You want me to write *what*?!

[dulcemia.livejournal.com]

Hi all.

Do folks ever write substantially outside their comfort zone, simply as an exercise in technical craft?

I'm prompted to ask chiefly because I have a fic request from someone that I would like to honor despite the fact that the pairing squicks my face off, but I thought perhaps it's also just an interesting general question.

It seems to me that more than any other genre, slashfic/fanfic is dependent on desire in order to be written well; i.e., most slash authors are driven to write by what they want to see happen between characters, possibilities for relationships and events that are foreclosed or unexplored in canon. In a sense, that's the fundamental (granted, abridged) definition of "transformative works," and I'm wondering if it's possible to pen a narrative that is truly successful - emotionally affecting and erotically- er... 'convincing'? - if one is writing a pairing that doesn't personally resonate. Or, to broaden the scope beyond my particular quandary, writing squicking content for one that does.

Apologies in advance if this question is deemed Wrong Comm - I realize it's not an H/D question per se, but that's my OTP, so I thought I'd start here.


(If the specifics matter to anyone replying, the request I received is for Fred/George twincest. I hasten to add that my blessings go with slashers all, whatever their preferred pairings and predilections; that tw/incest squicks me should not be interpreted to mean that I disapprove of it in any way. Live and let live, ship and let ship, and scones for everyone, my motto.)

Comments

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

I think this is a fantastic question for this comm and I'm so glad you posted!

I think it's entirely possible to write hot fic when your heart isn't perhaps 100% into the fic for whatever reason. Like, H/D was not an instant OTP for me. It's taken me years to genuinely like the pairing. Because I'm such a canon whore, it's hard for me to sometime imagine Harry and Draco together plausibly, and I have to work on suspending my disbelief. It's very challenging to write certain aspects of their relationship for me. The first time I wrote a H/D sex scene, I literally had to think about every move they made and plan it out super carefully; fortunately, the fic was received as that scene being fluid and rawr and all the things I had hoped it would be. But it was so difficult to write. For some reason, I just couldn't get inside their heads and really get into it -- sounds like that's what you're having with Gred and Feorge. At times when I was having such writer's block with H/D, I had to imagine them with another character and then place those actions back onto the H/D. So I'd imagine Draco with, say, Zacharias Smith, and something would come to mind, and I would figure out whether or not that would work with Harry, and if it did, I put it in.

I think when writing for a prompt it's possible to find something you like about the pairing -- for example, their banter when they're not engaged in sexual relations; their general relationship; humor, etc. Anyway, one thing that works when writing a squicky-to-you pairing is to imagine a pairing you do like, and to superimpose their actions onto the characters that need to be written (unless that would make it grossly OOC . . . for example, I can't iamgine the twins being into D/s or BDSM, but that's just me!)

[dulcemia.livejournal.com]

I think this is a fantastic comm for this question and I'm so glad I posted!

And a fantastic answer. Your way around your H/D writer's block is interesting, shifting to another character/pairing that clicks better with you, and then superimposing what works back onto the one you're writing at the time. That might not work for me, but your advice to find something I like about the pairing, and use that as a way "in" to the sexualized version of the pairing is brilliant! That's perfect, and it's exactly what I needed for the twins, because there are so many aspects of their canon relationship that I really love.

Heh, I'm totally with you on a bdsmish Fred/George. That's pretty OOC. I might find the pairing personally strange, but as I hook these two up, it has to be as them: Sweet, funny, good humored. Thanks so much for your help :)