the not-quite-gen poll

[violacea]

So, I had some mental debates about how to classify my big bang, which led me to some other thoughts, and now I'm curious about the reading habits of others! I'm thinking in bandom right now, obviously, but I'd be interested in comparing and contrasting other fandoms, too, so everyone who reads fanfic should feel free to answer! And point people in this direction, too, because I'd love to get a large-ish sample.

[Poll #1200897]

Thoughts? Questions? Did I phrase something really weird? Let me know!

Comments

[wisdomeagle]

I answered based on the fandom in which my reading is most limited, where there are only a few pairings I seek out and where there are some pairings that bother me so much that I'll stop reading, even if they're only mentioned in passing.

I think marking things "gen character study of [x character] with canon pairings" or "gen ensemble with canon pairings" can't hurt and can potentially be useful.

[seimaisin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm the same way - a heading of "gen with X/Y undertones" never goes astray, I don't think!

[joyfulfeather.livejournal.com]

In general, I try to make my headers as specific as possible. If there are background pairings, I'll mention those but specify that they are in the background. If it's a pairing but there's nothing overtly romantic and falls more as friendship!fic, I'll mark that. The way I see it, more information can't hurt. Gives the reader more to go on when deciding to click the link or not. I'm personally very picky about what fic I read, so I like having info like that. I'd rather not have a background pairing take me by surprise.

[seimaisin.livejournal.com]

I understand the desire for as much information as possible! When it comes to the non-canon pairings, I do want to know what I'm getting into. But, I feel a little different about canon pairings ... if it's a mention of something that actually exists, but not a focal point of the story, I don't necessarily need a warning for it. If I'm into the canon, I know it exists, so it isn't a surprise. If that makes sense?

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

Unless you've changed things significantly since I read it, I think your big bang story is gen.

There was a story posted on the newsletter the other day under the secondary pairing, whereas the main pairing appeared nowhere in the header. I thought that was a little bit weird.

I've never really thought about the difficulties of labeling pairings until bandom. Well, Panic, specially, because I'm not joking when I say that in my mind it all ends in group sex. I had to idea how to label my story "Manifesto" because there are no actual, current pairings in the story, but the entire story is about things that happened before and will happen in the near future.

I generally don't read stories labeled "withheld" because... well, mostly because there are enough other things to read, I'm not curious enough. *g*

[seimaisin.livejournal.com]

It's gen, but I also know where it will go if I write another story about those characters, so I wondered if I need to factor that into my labeling.

Sometimes the newsletter tagging is sometimes a little weird, depending on who's doing it that day. I was posting the newsletter the day "The Lines You Amend" appeared, and whoever had tagged it the night before had only listed it under Frank/Gerard. I was like "... really?" And then changed it. :)

I've gotten to the point where I assume all Panic stories have to end in group sex. It's messing with some of my reading skills. Heh.

mostly because there are enough other things to read, I'm not curious enough.

That's kind of exactly it. I think of fic labeling as advertising - why would you withhold a valuable piece of information when you're trying to lure in readers? There are at least ten other stories that I can go check out at any given point in time.

[sorchasilver.livejournal.com]

Here rather randomly via friendsfriends, hope you don't mind me dropping in.

I couldn't answer the two "how would you classify..." questions, as I have no idea who these people are, what their relationship is or how that would come across to me in fic. (I found the [presumably bandom?] examples you gave in other questions slightly confusing for the same reason.)

I always want as much pairing info as possible in the header, and will definitely avoid fics that don't offer any at all. Surprise pairings that just pop up can put me right off reading a fic, and have caused me to abandon many fics halfway through. I'm alarmingly OTPish though, and tend to avoid a LOT of fic *g*. In my two primary fandoms that's not a problem for me because there is so much fic to choose from.

[seimaisin.livejournal.com]

::waves:: Hi there! :)

Yeah, there's a lot of bandom-specific examples given above! To maybe make the third and fourth questions make more sense - I see from a brief glance at your info that you're an SPN fan. If there's a story about Sam comparing his classes at Stanford to his life with his family, and Jess appears briefly to talk to him, do you think that story should have a Sam/Jess classification, or is that gen?

I can imagine that, if you're an OTP sort of person, the more information the better! In my current fandom, I don't have any real OTPs at all, so I've forgotten to be at all picky about that sort of thing. ;)