Velveteen Hutch
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Velveteen Hutch |
| Author(s): | Sylvia Bond |
| Date(s): | 1994 |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | slash |
| Fandom: | Starsky & Hutch |
| External Links: | Velveteen Hutch |
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Velveteen Hutch is a Starsky/Hutch story by Sylvia Bond.
It was published in Turned to Fire and is also online.
This story has a companion piece called Corduroy Starsky, originally published in Venice Place Chronicles #8.
Author's Comments
Once, long ago, I was very much into Starsky and Hutch fandom. My interest these days is peripheral, but I have fond spot for it in my heart, and always will. This fandom was the one that showed me what friendship was all about; nobody could love each other the way the boys do. For some reason, while in the fandom, I produced no songvids, and only five stories, only three of which ever got published. (The other two, I recently submitted to two fanzines, and they should be out in a year.) I guess I was more involved in reading the fanfic and collecting songvids than creating anything.This post, in particular, is about the fanfiction Velveteen Hutch. You can read it on Flamingo’s Website, which is an amazing collection of all that is Starsky and Hutch. When I wrote the story I was living with Regina, who kindly took me in after my life fell apart when I was living in downtown Denver. That’s a story for another time, but while I was there, with her, I bought my first PC, and began composing my own stories for this fandom. I wrote two at slash stories the same time: Velveteen Hutch and Sky Blue and Black.
Velveteen Hutch went to Linda Cabrillo’s fanzine called Turned to Fire. I also sent her Sky Blue and Black, but she rejected it. I remember her saying, with much kindness, that the fandom didn’t much call for the kind of aggression and violence that the story contained. She did say that Velveteen Hutch was perfect (suggesting a change in the title from “The Velveteen Hutch,” to just ”Velveteen Hutch”), but I was somewhat put out. Writing Velveteen Hutch had been easy for me, with its first person viewpoint (Hutch’s) and the breezy, easy stream of consciousness that came to me as I typed. So, thusly, since it was easy, it could not possibly be worth anything. On the other hand, writing Sky Blue and Black had been hard. The story had a plot, a bad guy, two points of view, and was long. Not sure how many words, but at least three times as long as the other story. Thus, it should be worth more. But it wasn’t.
I eventually found a home for it in Caro Hedge’s Red Hot Lovers, but the zine had limited release, and very few readers. To this day, I’ve gotten very little back about it, but I still think it’s a good story...
The comments I have gotten back on Velveteen Hutch have astounded and pleased me. I was moved by the way people were affected by the story. And amazed that it’s still remembered out there in internet-land over ten years later. [1]
I thought Sky Blue and Black was the more sophisticated of the two stories [I wrote that year], but no zine wanted it on account of the level of violence in it, which, at the time, did not fit what Starsky & Hutch readers wanted. Red Hot Lovers was happy to print the story, but it got very little love.
On the other hand, Velveteen Hutch, a much simpler, easier to write story, hit the ground running. It became a fan favorite for years and years! I was a little surprised at the reception, honestly because, like I said, it was easier to write. Readers wanted the Starsky companion piece, which I wrote, finally, in 2008. It was called Corduroy Starsky. As this story came out at the tail end of the printed zine era, it didn't get much exposure.
The contrast between the reception of these stories taught me a lot about writing. The Starsky & Hutch fannish community was close knit and we all knew each other. It was like family to me. There's a story like mine behind almost every single fan fiction you will ever read. [2]
Reactions and Reviews
This is a wonderful character study, and a great introspection on all the things that Hutch could be -- and maybe *was*-- given the possibilities for his background. (Note that I say "possibilities"; character and background canon is a bit of a fluid thing in S&H). This is a soft, elegant piece that packs an emotional punch all the same, and is a must in the consideration of one Kenneth Hutchinson. [3]
It took me a while... I had passed over this story forever, just didn't seem like something I would like. But one day someone recommended it to me, and it blew me away. I almost never ever get misty while reading fan fic...but this one had tears streaming down my cheeks. If you've never read it, go do it now... [4]
I remembered the title at once, although I read it some years ago. It was tender and emotional without being soppy, and I liked it very much. The topic of "getting to feel real" was great! [5]
Oh, this story is so wonderful and I adore it so very much! The concept of being and feeling real is so lovely and fascinating, and such a good fit for Hutch, and the way you've structured the story of his life around it works gorgeously well. I ached right along with Hutch through everything!
You also got Hutch's voice just really, really right. Reading first person POV, I'm used to making allowances, because of course someone narrating is going to sound different than someone only really speaking lines of dialogue, and of course someone else's idea of what that narrative voice would sound like is never going to exactly match my headcanon - in fact, that's so often part of the fun. But in this fic, here? The voice immediately sounded perfectly like Hutch in my head. Genuinely just utterly true to character. I have no idea how you did it, but I love it to bits!
In terms of the story, this vision of Starsky teaching Hutch everything he needed to know about being a street cop is a fantastic one. So believable, and all the details, like picking clothes to hide their holsters, and the idea of how the Torino's flashiness might actually have helped them go unnoticed, add so much to that and give it such a great sense of texture. I also love the way you didn't shy away addressing racism, and showing how being raised with it might have affected Hutch. That, too, felt very believable, in the way that, yeah, he's a good-hearted and mostly open-minded person, but it still takes time to overcome ingrained prejudice.
And of course the slow relationship development between Starsky and Hutch was absolutely beautiful. It feels like such a natural progression: of course they'd happily live together after a certain point, and of course they'd be physically comfortable with each other... And then that first kiss was simultaneously so random, comfortable, wild, and contradictory - so much like what their relationship has been over the years. Just perfect!
Plus, the story feels so complete in itself, as the story of Hutch's life, his development, and his relationship with Starsky, in a way that very few fics do (at least to me). Everything important is in there, and the ending feels so much like a final small puzzle piece slipping seamlessly into place that it just leaves me with a sense of rightness and contentment. I don't know what else to say, except: Seriously, I love this fic so, so much. It's one of my absolute favorites in this fandom, and I'm so, so happy you posted it online where I could find it. ♥ ♥ [6]