~~ story vs. wank: mach 2

I keep thinking about shipping preferences in regard to canon vs. fanon, especially in regard to why I feel I have far less in common with the people who saw H/Hr subtext in canon than the people who see R/Hr subtext in canon (even though I think of myself as a largely 'fanon'-type shipper as I tend to go for slash anyway), forget shipping preferences for a moment.

I've read the H/Hr-er's group letter to JKR and nearly all of them kept saying that 'this is how the books should be because this is how True Love is'-- and that is the base fallacy as I see it. I believe that a good story isn't about reaching some abstract ideal you admire or think is hot or whatever-- it's not about where you end up. It's about how you get there, and the internal integrity of that progression most of all. The end should be dependent on what all came previous & thusly make sense, not the other way around.

As soon as you-the-shipper starts saying 'this is what the characters should want' for whatever reason (even the best of reasons, like 'this is what's Really Love'), you stop talking about the rhyme & reason of Story and start talking about the rhyme & reason of Fantasy (as in, wank fantasy, not the fiction genre). And while Story and Wank Fantasy do often coexist, I believe the nature of a good story is that it basically tells itself: you-the-writer listen to what your characters want, and then compare it to what -you- want them to do, and try to work out a compromise that makes everyone happy. Not in happy-ending way, either-- happy in a self-realization way.

It's that same 'character first, emotional preference second' predisposition, I think, and it explains why even though I mostly read/write slash, I don't actually go through many pairings. It's just that most things don't seem plausible to me from an extrapolative standpoint, and it doesn't even occur to me to ask, 'but would I like this to happen' if I don't think it ever would for that character. That's my version of canon respect. I don't think Harry would even register Hermione on his sexual radar in any universe, 'cause she's just not his -type-, whereas I feel Draco is close to Harry's type (the pairing's not that archetypally different from H/G), and it's just that circumstances would never allow it to happen in canon reality.

This 'plausible but technically impossible' thing tends to be what I really enjoy about my slash pairings in general-- though it depends on whether I feel the canon relationship is missing something or not. For instance, I feel Harry & Ron's or Kirk & Spock's friendship in their respective canon is pretty fully realized and complete, so it doesn't -need- to be sexualized. It wouldn't benefit from it; therefore, H/R and K/S slash may be enjoyable but ultimately feels wrong-headed to me, as if it's missing the point of the pre-existing relationship.

( ...man, I can really go on about this, can't I. )

~~

PS. For non-spoilery proof of both R/Hr and H/G in canon, this essay by ginny_weasley is the only one I'd need.