The big post of MEH.

[caz963]

I've been off work for the last couple of days with this bloody cold. By yesterday's standards, today has been rather unproductive - yesterday I produced 2 picspams, a ficlet and wrote up a rather long DW episode recap!

Today? Meh.

It would help if I could stop writing new fics when I've got old ones to finish. Today's effort was probably one of the most angsty, UST-y things I've ever written. It's not finished, and I'm not sure if I'll post it even if I do finish it - it's just so... I dunno. Daft?

I'm having a problem. As someone who has written mostly shippy fic, I'm naturally gravitating towards writing it again.

BUT.

Before, the couple I wrote did at least end up as a couple in canon, and there had also been loads and loads of signposts along the way that that was going to happen eventually.

But in DW, there are no canon ships (well - there might be, but not yet!). No, not even Nine or Ten and Rose. There is some UST but there is no "R", whichever pairing you like best. So I find that I'm continually pulling myself back - not from writing RST, because I can't bring myself to do that, but from piling on the "U" by the truckload.

Those of you out there who write fic - let me ask you a question or two. If you write shippy fic, do you usually write characters who are either together or pretty likely to end up that way? Or doesn't that matter, because this is "just fic"? If you write non-canon ships, what is it about the characters and what you've seen on screen that makes you think they should pair up?

I suppose I'm trying to adjust my mindset and I'm interested in your thoughts.

Comments

[mihane-echo.livejournal.com]

I admit that I think its a mixture of writing and chemistry. Its likely that any ship, no matter how bogus (whether canon or not) can be written to believeability by a skilled wordsmith, and that pretty much covers it in book and manga fandoms.

Once you introduce performers, chemistry takes over, and I dont care how well you write the characters, if the actors dont have any chemistry, I lose interest and don't see the ship. OTOH, if your actors have it coming out of their ears, the ship begins to build.

I write primarily Ten/Donna ('primarily' being my keyword for I Ship It Hardcore,) despite the fact that they aren't written to be a canon ship. I chalk that up mostly to David Tennant and Catherine Tate; no matter what they do, the sparks start flying. (The other part is my personal affinity with best friends who fall for each other.) That said, I dont write them falling all over each other and spouting love poems, because there IS the canon to consider, and you cant push the characters too far too quickly because otherwise its all just a big nasty mess of OOCness.

Most of what I write, pre-JE, is all UST and angsting. I set all my established relationship fic post-JE because I just can't see the two of them ever being a couple in the boundaries that Series 4 canon has given us.

...Reading that back, Im not sure if there's even a point in there. 8/

[caz963.livejournal.com]

I have a 'friends who fall for each other' kink, too :) I've written mostly Josh/Donna (The West Wing) who did end up together (after 7 bloody long years!) but who had an incredible friendship first. There was also amazing chemistry between the actors with plenty of snark, which is probably why I'm so drawn towards Ten and Donna.

I don't 'do' mushy-lovey-dovey with couples like that, because it's just not in character. I've said somewhere upthread that just because characters become lovers, it doesn't mean that the banter stops.

I shall have to check out your fic - it sounds like we're on the same wavelength. I've not read much DW fic at all really, mostly because I don't have a lot of time, and because there's such a lot of it to sift through. I'm not as patient as I was when I first discovered fanfic - back then I'd read most things and chalk the less well characterised, well-written stuff up to experience and not read it again! But I don't have time for that now - I want to get straight to the good stuff!