Yet another post about the whole gen issue

[salinea]

(See the last 2 or 3 metafandom editions if you wonder what i'm talking about)

The more I think about, the more I think that the categories of het, slash and gen, as categories, are mostly useless. In fact, I never actually included them in any fic I've posted myself (the information is usually contained in the "Characters/Pairings" line).

If we want categies denoting genres/focus, "Romance", "Drama", "Action/Adventure", "Character exploration", "Smut", etc. make much better descriptors, as well as some kind of descriptions about how the story stands vis-a-vis to canon (A/U, post-canon, missing scenes, just-like-a-canon-episode, retcon/canon-fix...)

I also think the issue is that we're thinking of these categories as mutually exclusive. What is gen cannot be het, what is het cannot be slash, what is slash cannot be gen. Which is bollocks. There's nothing saying a story couldn't focus on both a canon-like-plot and a non-canon Romance! Nor is there anything saying that a story can't be focussed on two couples, one het, one slash.

But yeah, people want to be warned against the pairings they dislike, in every cases, so warning for pairings all the time should be the best behaviour.

ETA : Okay, so non-exhaustive list of genres I can think of right now

- Romance / Smut (probably handier to merge them)
- Plot driven stories (with subcategories for things like action/adventure, mystery/investigation, war-stories, intrigue, Sci-fi...)
- Noromo relationships (a fic which focus on a relationship which is not explored as romantic, whether it's family, friends, partners, colleagues or people who hate each others)
- Character study (any fic which is about exploring a character's personnality, or their reaction to something)
- Comedy / Humour (need I specify?)
- World exploration (for fics that want to expand that little obscure corner of canon)
- Surrealism / Fairy Tale / Dreamscape (because I'm not sure where else this kind of stories fit)

any suggestions/criticisms?

Comments

[moonmip.livejournal.com]

If we want categies denoting genres/focus, "Romance", "Drama", "Action/Adventure", "Character exploration", "Smut", etc. make much better descriptors

I certainly think this is true, and I can't but help the cynical thought that by doing so, we would have cottoned on to the methods used by the print press for years. :) I personally use Gen to mean a fic that is rated for a general audience, rather than one indicating no pairings, but I am aware these two definitions exist (causing multiple headaches in their wake).

But yeah, people want to be warned against the pairings they dislike, in every cases, so warning for pairings all the time should be the best behaviour.

I must admit, I shy away from that sort of perspective. To me, it smacks of spoilers - when we see a movie, or read a book, we don't always get forewarned what the pairings will be. We just have to wait and see. Part of the problem, I suspect, is so many fans read fanfic to read more about the particular pairing they like, rather than of the show in general. So many stories these days are defined by the pairing involved rather than the actual content of the story (of which the pairing is part, but certainly not everything).

Okay, so non-exhaustive list of genres I can think of right now

How about Alternante universe? I don't think it comes under your definition of World exploration, because you specify that as exploring an aspect of canon while AUs throw some aspects of canon out the window (and I mean some, if you throw away *all* aspects of canon, including characterisation, then you're basically writing an original story but taking the character names from someone else).

I can also see people objecting to you putting Romance and Smut in together - it depends on whether one is defining Romance in the Harlequin novel style or Gone With the Wind style - one is pretty much thinly veiled fantasy porn, the other is purely emotional and sex is not a core aspect (indeed, it's often danced around but not mentioned overtly).

This was quite a timely post for me; I've been dwelling on the use of genres in fanfic (like large portions of fandom at the moment!) and the way we 'sell' our stories to others - including ratings, genres and summaries. This is giving me some extra things to muse on, thanks!

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I personally use Gen to mean a fic that is rated for a general audience, rather than one indicating no pairings, but I am aware these two definitions exist (causing multiple headaches in their wake).
Or three, or four, or five definitions ^^ yes, definitly headaches-inducing.
I'd rather use "G-rated" to mean intended for general audience...

To me, it smacks of spoilers - when we see a movie, or read a book, we don't always get forewarned what the pairings will be.
Yeah, but people in fanfic are often indeed very concerned about pairings, so I think we need to address it. It's often the whole point of a fic regardless of the plotty content. I also think that it's very rare for there to be a suspence about the main pairing in fanfics (see my answer to ll_shepherd), sp I don't think it's really spoilery.

How about Alternante universe? I think A/U are an important warning, but I wouldn't classify it as a category. It's more about the relationship to canon than descriptive of the tone of the content. An A/U could be a romance, a plotty story, a comedy, or anything at all really.

I can also see people objecting to you putting Romance and Smut in together
I think for this we need to have a very broad definition of Romance, seeing it as any story that is focussed on a relationship which may end up being sexual, even if it's not "romantic" by the traditionnal sense of the word. (I personnally read a LOT of "romance" stories which are hate/love and mindfuck and otherwise not Harlequin or Gone with the Wind-like.)

Oh! I'm very excited about what you'll come up with about ratings, genres and summaries! Do comment to me when you do, please ^^

[(Anonymous)]

I don't like the way printed novels do things, though. Although I guess they never have warnings so they'll get more readers. I know I never would have read the Thomas Covenant books if I'd known there was a rape scene.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I don't like the way printed novels do things, though
Fair enough. Do you have any better categories than the printed novels' one, then?

I know I never would have read the Thomas Covenant books if I'd known there was a rape scene.
That's an interesting exemple. Every time I see anyone reccing this serie, they tend to warn about it. And people telling how they knew there was the rape scene, so then, they could go past it and enjoy the serie.

I hadn't been warned myself and didn't miss it, but then again, I hardly pay attention to non con warnings in fanfics either. (and in fanfic there's much greater chance for it to be smut than in the Unbeliever serie).