Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2024-09-18 12:24 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2024-09-18 12:24 pm
Entry tags:
The Orgies Are Fine; It's The Jazz I Can't Stand.
One thing I find challenging in fanfiction is getting characters together in a convincing way, whether 'getting them together' means making them kiss, getting them to have sex, or getting them into a full-fledged romantic relationship.
I mainly write short one-shots, so there's not much scope for a slow-burn relationship build. In the Visitorverse for Assassin's Creed, by far the longest thing I've ever written, chemistry happened to build over time between Aveline and Shay and, later, between Aveline, Shay and Haytham, so getting them together felt like a natural progression. In most of my fics, though, I need to find some sort of catalyst to throw characters together.
I thought it might be interesting to go through my fanfiction and see the recurring patterns in how I get characters to interact in a sexual/romantic way. Well, it might be interesting for me, at any rate.
For the purposes of this exercise, I'm just looking at my main AO3 account, which houses the fanfiction I've written since 2013. I'm specifically considering fanfiction in which characters kiss, have sex or otherwise have an unambiguously romantic/sexual interaction, rather than just things with shippy vibes. If something fits into multiple categories, I've prioritised the most specific category. I've omitted fics about established relationships, and a couple of fics that include so many ships they'd be a nightmare to categorise.
For readability, I've just included the number of applicable fics under each category, rather than titles/links. If a particular category sounds like your thing, though, feel free to ask me for the list of fics that fall into it!
'Hey, want to kiss/have sex?': eight fics
This is a pretty broad category, so I'm not surprised it's the largest! However, it ties with a much more specific category:
Somehow inheriting relationships from a different version of yourself: eight fics
I hadn't realised I'd written this so often! But, thinking about it, it's not a huge surprise. I'm fascinated by alternate universes or timelines and how feelings might leak across from them, or the complicated experience of interacting with someone who's not quite the person you know.
Kissing/sex for mindgames or other ulterior purposes: seven fics
Oh, this one is fun. I don't imagine anyone's surprised that all my non-gen Death Note fanfiction falls into this category.
A physical fight turns into kissing/sex: six fics
A classic. If one character pins another to the floor during a fight in a fic I've written, you can be pretty sure that they're about to make out.
Natural progression from flirting/actually being mutually attracted to each other, what a concept: six fics
Coming to view someone differently in mutual isolation, either physical or psychological ('nobody else knows what we've been through'): five fics
A favourite of mine! I'm a little surprised this category isn't larger.
Kissing/sex in the face of approaching death or apocalypse: four fics
This is a great setup for extremely unhappy intimacy between characters who might not be intimate otherwise, which is something I always enjoy.
Misreading what someone wants, or enduring unwanted intimacy for someone else's sake: three fics
Kissing someone who isn't expecting it: three fics
I need your help to feel something physical, whether out of desperation or curiosity: three fics
Let's just bang for stress relief: two fics
I thought I'd have written this more often! Huh.
Playing some kind of intimacy chicken: two fics
Walking in on a sexual situation and getting invited in: two fics
Established couple invites someone else in without getting walked in on: two fics
Multiple existing relationships happen to link up into an orgy: two fics
Feelings changing for someone after picking up the possibility that they're attracted to you: two fics
Just kind of happens, let's gloss over the details: two fics
Love confession/'hey, want to be in an actual relationship?': two fics
It seems weird that I pretty much never write love confessions! But I'll be honest: I'm not a big fan of writing about clear, healthy romantic communication. It's just not something that tends to interest me in fiction!
And then there are the categories I've only written one fic each for, ranging from 'a common trope I only happen to have written once' to 'yeah, that's pretty specific':
Sleeping with other people to avoid feelings for a specific person: Closing the Circle (If We Were Villains, Oliver/everyone).
Kissing someone while half-asleep: Wasteland (Final Fantasy VIII, Squall/Zell).
Kissing practice: Education (Final Fantasy XV, Prompto/Gladio).
Hatekissing, but not during a physical fight: Material Evidence (Do Revenge, Drea/Eleanor).
Banging in a shared dream: Close Your Eyes (Danganronpa V3, Shuichi/everyone).
I need to kiss you so we'll both dream about hell tonight: See Where You Belong (The Book of Mormon, Price/McKinley).
Sleeping with someone in a workplace ritual at the instruction of your boss: The Fourth Temper (Severance, Mark/Helly).
Under the influence (of being a werewolf): Burning (The Quarry, Travis/Laura).
Just kind of feels like I should kiss you as I pull this sword out of your chest: Eternity's Edge (Revolutionary Girl Utena, Utena/Anthy).
I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing this kind of fic-by-fic analysis yourself; it's probably more effort than it's worth! But I'd be interested to hear if you've noticed any patterns in how you tend to get characters together in fiction. Do you have any favourite techniques you rely on?
I mainly write short one-shots, so there's not much scope for a slow-burn relationship build. In the Visitorverse for Assassin's Creed, by far the longest thing I've ever written, chemistry happened to build over time between Aveline and Shay and, later, between Aveline, Shay and Haytham, so getting them together felt like a natural progression. In most of my fics, though, I need to find some sort of catalyst to throw characters together.
I thought it might be interesting to go through my fanfiction and see the recurring patterns in how I get characters to interact in a sexual/romantic way. Well, it might be interesting for me, at any rate.
For the purposes of this exercise, I'm just looking at my main AO3 account, which houses the fanfiction I've written since 2013. I'm specifically considering fanfiction in which characters kiss, have sex or otherwise have an unambiguously romantic/sexual interaction, rather than just things with shippy vibes. If something fits into multiple categories, I've prioritised the most specific category. I've omitted fics about established relationships, and a couple of fics that include so many ships they'd be a nightmare to categorise.
For readability, I've just included the number of applicable fics under each category, rather than titles/links. If a particular category sounds like your thing, though, feel free to ask me for the list of fics that fall into it!
'Hey, want to kiss/have sex?': eight fics
This is a pretty broad category, so I'm not surprised it's the largest! However, it ties with a much more specific category:
Somehow inheriting relationships from a different version of yourself: eight fics
I hadn't realised I'd written this so often! But, thinking about it, it's not a huge surprise. I'm fascinated by alternate universes or timelines and how feelings might leak across from them, or the complicated experience of interacting with someone who's not quite the person you know.
Kissing/sex for mindgames or other ulterior purposes: seven fics
Oh, this one is fun. I don't imagine anyone's surprised that all my non-gen Death Note fanfiction falls into this category.
A physical fight turns into kissing/sex: six fics
A classic. If one character pins another to the floor during a fight in a fic I've written, you can be pretty sure that they're about to make out.
Natural progression from flirting/actually being mutually attracted to each other, what a concept: six fics
Coming to view someone differently in mutual isolation, either physical or psychological ('nobody else knows what we've been through'): five fics
A favourite of mine! I'm a little surprised this category isn't larger.
Kissing/sex in the face of approaching death or apocalypse: four fics
This is a great setup for extremely unhappy intimacy between characters who might not be intimate otherwise, which is something I always enjoy.
Misreading what someone wants, or enduring unwanted intimacy for someone else's sake: three fics
Kissing someone who isn't expecting it: three fics
I need your help to feel something physical, whether out of desperation or curiosity: three fics
Let's just bang for stress relief: two fics
I thought I'd have written this more often! Huh.
Playing some kind of intimacy chicken: two fics
Walking in on a sexual situation and getting invited in: two fics
Established couple invites someone else in without getting walked in on: two fics
Multiple existing relationships happen to link up into an orgy: two fics
Feelings changing for someone after picking up the possibility that they're attracted to you: two fics
Just kind of happens, let's gloss over the details: two fics
Love confession/'hey, want to be in an actual relationship?': two fics
It seems weird that I pretty much never write love confessions! But I'll be honest: I'm not a big fan of writing about clear, healthy romantic communication. It's just not something that tends to interest me in fiction!
And then there are the categories I've only written one fic each for, ranging from 'a common trope I only happen to have written once' to 'yeah, that's pretty specific':
Sleeping with other people to avoid feelings for a specific person: Closing the Circle (If We Were Villains, Oliver/everyone).
Kissing someone while half-asleep: Wasteland (Final Fantasy VIII, Squall/Zell).
Kissing practice: Education (Final Fantasy XV, Prompto/Gladio).
Hatekissing, but not during a physical fight: Material Evidence (Do Revenge, Drea/Eleanor).
Banging in a shared dream: Close Your Eyes (Danganronpa V3, Shuichi/everyone).
I need to kiss you so we'll both dream about hell tonight: See Where You Belong (The Book of Mormon, Price/McKinley).
Sleeping with someone in a workplace ritual at the instruction of your boss: The Fourth Temper (Severance, Mark/Helly).
Under the influence (of being a werewolf): Burning (The Quarry, Travis/Laura).
Just kind of feels like I should kiss you as I pull this sword out of your chest: Eternity's Edge (Revolutionary Girl Utena, Utena/Anthy).
I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing this kind of fic-by-fic analysis yourself; it's probably more effort than it's worth! But I'd be interested to hear if you've noticed any patterns in how you tend to get characters together in fiction. Do you have any favourite techniques you rely on?
no subject
I don't know how to categorise "your ghost brother watching you jerk off because you can't make contact with each other physically in a way that will let you channel his powers to avert the apocalypse".
Dumbshits hang out a lot being dumb and eventually hold hands possibly falls under "confession/dating" given that they decide on "let's make this weird".
Relationship already existed and one party very definitely didn't ask the other before stabbing him in the leg and having sex with the hole.
Uhhh... very insane person just keeps inflicting himself onto an only slightly less insane person until the latter becomes obsessed with him, sex is involved, sometimes it's even theoretically consensual?
Magical artifact of "everyone is hot" I guess
Inherits a sub from her dead boss, required to continue her boss's work for operational reasons
Fight turns into sex - probably the most common, mainly because of the bandom fics
They have an actual conversation about it! Eventually!
It just kind of happens. While one of them is a giant bug.
Magic creature forces a replay of a past sexual assault with new player.
Literally just tries to fuck someone better
Flings himself at his uncle while bleeding in a very dramatic "take me now" fashion
Drunk
Manipulation and a lot of meaningful silences x 4 (same series of fics)
He just wakes up and the sentient alien mould is... I mean it's possibly the quivalent of sex? Farming spores in his stomach.
Pays for it
Blows a stranger to avoid having gay feelings about the man he is literally stalking
Mind control, subconsciously x 2
Blows a guy to get out of trouble
Another actual conversation! Eventually! After an argument x 2
IDK They Just Are Already Dating Somehow
Encounters other guy's fetish and blackmails him into sex to keep quiet about it
Agrees to "fancy a shag then" without listening and then just goes through with it because he's a big slag.
Hmm. Mostly what I have learnt is that I wrote far fewer stories about sex than I realised and far more about people being A Massive Mess in other ways
no subject
no subject
I love 'sometimes it's even theoretically consensual', too. And 'While one of them is a giant bug' is a magnificent plot twist.
'Blows a stranger to avoid having gay feelings about the man he is literally stalking' is a contender for my favourite overall.
no subject