selenak

From

*Teh Big Slash meme*
Read and/or write?	read more than write, but I've written the odd couple
Since when?	More than a decade.
How did you stumble into slash?	Via a fanzine, if you define slash as an interpretation of a primary text. I did read novels featuring m/m or f/f couples before.
Your first fandom and pairing:	Star Trek; Garak/Bashir
The first person you told about your new hobby:	The person who lend the Garak/Bashir fanzine to me.
The fandoms you read:	Star Trek (all incarnations safe Enterprise), Babylon 5, Jossverse (all three shows), Highlander, Farscape, Star Wars, the occasional Harry Potter
The fandoms you write:	If we're talking fanfic in general, I've written HL, BTVS, AtS, DS9, SW, Sandman and the occasional foray into FS and now the Marvelverse. If we're talking slash only, then I'd have to limit it to B5 and DS9, with some subtext and references in HL and AtS fanfics. I'm as fond of het pairings as I am of same sex ones, and most of my fanfic isn't romantic in nature anyway, so the genuine slash is just a part of my fannish output.
Your favourite pairings:	Excluding a lot of het pairings I'm fond of, those would be Londo/G'Kar, Garak/Bashir, Buffy/Faith, Xavier/Magneto and John/Scorpius.
Favourite genres:	I've got the highest admiration for stories that have an actual plot as well as character exploration, but do love my angsty vignettes just as much.
Least favourite pairings:	See least favourite genres named below and extrapolate from there.
Least favourite genres:	Chan. Mentor/Student pairings. RPS. Grovel!fic (you know, the story in which character A is lectured about his wrongdoings to character B and made to profoundly apologize, since clearly everything was his/her fault, no matter what canon says). Actor!fic (i.e. stories which pair characters played by the same actor).
What makes a story good?	The ability to capture the voices of the characters. Recognition that said characters have other relationships than just the romantic pairing the writer is interested in. Plausible psychology (and physiology - days of torture usually necessitate a long period of recovery, not spontanous healing sex in a prison cell). And there is something to be said for good spelling, including the correct spelling of names. (Connor, not Conner, Londo, not Lando - no offense to Mr. Calrissian -, Garak, not Garek, Gerak, or whatever else. Etc.)
What makes a story bad?	Ignoring character backstory and traits that the writer finds inconvenient. Turning heterosexual love interests into evil bitches or matchmaking Yentas. Bad spelling. The dreaded "Plz read & review!!!" announcement.
The best author:	Just one? No way.
Why?	Because there are just too many to praise.
The best story you've ever read:	See above.
The worst author:	See above.
Why?	See above. There are just too many as well.
The worst story you've ever read:	HonorH once pointed me towards a horror where Ethan Rayne was a misunderstood woobie, Buffy beat up Giles, and Angelus (another misunderstood woobie) was living happily with Xander as an example for "worst ever". I didn't read it completely, though. Excerpts were all I managed.
The best story you have written:	Hm. I've a special fondness for "Death and the Maiden" because that was the darkest thing I had written up to that point (actually, it might still be), and I think I managed to handle a very touchy subject without prettifying or exploiting it. Otherwise, I'm very proud of "The Hunted, Haunting Kind" and my AtS/Sandman crossover "Ourobouros". Neither is a slash story, though. The best m/m I've written is probably "End of the Affair".
The worst story you have written:	Err... "Losses", perhaps, but that's just by default, and because it was more a response to another story than a story in its own right.
Do you leave feedback?	More often than not. I try.
Do you get feedback?	Yes.
Do you have a favorite kink?	Witty dialogue before, during and after the sex.
Does something squick you?	Chan. Incest if presented as just pretty, with no canonical justification and no thought of the implications for the characters. Rape, ditto. And did I mention I have a parental mentor/student squick?
Is slash simply sex?	Nah. One of the hottest slash stories I've read, by MacGeorge, was all subtext, with someone's finger on someone else's lips as the height of physical contact.
Is slash a way of life?	No.
How much time do you spend reading/writing?	A lot.
Do you have RL friends who slash?	Some.
Have you made online friends through slash?	Through fanfic in general.
Do you think slash is just a phase?	No, since I never was slash-exclusive. There are certainly pairings I can get less interested in (it's been eons since I read the last HL story, either gen or slash) in time, but it's also quite likely that after a while, my interest will renew itself (which is what happened with Garak/Bashir, for example).
Could you simply stop slashing?	No, but then I couldn't stop "hetting", either. Living in a world with limited fanfic options would be dull.
*What do you think about...*
Ratings G to PG-13	Grand, if well written.
Ratings R to NC-17	See above.
AUs	Depends on the writing. AUs can be great character explorations, or they can be self-indulgent "I didn't like that X left, Y died, and Z stopped seeing W, so I fixed it!" whines.
ARs	Does that mean "Attempted Rape"? Then again, it depends on how honestly the writer in question deals with the issue.
Crackfics	Huh?
Porn	Dear me. Now we get into condescending European mood, because a lot of what American ratings classify as porn would hardly rate an "explicit" label on this side of the Atlantic. Also, it can be involuntarily funny if it reads like a gymnastic manual. All this being said - I generally prefer some aspects other than sex covered in my fanfic in addition to the sex, but every once in a while, a PWP can be a nice distraction.
Angst	Well written, it's my big, big addiction.
Mush	No thanks. Unless it's written by Andraste.
Love	"It does not alter where it alteration finds". Except sometimes it does. Both possibilities have great and entertaining results for fanfic.
Romance	Best if combined with snark.
BDSM	Depends on the writer. Can be hot or funny or both.
Darkfics	Dark alone does not quality make, and sometimes people think it does. If executed well, then I'm as addicted as I am to angst.
Deathfics	Not a problem. I don't get why there should be warnings, either. I certainly won't ever post one.
Non consensual/rape	Can be a powerful subject, unless you prettify it.
Rape recovery	Should never include "healing sex".
FPS	Well, if I didn't like slash between fictional characters, I wouldn't be taking this meme, would I?
RPS	Not for me. Unless the real people in question are dead and buried since decades at the very least.
RPG	Originally I misunderstood what that one was referring to. RP Londo Mollari turned out to be fun but very time consuming, and made me feel dumped when it happened to him...
First times	Great fun, unless they're presented as the solution to relationship problems.
Established relationships	The bigger challenge, which is why I'm slowly moving away as a reader from first time fics to established relationship fics.
Threesomes	Bring 'em on!
m/m slash	Of the good.
femmeslash	Splendid.
Slashing a children's book/movie	Not a problem.
Chanslash	That, on the other hand, is one, for me.
Explicit sex	If you can write it well, more power to you!
The importance of charactarization	Nothing is more important.
OOCness	Unless you're writing a parody, it's annoying to the nth degree.
Canon	We wouldn't be anywhere without it.
Fanon	Depends on the fanon in question.
Cliches	Can't escape them sometimes.
Supernatural	Absolutely.
MPREG	Not unless it's Rygel.
Wingfics	Huh? Is this about Warren aka Angel of X-Men fame or about Paul MacCartney's second band?
Genderfuck	Absolutely. Alara Rogers convinced me a long time ago.
Crossovers	As long as both sets of characters remain in character, they can be great fun.
Group Slut Fics	Boring. Also ooc.
Incest	See: Rape.
May/December	I mostly dislike it, but make exceptions like Londo/Adira.
Het pairings in a slash fic	Yes! Down with barriers between genres, I say.
Plot	Is always a plus.
PWPs	Are like heavy chocolate. Good now and then, but if one eats nothing else, they lose their interest.
WIPs	I try to avoid them, because they torment me. Every now and then, a writers is just so good that I fall for them anyway.
LJ fics and communities	Are of the good.
Mailing lists	Fine, though I'm not on many anymmore, due to LJ taking over.
Big Name Fans	Are inevitable. Why not?
Politics in a slash story	*I'm fond of politics, and besides, in some pairings, they're inevitable. (Like, say, Blake/Avon or Londo/G'Kar.g)*
Religion in a slash story	Depends on the pairing in question. I.e. it makes sense in, say, any pairing involving Kai Winn, but not in an Ivanova/Talia story.
Wake up Gay	Outside of a parody? Lazy shortcut for character development.
*And finally....*
Your pet peeve:	Demonisation or disregard of canonical love interests, independent of gender.
Your advice to new slashers:	By all means, let the boys/girls have sex, but never present this as a happily ever after to us.
Your slash wish list:	More Londo/G'Kar. That Darla/Nell Gwynn/Charles threesome Roz mentioned a while ago. Irina Derevko/Miss Parker (just because). 1602 Carlos and Enrico (can remain subtext). And, not as a slash story, just as a relationship exloration story, one about Jack Bristow and Arvin Sloane.
The best slash archive:	Haven't been to a slash-only archive in eons. But... Roz Kaveney's stories are all same gender pairings, and all written wonderfully well. It's here: http://glamourousrags.dymphna.net/fanfiction.html
The worst slash arcive:	Why on earth should I look for one?
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