Camping (trope)
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Related tropes/genres | Wilderness Survival |
| See also | Huddling for Warmth |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Fanfiction is rife with camping stories.
The trope differs from Wilderness Survival in that the wilderness setting is by choice, rather than forced.
One appeal of camping stories may be getting characters out of their usual element and away from everyday distractions.
Camping provides a wealth of H/C scenarios involving snowstorms, flooded rivers, rock slides, falls from high places, and ferocious wild animals. The wilderness can also be populated by escaped criminals, wily moonshiners, and other dangerous humans. Snakebites and the subsequent sucking the venom out of one's partner, and medicinal snuggling in a sleeping bag for warmth are popular tropes. The h/c possibilities also include close body contact to leading to first time sex.
Canon Camping
Some fandoms have canon camping. The Sentinel has several episodes that send Jim and Blair into the woods. Even Starsky and Hutch gets the two big-city cops in close contact with a rattlesnake, sleeping bags, and the threat of "biting cows." Other canons where characters go camping for whatever reason include Torchwood, Harry Potter, Brokeback Mountain, and The Hobbit. Fandoms with no canon camping have to work a little harder at getting their characters into the woods.
Examples of Camping Fanworks
- Wilderness is a Starsky and Hutch zine by Lorraine Bartlett and is legendary in the fandom for its H/C
- "Something" by Mary Kay in First Time #63. In it, Kirk and Spock go camping to help Kirk come to terms with their last mission which went horribly wrong.
- Boys' Own Camping Adventure by Grimslasher, a Harry Potter story, has Sirius and Remus share a tent. This story was written long before the canonical camping adventure in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
- Flying Blind by Speranza is one of many, many post-COTW Due South stories in which Fraser and Kowalski go camping in the Arctic.
- Intersections by Kaneko, a Sheppard/McKay SGA story set in Antarctica, has a sex scene in a tent.
Some Camping Fanart
a Professionals cartoon by Karen Eaton from BritWit #3
"Picnic", showing Sulu, Uhura and Chekov (?) from Star Trek TOS. Front cover of T-Negative #14, Lois Spooner and Anthony Tollin.
panoramic interior of Wilderness, a Starsky and Hutch zine, artist is Connie Faddis; it portrays some frolic in a mountain stream, click to enlarge
Spock and Kirk, inside page from The Turbolift Review #2, Merle Decker for Objet Trouve
"Campfire" by Suzan Lovett for Magnificent Seven
