Shipping Fics, Yay or Nay?

It took a while before I learned what "shipping" was. Hey, there was a time you didn't know what it was either. As a kid I didn't care for stories centered on romance, so the concept immediately filled me with disgust.

But then there are those who say "shipping fics aren't inherently bad." Worse, even I've found myself attracted to certain couples who aren't in anyway implied to be romantically linked in their original stories.

Does, or did, shipping ever bother you?

What ships do you prefer? (I'm rather fond of tugboats) What kind of ships can you just not stand?

Do you like or hate shipping in general?

edited 9th May '14 8:53:28 AM by Soble

Only the prevalence of shipping bothers me. Just as in 1940s American cinema, the romantic subplot is treated by many as an unspoken requirement for fanfiction, and usually turns out to be obtrusive. It's a concept that is hard for me to take seriously. Most good fic ideas do not require that element, but throw it in anyway.

edited 9th May '14 7:19:52 AM by DoctorDiabolical

I like shipping, and sometimes engage in it myself.

That said, it can - like all things - be done poorly.

Shipping is fine as long as it makes sense canonically, and in fact, I actively pursue certain canon/semi-canon (such as potential Relationship Values) pairings.

I can't get into pairings that don't make sense because they come off as out of character.

Ship fics are fine. But when it gets to the point of overdone, like say 3/4ths or more of the section is filled with nothing but ship fics but in different flavors, then we have problem.

Agreed. Especially when the bulk of it is one ship. (cough KonoSetsu cough)

edited 9th May '14 8:42:56 AM by EvaUnit01

That is especially an issue when it's obvious that so many shipping fics have been done they come up with really odd premises for originality.

I must admit a deep love for shipping fics on ships that are obscure or are neither canon or fan preferred, because chances are the people who write them are doing it solely for the love of the pairing, and even if it's badly written it can make good mocking fuel. (But fics with really obscure and out there pairings tend to force the writers to really show why they would be compatible or how a romance could possibly happen, since the fandom does not take it for granted that they would be a good couple)

Actually, when I looked at the section 961 out 2.6k involve this pairing that I think is getting over done. In Droy case, the Konosetsu pairing take 420 out of 2.2k fics.

But back to me, out of the 961 fics (and more since usually people autoship these two no matter what) I can only think of one fic off the top of my head where the friendship route was taken instead of the shipping one. It was explained and went into character development and the fic was good in my honest opinion because of that. I wish more people went that route with other pairings. They don't need to be auto shipped people, you can go with the Just Friends route as well. What's even more funny is the series itself doesn't ship the characters in question, heck there's very little teasing between the two and the fandom ships them anyway.

edited 9th May '14 3:11:38 PM by mega-dark

Shipping fiction when they're handled well.

The problem is that they're rarely handled well.

I really agree with this sentiment. I read a couple of really good Zatanna / Superman stories on FFN in the Justice league section.. But overall the paring only has a total of 9ish stories.

Have you ever seen the Rizzoli and Isle section on FFN? Approximately 90-95% of the entire archive is dedicated to the exact same pairing in shipping fics.

edited 9th May '14 7:26:01 PM by 32ndfreeze

I'm cool with it. Creators are humans too and sometimes they miss character pairings that would have probably both made more sense and been generally more cute. Or it's just nice to explore how things could have gone in other directions. A fan with some writing ability could easily capture that nostalgic pang of "oh, what could have been", which is in my opinion the heart of what makes these things so appealing.

But generally that's kinda rare. Most complicated fictional relationships are well thought out, too much so to justify much fix shipping, which leads to so many shipping fics being written by mad peeps who's fairly average MS Paint art didn't come true.

edited 9th May '14 5:42:24 PM by Deebro

It's just my opinion but I honestly believe that shipping fics are an important part of any fandom. Very often characters do not recieve romantic resolution not because their relationships are too complex but simply because a) the author wasn't interested in writing romance b) the time scale of the original work didn't allow for proper romantic development c) the characters were too young or d) any combination of the above. So long as the author in question addresses points b and c and develops the relationship naturally, I think it serves as a contribution to the fandom at large. Yes 90% of them are shabby but isn't everything that way?

I'm fine with shipping fics, but I wish they weren't so omnipresent. Be nice to see more genfics, or at least ones where the relationships are secondary.

I'm fine with these as long as they develop them correctly and don't pair to characters that absolutely despise each other in canon (Or pairings with characters that are psychopaths, sociopaths etc.). One good example of a pairing I see A LOT that has always rubbed me the wrong way was the Zim and Dib ship from Invader Zim fandom for obvious reason in regards to how those two are in canon.

It's a very rare story you can sustain purely on the shipping. Even as a professional.

Personally, I can't stand multi-chapter shipping fics. Just can't get into them. Even the ones that try to have a non-romance plot, as long as the romance is the main plot and everything else is secondary, I just don't like it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Trying to write romance is like trying to tap-dance on the blade of a sword. It's VERY easy to mess up and if you do, you're going to leave a bloody mess. But if you somehow manage to pull it off, you'll look awesome for having done so.

And my two faourite Ship Fics are the ones that work WITH the larger story. With neither the romance or the action plot overtaking the other and both helping to compliment each other.

I have nothing against shipping. As long as it's done right.

Though I do see why some people like to make pairings between characters that seem unlikely, there's a 'how would it go?' interest in it.

I do not mind shipping when it is well written and is not the entire focus of the fic.

I will often check out a crack pairing, just to see if the author can pull it off. Beyond that, I don't go for shipping-central fics, but I do like fics that do a realistic job of portraying character relationships, even if they're not ships I would pick myself.

I love me some good shipping fics, or even a few average ones. I can usually weed out the bad ones from their summaries.

I don't mind that shipping fics exist; I just wish they weren't 90+ percent of all fics. I'm rather romance-impaired and dislike most Romance Novel tropes, and those tend to be all over these fics.

I like shipping. My Glee fanfiction is primarily a Kurt/Blaine fic and I enjoy scoping out awesome ships for my fandoms.

The problem is when the story ONLY focuses on shipping to the exclusion of other characters or a plot, because there's only so much of it I can take before I need a break and go for some action/adventure or crack-fic.

I don't think Hunting the Unicorn would have worked the way it did without my heavy doses of Character Development, a light but still definite plot, or the Warblers' Crazy-Prepared Lampshade Hanging.

edited 17th Aug '14 2:05:39 PM by Sharysa

I like shipping and I don't mind one or another shipping fic. What I hate is ship bashing, shipping wars, Die for Our Ship and everything alike. Of course there are ships I dislike, but I don't have the urge to tell everyone who ships it that they are utterly wrong.

If I ship, I whether ship one ship only per show or practically everyone, there is no inbetween.

Nay

Biggest waste of time in a fandom.