Mini-meta on writing femslash set in difficult eras or locations
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Mini-meta on writing femslash set in difficult eras or locations |
| Creator: | woldy |
| Date(s): | May 13th, 2012 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | Femslash |
| External Links: | Mini-meta on writing femslash set in difficult eras or locations |
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Mini-meta on writing femslash set in difficult eras or locations is a post by woldy.
Excerpts
2) Distinguish between the historical time and place and the source canon.Sometimes the source canon can by unfriendly to femslash even if the time and place are femslash-friendly, for instance because there are very few female characters. Alternatively, the source may be very femslash-friendly even if the time and place are less so. Making this distinction can open more possibility for femslash stories, for instance by finding a canon that has more female characters and/or canonically queer female characters, or by checking out femslash-friendly canonical sources to find examples of how lesbian relationships might have worked in that historical place and time.
Examples: Tipping the Velvet (book & BBC series), which is set in Victorian London and has canonical lesbian romances, and The House of Eliot (BBC series) which is set in 1930s London and has one minor lesbian pairing in canon and tons of femslash potential through lots of great female characters.
4) Acknowledge the constraints and opportunities of the context in your story. Or don't.Examples: I've written BBC Merlin femslash set in a fantasy medieval period, including Gwen/Morgana, Morgana/Nimueh, and foursomes involving the ladies. Some of my stories openly challenge the sexist and heterocentic context depicted in the source canon (e.g. The Line Dividing), some acknowledge that context more subtly (e.g. Centre of Gravity) , and others focus on the romance and don't explicitly acknowledge the constraints of the context (e.g. Chronology). I think it depends on the source canon, the characters, your readers, and most of all what you feel like writing.
Comments
[snowynight]:Nice essay. I really like the points you mention. I once wrote Belle/Esmeralda in Disney, which was set in a fictional 19th century, and the difficulty didn't generally come into play because I figure a canon with magic and flying carpet doesn't exactly needs to have homophobia. Just mention it as a data point.
[el_staplador]:I am working my way backwards through fem_thoughts, and wanted to express my love for this post without having a huge amount to add. I recognise a lot of what you've said here from my current WiP (an OFC/OFC swashbuckler set in the Prisoner of Zenda 'verse) - and have had a huge amount of fun playing with the time/place/genre expectations.