yuletide_coal | It's a Coal (w)rap Battle

So you're saying that in your stories no one other than the protagonist ever references, even in passing, their parents, girlfriends, boyfriends, spouses, crushes, people they find hot...? Like, you write stories such that every single person in the story other than the protagonists could be gay and married to same-sex partners, or tree-fuckers, or asexual and reproduce by spores, but there'd be no way of telling because it would never come up in the slightest? O...kay.

You're one of those "I write only shipping fic where no plot happens and no one other than the shipped characters appear" people, I gather.

Alice and Bob sit in a room. They look into each other's eyes. They stroke each other's hands. They absolutely do not talk about anything to do with fighting dragons (their job), their friends or coworkers, their plans for the future, or anything except themselves. And they are, of course, very heterosexual. No plot happens. They simply look at each other and bask in their happiness. They may eventually fuck. Heterosexually.

ALICE WOULD NEVER CHEAT ON BETTY HDU.

Heterophobe! Just because it's not canon doesn't mean people can't request fic for their weird rarepairs.

UGH take your het-bashing dragonfic and gtfo. >:(

This is before Betty! Betty is the one who makes Alice realize everything she was missing when she was in that weird insular relationship with Bob.

na

It's actually incredibly easy to write stories in which only two characters appear or are referenced at all, much less just avoiding mentioning their sexuality and relationship statuses. It doesn't even have to be shipfic.

Like, I'm baffled that you're baffled by this. Does everyone in your stories bring up their significant other? Do you write nothing but meandering ensemble domestic casefic?

Actually, I never write or read stories in which only two characters appear or are referenced; most of the stories I write/read take place on starships with large crews, or in cities, or other places where there'll be a lot of people around.

I once wrote a story set on a deserted island, with only four characters on the island! But it was fic for The Tempest, and since I did mention that Miranda existed and was Prospero's daughter, that's implying he had some kind of heterosexual contact in the past, right there.

Interesting! I tend not to write ensembley things, and I tend not to write public spaces.

I'm usually very focused on two or three characters, whether or not it's shipfic, and while I usually do mention other characters I don't think it would be very hard to reduce the focus down even further. I'm very fond of tightly focused fics in general, whether it's just two characters, just one room, very tight POV, just a series of moments when they XYZ, etc.

I don't do much longfic, though -- my sweet spot is 1,200 to 5,000. So maybe that makes a difference.

Ohh, yeah, I bet that'd make a difference. Exchanges are pretty much the only place I write below 5k. I tend to write casefic, whether it's shippy or not, and that means a lot of scenes like "Now we must interview the relatives of the deceased" or "Time to follow this suspicious character back home and find out what they're doing there!" or "I must make small talk with this priest about local parishioners while my partner burgles the church office." I tend to find super-focused stuff a bit claustrophobic for my tastes, unless it's a straight-up vignette.

ayrt

Yeah, I bet length is a big part of this. Since I prefer shorter fic, it means that I pick and choose scenes very carefully to move the core plot and/or relationship forward, so I might just skip the small talk with the priest, for example. (Not saying the small talk with the priest is pointless or anything! Just a different fic, and I'd be working in whatever info or theme learned from that conversation somewhere else)

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-26 23:35 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 00:06 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 00:20 (UTC) - Expand

Hahaha. No, I mostly write plotty gen where there's not really time for small talk chitchat about gay relatives, spouses or REALLY about who anyone finds hot. And I mostly read slash, so your impotent rage is bot wholly wrong and hellaciously amusing.

I'm not raging, I'm just baffled. What the hell do people do in your plots, such that no one ever mentions relatives or significant others? I guess if they stand around shooting each other, there's no reason for anyone to shout "And my boyfriend would be very upset that I was just shot!" before keeling over.

Sometimes I go entire weeks without mentioning my love life or sexuality to people who aren't involved with either.

How many times per day do you mention your significant other, coalie, if you have one?

Fairly often! "Oh, the spouse just brought me a cup of coffee, isn't that nice," I say in chat to a friend. "I should check with my spouse about this before I commit," I say to a handiman while discussing upcoming construction costs. In my internal monologue, I wonder if I should start wearing a wedding ring, as the creepy guy at the bus stop hits on me.

Okay, I will concede that if someone wants a story about waiting for the handyman or drinking proffered coffee, it's might be homophobic to demand no slash.

But that still sounds like a pretty boring story to me.

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 02:38 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 02:52 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 03:00 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 03:13 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 04:50 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 04:52 (UTC) - Expand

So there are no straight characters in your fics then either? No kids, no parents?

Yeah, seriously.

You... Seem to think that queer couples can't have kids. I have some news for you that may be surprising. If you're reading this on mobile, go ahead and sit down. Are you comfortable? Okay, see here is the thing: same gender couples can have kids, whether they use one or both of their genitals or not. Same gender couples may also elect to become parents through surrogacy, or adoption, or fostering.

www.THATSTHEPOINT.com

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 03:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 03:22 (UTC) - Expand

SA

And, I forgot to mention something important: bisexual and pansexual and poly people exist, and also sometimes create and/or raise kids. Great news, right? The species continues!

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 03:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Letter judging post again

(Anonymous) - 2015-10-27 03:21 (UTC) - Expand

You are embarrassing yourself.

This is, like, one of the more ridiculous wanks on coal lately.

DA

I wouldn't say that no other characters appear, but if I'm writing a story for someone, I would only mention a background pairing if it was canon or if it had been requested. For example, if I was writing a Castle case fic about Javier, I might mention Castle and Kate arriving at the crime scene together, or even sneaking a quick kiss. However, I wouldn't suggest a romantic relationship between Alexis and Ryan or Alexis and Lanie unless it was asked for.

DA. In an exchange were 2000/2600 fics last year were between 5k-1k, I dont understand why this is such a hard concept to rasp. With those numbers, the majority of fics honestly shouldnt have time to dwell on a bunch of background characters or non-requested characters lovers if the fic is actually what I want. Sure, my DNWs and likes would be different for that 5% of fandom who would write me 20k+, but Im not writing my letter on the off-chance Ill get the longfic of my dreams?? Truly baffled here (as someone who requests slash and is more interested about the dynamics and conflicts between my requested characters).