To couple or to not-couple? First-Time vs. Established-Relationship Fics
belmanoir's excellent post on writing sex for ds_workshop brought up an interesting point, one that I've been mulling over for the past few days. In the comments to Bel's post, china_shop linked to resonant8's Smut Rants, and one entry in particular caught my eye. Resonant was writing about her smut pet peeves and said:
"A first-time story is a particular kind of pleasure. A fuckbuddies-turn-to-something-deeper story and an established-relationship story are different pleasures -- and while they can be done well, to my mind they're generally lesser pleasures."
It's an interesting point of comparison, and one I hadn't considered before. Res makes both a value judgement and states a personal preference in her old entry from 2004. I don't want to quote her out of context, but the argument that established-relationship stories are "generally lesser pleasures" has stuck with me for the past couple of days. The notion has has rocked me a little, frankly, because I tend to read and enjoy (and write!) mainly established-relationship stories. I had no idea people were a little cool toward fics of that particular persuasion.
There are a lot of genre tropes in due South (post-CotW fic, AUs, kink!stories) but most of the stories that exist can be divided into "first time" (Ray and Fraser flirt, dither and finally seal the deal) or established relationship stories (they've been together for a while and something plotty happens that alters the course of their relationship, or they've been fucking for a while but aren't romantically involved, at least as far as they know). I do tag for "established-relationship" on my del.icio.us account and I'm probably working with a counterintuitive or limited definition of "established relationship" stories, but in my head they're the fics that explore what the characters are like as a couple after they've consummated the relationship. Domestic stories about cooking, shopping and sharing a home, angsty stories about the problems that can crop up between people, and casefic stories that incorporate a romantic element and strain or otherwise challenge the relationship exist along the ER spectrum. I find that I tend to respond to the variety offered by the stories, and the fact that by definition these stories are forced to move beyond first-time tropes to explore the central relationship from a different angle.
I guess that's what attracts me as a writer to established relationship stories. Of my twenty-three due South stories (not counting snippets) at least eighteen are established-relationship fics, and I guess it's become my default approach to thinking and writing about these characters. Even my sole long Fraser/Vecchio story was about an established relationship, and I don't necessarily 'ship that pairing in the same way I do Fraser/Kowalski. It feels like a deliberate effort when I set out to write a first-time fic, and I'm still trying to puzzle out why. arrow00 suggested it might be because of my real-life relationship status: I tend to approach things from that perspective because I've been in the same relationship since I was seventeen, and it's naturally influenced my attitudes toward monogamy, sexuality and the kind of themes I like to explore in my writing. Which, yes, point. But there's a Mary Sue quality to that assessment that makes me want to blush and run away, too.
And I really like first-time stories! I don't mean to suggest that as a reader it's "either/or" for me. It's sexy and fun and thrilling to read about Ray and Ray's first kiss, or get caught up in that terrific mix of fear, desire and adrenaline that swirl around Ray and Fraser's first sexual encounter. I really dig the exploration of the feelings that pop up in a good first-time story, and I love reading about the the uncertainties and hope and confusion that is part and parcel of such a situation. But I don't write about those things, or at least I don't think I write about them well. And maybe it's personal preference, or because my own fuzzy memories of going through all of that takes me too far from that emotional place Fraser and the Rays occupy in a first-time fic. Or maybe I'm just a damn square :-) But I've got a definite bias toward writing stories that look at the way these people function as a couple instead of individuals swimming toward couplehood. And I'm wondering who in the fandom shares it, and why.
Most of you seem to have a healthy mix between the two: currently active writers like china_shop, slidellra, j_s_cavalcante, brynnmck, spuffyduds, llassah and belmanoir bounce back and forth between writing Fraser and any combination of the Rays as a couple and as first-time lovers. Others, like arrow00 and dessert_first skew the other way: they write mainly first-time fics, or stories where the guys have only spent a night or two together. And that absolutely works for those authors (and for others whom I can't quite remember at this particular juncture) but I wonder where the dividing line is. Why do we write mainly couple-centric stories, or first-time fics? And which do we prefer to read? Is Res right in suggesting established-relationship fics are a "lesser pleasure?" And how do we categorize "fuckbuddies-turn-to-something-deeper" stories? (Which, btw? If anyone wants to write one of those? I would love you forever. I DIG those fics in a big way!)
Anyway, when something puzzles me I make a poll about it. Please weigh in, and if you like feel free to post/comment anonymously.
Poll First-Times vs. Many-Times
I'm going to have to crunch the numbers and report back about this trend in a follow-up post, so I hope you'll weigh in on the comments and share your biases/writerly tendency to compose first-time vs. established-relationship stories. Possibly with illustrative examples. (Witness my shameless bid for recs). So, whaddya think?
"A first-time story is a particular kind of pleasure. A fuckbuddies-turn-to-something-deeper story and an established-relationship story are different pleasures -- and while they can be done well, to my mind they're generally lesser pleasures."
It's an interesting point of comparison, and one I hadn't considered before. Res makes both a value judgement and states a personal preference in her old entry from 2004. I don't want to quote her out of context, but the argument that established-relationship stories are "generally lesser pleasures" has stuck with me for the past couple of days. The notion has has rocked me a little, frankly, because I tend to read and enjoy (and write!) mainly established-relationship stories. I had no idea people were a little cool toward fics of that particular persuasion.
There are a lot of genre tropes in due South (post-CotW fic, AUs, kink!stories) but most of the stories that exist can be divided into "first time" (Ray and Fraser flirt, dither and finally seal the deal) or established relationship stories (they've been together for a while and something plotty happens that alters the course of their relationship, or they've been fucking for a while but aren't romantically involved, at least as far as they know). I do tag for "established-relationship" on my del.icio.us account and I'm probably working with a counterintuitive or limited definition of "established relationship" stories, but in my head they're the fics that explore what the characters are like as a couple after they've consummated the relationship. Domestic stories about cooking, shopping and sharing a home, angsty stories about the problems that can crop up between people, and casefic stories that incorporate a romantic element and strain or otherwise challenge the relationship exist along the ER spectrum. I find that I tend to respond to the variety offered by the stories, and the fact that by definition these stories are forced to move beyond first-time tropes to explore the central relationship from a different angle.
I guess that's what attracts me as a writer to established relationship stories. Of my twenty-three due South stories (not counting snippets) at least eighteen are established-relationship fics, and I guess it's become my default approach to thinking and writing about these characters. Even my sole long Fraser/Vecchio story was about an established relationship, and I don't necessarily 'ship that pairing in the same way I do Fraser/Kowalski. It feels like a deliberate effort when I set out to write a first-time fic, and I'm still trying to puzzle out why. arrow00 suggested it might be because of my real-life relationship status: I tend to approach things from that perspective because I've been in the same relationship since I was seventeen, and it's naturally influenced my attitudes toward monogamy, sexuality and the kind of themes I like to explore in my writing. Which, yes, point. But there's a Mary Sue quality to that assessment that makes me want to blush and run away, too.
And I really like first-time stories! I don't mean to suggest that as a reader it's "either/or" for me. It's sexy and fun and thrilling to read about Ray and Ray's first kiss, or get caught up in that terrific mix of fear, desire and adrenaline that swirl around Ray and Fraser's first sexual encounter. I really dig the exploration of the feelings that pop up in a good first-time story, and I love reading about the the uncertainties and hope and confusion that is part and parcel of such a situation. But I don't write about those things, or at least I don't think I write about them well. And maybe it's personal preference, or because my own fuzzy memories of going through all of that takes me too far from that emotional place Fraser and the Rays occupy in a first-time fic. Or maybe I'm just a damn square :-) But I've got a definite bias toward writing stories that look at the way these people function as a couple instead of individuals swimming toward couplehood. And I'm wondering who in the fandom shares it, and why.
Most of you seem to have a healthy mix between the two: currently active writers like china_shop, slidellra, j_s_cavalcante, brynnmck, spuffyduds, llassah and belmanoir bounce back and forth between writing Fraser and any combination of the Rays as a couple and as first-time lovers. Others, like arrow00 and dessert_first skew the other way: they write mainly first-time fics, or stories where the guys have only spent a night or two together. And that absolutely works for those authors (and for others whom I can't quite remember at this particular juncture) but I wonder where the dividing line is. Why do we write mainly couple-centric stories, or first-time fics? And which do we prefer to read? Is Res right in suggesting established-relationship fics are a "lesser pleasure?" And how do we categorize "fuckbuddies-turn-to-something-deeper" stories? (Which, btw? If anyone wants to write one of those? I would love you forever. I DIG those fics in a big way!)
Anyway, when something puzzles me I make a poll about it. Please weigh in, and if you like feel free to post/comment anonymously.
Poll First-Times vs. Many-Times
I'm going to have to crunch the numbers and report back about this trend in a follow-up post, so I hope you'll weigh in on the comments and share your biases/writerly tendency to compose first-time vs. established-relationship stories. Possibly with illustrative examples. (Witness my shameless bid for recs). So, whaddya think?