Where Art Thou, Gen Fic?: A Discussion (Or an Attempt at One)
So, ladies and gents, the question is this: why is there very little gen fic in the Glee fandom?
While I attempt to start unpacking this question, I want to take a step back and consider the broader question: why isn't there a lot of gen fic in general, across the board in all fandoms?
I've done a bit of digging in some old LJ-based discussions and here are a few popular reasons/theories that I've found that I'll try to link back to Glee, but I make no promises:
While that's valid - we tend to read fanfiction as a means of filling in the blanks in canon or getting something that we're never going to get in canon - it doesn't quite fit with Glee beyond the fact that we're not seeing these romantic couples fuck in the middle of an episode like they would if the show was on HBO or Showtime. And look, I get it, we're human beings and sex is a huge draw for a lot of us. But in comparison to the romantic relationships we see on Glee, the platonic ones are barely, if at all, featured beyond background moments that, let's face it, are the actors fucking around on camera. Popular TV shows do have romances, but usually aren't centered around them - can we honestly say that's the case with Glee? I'm leaning towards no, but that's just my opinion.
This is something I read while going through archived posts on LJ and it's an interesting idea. With romance, it's very cut and dry for the most part; we know what we're getting with romantic stories and the way it's ~supposed to go. It's why there are so many popular tropes: coffeeshop AU, soulmates AU, bodyswap AU, etc. There's also the added bonus of Glee giving us so many different ships that the groundwork is almost laid out for a lot of ships, thus making it easier since we have canon examples of certain romantic relationships. But I can't help but think this: if there's gen in most of the media we consume, as suggested in the first explanation, shouldn't we be masters at creating our own gen? As writers, we know that beyond writing as much as you can, reading as much as you can will improve your writing. So…what gives? Maybe I'm the wrong person to address this because at this point in my fic writing 'career,' I find writing friendships a hell of a lot easier than romance.
Look, you like what you like, you shouldn't be penalized for that (which is something that most fandoms (coughGLEEcough) seem to forget, especially when it comes to shipping). But I sincerely doubt that so many people find gen boring, not when I've gotten the loveliest reviews on fics telling me that they waited for me to write something to fix the mess that is Glee canon. Personally, this explanation confuses me because the more fandoms I dabble in, the quicker I get bored with the romantic tropes and everything else; fics blend together and I can't remember if what I'm remembering is one fic, or a combination of five separate fics. Again, maybe I'm the wrong person to address this given my personal preference.
And then I thought of this:
In the Glee fandom, chances are, participating in fandom in general isn't new for you. Maybe this is your second or fourth or ninth fandom and you know the drill after years of experience: if you write romance, you get hits. And if you write porn, you get even more hits. It's just the way the cookie has always crumbled.
Gen fic has always been ignored and not as popular, so why would you write it when you know you're not going to get recognized for it as much as writing a fic featuring, such as, a popular slash ship?
Again, I get it. With the effort we put into our fics, we want to be recognized and get reviews and get reblogged. It's discouraging when you only get a handful of reviews on a friendship fic you worked hard on when another person who wrote, in your opinion, a mediocre PWP fic got three times the number of reviews. Again, there's NOTHING WRONG with writing PWP fics - I've written a few myself - I'm just pointing out a trend that happens across the board.
There are loopholes that I've noticed people use in different fandoms, mainly the use of "pre-insert your ship here" so you can have your cake and eat it too, essentially. Readers can see their ship through their shipping goggles and your gen fic gets recognized by that particular shipping community.
Bottom line, it's a lot harder for a gen writer to get recognition for their work. Honestly, the only thing I can suggest is to keep spamming fandom with friendship fics and maybe you'll name will stick in some people's brains and try not to be too discouraged when you write a fic that you're really proud of and only get four reviews. Just keep swimming, etc. etc.
Please leave your thoughts/responses/etc. in the comments - I know conversations like this have happened a number of times before, but it's still important and worth talking about :)
While I attempt to start unpacking this question, I want to take a step back and consider the broader question: why isn't there a lot of gen fic in general, across the board in all fandoms?
I've done a bit of digging in some old LJ-based discussions and here are a few popular reasons/theories that I've found that I'll try to link back to Glee, but I make no promises:
- One possible explanation is that the source material in general is 'gen' to begin with - why would we want to read/write more of what we already get enough of in the source material?
While that's valid - we tend to read fanfiction as a means of filling in the blanks in canon or getting something that we're never going to get in canon - it doesn't quite fit with Glee beyond the fact that we're not seeing these romantic couples fuck in the middle of an episode like they would if the show was on HBO or Showtime. And look, I get it, we're human beings and sex is a huge draw for a lot of us. But in comparison to the romantic relationships we see on Glee, the platonic ones are barely, if at all, featured beyond background moments that, let's face it, are the actors fucking around on camera. Popular TV shows do have romances, but usually aren't centered around them - can we honestly say that's the case with Glee? I'm leaning towards no, but that's just my opinion.
- Another possible explanation is romantic relationships are "easier" to write than platonic ones because with the latter, you're limited to the physical aspects of love and have to rely mostly on the emotional ones.
This is something I read while going through archived posts on LJ and it's an interesting idea. With romance, it's very cut and dry for the most part; we know what we're getting with romantic stories and the way it's ~supposed to go. It's why there are so many popular tropes: coffeeshop AU, soulmates AU, bodyswap AU, etc. There's also the added bonus of Glee giving us so many different ships that the groundwork is almost laid out for a lot of ships, thus making it easier since we have canon examples of certain romantic relationships. But I can't help but think this: if there's gen in most of the media we consume, as suggested in the first explanation, shouldn't we be masters at creating our own gen? As writers, we know that beyond writing as much as you can, reading as much as you can will improve your writing. So…what gives? Maybe I'm the wrong person to address this because at this point in my fic writing 'career,' I find writing friendships a hell of a lot easier than romance.
- There's also the idea that most people who participate in fandom find that gen is boring - who would want to read gen when romance is so much more exciting.
Look, you like what you like, you shouldn't be penalized for that (which is something that most fandoms (coughGLEEcough) seem to forget, especially when it comes to shipping). But I sincerely doubt that so many people find gen boring, not when I've gotten the loveliest reviews on fics telling me that they waited for me to write something to fix the mess that is Glee canon. Personally, this explanation confuses me because the more fandoms I dabble in, the quicker I get bored with the romantic tropes and everything else; fics blend together and I can't remember if what I'm remembering is one fic, or a combination of five separate fics. Again, maybe I'm the wrong person to address this given my personal preference.
And then I thought of this:
In the Glee fandom, chances are, participating in fandom in general isn't new for you. Maybe this is your second or fourth or ninth fandom and you know the drill after years of experience: if you write romance, you get hits. And if you write porn, you get even more hits. It's just the way the cookie has always crumbled.
Gen fic has always been ignored and not as popular, so why would you write it when you know you're not going to get recognized for it as much as writing a fic featuring, such as, a popular slash ship?
Again, I get it. With the effort we put into our fics, we want to be recognized and get reviews and get reblogged. It's discouraging when you only get a handful of reviews on a friendship fic you worked hard on when another person who wrote, in your opinion, a mediocre PWP fic got three times the number of reviews. Again, there's NOTHING WRONG with writing PWP fics - I've written a few myself - I'm just pointing out a trend that happens across the board.
There are loopholes that I've noticed people use in different fandoms, mainly the use of "pre-insert your ship here" so you can have your cake and eat it too, essentially. Readers can see their ship through their shipping goggles and your gen fic gets recognized by that particular shipping community.
Bottom line, it's a lot harder for a gen writer to get recognition for their work. Honestly, the only thing I can suggest is to keep spamming fandom with friendship fics and maybe you'll name will stick in some people's brains and try not to be too discouraged when you write a fic that you're really proud of and only get four reviews. Just keep swimming, etc. etc.
Please leave your thoughts/responses/etc. in the comments - I know conversations like this have happened a number of times before, but it's still important and worth talking about :)