To OTP or not, that is the question

[lunabee34]

As part of the fascinating discussion over in sga_talk, one of the things we've been talking about is OTP and it got me to thinking (which, yes, is dangerous).

I am not an OTPer. In the beginnings of my fannish days, I was very devoted to Spike/Xander but after some time I began to suffer from Spander fatigue and had to search out other pairings. While I always enjoy the popular pairing of a fandom (Sam/Dean, Jack/Daniel, John/Rodney), my propensity for pairing fatigue still remains. At this point in my fannishness, what I am mostly coming to the table for is to be convinced that these wonderful things (whatever they may be--plot, backstory, pairing, secret, possible future) that never occurred to me are indeed plausible and OMG WHY DID I NOT THINK OF THEM? For that reason, I am very interested in rare pairings and in tangential characters; I think that predilection is neatly summed up in my Bates/Kavanagh fascination. :) So while I love to read and write McShep, I also really wish Sheppard was doing it with Caldwell. (I will not again subject you guys to that detailed fantasy.)

I do not approach fandom through an OTP lens. I'm okay if John and Rodney aren't together; I'm okay if they are angry with each other or mean to each other or if they break up with each other or if *gasp* they never even meet each other. I like for my characters (both written and read) to behave in ways that can be extrapolated from their canon characterization, but that's really about it for me in terms of requirement.

I like to be *surprised* by fanfic. The way I define fanfic for myself is taking the bare bones of canon and building up layers of new flesh so that the animal I create is subtly (or sometimes drastically) different than the animal canon gives us. And after awhile, if all I am reading is one pairing, I stop being surprised. Does this keep me from writing or reading said pairing? Hell no. :) But it does make me long for a wildfire of Lorne/EVERYFREAKINGBODYOMG to sweep through fandom and it does make those main pairing fics that manage to do something completely unexpected that much sweeter.

The only pairing that perhaps approaches the OTP for me is Sam/Dean, mostly because at this point in SPN canon I have a very difficult time believing that either of them could have successful relationships with anyone but each other. But, boy, do I like to read about them trying! LOL

So my question for y'all is this: Are you an OTPer? If you OTP, do you have only one (METHOS!) or do you have an OTP for each fandom? How do you think being an OTPer affects your fannish experience? If you're not an OTPer, why not? How do you think not reading/writing through that lens affects your fannish experience?

Comments

[dreamflower]

Not an OTPer, not a 'shipper at all. I do have a weakness for canon couples in my fandom, which is very *rarely* satisfied. Canon couples in my fandom are married and fidelity is expected in canon. This does not suit some OTPers, who gladly kill off or villify the wives in order to slash the husbands.

Not being a 'shipper makes it difficult. While I can enjoy fics that feature pairings, I don't get all squeeful over them, the way some people do at the mere mention of their favorite couple in a sentence. I'm a gen girl at heart, and I don't get hot and bothered at the idea of any two particular characters having sex.

I do like friendship fic; but I like it to explore the spectrum of friendships among all the major characters. There are four really major characters in my fandom, and the tendency even in gen, is to split them up two and two, disregarding the webs of relationship between the others. Same goes for the other five major characters, who are also frequently disregarded. Searching for stories that do justice to the complexity of friendships among *many* characters, even minor ones and OCs, can be futile.

In RL, people don't have only one other person in the world with them. Why does it have to be that way in fic?

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Oh man, yes. So many of the shows I enjoy feature strong ensemble casts--Buffy, Ats, Firefly, the Stargate verse. And so many fics split these groups of friends into pairs and elide the rest. And that sucks. On the one hand I get it. My Buffy fics were not ensemble fics because I had trouble with a lot of the voices. I just wrote the characters I felt comfortable with. So from the writing standpoint, it makes sense, but as a reader it is annoying.