In which I ask a million questions

[jelazakazone]

Ok, people. Talk to me. I want to hear why the OTP thing matters. I know that there are tons of people who won't read a fic if it's not with their OTP. Why is that important? Do all other pairings seem OOC? I'm really curious about this. I like all different kinds of stories, although there are some stories I don't read because of characters,

Comments

[teprometo]

You're great!

Some perspective on the OTP thing: I only read NC-17 fic. So THAT RIGHT THERE is a pretty big indicator of where my reading interests lie. I don't read real books anymore. I just don't caaaaaaaaare about them. I don't care to read about some adventure that doesn't end with hot boys I love fucking. I'm just not interested in it. I am also a compulsive rehasher. I rewatch my favorite TV shows rather than watching new ones. As a kid, I'd check the same book out from the library eight times rather than finding something new to read. Shit, even in fandom, I'll reread a fic I love instead of trying something new. Seeing Arthur and Merlin play out the same story (meet, fuck, fall in love) over and over again fits into that same groove. I'm compelled to repeat things, and seeing my OTP have their first time on repeat, albeit in slightly different circumstances, soothes me.

Why do I have an OTP in the first place? Idk, really. I've just always been that way. I don't have it in me to multi-ship. I have really, really tried. I just have FEELS about A/M that I can't have about anything else. It's not something I can control.

[jelazakazone]

Er, thanks! *blushes* You are too!

Oooh, thanks so much for a little insight. I totally get that rehashing thing, even if I don't do it much myself. Well, I do with tv now.

Ah, I can understand that you don't care about the other relationships and that would make you disinterested in reading them.

Oh, by the way, you were asking about dialogue and what happens to people physically when writing. I am not expert, but The Half that Makes it Whole is primarily dialogue (sorry, no sex, but feel free to add a sextra to it if you feel inclined!) and people have really liked it. I have a bunch of stuff going on while they are talking. It's pretty short too. Maybe it's too short and not porny enough and you'll just skip it altogether, but I thought I'd mention it:D

[teprometo]

Reading the other comments now, it seems not everyone is defining OTP the same way? To me, OTP is just One True Pairing. That's it. It's the one *I'm* invested in. It isn't the right one. It's just the one I love. I think it's tragic that people seem drawn to conflate having an OTP with ship wars. That's not what OTP is at all. My OTP is Arthur/Merlin. I have friends whose OTP is Arthur/Gwen. And we just read and write what interests us and high five because YAY FANDOM HAS ROOM FOR ALL OF US!

Your fic is being added to my Marked to Read. Just. Don't go in there. It is a hot mess. I will read it! Someday!

[jelazakazone]

It seems to me that some people, like you and beeej, do the OTP to the exclusion of all others where the rest of us still see the OTP, but we can read other things too. Does that make sense?

I love that you say it's the one you love. The one you are invested in. Um, I think I only know one person who ships A/Gwen. But yes, I agree. FANDOM HAS ROOM FOR US ALL.

LOL. My Marked to Read list is a hot mess too. I have tabs open and fics to read and well... I suck at reading fanfic. If I come across good dialogue, I'll let you know, k?

Oh, this one is PWP (blow job up against a wall) and is all about dialogue and sex, but it's Mordred/Merlin. .

[teprometo]

You'd be surprised how hostile a place fandom can be for OTPers. I actually say on my journal profile that I'm an OTPer so people can just choose not to friend me if they have a problem with that. I don't get why people hate on us so much, but some of them really, really do. Like I'm a bad person just because I'm not interested in fics that don't feature my OTP? Calm that noise. Let me do my thing. I do not hurt anyone with my preferences, FFS. I have never once said anything that implied that fic that isn't A/M-centric is bad or not worth reading. I just don't want to read it. Why the hell is what I want to read important to anyone else? This keeps happening to me everywhere in fandom, and I really don't understand it. Why do people feel hurt or angry about what I choose to read when I don't do it maliciously? Ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh. And the stereotyping! God, Tumblr has made everything worse. Stupid Tumblr.

I think there must be, like, one or two assholes out there making everyone else look bad.

[jelazakazone]

I have no idea why people hate on people, period.

I mean, I feel sad and angry that I suck at writing NC17 and so people like you aren't going to read the majority of what I write (not that most of it is worth reading, but I have some stuff I'm fond of:)).

One of the reasons I write is in an attempt to connect with other fans, to discuss things about the show and the relationships that I perceive.

I, on the other hand, rarely read anything long. My preferred fic length is somewhere around 1K-5K at this point, although I have been known to read fics longer than that.

We can only do what we can do and fandom is for fun. I think people forget that. It's all about fun, exploration, and release for me. I'm not here for wank, but I do love me some meta:)

Now, I'm going to sleep. zzzz:D

[teprometo]

Yes, let us loooooove or just walk away. Why hate? That's no fun.

Take heart in that there are lots of people who only read gen or who only read PG or who avoid explicit fic. Fandom is a mixed bag.

I'm usually more likely to read something right away if it's 3k tops. Anything longer gets lost in my Marked for Later.

[jelazakazone]

I love the multitudes in fandom, but at least in Merlin fandom, there are so many OTPers, it feels a little overwhelming at times.

LOL. Yeah. I have issues like that too. I'll open it in a tab and it will sit there for months. *facepalm* I am bad at fandom sometimes.

[teprometo]

I must just hang out with a weird crowd. In my group of friends, I'm one of only two or three OTPers and everyone else multi-ships like crazy.

[jelazakazone]

LOL. I think a lot of the Merlin OTPers have moved on.

[avon]

Thank you! I am new to fandom and I could not figure out this OTP thing! Now I know what it means. ;)

[jelazakazone]

:) Feel free to ask me any questions you might have. Welcome to fandom. It's quite the ride. Which fandom have you fallen in to?

[avon]

Les Miz. I am totally obsessed with Javert. I have not done much writing since before my kids were born. Last time I wrote fanfic or fic at all was for the original Matrix movie. Heh. Could you tell me about the ! ? For example movie!Javert? I would tend to read it as "not" but that does not seem like what they mean.

[jelazakazone]

Ah, I've seen a lot of buzz for Les Miz. yay for excitement.

Oh sure. The ! is basically a shorthand notation in fandom, so movie!Javert means the movie version of Javert.

Like, we talk about BAMF!Merlin, or bottom!Arthur which means the bamfy Merlin or Arthur when he's a bottom.

You'd never guess I was a literature major with how articulate I am here, right?

How old are your kids now? Mine are 7 and 10, in 2nd and 5th grades:D

[avon]

I've been a les miz geek since high school, but I have never written for it until now. The movie reignited an old obsession. I am having fun, anyway.

Gotcha on the bang. :) Thanks. My computer programming days insists on reading the ! as a "not". Hence the confusion when it means exactly the opposite in this shorthand. :)

My kids: I have an almost 9 and 2X almost 7 (third and first grades).

[jelazakazone]

Fun is what it's all about! Yay fun!

LOL. Glad I could help you out. It cracks me up that you parse it as "not" since that's exactly what it isn't:)

Aw, good ages. It just keeps getting better!