Water's October, Right?: House Fanfiction Discussion

Good heavens, no, House fandom didn't invent the "friendship fic." There's a lot of that sort of thing going way back in the Doctor Who fandom, for one (you can ask Sheepie about that if you like). We really have an "abundance" of good gen fics? Because the great majority of the recs I see made are for sexually explicit stories, or at least shipper stuff. My scroll bar gets a great deal of exercise looking for something that's both gen and readable.

Well, there are a lot of H/W fics that aren't actually H/W - no real slash, just hinting. Or Cuddy and Wilson deal with House fics. I'm trying to think of the other major fandoms I've read in and there's not much in the way of 'friendship' type stories. However, I'd have to see a detailed statistical analysis before I'd say, 'House fandom has less porn.'

Maybe it's the folk I hang out with, then, Blackmare. Housefic_meta folk certainly like their gen. And here's a bit of a spectrum I've been musing over: gen --> friendship fic --> preslash (God, I hate this term) --> pairing fic --> erotica --> smut and/or porn Thoughts? ETA: Blue put it better. Not House fandom has less porn; House fandom has more gen fics. And I include friendship fics in gen. Also, mind I never said good gen.

I like Chase/Forman friendship fics. There's a world of possibilities. I don't have desire to see Chase/Foreman slash, but there ought to be more Chase/Foreman friendship pieces.

gen --> friendship fic --> preslash (God, I hate this term) --> pairing fic --> erotica --> smut and/or porn Forgive me for being dense, but what exactly is the difference between "erotica" and "smut and/or porn"? :oops:

How tasteful it is! *ba dum dum ching!*

gen --> friendship fic --> preslash (God, I hate this term) --> pairing fic --> erotica --> smut and/or porn I'm with you, Zulu. I've never understood the whole "preslash" concept. Where, exactly, is the line between "pre-slash" and "gen?" I've had people refer to some of my fics as "pre-slash," though I write them as friendship/gen. On the other hand, to me, if one of the two people in the relationship is thinking "gee, I love that person, I wish I could make him love me," to me that's in the slash territory -- unrequited slash, but slash. ETA: I think you'd draw the line between erotica and smut/porn as the same line between the "sex scenes" in a romance novel sold over the counter at any bookshop and the reading material wrapped in brown paper that require ID. One's just more ... specific in terms of the scene.

I'm with you, Zulu. I've never understood the whole "preslash" concept. Where, exactly, is the line between "pre-slash" and "gen?" I've had people refer to some of my fics as "pre-slash," though I write them as friendship/gen. On the other hand, to me, if one of the two people in the relationship is thinking "gee, I love that person, I wish I could make him love me," to me that's in the slash territory -- unrequited slash, but slash. I just see it as advertising: you want to appeal to the masses (who apparently demand H/W) but you don't want to write any icky sex or you don't actually ship H/W. You'll probably get more interest if you label it 'pre-slash'. That's cynical, isn't it? Or maybe that's how the authors really see it - they ship H/W, but don't want to write sex for whatever reason. Or don't believe H and W would actually have sex in the context of the fic. Eh. When I see the phrase 'pre-slash' it always makes me think of pre-cum and then I get a little queasy.

How tasteful it is! And how explicit. Kind of like a soft-focus thing.

Its always struck me that there are some serious omissions of gen fic in the House-verse. For example, (& speaking as someone who actually one wrote a gen, non-shippy piece which included her & boy, was that difficult ;D) where's all the gen Cameron? It feels like 99.0% is H/Cam, there's 0.9% Ch/Cam, 0.05 % W/Cam & 0.05% everything else, including the gen (& most of that is about all the ducklings, not her alone). Am I missing something?

Maybe it's because Cameron's role on the show largely revolves around her romantic entanglements? I can see that her focus in fic follows the same pattern.

Maybe it's because people are so predisposed to hate any kind of Cameron fic in advance that they don't give it a chance, and therefore it's less recced and you're less exposed to it. I remember reading a few good pieces; I'll try to look them up.

According to Judaism, you aren't allowed to write or say aloud God's name (in English, the word 'god' and his various names; same goes for Hebrew), and observant people will often write alternate words or simply the word G-d instead. If it bothers you, you can always simply not read the fic, but certainly no one who believes/observes the tradition should change their spelling for your sake, and I find it hard to believe anyone has ever forced you to change the way you spell 'God'. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) Yup. I'm an Orthodox Jew and will not write G-d's name out (generally, the reason it doesn't get written out is because it might be erased, discarded, etc.) except under very specific circumstances. My editor on...I think it was Mind Over Matter pointed this out and I spelled it out only in the final draft after assuring there would be no changes (in truth, the prohibition generally applies to a specific name of G-d, but traditionally it's observed for all forms). Most observant Jews, when referring to G-d, use the Hebrew word "Hashem," which literally means "The Name."

You know, speaking of poor, unpopular Cameron. Unpopular in certain circles, anyway. I hate feeling like have to put a 'warning' on a rec if the fic is House/Cam. Not really a warning, but more of a 'I know this says House/Cam, but you should read it because it's good' type statement. I've only done it a couple of times and I always feel bad afterwards. Mostly because I feel like I'm insulting the author for their choice of pairing to write. But some people really are serious about their ships.

I like Chase/Forman friendship fics. There's a world of possibilities. I don't have desire to see Chase/Foreman slash, but there ought to be more Chase/Foreman friendship pieces. I would love to see more Chase/Foreman stories (not sure if they'd qualify as friendship stuff). Actually, I'd just love to see more stories of the ducklings interacting as a team or as co-workers.

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