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

[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.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Yes! One thing that's very fascinating to see in this debate is how many different definitions of Gen there is. And of course, all these definitions are valid in that they help the people find the fic that they want to find. Except of course, calling all of them "Gen" isn't handy.

I do see how canon pairing are more "Gen" than others. Like if I write about Subaru post-TB, even if I don't focus on his relationship with Seishirou, I can't ignore it because it influences too much Subaru's personnality. So even a "Gen" focussed fic about Subaru would have to have a little bit of Subaru/Seishirou.

You know I do think there are slash/he stories which are not "romance" or "smut". I say this because I love non-romantic pairings, hatesex and the like, and if you label "het" or "slash" only the fic which are either erotica or romance, I'm not sure I'll be able to find all of the fics I love. Of course maybe i just need to stretch the definition of romance a little. (I also heard people say a fic could have sexual descriptions and be Gen!)

I really think your way of labelling is best. You jut need more descriptions ^^

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

I like your explanation of canon vs. non-canon pairings. I hadn't thought about it that way, it makes sense. I guess my example of "James and Lily fighting Death Eaters" would need a warning if they were, say, Remus and Sirius. Hmmm.

You just need more descriptions
Oh, you're definitely right about that ¬_¬ I'm working on it, I promise...

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Haha, sorry, I didn't mean you you, I meant you any person. Shouldn't have mixed two meaning for the same pronoun into just one sentence.