"Is this the part where you give me an inspirational speech, I turn my life around, and you go back home feeling like the better man?" He hates the tone of his voice, the clipped lilt of sarcasm. "Pat yourself on the back and tell everyone you've performed your good deed for the week? Don't you dare presume to tell me how I should feel, Gunn. Lilah's dead, and I might as well be the one who killed her."

Oh, I like this a lot, and all the rest of it too.

I read a lass's blog on this subject recently, and it seems to me that the difference between her take on slash and mine is that she sees slash as inherently violating canon for the sake of violating canon; that she sees heterosexuality as the default setting, and homosexuality as something that can't be there unless it's openly expressed.

That's pants.

Feh.

Ple, I like it, except for one thing. I can't imagine a world where Wes looks forward to waking up in the morning.

t schmoop alert The only one where I can is one where Gunn accepts him for whatever he is. (kicks things shyly and gently like a grade schooler kicking a clump of dirt) It's this old OTP thing, you see.(shakes tiny fist in air) THEIRLUVWAZSOTRU!!!

Ooo! Thanks, Mlle. Theodosia.

(woke up at 7 again. hate this. not making of the sense.)

You're so cute! I'm giggling.

(pssst! I have two of Deb's books!)

I read a lass's blog on this subject recently, and it seems to me that the difference between her take on slash and mine is that she sees slash as inherently violating canon for the sake of violating canon; that she sees heterosexuality as the default setting, and homosexuality as something that can't be there unless it's openly expressed.

Interesting, but I don't really agree with her. Yes, there are PWP slash stories that exist solely for the point of portraying hot sex between two hot characters and violate characterization and canon up the wazoo, but there are others in which the slash portrayed is firmly rooted in canon. In due South, especially in the Ray K episodes, the subtext is barely sub at all. The characters in ME shows all interact with such intensity, that sometimes it's hard not to read things in a sexual way. In the Potterverse, the characters are young and (in the case of Draco, Neville, etc.) blank enough slates that it's possible to add all kinds of backstory and psychology that still works within the parameters of what Rowling has set up.

I'd like to be able to wave a magic wand and banish the terms 'slash', 'het' and 'gen' altogether.

Yup. Personally, I see the biggest divide not between slash and het, but between slash/het and gen. It's really more of a gut feeling than anything that has evidence I can point to, but it may be because so many fic writers and fic communities seem to be 'shipper driven.

I also don't like the idea of categorizing writers by their pairings or by their slashiness. Yrs truly would probably be categorized as a gen writer, but currently I'm working on a plot bunny involving some f/f slash (odd, for a conservative Kinsey 0 sort of girl).

Personally, (even though I get very upset when people don't understand the true, lasting love between Fraser and Ray K.) I think that shippiness is not always a good thing for the fic world. I think it can keep people from looking at the quality of a fic rather than whether or not the right people end up in bed (or on the floor, on a desk, in the back seat of a car, etc.) together. Yes, I like a good schmoopy romance or torrid bit of erotica as much as the next gal, but I'd hate for those things to be the only things I valued about fic.

(pssst! I have two of Deb's books!)

Curse you wee and adorable Deena! I must track them down, so as to add to the Buffista Bookshelf.

Okay. Going to TRY and sleep now.

Ignorant question of the day: What is gen?

"Gen" refers either to generic or general, I think. It's how you classify stories that don't have a romantic or sexual relationship between main characters as a main ingredient.

Teppy's story about Faith would be an example of gen.

Oh, thanks Anne. I guess I don't really classify stories that way. I can see how it might be useful sometimes.

It's useful for some people as it generally means "no smut here!", but I think that the labeling of fic is less than useful and might actually keep people from reading a story they might otherwise love.