COMPLAINING and a rec!

[roxy]

I'm sorry, but this using a / to indicate a gen relationship really irritates the hell out of me. I'm a SLASH reader and a SLASH writer and more specifically a WINCEST reader and writer. That's my main interest, and when I click on a story that has Sam/Dean in the headline, I expect some form of slash. I don't necessarily need out and out sex--though that's more than nice, but it pisses me off when it turns out to be a completely, *totally* gen story, or worse, a het story. Nothing wrong with either, just not when I'm expecting guy love. When I want to read gen, I read gen. Much, much more rarely, I'll read het. I just like to know what it is I'm reading.

I know that these folks aren't posting like that intending to misrepresent, I think that they just don't get that there's a difference. We've talked about this a few times here. Is it not the same other fandom places? Is it only LJ anymore that adheres to the slash meaning a M/M relationship?

*throws hat down and flings hands up*





Had to get that off my chest. Okay, I bitched, so let me rec a fucking fabulous GEN story. See? I read them sometimes. Are you wondering where Sam's at, what's going on under that massive forehead? This fic explains it all. It's chilling, heartbreaking, *scary* as fuck and just plain amazing. I really liked it.

Stapled Shut, Inside an Outside World bycaranfindel

Comments

[rockstarpeach.livejournal.com]

Right?

I mean... if you write a story in which Dean has a relationship with Lisa, or Sam has one with Crowley (which are both perfectly fine!) and then go label it as Sam/Dean, just because it has Sam and Dean in it, that's totally misleading!

Heh, so that's what I'm gonna do. And then laugh when you read it and you're all 'dude, wtf was that bullshit?!'.

I know that in a lot of fandoms (not just LJ-based) slash means m/m relationship. Others have slash as ANY relationship (which really makes more sense). In any case, you can't use '/' when you really mean 'n'.

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha you have a rec icon!!!! <3

I always think the slash means slash. I mean, I have seen "boy/girl", so the line is just "they are together and smexing". If I saw "Sam/Dean", I would TOTALLY take that to mean there's wincesty boning going on. If I see "Sam, Dean", then I expect gen.

It ain't rocket science ;-) unless by "rockets" one means "cocks up the ass".


*smishes you*

[fanspired]

Maybe it's new writers seeing the Sam/Dean convention a lot and copying it without understanding what it means. Direct them to S4:18 :P I think I've had the "huh? where's the slash?" experience myself, though. Very frustrating. The rec sounds interesting, though. Will have to check that out when I've finished my scene. I think it's a pity the show never really properly examined what Sam actually endured in the cage, because I think a lot of viewers have consequently forgotten it ever happened.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

First, thanks for the rec; that's completely awesome of you.

Second, I find your problem kind of ironic because, as a mostly gen reader, I keep seeing the opposite - writers who use a comma or n when they really should have used a slash. So it's no easier on the other side! :-) I think, like fanspired said, it's probably people who don't understand the convention.

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

I saw it used with a whole raft of characters once, including old ladies and children, and pointed it out to the author. She laughed and said, oh dear! But never went back to change it. Can't even remember the fandom, now. Might have been Mrs Hudson and some kids slashed?

[quiet--tiger.livejournal.com]

What confuses the heck out of me is when people put in the characters/pairing line a character's real identity and his superhero identity, so you wind up with fics with the characters/pairings as: Bruce/Batman, Clark/Superman, Bruce/Clark, and I'm like, "Wow, that's some identity porn," and then I realize that they mean Bruce is both Bruce and Batman, and Clark is Clark and Supes, at different times in the story. When there are two guys in the story and like eight pairings seem to be indicated, it gets overly complicated.

But yeah, a slash mark indicates slash to me. You want gen, use a comma.

[nicnac918.livejournal.com]

I'll totally back you up on a '/' between two character names means a romantic or sexual relationship of some sort occurs between two characters, and then I'm rather partial to '&' to signify that a story places a special emphasis on the *platonic* relationship between the characters. Of course occasionally there are issues where a fic is kind of borderline gen (for example: if running through the fic, but tangential to the actual plot, A has a number of thoughts about how (s)he would like to get into B's pants, but by the end no pants were actually gotten into on- or off-stage), but at that point the writer really just has to make a judgement call. And then they should add some sort of tag or disclaimer or something that let's people know it was a judgement call. Throwing in a 'onesided,' 'UST,' or 'pre-slash' are all good options for that.