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Wiscon 31 Panel Report: "Please Explain Slash to Me"
Please Explain Slash To Me
Reading, Viewing, and Critiquing SF&F•Capitol B• Saturday, 10:00-11:15 a.m.
Slash fans and authors explain the appeal of their chosen pastime. Why are women in particular so drawn to this form of expression, as readers and writers? What's so special about mucking around in someone else's fictional world?
Sharyn November, Yoon Ha Lee, Rebecca Marjesdatter, Lyda Morehouse, JJ Pionke
-----------
I went to this panel because the questions in its description are questions that I have asked. I am a member of lots of fandom-related communities on LiveJournal - for anime, for TV shows, etc. Thus, I see lots of links posted to people's slash fanfiction. Even before that, my first online fandom was Final Fantasy VII, and to this day, it remains really the only fandom for which I've ever taken a stab at writing fanfiction, and the only fandom for which I ever made a concerted effort to seek out well-written fanfiction, and read it. I think I still have Frank Vederosa's "Shards," a FF7 fanfic about my favorite character Tifa Lockheart, printed out and inside of a binder in my room at my parents' house.
Despite being aware of slash fiction, I've never written it, have rarely read it, and never really understood the appeal of it. Thus, I went to this panel.
-----------
The panel opened with a definition of slash. Slash is romantic or erotic fanfiction which focuses on unresolved sexual tension between two characters from a book, TV show, movie, etc. The sexual tension is unresolved because it focuses on two (or more) characters who would never get together in the actual show/book/whatever. There is slash for everything, not just Harry Potter or anime. There is slash fiction for the TV show JAG (and lots for The West Wing! I've seen it!). There is slash fiction for Winnie the Pooh. No, I am not kidding.
Most often, the tension is unresolved because the characters are heterosexual, but both of the same sex. Slash fiction will often taken canonically heterosexual characters and make them homo- or bisexual for the purpose of the fanfiction.
"Canon" means the text/show itself, so what is "true" on the show is referred to as what is "canon."
Some terms were defined that I am already familiar with. Yaoi is boy-boy relationships, while yuri is girl-girl. Shonen-ai is a boy-boy romantic relationship (not necessarily erotic), and girl-girl is called shojo-ai. These terms come from Japanese words, so it stems from anime and manga fanfiction.
Why do people write fanfiction in the first place? One panelist offered as an example that Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was so terrible that she wanted to write her own version, or seek out other people on the Internet who already had. Also, in the movie Obi-Wan Kenobi sports what could be considered a very "gay boy" haircut and walks around calling Qui-Gon "master." And the fangirls swoon.
Also, there aren't a lot of gay people on TV, in books, etc. Particularly not in sci-fi. So, people write their own versions of the story in which characters become, or have been all along, gay.
Yoon said that some writers, herself included, turn to fanfiction as practice, and slash in particular so that they can become comfortable writing sex scenes.
Lyda is a published author who said that she has written slash fiction on the Internet involving her own characters, under a pseudonym.
I think that 3 of the 5 panelists were lesbians, and it was pointed out that a lot of slash writers are lesbians writing about male-male relationships. Why is this? One main reason is that they found few women to whom they were attracted in the media. On TV shows, and in books, a lot of times men are the ones who are written to be the more interesting characters, and are thus more fun to write about.
Also, one of the panelists said that as a lesbian, she might identify more as a "feminine" or butch man, and would find a dominant alpha-male type attractive if he was a female.
Many lesbians are not attracted to femslash, aka yuri, because, in their words, "That's my life."
There were references made to RPS, or real-person slash, in which fanfiction writers turn to actual, real people. Some teenage girls write about their favorite bands, but some people write about John Kerry/John Edwards. A story was shared in which RPS was written about actor Ian McKellan, and the website with the fiction on it was inadvertently given to him. Apparently, Ian was not troubled at all.
It was noted that there really is a lot of good fanfiction on the Internet, sometimes even better than the original source material, or doing at least one part better than the author. For example, in Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling is very focused on plot, while her character development leaves a lot to be desired. It wasn't mentioned at the panel, but I suppose that the same could be said for Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. You have to be a good writer to keep the characters, which did not originate with you (except in the case of Lyra Morehouse, lol), in character - otherwise fans of the show/book/whatever will get upset with you.
It was also noted that a lot of the male-male fiction is hilarious because it basically "makes men into women." The men are forever talking about their feelings and needs, and have long discussions before the actual sex takes place.
Some people are paying attention to the popularity of slash fiction. There is more hardcore erotica being published in books meant for women to read.
Special Quote
"Harry is like rice, which goes with everything, but the question is: which one goes on top?" A lot of people in the audience seemed to read, or had written, Harry Potter fanfiction, so this caused much uproarious laughter.
Reading, Viewing, and Critiquing SF&F•Capitol B• Saturday, 10:00-11:15 a.m.
Slash fans and authors explain the appeal of their chosen pastime. Why are women in particular so drawn to this form of expression, as readers and writers? What's so special about mucking around in someone else's fictional world?
Sharyn November, Yoon Ha Lee, Rebecca Marjesdatter, Lyda Morehouse, JJ Pionke
-----------
I went to this panel because the questions in its description are questions that I have asked. I am a member of lots of fandom-related communities on LiveJournal - for anime, for TV shows, etc. Thus, I see lots of links posted to people's slash fanfiction. Even before that, my first online fandom was Final Fantasy VII, and to this day, it remains really the only fandom for which I've ever taken a stab at writing fanfiction, and the only fandom for which I ever made a concerted effort to seek out well-written fanfiction, and read it. I think I still have Frank Vederosa's "Shards," a FF7 fanfic about my favorite character Tifa Lockheart, printed out and inside of a binder in my room at my parents' house.
Despite being aware of slash fiction, I've never written it, have rarely read it, and never really understood the appeal of it. Thus, I went to this panel.
-----------
The panel opened with a definition of slash. Slash is romantic or erotic fanfiction which focuses on unresolved sexual tension between two characters from a book, TV show, movie, etc. The sexual tension is unresolved because it focuses on two (or more) characters who would never get together in the actual show/book/whatever. There is slash for everything, not just Harry Potter or anime. There is slash fiction for the TV show JAG (and lots for The West Wing! I've seen it!). There is slash fiction for Winnie the Pooh. No, I am not kidding.
Most often, the tension is unresolved because the characters are heterosexual, but both of the same sex. Slash fiction will often taken canonically heterosexual characters and make them homo- or bisexual for the purpose of the fanfiction.
"Canon" means the text/show itself, so what is "true" on the show is referred to as what is "canon."
Some terms were defined that I am already familiar with. Yaoi is boy-boy relationships, while yuri is girl-girl. Shonen-ai is a boy-boy romantic relationship (not necessarily erotic), and girl-girl is called shojo-ai. These terms come from Japanese words, so it stems from anime and manga fanfiction.
Why do people write fanfiction in the first place? One panelist offered as an example that Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was so terrible that she wanted to write her own version, or seek out other people on the Internet who already had. Also, in the movie Obi-Wan Kenobi sports what could be considered a very "gay boy" haircut and walks around calling Qui-Gon "master." And the fangirls swoon.
Also, there aren't a lot of gay people on TV, in books, etc. Particularly not in sci-fi. So, people write their own versions of the story in which characters become, or have been all along, gay.
Yoon said that some writers, herself included, turn to fanfiction as practice, and slash in particular so that they can become comfortable writing sex scenes.
Lyda is a published author who said that she has written slash fiction on the Internet involving her own characters, under a pseudonym.
I think that 3 of the 5 panelists were lesbians, and it was pointed out that a lot of slash writers are lesbians writing about male-male relationships. Why is this? One main reason is that they found few women to whom they were attracted in the media. On TV shows, and in books, a lot of times men are the ones who are written to be the more interesting characters, and are thus more fun to write about.
Also, one of the panelists said that as a lesbian, she might identify more as a "feminine" or butch man, and would find a dominant alpha-male type attractive if he was a female.
Many lesbians are not attracted to femslash, aka yuri, because, in their words, "That's my life."
There were references made to RPS, or real-person slash, in which fanfiction writers turn to actual, real people. Some teenage girls write about their favorite bands, but some people write about John Kerry/John Edwards. A story was shared in which RPS was written about actor Ian McKellan, and the website with the fiction on it was inadvertently given to him. Apparently, Ian was not troubled at all.
It was noted that there really is a lot of good fanfiction on the Internet, sometimes even better than the original source material, or doing at least one part better than the author. For example, in Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling is very focused on plot, while her character development leaves a lot to be desired. It wasn't mentioned at the panel, but I suppose that the same could be said for Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. You have to be a good writer to keep the characters, which did not originate with you (except in the case of Lyra Morehouse, lol), in character - otherwise fans of the show/book/whatever will get upset with you.
It was also noted that a lot of the male-male fiction is hilarious because it basically "makes men into women." The men are forever talking about their feelings and needs, and have long discussions before the actual sex takes place.
Some people are paying attention to the popularity of slash fiction. There is more hardcore erotica being published in books meant for women to read.
Special Quote
"Harry is like rice, which goes with everything, but the question is: which one goes on top?" A lot of people in the audience seemed to read, or had written, Harry Potter fanfiction, so this caused much uproarious laughter.
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