Hegemony.

[jlh]

This cut is yours truly having finally gotten Very Grouchy Indeed. Consider yourself warned.


I hate being enough of a cliché to be pissed off at a quiz that says, "Do you want to be pissed off today?" but the more time passes the more pissed off I get. This really isn't about where I am now, in terms of my writing, but more about where I could ever hope to be.

Because let's face it: If I changed all the names in my story, a story that spends a lot of time in character development and relationships beyond romance, to make the slash pairing Harry/Draco, trumpets would sound and I would be given the keys to the kingdom. There are tons and tons of really great fics, not even in rare pairings, that you never fucking hear about. Are we in the wilderness?

Take, for example, the fic I'm usually on about: Of Linen. It's gorgeous. It's a masterwork. It should be read by everyone. And . . . it's Sirius/Remus. Which means it will never be elevated to the "sacred Parthenon" of fics, no matter how good it is.

Now, maybe this is because, as a wise woman told me, many H/D types read only H/D and recommend only H/D, keeping everyone in this permanent state of H/D. Not to cover ground already covered by others, but won't that make the fics really meta? I can say in my own writing that reading tons of S/R while I was writing EWFS informed the dynamics of Seamus/Dean, making it deeper and richer. I'm not saying that you need more than one ship in your fic, just that good ideas might come from unexpected places.

But this can't be all of it, surely. The S/R crowd have their own Y!group for heaven's sake. But I always get a sense from them that they read more than just what is on their list, and more importantly, they don't think that the SBRL group is the beginning and ending of HP slash. Nor do the folks over at POWSN. Oh, haven't seen those lists? That's interesting, since SBRL has 950 members and POWSN nearly 300. I wouldn't call that niche, really, particularly as HP Slash itself has around 1400 members.

All I'm saying is, if you ship only H/D, great. More power to you. Think that the Weasleys are a large redheaded family that appeared in a simultaneous mindfuck dream that Harry and Draco had whilst butt-fucking? Rock on. But please do not pretend, or deign to tell the rest of us, that H/D is the only slash pairing that matters, or worse yet, the only pairing that matters. If you don't want to read or write something else, don't. But what you aren't reading does still exist, can be quite good, and deserves to be read, recommended and spoken about.

I know that many of us, in the explosion of fics this spring and summer, have gotten really behind on new stuff and, feeling hopeless to catch up, just read our favorite pairings unless we get a recommendation from someone we trust. To that end, I'll be trying to do a lot more trumpeting of what I'm reading that I really love. Some of that will be H/D, to be sure, but a lot of it won't. Some of it will even be (gulp) het. Now, because of my own biases, I can't promise much action/adventure, and I avoid darkfics like the plague. But maybe what we need to do is open this place up a little bit, before we all end up eating our own young.

Comments

[misscora.livejournal.com]

You said once that because I'd started the ship I should be a Gryffindor, but this is Gryffindor to a T.

You've said exactly what we've all been thinking here, and have done it *nicely*. Thank you.

Now I just hope that no one takes it amiss and the message gets out.

*huggels the lovely Clio*

[ladylisse.livejournal.com]

*glomps*

You are loverly as usual. And you read my mind. ^_^

[phoenixsong]

yes, yes and yes. very well-put. s:)

i'm never going to be a rabid H/D shipper, but that doesn't mean i won't read it, and i certainly won't pretend it doesn't exist. but i do think there is a lot of what you describe: "H/D forever! everything else is a figment of your imagination!"

um, no.

(what IS POWSN, anyway? please keep in mind that it took me months to figure out what PoU was, besides a fic that everyone was talking about s:) and it's good stuff, too. *nod* it's all lorax523's fault that i reside in the Bad Place.)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

POWSN (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/POWSN/?yguid=96309059) is the Percy/Oliver Writers Support Network, and is chock full of P/O goodness.

[queerasjohn.livejournal.com]

I agree entirely, sweetcheeks. I'm surprised that KS gets the profile it does. The number of people who say "Oh, I just read H/D" amuse me.

We should start something like The Non-H/D Group. *throws idea out there*

--J

[thalialuna.livejournal.com]

How about a... dum da dum dum... non-slash (ie. het - remember that?) group?

Or should I run and hide for even suggesting it (even sarcastically)?

[metonymy.livejournal.com]

Dude, I'm with you. I read slash, and I enjoy it. But I also enjoy the good het that I've found. And I write het - mostly fluff inspired by RP, but that's another kettle of fish. And the number of times I've gotten the reaction "eeeew, het" from people is simply staggering. As much as everyone loffs slash, they do have to remember that not everyone is gay. And since femslash is rare too, where does that leave the girls if all the boys are off snogging? Rar.

*carefully hides a half-eaten baby behind her back* And to Clio: YAY. More power to you! I loff H/D, but they're two out of a cast of dozens. When midterms are over, I'll go read EWFS because Seamus and Dean are terribly, terribly cute when they're written right. ^_^

[earthquake1906.livejournal.com]

But maybe what we need to do is open this place up a little bit, before we all end up eating our own young.

*claps fiercely*

[thalialuna.livejournal.com]

Thanks. ::grins:: Not only "is everyone not gay", most people are not gay. Like, around 90% of the population (or something, I'm hopeless with stats). But you'd never guess it in this (increasingly boring) fandom.

[buffymaraschina.livejournal.com]

As much as I love H/D, I love to branch out and read other pairings like P/O in Keeper's Secrets by John Walton. Where could I find Of Linen? With a wonderful rec like that, how could I not read it?

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Thank you dearheart. Apparently the message has gotten out, and in the spirit it was intended, and when does that ever happen?

Oh, and note who recced you in her non-H/D list? What have I been telling you?

Go Cora! Go Cora! Go Cora! Go Cora! Go Cora! Go Cora! Go Cora! Go Cora!

--Clio, who will be able to say she Knew Cora When

[jlh.livejournal.com]

::blushes:: Thanks!

Oh, and thank you thank you thank you for the S/D picture! It is completely cute, and I can't wait to see it in colour! I will probably have to write an Xmas fic for them in its honour.

--happy Clio

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Well, this is what happened this week:

1--Someone from hprecs sent out a call (at least, to the POWSN list) that they only are getting H/D recs and could someone come on the list and rec something else? The POWSN list itself has really resurged in the last couple of weeks. Are you on it? You should be. You know KS is a great, great thing, right?

2--There have been fics other than H/D on the hpslash list lately, which almost never happens.

3--Aja did an no-H/D edition of her rec list.

Now that EWFS is almost done, I'll be able to comb through chapter owls and rec some things here on the LJ. At any rate, all I wanted was balance, so I'm feeling very encouraged. ^_^

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't understand people who don't like het just as much as I don't understand people who don't like slash. I can't see why the groups are so separate, either. I mean, there is a lot of good het beyond Cassie, but no one ever seems to notice it. Very frustrating.

The only explanation I can come up with is that because there is more het, and often written by somewhat younger readers, there is more bad het. There is certainly almost no good het smut, while there is tons of good slash smut. Frustrating, but there it is. Also, I think once again, for het and for femslash, it's the ration of female to male characters. You have that entire subgenre of mauraders fics. Why don't we know Lily's friends?

Personally, I like my slash and het mixed together. You know, like they are in real life?

[jlh.livejournal.com]

You know that you are a joy and a delight forever, don't you? "Increasingly boring" is just the phrase for it. I think we can bring it back from the brink, so that we can limp along to book 5, but we need to act now.

I owe you some het niceness. Gimme a pair, dear. Though not Snape, I could never write him as well as you do and I wouldn't presume to try.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

::bows::

Thanks, that means a lot. But then, your words always do. ^_^

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Yay! More fangirls for the Bally.

Of Linen (http://linen.dot.nu/)

Read in good health, and watch this space for further recs.

Re:

[misscora.livejournal.com]

*blushes and grins*

indeed the message has gotten out. Yeah! Go S/D.
I'll get back to you on the reread of ch. 13 tonight, must first defeat classes and work. *sigh*

*huggles*ˇ

[thalialuna.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think EWFS offers all the het niceness in the world with just enough slash to be satisfying and refreshing. We just need more fics like EWFS, actually. You know, not one thing or the other but both - like life! ;)