Characters ♡ The OTP & Pairing Thread ♡ | Challenge #33 is up: How They Met! (1/28, p. 90, #2231)

Finally read this, as well as the linked article on Medium, which is quite useful and should be added to the OP of this thread (hey, alter ego, I'm looking atcha ). But they lost me at "hatesex" and "OT3". The original one lost me when it came to...shipping YouTubers. What.the.actual.kriff. O_O

 

No kidding, it's like pairing together celebrities who have never worked together.

 

Yeah, I totally like the idea of 'shipping Kate Bush with Thomas Edison.

 

That's just too weird for words.

 

What, you haven't seen 90% of my non-fic posts and my in-character replies to comments on crack!fics? B.L.A.S.P.H.E.M.Y.

In other words, I DO THIS POODOO ALL THE TIME.

 

Kate Bush freaked me out when I was small. That ungodly squeally voice of hers, made me think she was a witch.

Rather than ship her, I'd be more likely to vacuum her up into a Ghostbusters' ecto-containment trap, and throw away the key.

 

Random question, but do people find ships always involve romance or can a platonic version exist?

 

That is actually a very good question. I would assume that platonic versions exist, but other writers here would have to confirm; perhaps the romantic element is what makes it a "ship"?

 

^ That's what I always thought.

 

Otherwise it is just two people who just get each other, y'know?

Like one of my fave, albeit cancelled after one season, cop shows: Common Law

They are already police partners, Heterosexual Life Partners; if you are going to ship, romance is all that is left, really.

 

Hmmm. Good question. I think because of the "root" of "shipping" is relationships as opposed to friendships, and the whole history of fanfic (which I have studied at university... because nerd) "ships" pretty much exclusively refer to romantic pairings.

Platonic relationships are much more common and diverse in both mainstream media and fanfic, so it's kinda a different thing than 'shipping.

 

But what happens to to the characters who are not interested in romance? Does that mean they get left out? Is that fair?

 

They just aren't involved in any 'shipping related conversations. In my opinion, yes, they get left out of maybe more "romance heavy" fics (or maybe play more of a side role) and yeah, it's fair because it's respecting the traits of the character.

I mean, I love the fact that Rey in TFA wants no romantic undertones whatsoever. She's a woman on a mission and I love stories like that. I'm not going to pair her up willy nilly because I like writing romance and discussing what makes romanic relationships dynamic in media.

I love friendships and sibling-dynamic fanfics, but I think if there were "ships" for every platonic relationship, it would be a pretty broad conversation, especially for a thread like this.

 

Ugh. Sorry. Board lag.

 

^ this. I mean, I get that shipping refers to romance in the fanfic world, but for characters not interested in romance, there has got to be other forms of love that can be explored but I guess then it's not really a ship? I have no idea if any of this makes sense; it's really just a passing thought.

 

I totally have an OT3: Neal/Peter/El from the TV show White Collar. Neal Caffrey and Peter Burke is the most popular 'ship, but Peter's wife, Elizabeth (El) is so lovely and has such a great relationship not only with Peter but with Neal as well, it's hard not to just ship them all together.

It's an interesting study in fandom culture because a lot of fandoms where one of the favorite characters has a partner (and it's part of the most popular 'ship), they get thrown away in fanfic, but in White Collar, El often is included. Looking at AO3, Neal/Peter has the most stories, but Neal/Peter/El is a close second.

That's not a random question at all! It's a great one!

I too think that a ship is a romantic pairing. Yes the root word of ship is relationship which can mean platonic ones, but I don't think when people say they "I 'ship so-and-so" and that's certainly not what I think when I see someone say they ship characters. I think they mean they want those people to be in a romantic relationship, whatever that might mean for those characters. (Romantic doesn't necessarily mean sexual). I don't think that means a story with a 'ship in it needs to be inherently romantic or sexual, far from it. I can write a Luke/Mara story that's about a mission they are on together and never mention that they are in a relationship, or overtly hint at it, but if they are in a relationship at that time, then I'd still consider them a 'ship and I'd indicate that by saying Luke/Mara instead of Luke and Mara. (I hope that makes sense!)


I don't think that leaves out characters who don't want a romantic relationship, they just don't get as much discussion when the discussion is about who people 'ship. Bri brings up Rey as a good example of a character I love who doesn't seem to be interested in a romantic relationships (at this point). Doesn't mean I want to leave her out of the discussion, or that of her relationships with others, just not in the context of a 'ship.

 

Are you talking about in actual writing of fanfic or in fanfic discussions?

I think in writing fanfic other types of love are explored, but maybe not to the same popularity as romantic love because platonic relationships are also explored in the movies/other media so there's not that gap to fill.

In terms of fanfic discussion, we used to have threads devoted to all sorts of characters and character relations. IIRC, besides the usual 'ships, but in terms of platonic relationships there was an Anakin&Obi-Wan thread, Han&Luke, and Obi-Wan&Qui-Gon, etc. Unfortunately since the move, there just hasn't been the traffic to support any of these threads individually.

 

That's true, considering there are more to fictional characters than there love lives.

 

Was about to say that amatonormativity invaded it all. There are certain aspects of sexual orientation spectrum where romance is a no-go, yet beings CAN love. So, yeah, I'd personally be OK with this type of a 'ship.

I think I 'ship Pogo and Newt as a platonic thing. Or mildly romantic. I don't know.



Gonna log into the sock and make this an impromptu discussion, as well as add mavjade links and some more terms. And, of course, check the voting because it's almost the deadline!

EDIT: What the heck, a bunch of posts that I have not seen appeared OUT OF NOWHERE?

 

Voting closes at 17.30 (that's 5.30 PM) Central European Time TOMORROW on December 12th, 2017. That's roughly 35 hours from the timestamp of this post. We have received only two votes so far. I know that you can make it more than five, like you always do...so come on, do these three beautiful stories the justice they deserve.

 

Just tried to vote through my phone, but annoyingly, cut and paste (for the link) seems to be very random as to when it works.

 

Vote cast, civic duty done I would have taken care of it yesterday, but the boards were acting up on me.

 

If you can't get it to work, just use the correct name of the story.

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Can't keep my eyes open. Up for nearly 24h straight. Results tomorrow. Soz.

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Folks, folks, folks...Captain Rakkaus had some issues with stormy seas yesterday, but yeah, this ship is a flagship and she's eventually arrived to the fanfic harbour. Sorry once again and I'm happy to present you with the winner of our Fairy Tale...IN SPACE! challenge.

Congrats to Sith-I-5 and his story, Princess of Renatasia! It's a hoot, so make sure you read it...when you have the time with the movie premiere upon us, DRL and all.

The next challenge will be announced after the usual congratulations round and it will be fairly simple - no lists, no dice, just a cool prompt.

 

Congratulations, Sith-I-5! What a fun story!

And bravo to Chyntuck and WarmNyota_SweetAyesha for your stories as well! Three very different, but very enjoyable offerings this time. This was such a fun challenge!