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.

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!!!

sniff.

Oh, man. Back in the day...

sniff.

Ignorant question of the day: What is gen?

gen covers lots and lots of stories - basically it means fic that isn't relationship-driven, and (I've always assumed) stands for 'general'. Thus character-study drabbles or big-ass epics of plottiness or whatever the hell else gets called 'gen'. But these terms are so misleading. I mean, hell, The Sick Rose and its two little prequels comprise a novella-length swashbuckling epic of plottiness, in which the canonical, heterosexual Spike/Dru romance is absolutely the most important thing, but in which Dru is offstage for maybe half or 3/4 of the story, and in which the only sex to be described is m/m or f/f. So what the hell is that supposed to be?

eta

Big ass crosspostage.

I know enough people made uncomfortable by sexual content that I can see it might be handy.

I tend to look by genre for stories I want to read. Maybe today it's regency, tomorrow sci-fi, next week a medical thriller. Sometimes I want sex, sometimes I don't. However, I know that I've occasionally missed out on some good stuff because I limited my choices, and anything I've read here has been good, with or without sex. People tend to classify things. And I'm babbling. I'm just not sure how it could be done so as to introduce good fic to the greater number of discerning readers without offending a similarly large number of same.

Even my most gen-ist stuff isn't very gen.

I mean, Et Tu is basically gen, being just a wee ch. study, as is Devils With Halos, but the rest of what might be called gen in the Collected Works of Ms. Minim Calibre contains Subtext.

I firmly believe that slash is not the same as smut; you will note that in the above story (Still Untitled, Hint Hint), there is no smut, but It's All About Two Boys In Love. And is, of course, Slash. Damn it.

I know enough people made uncomfortable by sexual content that I can see it might be handy.

No! nononono! Because the ratings system, albeit modelled upon your US system that still throws me a bit, deals with the sexual content thing. Slash doesn't mean Sex. I can't say that clearly enough. Slash is often thought of as meaning sex by those who don't read it, and as being motivated purely by prurience (as it certainly is at times - as is much 'Het' fic) but it doesn't have to involve sex. Or kissing. Or even overt declarations of love. The term 'preslash' strikes me as clumsy and I eschew it for aesthetic reasons and because of the implication that the 'slash' has only happened once lips and/or hips have started bumping.

imho, the thing that makes it slash is that a non-canonically-acknowledged piece of same-sex chemistry is being addressed/acknowledged/expanded upon.

oh crimeny, I'm bad at titles. I'm no help.

Ple, couldn't he grin or something instead of outright "saying" he's looking forward to dawn? I want broody wes.

I know enough people made uncomfortable by sexual content that I can see it might be handy.

Sorry--I should clarify. I don't believe that slash=smut. Not hardly. I should have said that slash or het combined with an NC-17 (or even R) rating might help someone realize that they might prefer to avoid a story or at least put on their skimmy-specs once things head bed-ward.

Hrrm.

I was going to have him look back at Gunn, but that didn't work, and I was going to have him smile, but that didn't work (he's still a sexy little Eeyore, he's just less Mr. Mopey Donkey Pants at the end than at the beginning). I'm trying to think of a way to word it that may not be so happy but that also basically says "moving on, starting to occur."

Hmm, I wonder if 'metaslash' might be an apt term for slash that does not contain outright smut/porn/erotica.