I'm not explaining this well. What I mean is ... what's happened on the shows is what inspired me to write, not what slash pairing I've come up with. Does that make sense?

I don't want anyone to think I'm poo poooinf slashyness, it's just that I don't really get it.

Cereal:

Well, there's a fair amount that you Just Can't Show on network TV. Even when Canon, Tara/Willow wasn't overt until S6, with the network switch. Gunn/Wes received comment in Spin the Bottle, Angel/Lindsey has plenty of script comment support, plus script/canon support where Darla flat out tells our little lawyer buddy that he wants to do the Big Broody Hairloaf.

Is it just Unconventional/Non-canon pairings? Because there are plenty of those in fic that aren't slash. (Willow/Spike is popular, as is Faith/Wes or Faith/Angel or Faith/Breathing or Not Breathing Male. Buffy/Xander has a following, as does Buffy/Giles and Kate/Angel) Some of that is just gratuitous PRETTY!!, and some of it is a big old game of What-if?

I tend to write UC pairings, and, for the most part, I do it out of a sense of "what would happen if..." rather than "PRETTY!!!".

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No, no. Straight slash or gay slash. Couldn't give a toss either way. I'm not sure if I can explain this.

Okay ... BtVS and Angel, these two shows have impressed me so much that they've moved me to writing fanfic about them. But what I've got to go on is the episodes of the shows. So if I see a Wesley/Angel fic, or a Willow/Riley fic or whatever I'm like, that's not the thing that has inspired me to write in the first place, because canonically that realtionship doesn't exist.

I'm hyper aware that the Buffistas are all about the slash, but I'm taking a stand and saying that there's quite a few stretches out there:-) e.g. I don't believe Xander ever wanted sex with Angel, or any number of other fics.
It's the canon that inspired me, if it's not canon, then why would I try to write it?
Lack of vocal intonation and hand gestures make this difficult to explain. :-)

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P.M. Marcontell Aargh. This is going to sound awful. Please don't take it the wrong way. I just feel that the Buffyverse (that includes Angel) is so rich, that to simply write fics that are slashy does an enormous disservice to the world that ME have created.

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Do you write stuff that doesn't diverge from canon, UTTAD? Also, with no original characters? How tied are you precisely what we've seen?

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No, no. Straight slash or gay slash. Couldn't give a toss either way. I'm not sure if I can explain this.

Slash isn't straight.

So, it's Unconventional Parings that you have an issue with.

As I've said, there's a lot of subtext to play with. Faith/Lilah:

(NOTE TO DIRECTOR AND ACTORS: Mind the lesbian subtext -- keep it very "sub".)

So, while not canon as in not aired, it is something that the Men and Women Behind the Curtain are well aware of, and play with.

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ita, so far any fic I've written doesn't impact on the MEverse as has been written in the TV shows.

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I just feel that the Buffyverse (that includes Angel) is so rich, that to simply write fics that are slashy does an enormous disservice to the world that ME have created.

See above. I think that *NOT* using the subtext is like letting the gift horse go without food and water for a few weeks.

Because honestly, when you have

Angel eyefucks Lindsey as the cop slaps the cuffs on. Lindsey leans in to Angel...

In the script directions? They're just *begging* you to slash 'em

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Non canonical het relationships aren't really called slash. (Okay, there are some groups who do consider it slash, but I'm...old school-ish enough in my reading, to consider only non canonical same sex relationships slash).

UTTAD, do you not see subtext in stories at all?

I'm not talking about romantic or sexual subtext but little clues that are given about things like power struggles or character dynamics that are implied but never outright stated?

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Well, really fanfic doesn't influence the shows, it's not about trying to influence the shows, it's about playing with the "what ifs" and missing scenes and "could have beens" and all the little details that are never, can never, be adequetaly explored.

It's all the various interperations of the characters. How I see them, how Ple or Rosavere, or Jenny O, or you see them. I like that, I like seeing how other people interpert what they see on screen, it doesn't always match how I interpert the show.

So reading a story that has an idea I never thought of, a way of looking at the characters I don't is cool, like trying on a new pair of eyes.

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UTTAD, it's cool. There are plenty of people out there who write and read fic just for what you're looking for: they want MORE than we get on the show. Not different, just MORE.

There's nothing wrong with that.

As for your question about slash, I think you may be conflating slash with any kind of sexual noncanonical pairing. Slash is, historically, non-canonical and same-sex. So Willow/Riley may be noncanonical but isn't slash, per se. (Despite the use of / in the description of the pairing. *g*)

Asking why people in general write slash or anything else is going to get you dozens of different answers. I don't mind the question, myself -- what gets me uncomfortable is when someone who doesn't write tries to answer it -- or when a writer tries to answer for all writers. That never ends well. We all have our own reasons for writing, and those reasons may change over time, and from show to show.

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