Reminder -- Het Fic Rec Challenge over this weekend....
~ detail from "Frodo and the Enamoured Woman", photomanip by Mechtild, made from Sheilah Metzner's "Uomo".
If you are a reader of "Het fic" (fanfiction featuring male and female characters depicted in sexual and/or love relationships), you may not know about it but Lord of the Rings Fic Recs ( lotr_fic_recs ), an LJ community that sponsors challenges to gather together fic recommendations, is finishing up its two-week-challenge for Het fics: any race, any characters, fictional person or real person, multiple partners -- as long as the main relationship of the fic is male/female, any rating.
There has been only one other opportunity to rec a het fic there this year, which was the challenge for fics featuring canon couples. No, Sam and Frodo did not qualify as a canon couple. Sam and Frodo get their own slash and gen rec challenges during the year, along with challenges calling for fics featuring most of the popular slash pairings, since there is so much slash fic to rec from.
For me, the canon couple-challenge wasn't satisfactory because I couldn't rec any of my personal favourite het stories, since my personal het favourites all star Frodo (surprise). Even I know (when sober) that Frodo is not part of a canon couple. The currant challenge has been the first opportunity since I registered at Lotr_fic_recs that I've been able to rec a het Frodo fic.
I am hoping to see some more recs made before the challenge closes, though. For one thing, I haven't read nearly as much fic as most of you reading this, het or gen or slash, and I would really love the benefit of your wider exposure.
I know het is sort of a niche interest in the fandom, but if there is a het fic you have really enjoyed, featuring any LotR characters (not just Frodo); fictional or real person (I assume this means LotR actors), which is not in the challenge list so far (or was recced last year-there's a short list), or if you want to add remarks about anything recced in there so far, how about posting it? The challenge is over this weekend.
I love the convenience of a central location for these recs since LotR het fic, especially, seems to be scattered all over the place, some of it only on LJ or salted away on the hard drives of individual collectors. There's not that much het out there, I know from looking -- all the more reason for its readers to pool their resources.
I just hate to see this opportunity go by. I can always find gen and slash to read. If I were to read a story a day, I'd have enough to keep me occupied for years. My list of "do-not-miss-this-fic, Mechtild!" stories that are slash or gen takes up pages in my "to-read" folder.
Finding good het fic is a challenge. If you can help, please do write a rec. It doesn't have to be fancy, just what it's called, who's in it, why you like it, and where to find it.
If you can think of a story you've read and enjoyed, please say so on the thread at the Lotr_fic_recs Het Challenge.
Thanks!
~ Mechtild