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

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

The more I think about, the more I think that the categories of het, slash and gen, as categories, are mostly useless. ...If we want categies denoting genres/focus, "Romance", "Drama", "Action/Adventure", "Character exploration", "Smut", etc. make much better descriptors

Thank god the fan fic community is starting to realize that. I don't use any of the common terminology because it is so completely non-descriptive of anything I do.

[summerborn.livejournal.com]

I agree with you 100%. I use "genfic" occasionally to describe a fic without a romantic pairing, but I much prefer to know if a story I'm about to read is comedy, adventure, mystery, what. And no one uses those except fanfiction.net. :\

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

I don't actually see many stories labeled as gen except on recs pages. Things like "X/Y" and "implied R/Q" and "H/G UST" and "mentioned A/B" give more information about pairing or lack thereof, IMO, and the modifiers let the reader know how much role the pairing will play in the story. I would love to see more romance/drama/etc. labels on stories, though, especially in fandoms where I'm really seeking plot.

[mnemosyne-1.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I like your labels much better. I do think that it is somewhat important to let people know what's contained in your story - I'm a fan of listing the pairings, any warnings and I love Author's Notes when a fic is especially long and intricate.

I admit I eventually stopped reading the Gen definition wars because it seems like everyone has a slightly different take on what it should be. I think the solution is definitely to have detailed header information (title, author, rating, word count, pairings/characters, warnings, summary - which should reveal genre - and author's notes). It seems like a lot of information, but personally, I'm a lot more likely to click on a story when I know pretty much what I'm getting into.

I also try to do the same thing in the stories that I write, and I don't think it spoils the story to have an FYI at the beginning as to the general basis of the story.

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

To make things even worse, the definition of "gen" also varies from fandom to fandom. I first heard of it the HP fandom in 2001; then and there, it meant "any fic that doesn't focus on romance" (at least, in the corner of HP fandom where I played). The way I've learned it, it can include pairings as long as the romance isn't the focus. For example, a fic about James and Lily going on an adventure and fighting Death Eaters would be gen, even if they're a couple.

I've read some of the posts at metafandom, though, and I know that's not always the case. I remember a while ago you mentioned you saw gen as "no pairings whatsoever"; I don't agree with that, but I can see the logic in it. But there are other definitions that I just don't get. I don't see how a canon pairing is "more" gen than a non-canon pairing.

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.

I agree completely with that. But what strikes me most in this entry is this:

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

That is so, so true. It seems like such an obvious solution, but very few people do it. I wonder if part of the reason is that fandom is so focused on shipping. You have slash or het, and everything else gets lumped as gen... when it would make more sense to just label the shippy fics as "romance" or "smut" and then separate them as slash/het or just name the pairing(s). The non-pairing fics could be divided according to its genre. The current classification is very pairing-centric, separating into "romance/smut" and "everything else".

The way I label my own fics is in-between, sort of. When I write something that focuses on a pairing, I label it as Romance and mention the pairing. Most of my fics are gen, though, and I label those as Genfic and something else: humour, introspection, adventure, etc. I do think "gen" is too broad.

On the other hand, and because I can't please everyone... I know there are people who would want a pairing warning on fics that I consider gen. That's why I have so many fics tagged as genfic *and* Clow/Yuuko.

[sakanagi.livejournal.com]

I find those sorts of labels a bit confusing. I never use 'slash or 'het' as a label, but I have used 'gen' every now and then when I couldn't think of anything else to put the genre down as. Character exploration sounds like a good description; maybe I'll use that sometime.

[dizilla.livejournal.com]

Usually my labels are in my Author's Notes. I normally don't think of those labels unless I'm uploading to ff.n. I get worried with Gen in fic fests as it seems that they want no relationships whatsoever in gen fics so I worry about unconscious innuendos.

I usually put noromo relationships under gen as my definition is broad. When I think of gen, I think of just story with no focus on any one particular pairing even if they are present.

Great observations.

[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!

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Personally, I really, really dislike the 'pairings' business because it is giving away too much of what plot there might be.

Now, if we could have labels that said:

"Bad grammar," or "Character assassination" I might approve.

[rahirah]

The problem I have with the definition of gen which is being thrown around (and user has a whole post about this) is that it's based completely on what a story is not: gen is a story with no romance in it. Which doesn't tell me what a story is at all.