Saturday Randomness: Fanonical Pairings

[browngirl]

I'm writing an unexpectedly difficult story, and one of the reasons it's difficult is that the pairing is fanonical; the characters don't interact in canon. I'm writing it because it's hot because I like fanonical pairings, for many of the same reasons I like introducing people in real life.

Long ago, I was a member of bdotp, a community devoted to pairings of any/all characters played by two actors who'd achieved stunning chemistry in one particular canon, and I was very charmed by how compatible so many of their characters could be made to be. In my current fannish obsession, with such a big cast, there are many offscreen interactions that can be surmised even though they don't happen onscreen, and I really like that about it.

What about you?

*gets back to writing*

Comments

[strangerian.livejournal.com]

In kind of a tangent, in response to the premise of bdotp, I have to reminisce about the Bodie/Doyle (Professionals, from '80s-era fandom) fanfic. One subgenre picked up the actors' other roles (either one alone, or in a couple of cases together) in other shows, and crossed them with Professionals so that Doyle, instead of slashing with (um, new grammar for old tricks!) Bodie proper, slashed with Bodie's identical cousin from an obscure thriller movie. This often segued into Bodie proper noticing that *he* always wanted to do that, and led to intra-show slash, and thus was order restored to the universe.

I'd *like* to say that slash pairings (with a few exceptions in recent years) are *all* fanonical, but the point of slash in many cases is that the only difference between slash and the show is that the guys are spending 24 hours a day together, instead of 16 or more. That is, are Kirk/Spock or Arthur/Merlin not partners in nearly every sense already? But there's certainly a point at which finding slash can be fanonical rather than a foregone conclusion. And it's fun.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

I love it when you tell me about ancient fandom days. *grins and ducks* Seriously, thank you for telling me about this, even if it amuses me to think of Spock realizing he wants to date Kirk after watching Kirk date Sylar.

I'd *like* to say that slash pairings (with a few exceptions in recent years) are *all* fanonical, but the point of slash in many cases is that the only difference between slash and the show is that the guys are spending 24 hours a day together, instead of 16 or more.

Yeah. There's a qualitative difference between slashing TOS's K/S (or the movie's Kirk and McCoy) and slashing, say, Chekov and Scotty (who are in the same room twice onscreen, both times with lots of other people) or for that matter Pike and George Kirk (who can't be guaranteed to have met at all). But don't worry, I know that most slash (Jack/Ianto and Queer as Folk excepted) isn't actually canon. :D