So what's a real TS fic?

[mab_browne]

When I posted Sideline as a WIP, I remarked a few times that the plot had crack tendencies, and Bev was kind enough to comment that she didn’t see crack at all. And this led to me having thoughts about my perception of the ‘desirable’ TS plot and why I felt that way.

Comments

[sara_merry99]

There seems to have been a bit of a change in TS fic over the last few years--there's been a big influx of new fans (mostly on LJ).

I think janedavitt's point about a lot of the "classics" having been written when the show was still on the air is a good one. Also the early writers in a fandom shape the fanon and shape the expectations of the readers.

TS stories, particularly ones that are more than a couple of years old, tend to be more romantic/schmoopy than similarly themed stories in other fandoms I've read. Emotional, that's the word I'm looking for.

It is possible that in a slash-dom with a wide variety of fandoms, that people read TS to get their emotional schmoop fix. If they want a different feel, a different *vibe* they go to a different fandom.

I think with a bunch of new writers, you and CaroDee included in that list, TS is maybe getting less schmoopy. Certainly I've been seeing more stories that are romantic/first time type stories but more or less sans schmoop.

(I'm not including myself, because I tend to be pretty schmoopy--it's why TS and I get on so well.)

But that's not in the canon, particularly. TS is not, canonically, more romantic/OTT emotional than due South, but the fic tends to be.

On your other question: I keep all of my feedback (because sometimes I need the ego-boost :) ), but I don't change what I'm writing. It also doesn't change my opinion of a story. In my opinion, "Scars" is the best TS story I've written and the fact that it's been pretty much ignored doesn't change that. I think "65 Photographs" is pretty much too long and a skosh over blown, and it's been nominated for two awards and gotten skads of feedback.

I'm also finding that my personal tastes are changing over time. Stories that I once loved (in the dim and distant past of my early days in this fandom 4 years ago) now strike me as totally saccharine. Stories that struck me as emotionally sparse are now just perfect to me.

Enough blithering out of me.

[mab_browne]

By all means blither away, because if I was talking to the void I'd probably get a little pissed off...

FB changing what you write - I've never changed a story because I think that it will be more 'popular' if I do something. And I had much encouragement to add a more cheerful coda to 'A Day Must Come' for example. And ditto as to my personal opinions of stories - this is why I'm sometimes gobsmacked/amused by fb because it doesn't equate to how I feel about story's quality.

Schmoop - yeah, I'm just not a schmoopy person, which doesn't mean that I don't have a deep vein of sentimentality in me - but I'm kind of suspicious of it, even as I use it...

[sara_merry99]

I have a tendency to schmoop, though I seem to be outgrowing it. ;)

Different fandoms for different reading fixes.

[ponders_life]

It is possible that in a slash-dom with a wide variety of fandoms, that people read TS to get their emotional schmoop fix. If they want a different feel, a different *vibe* they go to a different fandom.

As a reader, I can confirm this, although I look to TS for more than just emotional schmoop (I also have a weakness for good police procedurals, alternate how-they-met AUs, and futurefic).

I got into my first fandom (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) for the snark, then fell for the Spike/Xander pairing (my first slash couple!). Then I discovered the opposites-attract allure of Jim/Blair. I enjoy due South for the fish-out-of-water quirky humor and a different flavor of opposites-attract pairing (Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski), and Stargate Atlantis gives me more snark, but in men who are closer to my own age (McKay/Sheppard).