the Warm and Fuzzy Fic writers/fans and the Twisted and Fucked-up Fic writers/fans.

It's an interesting divide-- and one where I sit firmly on the fence. I read both, I write both, and I'm not sure why. With some writers, I can clearly see that their TaFuF is better than their WaFF, or the other way around, but mine seems to be about even whatever the 'mood' of the piece. Some fandoms do seem to dispose towards one or the other, but that sometimes seems like it's as much about the mood of the canon and the attitudes of the audience as the writing itself.

Is it just me, or is it harder to write a happy-ending, sunshine-and-puppies fic than something angst-ridden?

It's harder to write things that are completely unrealistic, or unsuited to the canon you're working with. WaFF can get out of character, but so can TaFuF. In Buffyverse, for example, if you regard the perfect happy ending as 'Buffy marries Spike', that's hard to write realistically, because it is rather unlikely within canon. (You could, once, have tried for a good comedy, but Something Blue did it better than most fanfic will ever manage.) If your world-view and canon are dark, dark-fic is easier because it's more within canon. A show with a happier background (and I'm guessing that dueSouth may have that, without having watched it), is easier to write happy fic in.

That's why it's easiest to write darkness-with-humour in MASH, becuase that's what the show has.

How would you go about writing something warm-n-fuzzy without it descending into out-of-character schmoopiness?

I tend to find that if I know the characters well enough-- if, in canon, I can point to examples of 'happy here', 'sad here', and know what they did, and why-- they'll stay in character through most plot contortions. Sometimes I have to think hard, and have someone check that they are, but it seems to work for the most part.

Wow, that was a lot of stuff I had to say.

Is it just me, or is it harder to write a happy-ending, sunshine-and-puppies fic than something angst-ridden? How would you go about writing something warm-n-fuzzy without it descending into out-of-character schmoopiness?

I find it incredibly hard to write light -- but then, if anything, I tend toward the angst, misery, heartbreak and despair end of the spectrum a little too much.

I think a part of the problem is that, as a writer, I find it hard to differentiate the emotions on the warm-n-fuzzy end in a way that makes for very memorable or interesting writing. I have an extensive vocabulary of shades of dark gray; when I go for happy, it all just comes out... happy. Obviously, there are as many nuances there as there are on the dark side of the spectrum, but it's frustrating to come out with stuff that looks like just "happily ever after" on the page. So, being profoundly lazy, I don't push myself to do more in that mode. I stick to my dark corners instead.

(Actually, looking at the above, "Happily Ever After" may have as much to do with it as my own laziness. Particular kinds of happy endings -- the romance plot represented by that phrase in particular -- are such a strongly entrenched cultural formula that it's much harder to see your way to something different. This is my own preferences speaking, of course, and not meant as a dismissal of romance, just of my own ability to do anything with it.)

Interesting question. Happy fic writers, what do y'all think?

And is anyone up for a challenge? Write something dark if you usually do light, and vice versa? Lord knows I need to get out of the usual habits; does anyone else feel the same way?

I'm a sucker for happy endings, but they've got to EARN that happiness. And happiness may be defined as cessation of pain, laying down of arms with honor, or any number of other things that don't involve picket fences and all the rest.

I find myself getting annoyed that people think there's only one kind of happy ending, with everyone paired off in peaceful domestic bliss. You can be happy in the ruins of civilization, if you're with someone you like (doesn't even have to be romantically, just someone at your back) and you're at peace.

Particular kinds of happy endings -- the romance plot represented by that phrase in particular -- are such a strongly entrenched cultural formula that it's much harder to see your way to something different.

For some reason, I don't feel that that's a problem for me. I see that it's easier to find the shades of grey in dark-fic than in light, but one of the things that amuses me is to take the happily-ever-after ending, and narrate beyond it, by telling the next bit-- the having children that has to follow, even in the cliche; or from the other end, looking back at it.

is anyone up for a challenge?

Normally I'd say 'yes! Of course', but I think I'd have a hard time figuring which one to write.

I write light and dark, funny and serious, short and long, het and gen and slash.

First person, second person, third person.

Shit.

I have no usual habits.

Okay, do they not understand that us multi-fandom geeks are going to get overbooked at some point?

HAHAHA. Suck it up and just read the drabbles?

... I don't think I really think of the two as very separate categories.

But I think I'm looking at narration in a very specialized way. And I don't have the time right now (although I would so rather do this then what I'm supposed to be doing right now!) to be interesting about it, so I'll shut up.

happiness may be defined as cessation of pain, laying down of arms with honor, or any number of other things that don't involve picket fences and all the rest.

Yes. This. 'Winning the fight' is a happy ending. It can have a happy ending, and still offer a lot of loose ends and problems to deal with.

Hey, I still think Triptych had a happy ending. I'm not the best judge of these things.

And happiness may be defined as cessation of pain, laying down of arms with honor, or any number of other things that don't involve picket fences and all the rest.

Oh, absolutely. And I tend to think those are the best kind. I hope I didn't seem to imply otherwise, aside from the very specific case of my own difficulties in hatching happy stories.

If a story doesn't involve some sort of triumph through adversity, even if it's only with a character dying with a secret kept or knowing that a larger victory is assured, then I don't think I could bring myself to bother. People tell stories to try and make sense of hte world, to try to make things turn out right.