Are multiple pairings really nessesary?

[abrogate_nadir]

The title pretty much explains the post. As I was going through fanfiction.net in search of goodfic, I noticed a lot of "Sora/Kairi, Riku/OC, Roxas/Namine" and in some cases, even a fourth of fifth pairing like Leon/Yuffie or Cloud/Tifa. That is a lot to put in one story where the main genre isn't romance (note that I disregarded any fics where the

Comments

[thornsmoke]

When I see a fic with multiple pairings, I generally assume one of three things:

1. Author loves each of the characters in the pairings too much to realise that having 3+ pairings in one fic will probably result in the neglect of one or more.
2. Author assumes that one cannot be happy outside of a romantic relationship and wants all of the Disney characers to be happy.
3. Author's trying to appeal to a broader audience by including everyone's favorite pairing.

So... I agree. If the plot's non-romantic, there comes a point when having too many pairings kills the coherence.

[abrogate_nadir]

Those all seem like good explanations as to why this happens. The first and second I can respect, even if a little misguided (and generally harmful to their story) but the third...not so much xD

[arson_attrition]

Well. I can't say I disagree with the third, given writing NON-fiction should apply to a broad category of people. I don't see how trying to appeal to a wide audience is a bad thing?

[abrogate_nadir]

In my opinion, when people overreach in a manner that compromises the quality of the story itself, it can be a bad thing. It's kind of like biting off more than you can chew (and in some stories, it can be really apparent that some of the pairings were forced into the story)

[nashie_chan]

Didn't you know? Kingdom Hearts fandom is the 90210 of fandom. Everybody dates everybody and it's all AWESOME.

As a writer of a fic that has multiple pairings, the only reason I write it is because....well, I feel like it? (Plus, everyone's in Paris, the city of love and lights, so getting all crazy with romance is....a given?) Which is probably a god-awful reason with absolutely no logic. I really can't speak for any other fanfic writers.

*sighs* Yeah. *holds up a "dork" sign*

[abrogate_nadir]

I have an idea: rather then having 4 different pairings, they should all be thrown together into a single huge pairing :O *is shot*

I should have mentioned this in my main post, but there are some other fic types besides romance I can see multiple pairings work. The first would be a high school AU (I know a lot of people don't care for those, but still). A humor/crack type fic might work too, or one that isn't romance so much as SEXY FUN TIEMS (which I like, I won't lie)

[nashie_chan]

I have an idea: rather then having 4 different pairings, they should all be thrown together into a single huge pairing.

Oo OMG I TOTALLY DID THIS WITH MY SORIKAI!!! AND MY OT6 IS LOVE! Well...it's quite an OT6 since it's basically post-KH2 Sora/Riku/Kairi with overtones of Axel/Roxas/Namine. But I'm just a loser because I'm in love with OT3s....

Oh. Wow. The dork sign comes in neon colors?

[llivla]

OT6 ftw. *hugs harukami's Completion series to chest* Link to your fic please? :'D

[arson_attrition]

I'd rather have multiple warnings than no warning at all. No, not everyone has to find a significant other, but if it's conducive to plot and any point to the story whatsoever, I'd like to know about it before hand. Especially for those people who are pairing-picky.

[nashie_chan]

Especially for those people who are pairing-picky.

Wait - you mean you don't like Zexion/Carpet? What's the matter with you!? Zexion/Carpet is the ultimate OTP!!!

[llivla]

Zexion would NEVER cheat on his LEXICON! How dare you!

[kosmic_kinsei]

Pfft… you're both wrong. ~*REAL*~ fans ship Zexion/Tea. Zexion/Carpet is juvenile and too many trendbrats choose Zexion/Lexicon.

ADMIT IIIT.

[ex_riku_rep]

I usually tend to focus on one pair or maybe two, if they interrelate at all in the course of the story. Sometimes I'll throw in hints of others I like just because I have unusual ones but they aren't prominent and usually can be overlooked. To me it seems like it'd be hard to give proper attention to so many pairs.

[abrogate_nadir]

Agreed. As I've seen an overwhelming majority of the time, people have trouble giving all the pairings attention, even keeping in mind that all aside from the main are secondary pairings. For example, a romantic relationship would develop almost entirely off-screen, or the author would use a kind of cheap one-time event to throw them together. Basically, they are rushed and kinda sloppy.

(Standard disclaimer: there are exceptions to this, as with most things)

[kosmic_kinsei]

I don't mind multiple-pairing fics all that much. It's the summaries that get me.

Sooo, chapter three has Cloud mentioning Kairi at one point while reminiscing his old high school days… OMFG CLOUD/KAIRI HINTS DON'T LIKE DON'T READ!!!!1111

[abrogate_nadir]

Hm...actually, that is one thing I neglected to include in my rant, is the occasional case where the story doesn't *really* try and work every pairing they have in the summary, they just list them because something minor which could be interpreted as pairing-like happens (and cuz MOAR PAIRING TAGS = MOAR HITS, RITE?!)