on shipping

Sometimes, I really hate that all purpose '/' symbol. We mean so many different things by it and read so many different things into it. Like, when I see Dean/OFC on a fic, I assume it's a fic with happily-ever-after curtainfic tendencies featuring a particular bland sort of female character with a whiff of self-insertion about her. This is absolutely not fair, because Dean/OFC does not necessarily imply either curtainfic or bland female character, and anyway sometimes self-insert fics are freaking amazing. Dean/OFC doesn't necessarily even imply shippiness as such. That slash doesn't have to imply that the pairing it glues together is endgame or that the author has any particular investment in the pairing's longevity. In Dean's case, it might just mean sex; while my life is a genfic, Dean's is very much not.

I've been worrying at this notion recently because I have a Dean-centric longfic I've been poking at for probably a year now which may or may not involve some Dean/OFC. I am thus far undecided. This OFC is, behind Sam and Dean, the most important character in the fic, and on top of that I'm kind of in love with her (always risky). The question is, will there be sex or will there not be sex? Clearly if the inclusion of the '/' depends on one sex scene, then we know this is not a shippy fic. It does not end shippily. Yet, do I want to sink the fic and drive away a significant portion of the readership by giving Dean a one-night stand worth noting in the pairing column? After all, I have those assumptions about Dean/OFC, and I LIKE het fic, which cannot be assumed in this fandom.

Over at seasonal_spuffy the mods have always been very relaxed about what Spike/Buffy means, exactly; when I was on the mod team, we let everyone self-regulate, and that seemed to work fine. If it had Spike and Buffy, or it had Spike thinking about Buffy or Buffy thinking about Spike, or some third party thinking about Spike and Buffy together in pretty much any context, well, we were cool. Presumably the authors liked Spuffy, or they wouldn't be there, and what more could we ask?

For that matter, when I say "I ship so-and-so," what do I even mean? Is that pairing an OTP for me? Is it one of many pairings for those characters which I will happily read? Do I require that pairing get a happy ending in all fic I read featuring the pairing? Do I consider the relationship between these characters to be healthy or functional? Do I just like slamming those two characters together in any scenario I darned well please, regardless of outcome? WHO KNOWS.

Finally, have a list of ways to mean/interpret the pesky 'A/B':

• A and B will live happily ever following this fic
  
• A and B flirt in this fic
  
• A and B have some form of sexual encounter in this fic, possibly including non-con
  
• A thinks about B and/or B thinks about A in some kind of romantic/sexual fashion in this fic
  
• The relationship between A and B is the entire point of this fic
  
• A and B are in a relationship in this fic, which fact has no effect on any of the action or themes discussed
  
• A and B have Repressed! Feelings! for each other in this fic which are never explicitly expressed in the text (I suspect this includes a lot of Sam/Dean fic, especially moody short pieces)
  
• I ship this characters, so obviously any interaction they have is shippy (seriously, is it possible for Spuffyites to write Spike+Buffy gen? I'm not sure it is)
  
• These characters have so much history that all interaction between them is necessarily sexually/romantically charged (think Angel/Darla or Damon/Katherine)
  
• At some point following the end of this fic, A and B will engage in a romantic/sexual relationship, even though there is no direct indication of this in the fic (often colloquially referred to as 'pre-slash' on that side of fandom)

I know I do not have them all, but there's a start. Additions?

Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. ( DW replies)

on shipping

Sometimes, I really hate that all purpose '/' symbol. We mean so many different things by it and read so many different things into it. Like, when I see Dean/OFC on a fic, I assume it's a fic with happily-ever-after curtainfic tendencies featuring a particular bland sort of female character with a whiff of self-insertion about her. This is absolutely not fair, because Dean/OFC does not necessarily imply either curtainfic or bland female character, and anyway sometimes self-insert fics are freaking amazing. Dean/OFC doesn't necessarily even imply shippiness as such. That slash doesn't have to imply that the pairing it glues together is endgame or that the author has any particular investment in the pairing's longevity. In Dean's case, it might just mean sex; while my life is a genfic, Dean's is very much not.

I've been worrying at this notion recently because I have a Dean-centric longfic I've been poking at for probably a year now which may or may not involve some Dean/OFC. I am thus far undecided. This OFC is, behind Sam and Dean, the most important character in the fic, and on top of that I'm kind of in love with her (always risky). The question is, will there be sex or will there not be sex? Clearly if the inclusion of the '/' depends on one sex scene, then we know this is not a shippy fic. It does not end shippily. Yet, do I want to sink the fic and drive away a significant portion of the readership by giving Dean a one-night stand worth noting in the pairing column? After all, I have those assumptions about Dean/OFC, and I LIKE het fic, which cannot be assumed in this fandom.

Over at seasonal_spuffy the mods have always been very relaxed about what Spike/Buffy means, exactly; when I was on the mod team, we let everyone self-regulate, and that seemed to work fine. If it had Spike and Buffy, or it had Spike thinking about Buffy or Buffy thinking about Spike, or some third party thinking about Spike and Buffy together in pretty much any context, well, we were cool. Presumably the authors liked Spuffy, or they wouldn't be there, and what more could we ask?

For that matter, when I say "I ship so-and-so," what do I even mean? Is that pairing an OTP for me? Is it one of many pairings for those characters which I will happily read? Do I require that pairing get a happy ending in all fic I read featuring the pairing? Do I consider the relationship between these characters to be healthy or functional? Do I just like slamming those two characters together in any scenario I darned well please, regardless of outcome? WHO KNOWS.

Finally, have a list of ways to mean/interpret the pesky 'A/B':

• A and B will live happily ever following this fic
  
• A and B flirt in this fic
  
• A and B have some form of sexual encounter in this fic, possibly including non-con
  
• A thinks about B and/or B thinks about A in some kind of romantic/sexual fashion in this fic
  
• The relationship between A and B is the entire point of this fic
  
• A and B are in a relationship in this fic, which fact has no effect on any of the action or themes discussed
  
• A and B have Repressed! Feelings! for each other in this fic which are never explicitly expressed in the text (I suspect this includes a lot of Sam/Dean fic, especially moody short pieces)
  
• I ship this characters, so obviously any interaction they have is shippy (seriously, is it possible for Spuffyites to write Spike+Buffy gen? I'm not sure it is)
  
• These characters have so much history that all interaction between them is necessarily sexually/romantically charged (think Angel/Darla or Damon/Katherine)
  
• At some point following the end of this fic, A and B will engage in a romantic/sexual relationship, even though there is no direct indication of this in the fic (often colloquially referred to as 'pre-slash' on that side of fandom)

I know I do not have them all, but there's a start. Additions?

Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. ( DW replies)

this is for my TVD people

Nothing is So Lost by websandwhiskers - Damon/Elena, AU from mid-S2

Y'all are always sad that there's no good Damon/Elena fic, but I suspect you guys would like this one. Nifty Elena-centric piece with good Damon voice.

Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. ( DW replies)

this is for my TVD people

Nothing is So Lost by websandwhiskers - Damon/Elena, AU from mid-S2

Y'all are always sad that there's no good Damon/Elena fic, but I suspect you guys would like this one. Nifty Elena-centric piece with good Damon voice.

Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. ( DW replies)

SPN finale-related comm

So, I reeeeeally liked the note we ended on in the S7 finale, and so did other folks, apparently, because there's now a comm. Click the spoiler cut to see the spoilery but very pretty banner and link to the comm.

( clicky click! )

Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. ( DW replies)

SPN finale-related comm

So, I reeeeeally liked the note we ended on in the S7 finale, and so did other folks, apparently, because there's now a comm. Click the spoiler cut to see the spoilery but very pretty banner and link to the comm.

( clicky click! )

Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. ( DW replies)