Rarepairings: Writing, Reading, Motivation and Support

Jun 02, 2008 16:35

Something's been bothering me for a while, and I think I finally, maybe sort of put my finger on what.

I've been a member of fandom since I was thirteen, for over half my life. I wouldn't say I've been a member of many fandoms -- I consider myself active in four, and was active at various points in a half dozen others over the years, and it's only been now, with my first forays into Stargate: Atlantis that this issue has really registered.

Mainly because I'm not sure any of the other fandoms I've been involved in have one main pairing the way SGA does in Sheppard/McKay. It's so pervasive that sga_newsletter, hopping from LJ to reclist to IJ to...ad nauseam. And, while I'm sitting here writing my either A) gen, non-Sheppard non-McKay-centric fic or B) so rare apparently no one else has written them yet pairing, it dawned on me...

Not only are there tons and tons of McShep fic, art, vids, etc., there's also an enormous amount of support and infrastructure in support of it. It's a massive self-motivating, self-supporting machine, designed to churn out more...McShep. Writing comms, fests, etc. I've read every story from the 2007 SGA Big Bang, and only just recently noticed that there had been two additional pairings allowed -- Elizabeth/Ronon and Teyla/Keller -- and IMHO, not only were they not comparatively the most obvious het and femslash pairings, respectively, they seemed to have been offered almost as an afterthought. (This is not a criticism, just an observation.)

Which brings me, sort of, to a lot of questions.

What, exactly, constitutes a rarepairing? What is the definition? Is it, by necessity, any pairing other than the primary (in SGA, McShep)? Or, in a fandom with several different OTP/OT# camps such as Criminal Minds, any pairing/grouping outside those camps? Is any pairing not including at least one member of the central cast automatically tagged rarepairing? I personally wouldn't count Lorne/Parrish that way, but I don't know if there's a standard.

Does time of arrival matter? If you join a fandom late, does the popularity of one particular pairing add to their attraction, or detract from it? Do you find yourself rejecting that particular pairing simply because so many other people have focused on it?

Does the existing infrastructure become a hindrance or an opportunity? Given the enormous audience and appetite for McShep, I would imagine finding a beta reader or two wouldn't be too terribly difficult - I don't know for sure, I don't write it and aside from a few authors, it's not really to my liking except when I'm out of other options. Do existing fic communities, challenges, fic festivals, etc. for McShep fic make you bemoan the lack of same for other pairings? Does the lack of seeming pairing-neutral or rarepairings-only or rarepairings-friendly readers/betareaders/comms/whatever discourage people from writing such things?

I've read at least one essay dealing with pairing burnout. Just an overload of whoever/whoever, because there's. Just. Too. Much. When this happens, do you turn to other pairings, gen fic, leave the fandom, something else?

Is there some way to, not negate the overwhelming volume of McShep material, but encourage the development of other pairing materials? Or are those of us who love little-written pairings doomed to languish and carefully hoard whatever pieces get written, good, bad, or indifferent?

Just some thinky thoughts.

thinky thoughts, meta, rarepairings

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