Gen Fic, for SCIENCE!

[ratherastory]

This is something of a follow-up to a conversation in my post about the hypothetical Gen Big Bang, in which I discovered to my shock and dismay that not everyone agrees on what constitutes gen fic!

Thus I am conducting a poll for SCIENCE!

Please spread the word, I am really curious to hear opinions on the subject.

[Poll #1666301]

Comments

[sinka.livejournal.com]

Mmm... interesting. I think I only read SPN gen (you converted me!!) so I'm probably not suited to opine on this but basically a SPN gen fic for me is one in which Sam and Dean care, defend and love each other desperately but not in a romantical, sexual or physical way. I guess in any fandom would be the same for me but with other main characters.

I should say romance or sex is also something I wouldn't expect in gen (though mentioned sex is okay, since Dean is Dean after all), but there are special cases:

For example, one of my favourite gen fics is "When it Was Over" by Faye Dartmouth. It's a really beautiful Sam-centric redemption fic in which Dean gets himself a girlfriend and even Sam is getting there. And it's definitely NOT het. I must admit I wouldn't have started reading that fic if I had been informed beforehand about the boy's involvement with OFC but I felt okay with it while reading it because it made sense and it was not what the fic was about.

And other good example of a special case is the Passenger 'verse by Kroki-Refur. The premise of this fic is that Dean is posessed by a demon and forced to rape Sam. But in spite of this neither Sam or Dean are sexually attracted to each other or love each other romantically. They are always just brothers, and the whole fic it's about getting over this terrible event and fixing thier bonds. For me, this story isn't wincest, it's totally gen too.

So... uhmm... I don't think I clarified anything for you, did I? But in some sense I think a gen fic is defined by its core and its goal, not by its romance or sex scenes. Even if most times this mean simply there isn't any romance or sex scenes at all!

/spam