Gen versus Het/Slash, my thoughts, let me show you them.
Moar thinky thoughts. So I posted what I consider a gen story here (minor spoilers for Star Trek XI). To me, the story isn't about a relationship or anything, it's about Leonard McCoy and what leads him into Starfleet.
It was listed as het with "Leonard McCoy/OFC" at a newsletter. I'm not saying that as a bad thing. It's cool, the newsletter can list it as whatever they want cause it's their newsletter. I can sort of see where they got it from but, IMHO, it's not het. It's gen.
Which brings me to my thinky thoughts. What makes you think a fic is gen versus het/slash? Does the appearance of any sort of relationship in a fic (whether the focus is on the relationship or not) make you think that it's het/slash? Or can it have a relationship in it but not focus primarily on that relationship and, thus, it's gen?
Example -
I write a story about Molly being married to Arthur Weasley.
Story A features the two of them having a romantic dinner. That's het, right?
Story B features the two of them taking care of Fred and George. That's gen, right?
But what about if, during Story B, I mention Arthur and Molly sharing a hug (in a "thank god we're not dead" sort of way)? Is that het or gen? They're still just parenting and that's the point of the story. But does the appearance of any sort of "sexual" contact make it het instead of gen?
To me, the second example is still gen. There might be a bit of contact between two parties but, in the end, the point of the story isn't a romantic angle, it's a story about two characters dealing with some non-romantic plot. Any sort of "sexual" contact between them is incidental, or just part of the flow.
IMHO, it's like this. Fandom is, for the most part, writing romance/erotica stories whether we label things het or slash. We are writing about characters having some sort of sexual relationship (whether it ever actually hits the sexual point or we do the fade to black). We are talking about either an emotional or physical connection. The story is about them, however many "thems" there are in the story. The primary focus is on the characters interactions with each other.
For Gen, we're writing about how characters deal with outside plot points, regardless of the presence of a romantic partner or not. The focus of the story is non-romantic, non-(sexual)emotional, non-erotic. It can feature a couple dealing with something outside but the focus isn't on the couple and their relationship.
So what are your thoughts?
It was listed as het with "Leonard McCoy/OFC" at a newsletter. I'm not saying that as a bad thing. It's cool, the newsletter can list it as whatever they want cause it's their newsletter. I can sort of see where they got it from but, IMHO, it's not het. It's gen.
Which brings me to my thinky thoughts. What makes you think a fic is gen versus het/slash? Does the appearance of any sort of relationship in a fic (whether the focus is on the relationship or not) make you think that it's het/slash? Or can it have a relationship in it but not focus primarily on that relationship and, thus, it's gen?
Example -
I write a story about Molly being married to Arthur Weasley.
Story A features the two of them having a romantic dinner. That's het, right?
Story B features the two of them taking care of Fred and George. That's gen, right?
But what about if, during Story B, I mention Arthur and Molly sharing a hug (in a "thank god we're not dead" sort of way)? Is that het or gen? They're still just parenting and that's the point of the story. But does the appearance of any sort of "sexual" contact make it het instead of gen?
To me, the second example is still gen. There might be a bit of contact between two parties but, in the end, the point of the story isn't a romantic angle, it's a story about two characters dealing with some non-romantic plot. Any sort of "sexual" contact between them is incidental, or just part of the flow.
IMHO, it's like this. Fandom is, for the most part, writing romance/erotica stories whether we label things het or slash. We are writing about characters having some sort of sexual relationship (whether it ever actually hits the sexual point or we do the fade to black). We are talking about either an emotional or physical connection. The story is about them, however many "thems" there are in the story. The primary focus is on the characters interactions with each other.
For Gen, we're writing about how characters deal with outside plot points, regardless of the presence of a romantic partner or not. The focus of the story is non-romantic, non-(sexual)emotional, non-erotic. It can feature a couple dealing with something outside but the focus isn't on the couple and their relationship.
So what are your thoughts?