Once upon a time, there was a teal deer...author_by_nightMarch 22 2011, 11:30:44 UTC
I don't understand it either, but I have the same questions about real life fiction too. Why does every movie have to have a romantic couple? Why do books have to have romance
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Re: Once upon a time, there was a teal deer...shiikiMarch 23 2011, 01:10:10 UTC
I wish more people read and wrote gen. It can be just as complex as romance, and anyway, you don't need a romance - in fiction, fanfiction or the real world - to be truly fulfilled.
I second this! Although I would say that genfic is nearly always more complex and all-rounded than romance. :)
Re: Once upon a time, there was a teal deer...author_by_nightMarch 23 2011, 11:01:57 UTC
Although I would say that genfic is nearly always more complex and all-rounded than romance. How so? That's interesting to me, since I've heard it argued the other way around. In fact, I know people who seem to see genfic as very simplistic - not bad, just... simplistic.
Re: Once upon a time, there was a teal deer...shiikiMarch 23 2011, 12:01:00 UTC
My view is that with romance - or I should say, shipfic - much of the plot tends to boil down to the same skeleton of UST. True, there are different forms, and yes it can be very interesting, but I think that there is so much more you can achieve with gen, when the central focus of the story is not to pair two characters together romantically.
Sort of like in your example with the fairy tales - with the focus of Cinderella being ending up with the Prince, the point of the story and the way it's written would feel much more simplistic than if we were looking at Cinderella's character development as a woman. Have you ever read Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine? I find it an excellent example of taking an original romance storyline and turning it into a complex gen fic, with romance on the side.
Anyway, the gist of it was that many people in fandom like shipping hence the widespread focus on romance.
And I tend to see fics as gen unless they are just pure smut or completely focused on the couple - neither of which particularly appeal to me. Even a categorised 'romance' fic often contains plenty of 'gen' elements, which, I believe, is what makes the story fuller and more real. So I guess I would define gen as character-focused as opposed to pairing-focused. 'Genfic' being the opposite of 'shipfic' rather than an alternative genre to romance.
I like that, and I think it makes sense. After all, Harry Potter has romance in it, you just don't see it much. I would classify the series as primarily gen.
If someone where to ask me what genre the HP books are, "romance" would be one of the last genres I would mention, I think. It would be more of, "It's a fantasy/adventure/mystery story with a little bit of romance."
And I tend to see fics as gen unless they are just pure smut or completely focused on the couple - neither of which particularly appeal to me. Even a categorised 'romance' fic often contains plenty of 'gen' elements, which, I believe, is what makes the story fuller and more real.
I agree with this. Perhaps this is the difference between "romance" and "fluff/smut"--romance tends to have other elements (such as plot! :P) while fluff/smut is all about, as I said above, "'A' getting thrown together with 'B' and they have passionate kissing/sex". Lately, even when I write a story featuring a pairing, I try to add some other element to it. My canon fic, for example, will probably be considered "mostly gen" since the romance is used more for developing the character.
To echo what's been said by some have already, I think romance has such a big pull of in the fandom because of all the shipping debates, especially during all the will they won't they moments before it was finally settled in the books. I wouldn't describe the HP series as romance novels at all though of course there's romance in it the books so it fanfics seemed like a good way to explore and develop those sorts of plots. I know that I've grown to appreciate genfic much more now that series is over. I still enjoy my romance fics but genfic has been away to really explore characters outside of a relationship setting which seems to be the general consensus around here, though I think you can explore character through romance or any other genre too as long as it's well done. But maybe the way characterization is explored and developed just changes due to the genre it's being written in, if that makes any sense. A lot of fics seem to blur the lines nowadays though which makes for an interesting read! And now this is making me re-
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I second this! Although I would say that genfic is nearly always more complex and all-rounded than romance. :)
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How so? That's interesting to me, since I've heard it argued the other way around. In fact, I know people who seem to see genfic as very simplistic - not bad, just... simplistic.
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Sort of like in your example with the fairy tales - with the focus of Cinderella being ending up with the Prince, the point of the story and the way it's written would feel much more simplistic than if we were looking at Cinderella's character development as a woman. Have you ever read Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine? I find it an excellent example of taking an original romance storyline and turning it into a complex gen fic, with romance on the side.
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My comment got eaten! :(
Anyway, the gist of it was that many people in fandom like shipping hence the widespread focus on romance.
And I tend to see fics as gen unless they are just pure smut or completely focused on the couple - neither of which particularly appeal to me. Even a categorised 'romance' fic often contains plenty of 'gen' elements, which, I believe, is what makes the story fuller and more real. So I guess I would define gen as character-focused as opposed to pairing-focused. 'Genfic' being the opposite of 'shipfic' rather than an alternative genre to romance.
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And I tend to see fics as gen unless they are just pure smut or completely focused on the couple - neither of which particularly appeal to me. Even a categorised 'romance' fic often contains plenty of 'gen' elements, which, I believe, is what makes the story fuller and more real.
I agree with this. Perhaps this is the difference between "romance" and "fluff/smut"--romance tends to have other elements (such as plot! :P) while fluff/smut is all about, as I said above, "'A' getting thrown together with 'B' and they have passionate kissing/sex". Lately, even when I write a story featuring a pairing, I try to add some other element to it. My canon fic, for example, will probably be considered "mostly gen" since the romance is used more for developing the character.
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