On OTPs and Experience
Jan. 23rd, 2002 06:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wickedwordsWhen I first get into a fandom, I have one of two reactions. Either I read everything that 'my guy' is in -- if the fandom is small enough and no one else I know is reading it -- or, if the fandom is big, I hang back and watch everyone talk, reading only on recommendation, not really getting involved. Again, though, I read everything given to me, though I don't actually seek it out.
Over time, though, I become fascinated by a single relationship. It's not just one guy who is important to me, it's that other guy, and how they interact together. I become an OTP fan, and those are the only stories that interest me. I no longer want to read stories with one guy doing it with someone I could give a rip about; I want to know in great and glorious detail how it is that these two guys affect and change each other. M. Fae Glasgow used to call her stories 'claustrophobic', in part, because so frequent the action was all a psychological portrait of two guys in a single room talking. Those stories had an incredible impact on me; I don't think you have to have big action, big emotion, and a cast of thousands to tell a really good tale. I think detail work can be exciting as well.
I want internal variety, not external. I want to see complexity and change within the guys form story to story. I don't care if you change the cast of characters or not. I *love* a big complicated story with a lot of action, too, but I'm still primarily interested in the characters and their relationship. I very seldom get truly attached to an OC.
But I don't talk about that on lists. When people start whining about how OTPs are ruining their fandom, I don't say anything at all. I've found that it's just too easy to piss on other people's fun, and really, I don't think I need to do that. Just because I'm a jaded harpy doesn't mean that anyone else really needs to hear me whine about how the way they enjoy fandom is all wrong -- even if I do think that. I prefer to keep my whining in private. So, play on McDuff, and I will cringe in my corner as my beloved OTP lists become filled with OCs and crossovers and beloved character/alternate character pairings -- things that are *different* externally, but are internally just the same ol' story over and over again -- and fret.
But get me on a critique list, and I'll talk a little about it. Unfortunately, I won't be able to read past the beginning of most of those stories, because there is no internal hook for me, but I can talk beginnings with the best of 'em. I don't care how unfair that is -- if the writer wanted me as a reader, they need a different hook -- and I'm okay with being labeled insular and unwilling to experiment. I already put in my experimental time, I learned what I liked, and I'm happy to go with that. I know what works for me. On a list, I want someone to show me *why* I should finish a story that doesn't hook me in at the beginning; I want to know what makes the story special. I want facts and details and story quotes -- but most people just prefer to say that I should read the darn thing first. It's a catch-22.
Over time, though, I become fascinated by a single relationship. It's not just one guy who is important to me, it's that other guy, and how they interact together. I become an OTP fan, and those are the only stories that interest me. I no longer want to read stories with one guy doing it with someone I could give a rip about; I want to know in great and glorious detail how it is that these two guys affect and change each other. M. Fae Glasgow used to call her stories 'claustrophobic', in part, because so frequent the action was all a psychological portrait of two guys in a single room talking. Those stories had an incredible impact on me; I don't think you have to have big action, big emotion, and a cast of thousands to tell a really good tale. I think detail work can be exciting as well.
I want internal variety, not external. I want to see complexity and change within the guys form story to story. I don't care if you change the cast of characters or not. I *love* a big complicated story with a lot of action, too, but I'm still primarily interested in the characters and their relationship. I very seldom get truly attached to an OC.
But I don't talk about that on lists. When people start whining about how OTPs are ruining their fandom, I don't say anything at all. I've found that it's just too easy to piss on other people's fun, and really, I don't think I need to do that. Just because I'm a jaded harpy doesn't mean that anyone else really needs to hear me whine about how the way they enjoy fandom is all wrong -- even if I do think that. I prefer to keep my whining in private. So, play on McDuff, and I will cringe in my corner as my beloved OTP lists become filled with OCs and crossovers and beloved character/alternate character pairings -- things that are *different* externally, but are internally just the same ol' story over and over again -- and fret.
But get me on a critique list, and I'll talk a little about it. Unfortunately, I won't be able to read past the beginning of most of those stories, because there is no internal hook for me, but I can talk beginnings with the best of 'em. I don't care how unfair that is -- if the writer wanted me as a reader, they need a different hook -- and I'm okay with being labeled insular and unwilling to experiment. I already put in my experimental time, I learned what I liked, and I'm happy to go with that. I know what works for me. On a list, I want someone to show me *why* I should finish a story that doesn't hook me in at the beginning; I want to know what makes the story special. I want facts and details and story quotes -- but most people just prefer to say that I should read the darn thing first. It's a catch-22.
