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JaneDoe
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
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Location: My own little world
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 Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 3:56 pm Post subject: All Slashed Out? |
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I realize that Open Scrolls is a fanfic archive, but since it's a non-slash archive, perhaps something I've gone through may resonate with some of you.
For the past few months now, I have been deliberately avoiding slash stories. Not because homosexuality disgusts me or is against my religion, but because, well, I'm bored with it. I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it is, but I suppose it has something to do with the novelty wearing off. There is also the factor that the voyeuristic element is no longer appealing. I want to be in the action, not watching it!  It was the same way with Labyrinth fan fiction. I could only read but so many stories where Jareth is turned into a complete jackass or a total cream puff with none of the other, more interesting character traits. And there were only so many times I could watch Jareth being paired with women who only fit narrow definitions of female desirability without eventually growing disheartened.
What about other people who no longer read slash (LotR specific for now, please)?
Disclaimer: I have nothing against slash or its readers and writers, but it's just not the thing for me right now. |
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Viv
Challenge Admin
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 71
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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| I think that, like other subgenres, the stomachability of slash entirely depends on the writer. I'd recommend Oakenshield for beautifully emotional stuff, and Claudi007 for humour slash. There are a few others, but I have been unfortunate enough to read some really horrible slash, so now I only read a few recommended writers. |
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SpaceWeavil
Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 23
Location: Looking at shiny things
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| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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I'm the same with slash as I am with NC-17 het stuff. After a few stories, it all seems exactly the same, to the point where I find the same phrases occurring over and over and I can't remember which stories I've read before. I also only read authors I know to produce good stuff, or who are recommended.
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Thuriniel
Joined: 29 Jul 2003
Posts: 665
Location: Watching the purple sky fly over me ...
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| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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I must confess that my taste for slash has waned quite a bit lately. Like you, I'm afraid I've become a bit bored of it. I'm more into Silm fic and canon writing right now.
As Viv pointed out, my reading depends on the writer. I've read tons of horrific slash stories that were very poorly written. But then there are some out there that are absolutely superb.
I tend to compare slash to Legomance ... it's very overdone and you will find a lot of garbage, but when you find a good one, they're well worth the read.
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Thuriniel
Joined: 29 Jul 2003
Posts: 665
Location: Watching the purple sky fly over me ...
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| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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| SpaceWeavil wrote: | | I'm the same with slash as I am with NC-17 het stuff. After a few stories, it all seems exactly the same, to the point where I find the same phrases occurring over and over and I can't remember which stories I've read before. I also only read authors I know to produce good stuff, or who are recommended. |
Good point! That's also true ... I'm avoiding more and more NC-17 just because unless it has a very good plot, it all comes down to the same thing. There are only so many ways you can describe smut.
Heavens, writers have it tricky these days to please all these picky fanfic readers  !
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Ningloreth
Joined: 31 Dec 2003
Posts: 39
Location: Manchester, UK
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| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | There is also the factor that the voyeuristic element is no longer appealing. I want to be in the action, not watching it! |
Absolutely! There are two slash writers whose work I really love - Esmeralda and Capella. But I am tired of being told, again and again, even by them, that a same-sex relationship has a special magic that a het relationship can never possess. Being excluded like that made me so fed up that I had to start writing myself, to set the record straight. (Pardon the pun).
As for NC-17... I can't say I don't like that, because I write it!
It started as a direct response to explicit slash, then I accidentally combined it with the kind of plots I'd always wanted to write, and now I'm stuck with it.
| Quote: | | After a few stories, it all seems exactly the same, to the point where I find the same phrases occurring over and over |
It's certainly hard to keep it fresh. But I think that's true of anything you write about.
And it's hard to write sex. Period. (And I can NOT imagine how slash writers go about it). There is one particular scene - the first I ever wrote - that still haunts me, late at night, and I do go back and tweak it, now and then. I don't think it will ever be right but it's getting better.
My excuse for still including sex scenes in my stories - and I think it's a good one - is that I'm trying to depict a happy, on-going relationship. I don't want to resort to the high-drama soap opera business of having the characters fall out and be unfaithful and split up and get back together and fall out again... ad nauseam. But they do laugh and cry and quarrel with each other. And they have regular sex. |
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Thuriniel
Joined: 29 Jul 2003
Posts: 665
Location: Watching the purple sky fly over me ...
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| Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 8:34 am Post subject: |
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| Ningloreth wrote: | As for NC-17... I can't say I don't like that, because I write it!
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I write it too !
I just have stopped reading everything that comes my way with NC-17 in the description ... plot, character development and careful writing hold more weight now in my decision to read than the smut.
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SpaceWeavil
Joined: 27 May 2004
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Location: Looking at shiny things
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| Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 10:10 am Post subject: |
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| Ningloreth wrote: |
As for NC-17... I can't say I don't like that, because I write it! |
I didn't say I don't like NC-17, as for the same reasons, I can't. I dabble from time to time myself. All I meant was that I have read far too much lately that has nothing really to speak for it. If it's not part of some interesting plot, as Thuriniel says, or fits with some aspect of the character that I'm interested in, then it doesn't do anything for me any more. Think it's a saturation effect.
| Quote: | | It's certainly hard to keep it fresh. But I think that's true of anything you write about. |
True, but from experience I think it is much harder to keep sex scenes innovative and interesting (without going into the realms of the bizarre...unless you want to of course ) than it is to keep a plot interesting. Basically there are lots of things you can do in a story plot, different scenes, techniques, dialogue tricks etc, but there are a limited number of 'actions' available when blocking out a sex scene.
That's why I really admire those authors who can really pull it off. (and there are a lot of them on this site.)
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BittenBuggy
Joined: 27 Dec 2003
Posts: 2108
Location: Busy Being the Queen Of Everything.. And Trying to Catch the Yoda-Copter
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| Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 11:44 am Post subject: |
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I've stopped reading slash or het - partly because I dont have time, partly because I think I've read it all  Its true, I see the same stories on every site and I've read them all at least twice.
The only thing I've read recently (within the past month) was LadyRheena's new story for the VV. I'm starting to lean heavily towards her kind of writing, I've always enjoyed it but now its more of an addiction Rheena, get on the ball, lovie - I want more fic!
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JaneDoe
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 0
Location: My own little world
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| Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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| BittenBuggy wrote: | | I've stopped reading slash or het - partly because I dont have time, partly because I think I've read it all Its true, I see the same stories on every site and I've read them all at least twice. |
Not to derail the topic or toot my own horn, but I always try to do something different with the stuff I post. You might want to give "Elwen" a try. At the very least, it is a plausible scenario from a canon point of view (depending on whose interpretation you follow of LACE, of course). |
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JaneDoe
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
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Location: My own little world
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| Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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| SpaceWeavil wrote: |
True, but from experience I think it is much harder to keep sex scenes innovative and interesting (without going into the realms of the bizarre...unless you want to of course ) |
*hides Elrond's Sexual Superhero costume* |
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SpaceWeavil
Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 23
Location: Looking at shiny things
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| Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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| JaneDoe wrote: | | SpaceWeavil wrote: |
True, but from experience I think it is much harder to keep sex scenes innovative and interesting (without going into the realms of the bizarre...unless you want to of course ) |
*hides Elrond's Sexual Superhero costume* |
Yeah, but we all know what Elrond's like once you get past all that 'wise aloof elf lord' stuff 
I try to do stuff differently whenever I have something NC-17. My problem is though that I only started writing sex scenes for stories here - hadn't done it before - and don't think I have much of a talent for it. My first time challenge story is stuck again at the moment as I'm stuck on that particular aspect of it.
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GypsieRose
Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Posts: 105
Location: Illinois, USA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 12:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Ningloreth wrote: | | But I am tired of being told, again and again, even by them, that a same-sex relationship has a special magic that a het relationship can never possess. |
That's one of the main reasons I never got into slash to start with. That attitude annoys the heck out of me (and I know I speak for Gypsie in this as well). It's one reason I was so happy to find a non-slash archive.
But reading Silmarillion fic as a way to escape slash? I had the impression it was if anything more slash-saturated than LOTR stuff!
--Rose |
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inglor
Joined: 26 Apr 2004
Posts: 853
Location: Not here, not there, not anywhere
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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| GypsieRose wrote: |
But reading Silmarillion fic as a way to escape slash? I had the impression it was if anything more slash-saturated than LOTR stuff!
--Rose |
????? Avoiding slash in Sil fic is like trying to avoid cowpoop in a feedlot
Maedhros/Fingon might just outnumber Leggy/Aragorn. Its almost as cliche as MarySue
I have read 1 slash fic... Celebdil's Climbing Telperion. (on FF.net) Celeborn/Finrod, its a good story and actually plausibly bends the LaCE (I had to squick through the racey stuff though)
Inglor
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Thuriniel
Joined: 29 Jul 2003
Posts: 665
Location: Watching the purple sky fly over me ...
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| GypsieRose wrote: | But reading Silmarillion fic as a way to escape slash? I had the impression it was if anything more slash-saturated than LOTR stuff!
--Rose |
I only read Silm fic from this site ... so no slash . I haven't really checked other sites since my Silm addiction is sort of new ... although I'm curious to see what I would find at Library of Moria .
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