entirely sure which the author was going for. (
ladyofthelog, despite the similarities this isn't actually the fic I was telling you about.)On the other hand, Buffy's pregnant with Dawn in
angearia's fic Fin Amour and she carries her to term as part of her Slayer duty, but she hates that she's been given basically no choice about it. The characterization there feels very genuine. And it's possible to do that with any of the other scenarios as well. Pretty much any of those can be good the writer's willing to write the consequences of their premise.I do think it's nearly always more interesting to see the characters choose to carry on the pregnancy, though. Assuming the characterization is good, watching a character choose to do something drastic is just about always more interesting than watching him/her be forced to do something drastic.
Let's be honest, though: babyfics with really dark beginnings are a serious guilty pleasure of mine. Mad scientist experimentation, threat of racial extinction, post-apocalyptic pregnancy - I eat that stuff up with a spoon. Sometimes the kinks do not agree with the opinions, yanno?
13) How do you feel about teenage pregnancy in fic?
I very rarely see it. I think I'd generally be opposed, especially if the character hadn't graduated from high school yet. Especially since, as
ghostyouknow27 points out, it tends to get romanticized when I do see it. 14) Are you okay with pregnancies / babies being used as plot devices to get a couple together? In your opinion, do some plot devices work better than others? The pregnancy itself brings a couple together vs. character a realized that character b had his child __ years ago, for example.
I've read a number of such fics and some of them do work, although I think my preference is for either non-shippy pregnancy/babyfics or fics in which the couple's already together. A baby's a huge life change; it's not like a person is really going to have the time, energy, or emotional reserves to embark on a new relationship at the same time.
15) How do you feel about self-improvement through pregnancy?
"Yanno, my boobs are just too perky. They should sag more! Gee, how can I fix that..."
Ahem.
Ah, I assume we're talking about all those stories where having a baby magically fixes a person's emotional problems. To which I say, feh. There is no magical fix to most emotional problems, and I'm pretty sure a baby brings more than it fixes.
That said, I've talked with a lot of folks who've actually had kids who say it forces you to grow up and changes your whole life perspective. That alone is hardly a reason to have a kid, though. And I've met plenty of other folks for whom it clearly didn't work that well.
16) If character a is impregnated by character b, what is character a's obligation to character b and vice versa?
I think I do not have sufficient opinions on this one. Pass.
17) Do you prefer that non-canonical pregnancy be warned for in a fic?
I think this is one of those places where warnings double as advertisements. I will absolutely be more likely to read a fic that warns/advertises for babyfic. In fact I'll often read something just because the summary makes it sound like a babyfic. (And 2/3 of the time I'm right.)
However, if it's not a major element of the story, then no, I shouldn't think you'd need to say anything. Although mpreg, other weird pregnancy-related tropes, miscarriages, and violence towards a pregnant person or baby should probably all be warned for regardless.
18) Are there certain ages of babies/kids that you prefer to read about?
Not really. The trouble with babies is that for several years their only narrative purposes are as plot devices and props. After they start developing into characters, things start to get really going, except writing interesting OC children is hard.
19) Do you have any squicks specific to pregnancy stories? What will make you stop reading?
Bad science is a biggie. If you just had sex the night before and you're puking now, then whatever you're puking for, it's not because you're pregnant. Unless you're carrying twins or more, you probably won't start showing until month four; you won't be able to feel the baby moving until around month five. Unless you're a vampire, a god-king familiar with your body on the cellular level, or some other unusual being, I don't think you'll ever be able to hear/feel the baby's heartbeat at all without at least stethoscope. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this one.)
I've also got a tic about accelerated pregnancies - I've seen everything from a couple of months to a few days. Physically, this is would be mortally stressful on both the baby and the person carrying it without much heavier duty magic than is usually described in these scenarios.
And yes, I love mpreg ridiculous amounts, but male lactation? DO NOT WANT.
20) If you're an author, have you ever written a pregnancy/baby fic?
Yes. More than once. And I have three separate WIP's going as we speak. My secret's out, isn't it?
21) What would you like to see in more pregnancy/baby fics?
Emotional honesty. Better science. Less sap. (Don't get me wrong, I love sentiment, but it has to be earned. And even when the baby is totally wanted and the parents are totally thrilled, there are still plenty of moments of frustration and discomfort and embarrassment and terror.) Fics that explore pregnancy and its effect on the pregnant person as interesting in its own right rather than just a shipping mechanism. More het mpreg. (One of these days I'll write a post on why I think het mpreg is so much more interesting than slash mpreg. And it's not even just because I like het better than slash!)
And there you have it, folks.
