If you don't like slash, then don't read it....

[LissaR1]

Amen!!!!!!  Although I'll grant a tiny exception to when the author doesn't label his/her story with the relevant pairing.  TINY exception- it's still no excuse for rudeness.

I do find that, in general, slash is usually very well-written.

Heh.   You don't read much slash in the Harry Potter fandom, do you?   (There's a lot of good stuff there, but there's a lot of truly lousy stuff, too.)

[T'Mar of Vulcan]

I do find that, in general, slash is usually very well-written.

 You don't read much slash in the Harry Potter fandom, do you?   (There's a lot of good stuff there, but there's a lot of truly lousy stuff, too.)

Actually, I do read HP slash, but since I chose a non-obvious pairing, the writing has to be good or you just don't believe it. That and I choose stories by size, not description, and the longer ones (I mean 60K and up, preferably more than 100K) tend to be well-written with good characterization.

There are some authors whose callous disregard for the tone of the show, the characterization, punctuation and even spelling put me right off, and I never read anything of theirs even if the stories are really long. OTOH there are a couple of authors who I cannot personally stand as people but who write fantastic, fantastic stories. And those I'll still read.

[MerryRaven]

T'Mar;

You are right.  I don't like the idea of fanfic generally.  But I know other people do enjoy writing and reading it.  (I think some of my own kids write it)

Nobody is putting a gun to my head and saying "Read this you old biddy!"

I do book reviews for my job and I am forced to read a lot of books that I do not care for personally.  I really try not to criticize them on the basis of my own likes and dislikes. 

So if I was ever forced to critique fan fic or slash (at gunpoint) I could do it by focusing on the quality of the writing and does the story make contextual sense. 

I have had the experience of being judged on the subject matter of my writing rather than the quality and I think that is bogus. 

Does the author communicate the ideas and themes adequately to the audience?  That is the important quality.

[hobish]

I don't like the idea of slash.  It offends me.

I thought you didn't like any fanfic? And, you know, that's fine. I have never received email from you telling me what an awful person I am for writing it, so we're good.

What roasts my mealie is when people *pick* a type of fanfic to hate; whether it's slash ("X character is not G*A*Y!! Whine!!!"), RPF (Real Person Fic), het ("John shouldn't be with Teyla! It's obvious Rodney is the love of his life!!! How can the writers be so dense??!!!") etc. All slash is technically not kosher; to hate one particular type because of one's own prejudices just shows how nearsighted a person is.

I find RPF objectionable. I think that writing about existing people doing things they'd never do is just icky and gross. But it would be highly hypocritical of me to tell people this when I just wrote a story in which a character (character, not a real person) switched genders, got married, had a baby and switched back! (Trust me, the story is MUCH better than that makes it sound.)

So I just don't read any Real Person fanfic. And I wish people who hate slash would stay the h3ll away from it, too.

Have you ever read any John Varley? That reminds me a lot of Steel Beach. Wizard, Titan, and Demon - they're a trilogy - are also excellent. No slash in those that i can recall, but all sorts of odd pairings & just plain good writing.

[T'Mar of Vulcan]

Have you ever read any John Varley? That reminds me a lot of Steel Beach. Wizard, Titan, and Demon - they're a trilogy - are also excellent. No slash in those that i can recall, but all sorts of odd pairings & just plain good writing.

No, never. But gender switching seems like such an obvious idea for sci-fi fanfic! It's been done dozens of times in different fandoms, but I hadn't seen any for Stargate Atlantis (someone pointed me to some after that), so I wrote one. (Those Ancients were always leaving dangerous machines lying around!!) I can send you the URL if you like, but I won't be offended if you don't want to read it.

[kingsrings]

Some people just need their eyes glued shut.

I'll never understand someone complaining about entertainment that offends them. It's entertainment for FSM's sake! No one makes you watch/read/see/lick it! I don't care for teen melodramas... so I don't watch them. It's that simple.

-Ulla

POD. We have touring productions of Broadway shows visiting our area of town throughout the year, and it never fails that someone will find something to complain about regarding them. Usually it's about the language or situations that arise in certain shows. Like movies, some are PG, some are PG13, and some are R rated. People will write to the theater or the local paper whining and complaining about how offended they are because they went to see a certain show and it had profanity in it. If they're season subscribers to the theater, they always threaten to not renew their subscription. Excuse me, but why do you determine what I want to see? If you don't like something, then don't watch it in the first place.

[Clara Bow]

I will never understand people who read things they know they won't like and then comment on how much they don't like those things. I don't read fanfics or slash, not my cup of tea. However, if I were to read one at your request for literary critique, or to support your talent etc, I wouldn't knock the genre, juct maybe a spelling error or something.
People are weird.

[Alida]

I'm not a slasher.  I don't particularly care for slash.  So, you know what?  I (gasp) don't read it!

Seems so simple, doesn't it? 

Eventually, people like that one will figure out the best way to avoid slash is not to read it.  I'm not holding my breath, though.

[StaciNadia]

What roasts my mealie is when people *pick* a type of fanfic to hate; whether it's slash ("X character is not G*A*Y!! Whine!!!"), RPF (Real Person Fic), het ("John shouldn't be with Teyla! It's obvious Rodney is the love of his life!!! How can the writers be so dense??!!!") etc. All slash is technically not kosher; to hate one particular type because of one's own prejudices just shows how nearsighted a person is.

I'm confused...     I don't like slash because the characters usually aren't gay.  But I don't mind them if the relationship, or sexual orientation, is canon.  For example, Haruka/Sailor Uranus and Michiru/Sailor Neptune, or Touya and Yukito from Cardcaptor Sakura.  Is that bad?   

[RoseRose]

What roasts my mealie is when people *pick* a type of fanfic to hate; whether it's slash ("X character is not G*A*Y!! Whine!!!"), RPF (Real Person Fic), het ("John shouldn't be with Teyla! It's obvious Rodney is the love of his life!!! How can the writers be so dense??!!!") etc. All slash is technically not kosher; to hate one particular type because of one's own prejudices just shows how nearsighted a person is.

I'm confused...     I don't like slash because the characters usually aren't g*a*y.  But I don't mind them if the relationship, or sexual orientation, is canon.  For example, Haruka/Sailor Uranus and Michiru/Sailor Neptune, or Touya and Yukito from Cardcaptor Sakura.  Is that bad?   

I don't think so.  I'm basically the same way.  The only anime fandom where I read slash is Full Metal Alchemist, where Ed, well, he's never really shown as having an orientation, and it's not a huge stretch to have him and Roy together.  But, I really don't like, say, from Inuyasha, Inuyasha/Miroku fics, because I think, in general, they tend to distort the characters too much.

But, that's just my opinion.  I prefer fics that are true to the characters, unless they're ridiculous humor fics.  It's not anything against slash, it's because I like characters rather than storylines in fics, a lot of the time, and slash doesn't often fit in my favorite fandoms.

I think, reading T'mar's entire post, that she's talking about hating it, then going on and reading and bashing it.  I could be wrong, though.

[hobish]

Have you ever read any John Varley? That reminds me a lot of Steel Beach. Wizard, Titan, and Demon - they're a trilogy - are also excellent. No slash in those that i can recall, but all sorts of odd pairings & just plain good writing.

No, never. But gender switching seems like such an obvious idea for sci-fi fanfic! It's been done dozens of times in different fandoms, but I hadn't seen any for Stargate Atlantis (someone pointed me to some after that), so I wrote one. (Those Ancients were always leaving dangerous machines lying around!!) I can send you the URL if you like, but I won't be offended if you don't want to read it.

I'd love to! Thanks!

[Hawkwatcher]

I will never understand people who read things they know they won't like and then comment on how much they don't like those things. I don't read fanfics or slash, not my cup of tea. However, if I were to read one at your request for literary critique, or to support your talent etc, I wouldn't knock the genre, juct maybe a spelling error or something.
People are weird.

I think that some of these people have an agenda and are using literature as an excuse to lecture others about "how gross" they find certain behaviors.  I suspect this is what the OP's critic is doing.

[T'Mar of Vulcan]

I'm confused...     I don't like slash because the characters usually aren't g*a*y.  But I don't mind them if the relationship, or sexual orientation, is canon.  For example, Haruka/Sailor Uranus and Michiru/Sailor Neptune, or Touya and Yukito from Cardcaptor Sakura.  Is that bad?   

Well, slash is a whole different kettle of fish... if the characters are g*a*y in canon, then it's not technically slash. Slash is a NON-CANONICAL pairing. It's like reading Queer as Folk slash: what's the point when you can put in the DVD and see the hot naked guys? I like putting the characters into romantic situations (such as falling in love with another man for the first time) that wouldn't be shown in the series. To me, doing that and making it believable is the challenge, and I love to read stories where that happens. It's the aspect of keeping them in character as much as possible while adding this extra dimension.

But, I think I confused you when I wrote:

All slash is technically not kosher; to hate one particular type because of one's own prejudices just shows how nearsighted a person is.

Because what I MEANT to write is, "All FAN FICTION is technically not kosher..." I meant that people pick slash to hate and say we're distorting the characters, yadda, but really no fanfic is technically "allowed", so ALL fan writers are distorting the views of the people who make the show. So when someone says that I'm a pervert for writing slash but that het is okay, they're a hypocrite.

RoseRose, I think, wrote:

I think, reading T'Mar's entire post, that she's talking about hating it, then going on and reading and bashing it.  I could be wrong, though.

No, you're totally right. That's what I meant. So the main idea is: Hate slash? Don't read it! But don't knowingly read it in order to tell the author how sick they are. That's like going to a movie with an actor you hate and complaining the whole way through. Why not just go to a movie with an actor you like instead?

Hope that clears things up.

[Alida]

I'm confused...     I don't like slash because the characters usually aren't g*a*y.  But I don't mind them if the relationship, or sexual orientation, is canon.  For example, Haruka/Sailor Uranus and Michiru/Sailor Neptune, or Touya and Yukito from Cardcaptor Sakura.  Is that bad?   

I don't consider canon same-sex relationship as slash.  Slash to me has always been same-sex pairings that would not happen in the canon universe.