I don't get why it has to be so labeled. It's all fic.

To be honest, I've thrown my mental hands up in the air about it, at least for tonight. As far as Delicious goes, since that's all user-defined I can label as I please. Anyone who wanders in off the internets and gets confuzzled, well, that's their problem. I'm primarily setting it up to make sense to me although I was hoping it might be legible to other people too.

I remember that this conversation came up (on lj, I think), and someone (I don't remember who) said, "Look, we need a word for when there's romantic relationships between characters, but it's not the point of the thing (unlike with slash/het in general). I don't care what we call it. We can call it Bob." And that's where it came from, you know, only with citations and crap.

Well, as you know, Bob...

I remember that this conversation came up (on lj, I think), and someone (I don't remember who) said, "Look, we need a word for when there's romantic relationships between characters, but it's not the point of the thing (unlike with slash/het in general). I don't care what we call it. We can call it Bob." And that's where it came from, you know, only with citations and crap.

Either Suela or Nutty's, I think. Recalling the conversation.

Gen, Slash, and Het all serve as genre categories. Yes, if you go granular, the pairing could tell you what you're getting (most of the time but not always), but you also need categories for archives, newsletters, recs lists, etc. And like all genres, you've got people who only read in their genre. You've got genre expectations, genre-specific tropes, cross-genre warfare...

The lines, as ever, are fuzzy around the edges, but the buckets serve a purpose, even if things slop over them.

I don't get why it has to be so labeled.

As a recovering member of Stargate fandom, to "slash" male or female characters was an abomination, and slashers were outcasts amongst the "mainstream" SG fandom and het/gen fic sites in the early days of SG fandom.

Until slashers jumped ship to form their own lists and write stories and discuss slash in peace, slash fic had to be clearly labeled as M/M or F/F slash with proper warnings and enough vertical spacing in the summary post to protect the more sensitive members from exposure to Teh Gay.

That fandom never distinguished canon vs. non-canon slash. They've also used terms like "noromo" (no romance) in addition to gen, but my favorite is "curtain fic".

curtain fic is het or slash but very normative,right? You could also write Winchester curtainfic that's totally gen, they just share curtains because that's where I am, aboutwise for the end of all things.

Is there a code for "wincest if you squint" It needs something catchy, for "I wrote winsquinty fic today, honey," doesn''t trip off the tongue.

Is there a code for "wincest if you squint"

According to lj? Gen.

You could also write Winchester curtainfic that's totally gen, they just share curtains because that's where I am, aboutwise for the end of all things.

That'd be classic smarm, a genre I forgot above.

I've read a lot of Sam/Jess, oddly, where it's alluded to very obliquely that Sam might have a slightly closer relationship to his brother than most.

Oh, and that one I mentioned the other day, where they can only meet once a year? That was definitely a squinter.

I love curtain fic.

I like wincest if you squint. What shows they're entirely entangled. But only if you squint.

Blatant he's with you but he loves me better fic better be handled really well. The last one I read, Dean lost his BF when he saw him come to fight (primarily at Sammy's defense) and eve though his ass got saved too, it wasn't the same knowing the hands could kill.

Which pleased Sam, who'd mostly wanted him gone.

But, really display of hands of steel, I'd not leave if I couldn't fight for shit. Maybe. Because---hawt.

edited to remove gronk