woe is me

[xparrot]

I am just not cut out to be a slash writer. I can't write smut! I want to write smut. But the chars, they want to talk. For 8 pages! The hell, Lex? You want Clark. He wants you. What is the problem here? Just get down on your knees, boy. Geeze. It's not that difficult.

For some reason I can only write smut very late at night. Four in the morning when I'm supposed to be asleep, then I'll have all manner of sexy bodies in my head, writhing together under the sheets/against the wall/over the desk/in the mud/what-have-you. The rest of the time, might as well be a lost cause. Talking, though. I can write endless discussion anytime. I ought to stick to gen. But I like slash, too, darn it! If only it weren't haaaard...(and not in the good way.)

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I am quite possibly the worst slash fan ever, in that half the time I don't even read the smut; I skim the sex to get to the juicy bits, which for me is the...talking. And angst. And cuteness. And basically all the relationshipping that happens in between. This is probably why I can be both a slash and a gen fan without much mental dissonance. Though it doesn't explain why I have pairings like Clark/Lex which I simply cannot see as gen (even when I don't always read and can't hardly write the slashy bits.)

Comments

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

"I draw a distinct line between slash and gen, because even pre-slash or G-rated slash reads and plays out differently than pure gen."

Yes, yes, yes. I've had people recommend gen stories to me as 'indistinguishable from Slash, just without the sex', and they weren't at all like Slash. That's why I say it's not the sex that truly distinguishes Slash from gen. It's the romance, the way the characters look at each other, and think about each other. The centre of gravity of the story is in a different place if the story is Slash. The two characters exert a gravitational pull on each other, because they're lovers, life mates, or at the very least, they want to be, they're intending to be. Whereas in gen, no matter how fond the characters may be as friends, they're not going to be living together, sleeping together, for perhaps the rest of their lives.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...I think I have to essay more about this. As a gen fan, I get thrown myself when I'm rec'ed a slash story and told it reads like gen, just with the sex! (because it happens! ^^) It never does, at least in the context of the sexualized relationship. (Other relationships may be delightfully gen; I've read some slash for the relationships between the non-paired chars...)

Though it's interesting, this pull you describe. Some gen fans prefer gen because we find relationships stronger when they're based on more than sex - and much gen fic concerns families, or people who become like families, who will be together for perhaps all their lives. Platonic relationships, to some people, can be as powerful or more powerful than the sexual, and that's what gen fen often go for...

Ahh, like I said, I need to write more on this. As a gen and a slash fan I'm fascinated by the differences and even more the similarities...we're both all about the relationships; it's just the mechanics of the relationships that differ...