Mush-less Fan Fiction

It's difficult if not impossible for me to find fan fiction that isn't dominated by mush. With all the different writers there are on the boards, somebody has to be writing this other than me. Is there really any interest in it?

 

Lol- you hit the nail on the head, DotF. It is true that the mush tends to be glaringly overpowering. I'm actually writing a short story right now (it's nearly finished), in which I challenged myself to not include one shred of romance in any way, shape, or form. Since I'm a romance sucker this has proved very challenging indeed, but I'm happy with the results.


I can't say that I know that many fics that are completely romance-free, but I do know plenty of them where the mush/romance is either only a sideplot, or actually involves a plot of some kind and is well-developed. (*gasp* Be stil my heart- what's a plot? )

Off the top of my head, I would recommend Lisse's The Circle, Sebulba2179's pod-racing series, or anything written by Wilhelmina.

Well, gotta get back to work. Maybe I'll think of more extensive recommendations later on.

~ Saché

 

I've found Rogue/Wraith Squadron fics tend to have a lot less mush (for the most part). And if there is some mush, then there is a lot of sarcasm to balance it out.

 

I wonder where this comes from. (I mean this high percentage of a kind of genre.)

Has it something to do with the average number of members ? I mean - there might be different factors influence the majority of stories here. I don't know.

Besides, my story "Bib Fortuna's End" is a short story about a duel, and there's nothing "mushig" at all !.

 

If I can ever finish it, I'm writing a Luke/Vader fic. Zero, mush.

 

Hah. This is a thread for DarthIshtar, the ultimate fighter against mush...

 

LOL, I saw the first post of this and wanted to offer her free membership in the NSSO. DOTF, I am the head of the New Sadistic Sith Order, which is the advocating party and archive of stories which entail the motto "Pain with Purpose, Love with Limits." We hate mush as much as we hate pointless torture. If you want stories without mush, go to All the Wrong Places, Young Dark Rising, The Ties That Bind, Before the Dawn, Then Comes the Night, Bet Your Life, or such stories.

 

Yep, mushless fics are out there (ahem, like mine ) but they're surrounded by the vast sea of sloppy smooches! <there's a mental pic I didn't need>

Read DarthIshtar for great story-telling and a break in the mush.

and, of course, my story.

 

Well, occasionally, I have necessary romance. Like when I get Anakin and Amidala through courtship and marriage in order to keep with the flow of the trilogy. Or when Han and Leia date and get married so I can then use Han to drive Leia nuts when Dark-side Luke captures him. LIke I said, Love with Limits.

 

Oh, absolutely. I think there is a strong difference in storytelling between romance and mush.

Romance helped propel the story of Star Wars, as envisioned by George Lucas. but Mush... it just doesn't seemed to fit the genre (IMO, of course. ).

but hey, I'm a boy, so no wonder I feel this way, eh? My wife'll be the first to note that I'm not mushy. .

 

I can take a little romance, but the stuff I'm seeing around here gives me cavities sometimes.

 

Exactly. There's a fine line between reasonable romance and pointless mush.

 

Hmm... I don't mind pure mush vignettes, or periodic mush in a longer fic, but a long mush fics quickly bore me.

Besides, a lot of other stuff keeps the mush cute.

YubYub and TG- Protecting fangirls from hormonally gifted fanboys since 2002

 

Oh, I write action/adventure/mystery, but it's nearly all OCs. Maybe a tiny mush moment here and there for seasoning.

Romance fics are nice, but for me Star Wars is about the adventure first and foremost, and I don't care who Obi-Wan is kissing, I want to know who he's tracking down and why.

 

Mush has a purpose, especially if handled well. Too much and your teeth rot out, but just the right amount can be used to further the plot, to draw your readers in and make them comfortable.

That?s how I use it. My longtime readers know to fear a couple of happy, mushy chapters close together because they are harbingers of very bad things that will turn the story upside down and try the characters physically and mentally.

Mush is fine if it fits the needs of a story; my stories rarely need or want it. There are plenty of ways to explore relationships that are personal or professional.

 

In only one story did I use what might be thought of as mush, but it was for comic value and used sparingly. If I were working on something serious (like I am now), I wouldn't use it at all. Maybe I'm that hard-hearted of a writer, I don't know.

 

I enjoy a good mush fic...if it has a good plot to go with it.

 

Define mush. I always thought it was any "touchy-feely" kind of plot between two characters - be they romantic or friends or Master/padawan...

I do love to read mush, I must admit. But too much mush makes me turn the page or click to another fic.

I normally don't write mush except for minimal interactions - to help the story along.

However, anything overdone is bad. Some stories have no mush and need it desperately (if nothing else, to give some relief to all that horror/pain/whatever)!

Balance is the key...

 

I'm anti-mush and I'm pretty sure my stories don't contain much of it (unless it was a story I did as a challenge to myself to write a genre I really didn't want to write in ). For instance, my SW/Indy crossovers... no mush... thankfully. Because that would just be awkward

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

You mean mush as in romantic mush? Because there are a lot of "awwwwww, how sweet" Obi/Qui fics out there, and I think of those as mushy. Is it just me, or are there very few Obi/Ani touchy-feely stories? Not that I want to be drowned in a deluge of them

I think any kind of mush other than romantic mush is hard to define. Romantic mush is easy to spot (at least for me). But say you have a master/padawan pair--what's mush? When the master says, "You've made me very proud"? When the apprentice says, "You inspire me, Master?" (or whatever). I wouldn't consider a quiet moment between the two to be mush. Actually, I don't really think in terms of mush at all, at least not when writing--it makes me constantly wonder, "Oh, is this getting too sappy?"

 

Generally speaking, if people were able to write characters as they actually are there wouldn't be near as much mush. Because some of those people just flat out wouldn't act in that way or say those things.

*cough*Jedi*cough*

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

There's a definite difference betweeen the "awwww how sweet" obi/qui stories and the "Let's have everyone just snog and be sappy" genre. And a definite difference between romance and mush.

 

Yeah, one is oatmeal.

 

No mush in either of my fics, though I can't say I'm completely against the idea. I've read some fics and viggis that are considered "mush" that were really great, so I think it depends on the writer and how far they go with it.

I read a Z/J fic one time that was on another site, and though it was short, I lost track of how many times this was said:

"I love you, Jaina."

"I love you too, Zekk."

it went a little overboard

 

::Whacks Luney for being so pedantic.:: Yes, honey, go eat oatmeal.