Slash and het and smut and NA

[jlh]

Jeez, offline for all of 20 hours and the universe explodes. I mean, honestly. I suppose this is a time to respond to a few things that have been swirling around lately.

The "I hate slash" issue
For what it's worth, I absolutely think that the statement "I hate slash" is homophobic. Ivy said it much better than I ever could, so go there for the best argument for this point of view.

However, I don't agree with vanityfair that people can attack slash but not het. If I had a dollar for every time some slasher said "ew, hate het" with no comment, I would be a wealthy woman. Actually, I think that what Ivy says about slash is equally true about het. The only difference is that "I hate slash" is (somewhat) sanctioned by the dominant culture, whereas "I hate het" is sanctioned by a specific subculture. But then again, I'm also someone who thinks that the hatred-back of a subculture for the dominant culture really doesn't help anything but just gives the dominant culture more concrete reasons to hate the subculture.

Also, please note that I write both slash and het, usually in the same story. This generally means that both sides of the fandom hate and/or ignore me, but I'm getting used to it.


The NA issue
First, and I know this is a bit late on my part, I'm really really proud to be a part of NA and really honored that I was asked to join. These past nine months have been an amazing experience.

It came to my attention after that post of mine that the real issue wasn't the LJ squeeing but the YM statuses. So I'll say this: I have a real job. An actual, salaried, high-stress, professional, 9-whenever I can get out of there job. As a general rule, I have no business being online during my workday, and I used to be on invisible becasue I really can't chat—or at least, only sporadically or at lunch or when I'm waiting for someone to do something. But I also know that I don't get home most nights until 7 or 7:30 EDT, which is late for a lot of Euro-dwellers who might want to ask me a question for NA. Hence the status "working for the man, but here for NA". I would have thought that "working for the man" would give everyone a tip that I am actually at work and therefore can't really chat, but I guess not. The only time that I put up an "NA only" status when I'm at home is when I'm actually IN an NA chat.

Also, I can't count the number of you that have had statuses that said, "RS Only" or "FA Only" or the equivalent of "I'm busy doing x, you can buzz me but I'm not up for a chat". So I don't see how "NA Only" is seriously different than that. I'm sorry this means that I can't really chat with my UK friends during the week—but then, I never really have been able to, so I don't think this is really a change.


The smut issue
It has also come to my attention that there are people who cannot get into RS because they cannot get the password to work, and once there can't find things. I have to say, I have had that problem myself. Someone links directly to the story and RS keeps sending you to the homepage, and usually the original link didn't tell you who the author was so you can find it yourself. This is irritating.

So. I'm going to continue to send my NC17 to RS, but if you're having trouble seeing stuff there, here are some options:
1—Join Pierian Springs, the yahoo group for the Muses (ely709, evil_erato, thalialuna, fiatincantatum, bluebyrd, ladylisse, misscora, tessfawcett, and me). Everything I have finished and posted is there, and I'll make sure I've updated my folder by the end of the weekend.
2—I've been on a bit of a smut rampage, writing up stories for all my pairings plus that wifeswapping fic. So I've decided to post those stories here as well, roughly once a week or so. Smut til Book 5!


Anything I've missed?

Comments

[jessindistress.livejournal.com]

Hello...

Am friending you just because you rocked my world with your response to Cygnusfap re: the homophobia/slash debate. Totally.

*waves* Hi! :)

~Jess

[tobymalfoy.livejournal.com]

On the RS.org issues:

We are aware of the problem that some have with the password system. We have so far been unable to find a reason for these problems. But everyone that has this problem can email the mod team and we will set them up with a working password.

As for the linking problem... The reason for this is, that we wanted to make sure that everyone would see the age disclaimer page, before starting to read a fic on the site, while still making it possible to link to the stories. As a result, linking directly to the fic ( http://www.restrictedsection.org/load/story.shtml?/4/diwali.html ), will end up sending you back to the front page. Linking to the disclaimer page for the fic ( http://www.restrictedsection.org/disclaimer.shtml?/4/diwali.html ) will show you the disclaimer or, if you have seen it already within the last few days, forward you to the fic directly.

While all links leading to fics on the site, be it from the search engine, the author listing or the Howlers list, do use the disclaimer links, I realize that it's not documented anywhere why. I will try to add this to the FAQ, and possibly add a note to the bottom of the stories.

[ciceronianus.livejournal.com]

Also, please note that I write both slash and het, usually in the same story. This generally means that both sides of the fandom hate and/or ignore me, but I'm getting used to it.

I'd hate to be a squidillion times trite and say "well, it's their loss" - but frankly, it is.

I've enjoyed every fic of yours I've read, and though I do live on the Lame Side of Reviewing Clio's Work right now, I am going to remedy that because I'd hate for my silence to be construed as hatred for or ignoring you and your work.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks, Toby, for that explanation of why the direct links work sometimes and don't work other times.

I think that people generally, when they make a link, just paste in the url that they see in their browser window. Adding something to the story page that says, "If you want to link to this story link to THIS" would help a lot though it would be a lot of work.

That said, what I really meant was that knowing that this often doesn't work (and for good reason as you've pointed out), the linker should say, "Read Clio's story Diwali here" rather than just "Like Ron/Padma? Read this" with no info.

And yeah, I don't know why, when something doesn't work, people don't just say to an admin, hey, this doesn't work. It's a thing I run into, especially with computers, all the time--people would rather just give up, or assume they're doing something wrong, then send one lousy email.

Thanks again!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Ack! That wasn't a plea for reviews, honest!

I was talking less about readers, actually, and more about those sorts of Recognition Machines--like the slash awards, for example, or just general gatherings of slashers or het-types doing this or that thing. Part of this is my fault because I just haven't gotten myself as enmeshed in the het part of the fandom as the slash part, and part of it is that I think some people think having het as a major part of the story makes it "not slash" while a ton of het readers won't even read a story with any slash pairing, especially if it's a prominent one. So the story I wanted to write, about a gay boy and a straight girl and their great and t00by friendship, was sort of doomed from the beginning, in a way I didn't anticipate.

I also, of course, was being rather obnoxiously sorry for myself, but hey, it happens.

[owlman.livejournal.com]

And yeah, I don't know why, when something doesn't work, people don't just say to an admin, hey, this doesn't work. It's a thing I run into, especially with computers, all the time--people would rather just give up, or assume they're doing something wrong, then send one lousy email.

Speaking as one such admin I much prefer to turn round and say, 'Sorry the fault is at your end.' than have to deal with something months old when I get a, 'Why has this never worked it really annoys me that it does not. Surely you knew there was a problem.'

[fiatincantatum.livejournal.com]

er...you do know that some of us use "ew. het." intending to be funny, yes? (figure you do, but just checking...)

Well written het, like well written slash, is a joy to behold. We need more writers who write them together...

[hermorrine.livejournal.com]

Excellent explanation, Toby. I answer at least 10 inquiries from people a week, if not more, on why they can't get signed up for a user ID and password. I wish we had some way of figuring out the problem, but it's just US, not a big corporation. But honestly - if people would just email us, we would get them fixed, one way or another.

[ciceronianus.livejournal.com]

Well actually, I figured you'd think I thought it was one of those Usually Quite Obvious pleas for a review ;)

But I didn't. It did however remind me that I really ought to remember to review the fics of writers whose work I've enjoyed not only once but on a consistent basis.

So I will review :)

Part of this is my fault because I just haven't gotten myself as enmeshed in the het part of the fandom as the slash part, and part of it is that I think some people think having het as a major part of the story makes it "not slash" while a ton of het readers won't even read a story with any slash pairing, especially if it's a prominent one.

I think what you've said about the het and slash parts of the fandom is really rather interesting. I don't know, the fandom sometimes seems So Very Odd to me because on one hand everyone is really rather direct about what they hate/don't like, but on the other we're all Very Wonderful People who are open-minded and fantastic about everything else - so long as we're not asked to be open-minded and fantastic about what pairings we like.

It's sometimes difficult to say what really is meant to be light-hearted and what's a full-on attitude attack.

Meanwhile, it all seems very explosive at the moment so I hope you come out unscathed.

And don't worry - it wasn't that obnoxious ;)

[kissaki.livejournal.com]

Also, if you wanted to link to your stories from LJ or wherever, then you should c/p the link that you receive when you are notified that the story has been uploaded. That is the correct link. Or you could copy the link that is on your Story by Author listing. That is also the link with the disclaimer.

[pink-faerie.livejournal.com]

<3 Well said about the slash/het debate.

-MK

[pink-faerie.livejournal.com]

<3 Well said about the slash/het debate.

-MK

[tartpants.livejournal.com]

My novel-length fic contains both het and slash--both are given equal 'air-time' so to speak, and both relationships are significant to the furthering of the story. The het relationship is an unusual one (hermione/snape), so most of my het-audience is really quite okay with slash, even if they're not fangirly about Harry and Draco as a pairing in quite the way I am. The slash-readers, on the other hand, have been by and large much harder to convince that the het. pairing is worth reading at all, even though they are generally only minimally grumpy about having to wade through het (ew!) innuendo to get to the good slashy stuff. Point is, writing het and slash together puts you in a weird place, period. But I like it. Am such a rebel.

[mmichelle.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I absolutely think that the statement "I hate slash" is homophobic.
I agree. Saying "I hate a certain slash pairing" is not homophobic, because that is perfectly natural, it's just like hating a certain het pairing. But as for saying you hate slash in general is *very* homophobic. And most people who say that (not all, because I hate generalizing) probably haven't even read any slash.