My issues with het...

[jane_elliot]

There are a lot of folks out there who refuse to read het.  I am not one of them.  However, based on the last few het stories I've read (or tried to read) over the last day or to, I'm starting to see why 'het' is gradually becoming a dirty word.

Some of my main recurring issues with het fic:
-Inevitably, no matter how non-maternal or actively anti-

Comments

[lothy]

While I sympathise with your frustration at the fics you read, I think you simply read the wrong fics. There's plenty of het fics which don't fit any of the descriptions you mentioned. Though they may be more prevalent in certain fandoms/pairings.

Behavior that would not be considered acceptable in slash fic (stalking, manipulation, rape fantasies) are portrayed as romantic in het.

Um, where have you been??!! I've seen MASSES of slash fic with stalking, manipulation and rape fantasies. I hate it, but it's every bit as common as the het fic.

A complete aside, but if you're after a story where a woman absolutely doesn't want kids, try (published novel) Graceling by Kristin Cashore. It's fantasy and brilliant.

[jane_elliot]

It's very possible that I'm looking in the wrong places -- typically I look for het in my slash fandoms (since that's nearly all of my fandoms:) and I can see how it might be the case where most of the folks who like equal relationships in those fandoms gravitate towards slash and the ones who like unequal relationships gravitate towards het. Any suggestions for good mostly-het fandoms (except Austen)? Thanks!

And thanks for the book rec:)

[lothy]

Mostly-het fandoms? Hmm.

Star Wars. NOT the prequel fandom, which is mainly slash, but the original trilogy and EU fandom. No-one with even the slightest interest in characterisation could write Leia Organa, Mara Jade or Jaina Solo as unequal!

Alias, possibly? I'm not sure what the slash/het ratios are in the fandom but I wouldn't be surprised if they were het-heavy.

Buffy & Angel have masses of het... though also masses of slash, but the het probably outweighs it.

Bones is mostly het.

Doctor Who... I generally prefer the gen in DW fandom, but there's a *massive* het fandom.

I'm not active enough in X-Men fandom to know the slash/het ratios, but I do know that Rogue/Wolverine is very popular and has some great fics.

[jane_elliot]

Excellent, thanks! (Especially for SW OT and DW, which are two fandoms I've read nearly nothing in:)

[lothy]

It just occurred to me that you might like to check out het_reccers. It's one of my favourite rec sites; the recs are well-formatted and tagged by both fandom and pairing. You're very unlikely to find the kind of fics you were complaining about there, most of the reccers have really good taste in stories.

[jane_elliot]

Ooo, very cool, thanks!

[gwendolynflight]

Breaking in - do you want Dr Who het recs? Cause I have a massive folder of the stuff ... And gen, as well. Dr Who slash tends toward ooc and skeev, for some reason ...

[jane_elliot]

Sure! Just preferably not Ten, as I'm apparently the only person on earth who doesn't like him (he's why I don't watch the show anymore). Thanks!

[gwendolynflight]

... erm, that's literally all I have. Ten. Sorry!

[jessara40k]

The sequel/prequel Fire is also good - and the woman there goes so far as to sterilise herself for very good reason.

[lothy]

True, but Fire actually wants children, just knows that she shouldn't have them (at least biologically).

I agree that it's also a great book though.

[jane_elliot]

Thanks! (Also, are those Dresden File book covers in your icon or are they from Tanya Huff novels?)