If I like somebody's work already, I'd be more willing to try out their more "unconventional" things. Like I liked Fay's S/D Mayhem in Prague series, so I'd be interested to see say Vamp!Willow and Dru together. But probably not on ff.net.

That being said, in some fandoms I have loyalties to certain characters and prefer stories about them, or have irrational dislikes of certain pairings and don't tend to read stories featuring them.

Shrift is me in this regard. In certain fandoms, it's fun to mix things up. With Buffy and XF, I'm happy with any pairing, as long as the story is good. On the other hand, although I like the character of Ray Vecchio a lot, I can't bring myself to read any F/V stories. Also, even though the Greg/Nick HoYay! on CSI is fun, the idea of reading any CSI slash kind of bothers me. Actually, that's one of the series where I find that 'shipper fic takes things too far away from what the series is about for the stories to be of interest to my. YFicMV.

It's Shipper War Time Yet Again in BBF-Land.

I, um, wrote a semi-essay. Which I'm cleaning up and reposting. Because I can.

t Gleep!

That's you?

t Gleep!

Shrift said:

Also re: the BBF kerfuffle: the Jesus Christ Pose isn't flattering, and should not be assumed by anyone not believed to be the son of God.

t snarf!

WROD, my sister.

Shrift is me in this regard. In certain fandoms, it's fun to mix things up. With Buffy and XF, I'm happy with any pairing, as long as the story is good. On the other hand, although I like the character of Ray Vecchio a lot, I can't bring myself to read any F/V stories. Also, even though the Greg/Nick HoYay! on CSI is fun, the idea of reading any CSI slash kind of bothers me. Actually, that's one of the series where I find that 'shipper fic takes things too far away from what the series is about for the stories to be of interest to my. YFicMV.

Anne is me. Therefore, Shrift is me. I am suddenly cool.

And Anne, I'll try to get back to your email this evening, okay? I'm lost in the land of the fuzzy-headed at the moment.

The discussion on BBF makes me want to rip my eyes out.

Hear hear.

It would be in bad taste to recommend my own birthday present, so here I am, not recommending it. The story I am not recommending contains spoilers through "Awakening," btw.

I keep hoping she'll put that on her website before we do the next rec update, simply because I have an irrational dislike for linking to things on LJ.

Me too. I looked for it on the BFA, but she hasn't posted it there yet either.

Someone must badger her.

I'm not even on the BFA any more, and that kind of endless argument is annoying anyway, but Ple, you asked for comments, so I'll give you some. Keep in mind I'm a BTDT, oh-come-on-people kind of fan.

I'm increasingly of the opinion (and this has nothing to do with the fact that I tend to prefer writing them) that wildly unconventional 'ships, when done well, tend to have better characterization than most canon 'ship ficcage.

Call me picky, but isn't that tautological? I mean, any X, done well, is by very definition going to be better than 90% of available Y. That's not a worthwhile point to argue. A better argument would be whether the good examples of X and the good examples of Y are comparable, better than, worse than. Am I wrong?

There's so much 'what', that the 'if' is less open to interpretation in the wonderful game of 'what-if' that is writing. At least for me.

In other words, characters who interact less have less canon to work with, and are thus freer to be interpreted. I tend to agree, except for the part where, when you're working with fine-tunings of a narrow, rule-bound characterization, it's a lot harder to miss than when you're working with a gigantic emptiness of possibilities. Which is to say, lack of canon means you can make a character anybody you want, which means, in my experience, characterization that's creative and excellent, or characterization that absolutely blows . Far, far more of the latter than the former, and unlike any 'mainstream' of fic, there tends to be very little in the middling, don't-love-it, but it-doesn't-make-my-eyes-bleed okay range: it always seems to end up at extremes.

People are writing it because they're very invested in the pairing,

Preaching to the choir, I agree. There's a whole intra-group logic that can occasionally take hold and fly in the face of external logic. Unfortunately, that's as true of anybody with an agenda -- by which I mean any other, conflicting ship, or anybody invested in a ship not existing. Being outside of a shipper norm doesn't automatically make one more skeptical, more's the pity.

I think the important thing is that I consider it a preference, not a prejudice, and will put aside my inclinations if the story's good.

This I tend to agree with (it's shrift).

In sum, I think that harder jobs -- like pairing characters who have never met -- are harder to do well than standard jobs. Which, by definition, means the harder jobs will have a higher rate of failure. A more forward, and I suspect more accurate, thesis is this: I would tentatively suggest not that unconvential stories are better; but that unconventionalness tends eventually to attract the better, more innovative writer.

Based solely on the number of people I respect who have said to me, "I couldn't get enough of _____, back in the day, but then I got bored and now I'm trying ______, _______, and _______."