I just switched the tags for my Avengers fic on Ao3 to the "character&character" format rather than the "character/character" format. No characters have sex, make out, or profess love for any of the other characters in these stories. Characters do feel lust and look at each other with longing
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Part of the problem here is that I have different needs/wants than other readers, and yet I'm the one tagging the fic. You're right, some people were totally upset about QoM, but that reaction makes absolutely no sense to me. I'm not saying it's not a valid reaction; I'm just saying I so completely don't identify that it's hard to make a call about my own fics. Maya probably didn't think that story was about who hooked up with whom. That's not what I thought it was about, either. I would have labeled that story as gen. But for some people it totally wasn't, and I'm not sure how I as an author am supposed to know what other people want and what won't upset them without posting it first and then doing a poll about how to label it, which you can't do 'cause . . . no one's gonna wanna read an unlabeled fic.
I totally and completely agree, though, that mainstream fiction is difficult because het is just assumed even in the least romantic stories in existence. Still, what I sort of wish is that in fanfic, either het or homosexuality are just assumed, and only romances have to be labeled het or slash. Who decides whether it's a romance? I have no clue.
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