Warning about Pairings in Fanfiction

Get out.

Nous restons ici.

That's why I started :P

edited 30th Oct '11 6:36:13 PM by animemetalhead

No one believes me when I say angels can turn their panties into guns.

Ah, I see what you mean. We agree, then.

He's like fire and ice and rage. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time. Rory punched him in the face.

Agreed, which is why I stopped putting pairings in my summaries.

"If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill

I dunno I tend to do it as a courtesy and so I don't get stupid "eww you ship them" and "your pairing sucks" reviews. I'm not saying "this fic is all about Alice/Bob" but that it contains a serious subplot of that pairing.

Yeah, I hate it when that happens.

He's like fire and ice and rage. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time. Rory punched him in the face.

I think it's a bit silly when people list on the summery or their notes every single pairing even hinted at in the story. But on the whole I don't have a problem with pairing listings for things that aren't especially obvious just from the summery, or from the fact that it's canon.

On the whole I don't see anything wrong with it, though I do think it's a bit silly in some cases, for instance for canon couples that aren't the main pairing. I think you shouldn't list a pairing though, unless they get a decent amount of scene time because otherwise you're basically promising something that you aren't giving. When people see pairings they sort assume the pairing is going to get a decent amount of attention.

I don't really get this huge resentment a certain section of people has against shipping and fanfiction. Fanfiction isn't for shipping? Well, It's not only for shipping, but what the heck is wrong with shipping that would make you say that? Aside from the weird rivalries that spring up in certain fandoms, but there's are similarly irritating groups in the 'non-shipping' sections of fandoms.

SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)

If it's about the two characters just being together (fluff, etc), or about a situation bringing them together*

, then put the shipper tags. If not, they're not strictly necessary, but you know how shippers are. They'll go "OMG why'd you put Bob with Carol? He's supposed to be with Alice damn it!!!!"

edited 3rd Nov '11 12:18:48 PM by SalFishFin

Personally, I have no opinion one way or another about shipping per se (well, I do hate the hideous "ship" puns it leads to, but that doesn't count). It's utterly incomprehensible to me personally, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

I also agree that Serious Business is a disease of fandoms in general, not limited just to shipping. What I mind uniquely about it, though, is how shipping tends to take over from everything else. Fanfiction isn't only for shipping, but a vast amount will be about it regardless of what, if any, role romance plays in the original work.

Personally, I just don't care much for any kind of romance. On a more general level, it annoys me that all fanfiction tends to get tarred with the shipping brush (and the So Bad It's Horrible brush, but that's off topic), when a lot of it isn't. It's as annoying as when people think that all animé is Dragonball.

(Emphasis mine.)

and *groan*

It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird

I suppose there might be an upside to listing a pairing if it's an unpopular one and if it gets a decent amount of screen time.

Though, I still think "surprise pairings" could be done well (maybe if they're not really a surprise, but they're hinted at subtly—like how the ending of Sixth Sense was hinted at).

I'm an elephant. Rurr.

Surprise pairings are usually accepted if the main OTP is made (assuming a romance as a subplot or the main plot).

Read my stories!

I always found it strange the way in which fanfiction is often divided up by what is shipped in a particular story. I know that shipping can be a good basis for a good story (baring in mind...) but to be so strict in categorising works by ship and ship alone, as is often the case, seems to be very restrictive in my opinion.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it just feels lazy and uninventive to think in those terms.

And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)

Precisely, though "lazy" isn't exactly how I would put it. It's symbolic of a mindset, though.

Sigh. Maybe that's why I stopped reading/writing it.

Ain't nothin' wrong with porn, as long as it's not, y'know, squicky. Unfortunately, we have plenty of examples of that from fanfiction here on TV Tropes.

edited 5th Nov '11 5:39:58 PM by BearyScary

I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency

In my opinion that most people tend to put more emphasis on ship than anything else, is why ninety-five percent of fanfic is utter garbage.

edited 5th Nov '11 10:03:31 PM by PhoenixAct

"If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill

I think the reason why 99% of fanfic is utter garbage is because most people can't write. Sure, there's lots of bad shipping fic, but there's also lots of good shipping fic, and lots of bad fics without any particular emphasis on the shipping.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

Percentage-wise, you may be correct. However, there is probably far more bad fanfiction about shipping then there is bad fanfiction that doesn't involve it, simply because there is so much more fanfiction about shipping to begin with - and that is why I dislike it. Not because it tends to produce bad works - I don't read much fanfiction of any kind - and not because of the moronic behavior of many shippers - it's not like they have any sort of monopoly on fandom stupidity - but because of the way it takes on such a disproportionate importance no matter how insignificant romance is in the actual work.

What you say is true but I've seen too many fanfics that sacrifice a good premise so they can their favourite characters get together.

"If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill

Beary: I was being mostly facetious, although I do think acknowledgement of what fanfiction is made for is a good tactic.

A lot of it is indeed carrying out things that can't be done canonly.

edited 6th Nov '11 9:10:19 AM by MrAHR

Read my stories!

Yeah, but that's just more bad writing. I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that shipping is just on the brain of most people, which is human nature, and so of course it's going to be prominent in a lot of bad fics, but that's really no more significant than saying that a lot of bad fics take place on planets with oxy-nitrogen atmospheres.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

I disagree with the idea that it's "human nature" - for what possible reason would our psychology include the desire, whenever we look at a work of fiction, to set aside everything else about the story in favor of obsessing over which character gets with another?

I mean, I can understand (in theory, that is, not in any sort of actual empathetic way) why people ship, even to some degree why they make it into Serious Business. But why they do it so disproportionately to everything else? Never, and I certainly doubt that it can be explained by appealing to 'human nature'.

edited 6th Nov '11 12:54:01 PM by nrjxll

I mean that it's human nature to focus on sexual relations above most other things, possibly everything except immediate live-or-die combat. This naturally translates to a focus on shipping in fanfiction, especially when all the associated stuff around how sexual relations work in modern society gets dragged in. And the tendency is magnified by the fact that fanfic even more than fiction in general is often an escapist, wish-fulfillment type of thing.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

I think it doesn't have anything to do with human nature, but rather with the demographic of fanfic readers and writers.

Yeah, a lot of shippers tend to be hormonal teenagers.

I'm an elephant. Rurr.