Ghakked from practically everyone. Because there's nothing better than tropes. (on that note, check out
TV Tropes for many hours of non-stop giggling.)
How do you feel about:
Genderswap - Genderswap, yes, always-a-girl, no. I like the premise where someone wakes up a different gender (physically) and is essentially "in the wrong body". I don't like when one of the guys is turned into a girl (pysically, mentally and emotionally) because I just don't see the point. I read slash because I like reading about male/male dynamics. If I wanted to read male/female dynamics, I'd head over to CSI fandom and get a Sara/Grissom kick.
Bodyswap - Yes, yes, a hundred times yes. My biggest kink ever (in fic and RL) is someone getting to see the world through someone else's eyes and understand all these new things. On that note, I'm going to add Accidental mind-reading to the list, because there's just nothing more awesome in fic ever than when people can suddenly access each other's thoughts and find out all kinds of secret feelings/kinks/desires/fears they have been hiding there and learning to understand them better and becoming better people for it in the end.
Drunk!fic - This isn't so much a trope as a deus ex machina in my head. To be used when the writer is lazy and just wants their characters to have sex already. Which is totally fine. I approve of this trope a lot. :) I also really, really like it when it's used in a more serious context and the drunkenness has a bigger role to play than just getting people into bed. Using alcohol as a semi pre-meditated get-out-of-jail-free card is one of my favourite themes ever, because it's something I see a lot in RL and am really fascinated by as a social phenomenon (i.e. how "oh, I was drunk" as an excuse actually works with a lot of people a lot of the time, when there's no logic why it should.)
Huddling together for warmth - Yes. Always. This one is fluffy and cute. I like it with hot chocolate.
Undercover in a gay bar - Yes, because it often turns out funny fic. And because people learning new things about themselves when put in an unfamiliar situation is my favourite thing ever (see above :)).
Pretending to be married - Yes again, for the same reasons as all the other life-change-swap tropes. :) I'm a bit sketchy about reading this trope though, because a lot of people who write it seem to have a view on marriage that I can't wrap my head around. I don't like this trope when marriage is portrayed as something that saves the relationship. I very much like when a fake marriage is used to force people to spend more time together and actually think about and deepen their relationship (or discover that they'd like to have one, if they're not already in one). I hate it when a wedding "fixes things" or when a writer builds a relationship that somehow is not real if the marriage license isn't, because in my mind, that's about as believable as het sex where a shy virgin who's never had any experience turns into a complete vixen and has 15 orgasms as soon as she's penetrated. It bothers me deeply for a whole bunch of reasons that I won't go into here, because that would be way too long. Back to the tropes!
Secretly a virgin - No. Unless the person who is a virgin doesn't think it's a big deal (haven't seen this in fic, would very much like to) or the story's dealing with the social stigma of being a virgin after a certain age. I don't like reading about virginity as something sacred or precious (or as a "gift", that one frankly scares me), because it brings with it implications on what a relationship should be that I find very uncomfortable. (Again, there's a whole bunch of reasons for this, also way too long for the post.) I like first-time fic in the sense that I love exploration fic, but I like it so much better when the exploration is about the person (e.g. what turns Ryan on in contrast to the people Spencer's slept with before) or about a specific act of sex (e.g. trying bondage for the first time).
Amnesia - I don't know. Haven't read much amnesia fic. Maybe?
Cross-dressing - Cross-dressing is a kink that does absolutely nothing for me. I've read a lot of good cross-dressing fics, but the appeal for me there always came from other things, like a well-written dynamic or really good porn.
Forced to share a bed - All situations where two people are forced to get to know each other better are gold to me. Sharing beds included. :D
Aliens made them do it - Like with all kinds of sex-pollen, I prefer this in an established relationship setting, or in a situation where there's a couple who've been in love FOREVER and just need that extra push, simply because it alleviates the dub-con vibes. For the same reason, I like it more when both (or all) people involved in the sexxing are affected, because it puts them on the same level. (I'm very much a fan of equal relationships.)
Wingfic - Um. I don't really get the point of this trope. Are wings supposed to be sexy somehow? What did I miss?
Mpreg - Generally, a very big no. I've seen this trope done well, to the point that a couple of my all-time favourite fics are actually mpregs. Most of the time, I can't read it though, because it tends to fall into all my nonononononono traps (guys written as girls, pregnancy written as something that saves a relationship, marriage written as the answer to everything, unequal relationships, overdose on the schmoop and/or melodrama and so on). The mpregs I like treat the pregnancy the same way another fic would treat a bodyswap: there's something scary and unnatural going on and the people involved have to deal with it. Somehow. And going through that together changes them and their relationship. Reading a mpreg where pregnancy is something cute and lovely and oh-so-right (unless it's an AU where men are supposed to get pregnant, in which case, I don't really see the point. Why not just write het?) creeps me out big time. :)
Mistakenly assumed to be gay - Yes. Very much so. See "undercover at a gay bar".
Let's play truth or dare - YES FOREVER. Truth or dare is possibly my all-time favourite trope. I love it to little pieces.
Mary Sue fic - No. Unless it's intentional bad!fic parodying Mary Sue fic.
Aphrodisiacs - If used as sex-pollen, see "Aliens made them do it". If used as erotic exploration (licking chocolate off each other and such), the answer is always a big yes. :D
Curtain fic - I don't actually know what that is. Please enlighten me. :)
Hurt/Comfort - Yes, unless it goes overboard into melodrama. I love anything in the style of
arsenicjade, where there's light with the dark and people save each other in a million tiny ways instead of one person swooping in and saving another person from whatever misery they're in. (This goes back to the kink for equal relationships and squick for dub-con.)
Apocalypse fic - Sometimes. Depends on how it's written. I kind of really like the "we have five days left, what do you want to do?" aspect of it, and the stark honesty it often brings out in the characters. (If you didn't know it yet, I have an honesty and unconditional love kink the size of Texas. People laying themselves bare to someone they trust and love will never not be something I love to death).
Someone has a baby - Depends completely on the fic. I don't automatically love a story with a baby in it (more the opposite), but I've seen the trope written really well, so.
Baby!fic - Yes. bb!Panic at the Daycare will never not be cute as hell. :DDD
Telepathic soulbonding - I don't actually know what this is, but it sounds intriguing. If it includes telepathy or empathic things that make one person experience the other person's feelings, then I am SO FOR IT. (please send recs)
Werewolves mate for life - Meh. It's a bit like the wings. I think I somehow managed to miss the meme on warewolves being sexy. Lots of teeth and claws and fur. Not really my thing, I guess. :) (Now, Panic as puppies is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THING. :)))
So, in conclusion I guess you could say: people put in difficult and strange situations and having to rely on each other, building trust and learning new things = \o/ !!! And that unequal relationships, grand-gesture-solves-all-problems and people being "saved" = not my thing. lol. Now go check out TV Tropes. :)
Also, this = love forever.
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