*raises hand* I'm exactly the same way when it comes to writing romantic pairings - I'll do it on occasion, but it always feels really wonky and I'd much rather write a plotty genfic than anything with a hint of romance. Like you, I want to make the fic a real gift to my recipient, but feeling like I absolutely had to write het or slash would make me seriously consider defaulting.
That said, I've only ever done Yuletide once thus far, but the request I chose last year was basically for a one-character fandom, and was thus 100% gen - and so the fic I wrote was an entirely gen action/adventure fic, and it was received really well. My own requests were gen, with a little leeway if people wanted to shoehorn in their OTPs, but the awesome fic I received was pretty much 100% gen as well.
I think that being gen-minded puts you in a less awkward position in some respects, because putting a gen slant on a romantic prompt can be seen with the right goggles as pre-slash or pre-het, whereas putting a romantic slant on a gen prompt can bring the wrath of shipwars down on your head. ;) I get the impression that the requests themselves traditionally aren't too demanding or specific - I'd be uncomfortable if they were. Sometimes people will post something like: "I'd love to see some hawt A/B sexxors, but failing that, anything about their relationship would be interesting", and that's ideal, because it opens you up to writing friendship fic. Ultimately, I've never really seen Yuletide as the NC-17-fest that lots of bigger ficathons invariably seem to become - it's about quality writing in small fandoms.
And keep in mind that these are often fandoms that have little to no fic available at all - folks aren't going to be so picky. ;)
In short: I'm with you on this, and acing Yuletide with genfic can indeed be done. :)
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dancing_serpent
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-05 11:54 pm (UTC)That said, I've only ever done Yuletide once thus far, but the request I chose last year was basically for a one-character fandom, and was thus 100% gen - and so the fic I wrote was an entirely gen action/adventure fic, and it was received really well. My own requests were gen, with a little leeway if people wanted to shoehorn in their OTPs, but the awesome fic I received was pretty much 100% gen as well.
I think that being gen-minded puts you in a less awkward position in some respects, because putting a gen slant on a romantic prompt can be seen with the right goggles as pre-slash or pre-het, whereas putting a romantic slant on a gen prompt can bring the wrath of shipwars down on your head. ;) I get the impression that the requests themselves traditionally aren't too demanding or specific - I'd be uncomfortable if they were. Sometimes people will post something like: "I'd love to see some hawt A/B sexxors, but failing that, anything about their relationship would be interesting", and that's ideal, because it opens you up to writing friendship fic. Ultimately, I've never really seen Yuletide as the NC-17-fest that lots of bigger ficathons invariably seem to become - it's about quality writing in small fandoms.
And keep in mind that these are often fandoms that have little to no fic available at all - folks aren't going to be so picky. ;)
In short: I'm with you on this, and acing Yuletide with genfic can indeed be done. :)