A Different Kind of Dirty: Gen Porn
First off, see here for where the Gen Porn discussion has started.
So, one of the dictionary definitions I found for "pornography" is creative activity (writing or pictures or films etc.) of no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire.
Now, heaven, hell, and most fangirls know this can pretty much be used to define the entirety of fanfic and a number of incidents in canon, regardless of whether anything of an intentionally sexual nature is happening. The glimpse of a well-toned forearm when a shirtsleeve is rolled up...a head tipped back to expose a length of neck in a shot rarely seen of that character...the careful maintenance of a weapon...just taking a drink from a bottle.
Admit it. You know exactly what I'm talking about. We know how to objectify the ever-lovin' squee! out of our TV Boyfriends and Girlfriends.
One of my biggest kinks is The Tease, both when the characters are utterly clueless about the fact that what they're doing could be remotely considered hot and when they're perfectly aware that if anyone else happened by, they'd be totally accused of subtextual stuff. Love it. Seriously.
Love. It.
SPN fen, back me here. Dean would be totally "...for serious? You think me sharpening this knife is hot? No shit? Well, huh. AWESOME." And then he'd probably be all about us playing Spin the Bottle, except it would actually be Spin the Knife and if getting to make out with a Winchester when the blade of a knife points at you doesn't turn you on, YOU ARE DEAD TO ME AND NOT IN A FUN HUNT-YOU-DOWN-AND-SOAK-YOU-IN-HOLY-WATER SORT OF WAY.
And, Housegrrrls, you know what I'm talkin' about when I say the fact that House is equally loose with the sexually suggestive remarks about Chase and Wilson as he is about Cameron and Cuddy when he's got his snark on is every bit as hot as how deliberately nasty he is with inflating giant phallic pink balloons and talkin' smack about how Wilson will find out exactly where House will put his cane if Wilson takes him to dinner that night.
For that matter, Jayne Cobb facing certain death and announcing that he's armed with four, maybe five, rounds and his big swingin' cod...HOT. Spike taking a beating from Glory rather than give up any info...HOT. Autolycus and Iolaus antagonizing each other and Ares over a fucking chicken...HOT.
With all of the above, it's easy to see why we as fangirls love to scuttle away to our computers and notebooks and IM windows and write H/C and slash and het in forms such as fluff and PWPs and elaborate epic-length novels. Teh Secks can be found in making the sex happen for, with, to, and because of these characters and the yummy morsels of canon we're fed. As such, somewhere along the way, being able to write the most cheerfully hot, weird, and dirty reasons for out and out pornin' our Beautiful Sex Objects (BSOs) has become pretty much the mainstay for fanfic in most of the fandoms I read in. This? Is not a bad thing. Trust me.
However, I've lately realized that I'm one of the few true unapologetic gen writers and I'm starting to wonder if I'm also one of the only true unapologetic gen readers. For me, particularly as a writer, I get off on sticking to The Tease in my descriptions of the characters and their blocking, in their dialogue and in the weirdo stuff I use in my stories. (A lot of my early fiction was written with a co-author with whom I'm no longer in touch, so I can only point to the wee bit of fic I have posted on my journal, btw.)
So, in HoS. House calmly inspecting Xena's stats while Xena has a flailing Chase pinned between her thighs? Totally delighted and turned me on to write as much as the smacktalk and the unspoken, sekrit "Just how gay are you?" exchange House and Wilson had about the whip did.
And the one rough scene I've posted from the Jersey Devil story...can I be honest? Those guys inspecting each other's scars and showing off their own, coupled with the knowledge that House will be shamelessly coming on to Xander just because Xander has the "Ack! So not gay!" button begging to be pressed (and because House wants the bed to himself), is just this side of the classic one-handed typing experience for me.
Part of that is because it's just what I find hot in general, but part of that is because I know others will find it hot even if they don't immediately know why. Part of that is knowing that some of the characters are going to worry how completely homoerotic this incident is while some of the others aren't going to give a shit either way because, dude, scars are cool. And chicks (such as the one writing this particular story, hello) think scars are hot.
Again, please note that I am absolutely not bashing the smutty stuff. I'm just explaining why, as a writer and a reader, I find Gen Porn easily as appealing, entertaining, and downright hot as the other more explicit porn.
marinarusalka's gen story Bargains has one of the most incredibly hot scenes I've ever read. That's when Dean realizes he's going to have to finish this particular hunt without any weapons. Or his leather coat. Or his jeans. Or his shoes. Or anything at all except sweat pants, a t-shirt, and a flannel shirt. Remember that part of the dictionary definition that covered "creative activity" and "stimulating sexual desire" because, right now, I sure do. (I obviously do think this story has artistic value beyond the fact that it turned me on, so I'm deliberately omitting that part of the definition.)
Ditto the gen fic in SV by an author (...Hope, was it? I don't remember. seperis, do you know who I'm talking about?) who wrote singularly hysterical stories which featured, say, Clark making Lex play putt-putt golf. Lex got increasingly pissed off and all Obsess-o Boy about the game, while Clark was making up fake numbers for the score and just generally being a spastic, hot-dog-eating, happy guy. That made me squirm and squee and just want to crawl through the monitor and wriggle around in a puppy pile with those boys like you wouldn't believe.
I loved runpunkrun's XF fic because there was so much of Scully and Mulder being close without touching. While entirely in character. And working on cases. juliefortune wrote some of my favorite Pretender stories (although, god, yes, she writes amazingly hot sex, too) where Jarod and Parker just fuck with each other's minds and I could die happy just reading their dialogue. The insight we get into the FF characters in taraljc's stand-alones makes me squee! with absolute fangirl love. (I dare you not to get a little sweet on Mal after reading Chivalry.)
All right. Because this entry is pretty damned long, I'll stop with it here and ask for input from the folks who hang around my journal and any passers-by for their thoughts on gen and what I've dubbed Gen Porn. Do you stop reading a story because you realize your OTP won't be boinking, even if the story is well-written and nicely plotted? Do you find being teased by an author in fanfic to be as fun as being teased by a scene you might get in canon, or do you feel fanfic is where the Naughty Bits should happen since we usually don't have a hope of getting anything explicit on a series? (Obviously, I know there are exceptions, such as QaF and TLW, where the porn is a fundamental part of the show. Those are sort of a different beast than the network, syndicated, and basic cable shows I'm using for examples here, to my eye.)
Seriously. Go to town with your thoughts here. I'd love the input, as readers and writers and fangirls in general.
So, one of the dictionary definitions I found for "pornography" is creative activity (writing or pictures or films etc.) of no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire.
Now, heaven, hell, and most fangirls know this can pretty much be used to define the entirety of fanfic and a number of incidents in canon, regardless of whether anything of an intentionally sexual nature is happening. The glimpse of a well-toned forearm when a shirtsleeve is rolled up...a head tipped back to expose a length of neck in a shot rarely seen of that character...the careful maintenance of a weapon...just taking a drink from a bottle.
Admit it. You know exactly what I'm talking about. We know how to objectify the ever-lovin' squee! out of our TV Boyfriends and Girlfriends.
One of my biggest kinks is The Tease, both when the characters are utterly clueless about the fact that what they're doing could be remotely considered hot and when they're perfectly aware that if anyone else happened by, they'd be totally accused of subtextual stuff. Love it. Seriously.
Love. It.
SPN fen, back me here. Dean would be totally "...for serious? You think me sharpening this knife is hot? No shit? Well, huh. AWESOME." And then he'd probably be all about us playing Spin the Bottle, except it would actually be Spin the Knife and if getting to make out with a Winchester when the blade of a knife points at you doesn't turn you on, YOU ARE DEAD TO ME AND NOT IN A FUN HUNT-YOU-DOWN-AND-SOAK-YOU-IN-HOLY-WATER SORT OF WAY.
And, Housegrrrls, you know what I'm talkin' about when I say the fact that House is equally loose with the sexually suggestive remarks about Chase and Wilson as he is about Cameron and Cuddy when he's got his snark on is every bit as hot as how deliberately nasty he is with inflating giant phallic pink balloons and talkin' smack about how Wilson will find out exactly where House will put his cane if Wilson takes him to dinner that night.
For that matter, Jayne Cobb facing certain death and announcing that he's armed with four, maybe five, rounds and his big swingin' cod...HOT. Spike taking a beating from Glory rather than give up any info...HOT. Autolycus and Iolaus antagonizing each other and Ares over a fucking chicken...HOT.
With all of the above, it's easy to see why we as fangirls love to scuttle away to our computers and notebooks and IM windows and write H/C and slash and het in forms such as fluff and PWPs and elaborate epic-length novels. Teh Secks can be found in making the sex happen for, with, to, and because of these characters and the yummy morsels of canon we're fed. As such, somewhere along the way, being able to write the most cheerfully hot, weird, and dirty reasons for out and out pornin' our Beautiful Sex Objects (BSOs) has become pretty much the mainstay for fanfic in most of the fandoms I read in. This? Is not a bad thing. Trust me.
However, I've lately realized that I'm one of the few true unapologetic gen writers and I'm starting to wonder if I'm also one of the only true unapologetic gen readers. For me, particularly as a writer, I get off on sticking to The Tease in my descriptions of the characters and their blocking, in their dialogue and in the weirdo stuff I use in my stories. (A lot of my early fiction was written with a co-author with whom I'm no longer in touch, so I can only point to the wee bit of fic I have posted on my journal, btw.)
So, in HoS. House calmly inspecting Xena's stats while Xena has a flailing Chase pinned between her thighs? Totally delighted and turned me on to write as much as the smacktalk and the unspoken, sekrit "Just how gay are you?" exchange House and Wilson had about the whip did.
And the one rough scene I've posted from the Jersey Devil story...can I be honest? Those guys inspecting each other's scars and showing off their own, coupled with the knowledge that House will be shamelessly coming on to Xander just because Xander has the "Ack! So not gay!" button begging to be pressed (and because House wants the bed to himself), is just this side of the classic one-handed typing experience for me.
Part of that is because it's just what I find hot in general, but part of that is because I know others will find it hot even if they don't immediately know why. Part of that is knowing that some of the characters are going to worry how completely homoerotic this incident is while some of the others aren't going to give a shit either way because, dude, scars are cool. And chicks (such as the one writing this particular story, hello) think scars are hot.
Again, please note that I am absolutely not bashing the smutty stuff. I'm just explaining why, as a writer and a reader, I find Gen Porn easily as appealing, entertaining, and downright hot as the other more explicit porn.
marinarusalka's gen story Bargains has one of the most incredibly hot scenes I've ever read. That's when Dean realizes he's going to have to finish this particular hunt without any weapons. Or his leather coat. Or his jeans. Or his shoes. Or anything at all except sweat pants, a t-shirt, and a flannel shirt. Remember that part of the dictionary definition that covered "creative activity" and "stimulating sexual desire" because, right now, I sure do. (I obviously do think this story has artistic value beyond the fact that it turned me on, so I'm deliberately omitting that part of the definition.)
Ditto the gen fic in SV by an author (...Hope, was it? I don't remember. seperis, do you know who I'm talking about?) who wrote singularly hysterical stories which featured, say, Clark making Lex play putt-putt golf. Lex got increasingly pissed off and all Obsess-o Boy about the game, while Clark was making up fake numbers for the score and just generally being a spastic, hot-dog-eating, happy guy. That made me squirm and squee and just want to crawl through the monitor and wriggle around in a puppy pile with those boys like you wouldn't believe.
I loved runpunkrun's XF fic because there was so much of Scully and Mulder being close without touching. While entirely in character. And working on cases. juliefortune wrote some of my favorite Pretender stories (although, god, yes, she writes amazingly hot sex, too) where Jarod and Parker just fuck with each other's minds and I could die happy just reading their dialogue. The insight we get into the FF characters in taraljc's stand-alones makes me squee! with absolute fangirl love. (I dare you not to get a little sweet on Mal after reading Chivalry.)
All right. Because this entry is pretty damned long, I'll stop with it here and ask for input from the folks who hang around my journal and any passers-by for their thoughts on gen and what I've dubbed Gen Porn. Do you stop reading a story because you realize your OTP won't be boinking, even if the story is well-written and nicely plotted? Do you find being teased by an author in fanfic to be as fun as being teased by a scene you might get in canon, or do you feel fanfic is where the Naughty Bits should happen since we usually don't have a hope of getting anything explicit on a series? (Obviously, I know there are exceptions, such as QaF and TLW, where the porn is a fundamental part of the show. Those are sort of a different beast than the network, syndicated, and basic cable shows I'm using for examples here, to my eye.)
Seriously. Go to town with your thoughts here. I'd love the input, as readers and writers and fangirls in general.