Bit 'o rant Ahoy!

[kriadydragon]

I really wish gen had a more solid definition in fandom. Slash does, het does. But gen? There are times when it's like roulette, and I find it rather frustrating. For some, gen means no pairings. For others, it means no sex. And, at times, for others it's the same as pre-slash.

Which, for non-pairing fans (or people who aren't fans of a particular pairing), is rather unfair. You're reading along, enjoying the cute little gen story, only to be smacked upside the head by a sudden insert of slash or pre-slash or UST. No "slash/het with your goggles on": this is a pairing happening, out of the blue, without warning. It's not that it's disturbing or squicky or anything, just really unexpected and, if your not a pairings fan or fan of that particular pairing, really obnoxious.

If a story has a pairing or potential pairing, then why not say so? Why not say slash or pre-slash or het or UST? Why must the only genre non-pairing people have be so multifaceted?

And end rant and I'm done. Most people are good about warning but I still wish gen was a more solid genre.

Comments

[dajaje.livejournal.com]

I agree: Gen should be a general story with no emphasis on any type of pairing. It's not like it's any particular hardship for the author to list a story as het or slash instead of gen if there is a pairing within it.

I think it's just a slowly evolving system, since stories used to be gen or slash, period. So hopefully it will keep being refined.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Gen in SGA as a pretty steady definition, as most stories labeled gen are usually pairing free. The same can't be said for other fandoms, however, as I've recently discovered.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

You're reading along, enjoying the cute little gen story, only to be smacked upside the head by a sudden insert of slash or pre-slash or UST


This is EXACTLY what happened to me not once but twice.........and when I complained they said "Just minor really"
Eh???? I think not when it is noncon between Sheppard and Lorne........
The latter taking the damage.....
What REALLY got me was they return to work like nothing had happened.
There was no warning then. I note now she has added a warning, but not then
There was another also which lead me down the same path, ie all well and then the bottom fell out...................

[sgafan.livejournal.com]

Oh Gen.... how we love and hate that term. LOL!!!

I've never seen Gen clearly defined. It seems to be a catch all for anything that isn't slash, pre-slash or het. I don't even know if I should call a whump story a Gen story or is Whump its own genre? What about HC? LOL because I've been "corrected" before on terming any of those as Gen, but also have read any of those classified as Gen.

It's all very confusing. Makes me scratch my head when I go to read, or even to post a story... I need a diagram. ;)

But yes, I'm not a "pairing" fan myself so its hard to run into it on something called gen.... and it confuses me even more on the term that confuses me in the first place. LOL

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. Exactly so. Too many times I have been reading along in one, only to suddenly run smack into - "... mmhmm, nice story, and then - he what?! o.o Was not expecting that. *backs out hurriedly*" Leaving me unpleasantly wary and suspicious of "gen," or unlabeled, stories I come across thereafter.

There are actually a number of labeling terms and conventions that I really wish would be used more consistently. It would make life worlds easier for those of us who prefer no non-canon pairings....

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I remember that story :P Yeah, warnings would have been nice. It's like they couldn't decide what they wanted the story to be - gen? Slash? pre-slash? But the overall story was squicky enough :P

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

To me I always thought it meant a story that didn't have pairings and wasn't centered on canon pairings. At least that is the definition it is given in several communities (gen rec, for example). Also to me, you have Gen, Het, Slash and then the sub-categories of H/C or whump, humor, angst, drama, friendship, etc.

But I'm a bit of a control junky like that. I like order and consistency - not in an OCD kind of way, just enough to make life easier. But more than that, I think it unfair to non-pairing fans that we really don't have our own term, and that we can't always trust a story not to have pairings just because it is labeled gen.

[sgafan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what it meant to me too, but I got confused when corrected. ;) I write Gen, in your definition of the word (as in I don't write pairings) but if its whumpy etc, I usually put "whump" or "HC" actually in warnings, which never seemed quite right to me, but there are people out there that don't want to read whump or angst or etc. and want to know.

I guess the whole story genre summary confuses me sometimes... but I'm easily confused. ;)

I like this definition and think I will adopt it.

On that topic, yeah, if I was expecting Gen, I'd be wondering why I got hit with a pairing halfway through. ;)

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

I'm with you here!!!

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Some people balk at labeling or putting warnings for various reasons, but I can't really sympathize. It's not just about letting readers know what to avoid but also to let them know if the story is something they want to read. If a story is gen but pre-pairing, yet the only label is gen then it's going to attract the wrong readers. Non-pairing fans will be left annoyed, while those who would have enjoyed the pairing skip the story.

While as those stories without labels or warnings may end up being ignored all together on all sides.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

:D

[ninja007.livejournal.com]

Absolutely!

If I'm reading a fic where the heading says no pairing, het or slash, and have titled it gen, then I expect no pairing or romance at all. It also makes me angry when it gets inserted when I have no warning it's going to be there. I'm very particular on which character I want to see with another character.

As usual, I agree with you! :D

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I have been squicked pretty bad by fic labeled as gen when it should have been slash. There was this one - still makes me nauseas - that was labeled gen and I don't know why. technically, Sheppard ends up being drugged and raped (M/M) in this story, but his team doesn't care because "oh, well, that's Sheppard for you." Seriously I was just... no words can describe my reaction, I was so sickened (the story was meant to be humorous, not angsty. Wrong, just wrong).

To say a little warning would have been nice is an understatement :P

There was another story labeled gen when it was clearly as slashy and McSheppy as you could get. Sometimes it really boggles me just what some people think gen means.

[leoraine.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wish that too. It's so hard to find a truly gen story, with no pairings whatsoever. What I think is worst and should definitely have a warning in any fic is rape or incest. I mean, I have read several SPN stories that suddenly turned wincest. Ugh. No warning applied too.

[ninja007.livejournal.com]

Ewww...I'm with you on that!

Rape is just dark and a dangerous subject, one that shouldn't be taken on lightly or in a humorous tone. I read one once, it was properly labeled and on me, that was very dark and totally AU. It was a hard read.

And, you know how I feel about McSheppy fics... BLECH! I'd be so pissed if I started reading a fic labeled 'gen' and it unfolded into a McShep fic. Ewww.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I know some people don't like to warn because they feel it compromises the story. Even as a writer, it's hard for me to sympathize with that mindset, as I've run into too many stories that squicked me pretty bad (one story ended up "haunting" me, so to speak, for years, and it's only recently that it stopped bothering me.)

I sometimes wonder if whether some writers assume that because a certain pairing is so popular that they don't really need to warn for it. They think that people will either automatically like it or just go alone with it. I don't know; I can't say for sure. It just feels that way sometimes since it's not like the sudden pairing is a big surprise or anything, so there's no reason not to warn for it.