On reader expectations
So say you're reading a fic.
It's for one of the many canons where there's the bulk of events and then that other bit afterward, and people often write fic that doesn't include that other bit afterward.
The fic starts at the end of the bulk of events. It's about a very non-canon slash pairing. They get together. They're living together. They're happy. They spend thousands of words and years of in-story time together. The spontaneous magical events point to their destined epic romance.
Do you as the reader expect them to live happily ever after together? Did the heading and the story lead you to believe it was going AU and shippy?
Or do you expect the fic to suddenly veer off and become compliant with the last little bit of canon by splitting the guys up, marrying them off to various women, making some babies, and then having them start sleeping together again while cheating on their wives and being sad about the societal and familial forces that don't allow them to really be together the way they wanted to?
Because I personally was expecting, based on the header and the first 4 parts of the fic, for it to be aiming away from that last little bit of canon. I was not pleased by the turn of events in part 5. (And then to top it all off part 6 was nowhere to be found, though that's possibly for the best, as I wasn't sure I wanted to keep reading.)
(And unrelatedly, why do people on ff.n keep following my stories that are marked complete? They're COMPLETE, they will never be updated with new parts, there is no point in requesting notifications for updates to them!)
This entry was originally posted at http://ciaan.dreamwidth.org/61407.html. Please comment here or there.
comments there.
It's for one of the many canons where there's the bulk of events and then that other bit afterward, and people often write fic that doesn't include that other bit afterward.
The fic starts at the end of the bulk of events. It's about a very non-canon slash pairing. They get together. They're living together. They're happy. They spend thousands of words and years of in-story time together. The spontaneous magical events point to their destined epic romance.
Do you as the reader expect them to live happily ever after together? Did the heading and the story lead you to believe it was going AU and shippy?
Or do you expect the fic to suddenly veer off and become compliant with the last little bit of canon by splitting the guys up, marrying them off to various women, making some babies, and then having them start sleeping together again while cheating on their wives and being sad about the societal and familial forces that don't allow them to really be together the way they wanted to?
Because I personally was expecting, based on the header and the first 4 parts of the fic, for it to be aiming away from that last little bit of canon. I was not pleased by the turn of events in part 5. (And then to top it all off part 6 was nowhere to be found, though that's possibly for the best, as I wasn't sure I wanted to keep reading.)
(And unrelatedly, why do people on ff.n keep following my stories that are marked complete? They're COMPLETE, they will never be updated with new parts, there is no point in requesting notifications for updates to them!)
This entry was originally posted at http://ciaan.dreamwidth.org/61407.html. Please comment here or there.
comments there.