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On the Borderline
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Title: | On the Borderline |
Creator: | Shomeret |
Date(s): | January 23, 2000 |
Medium: | online |
Fandom: | |
Topic: | Fanfiction, slash, should you tell an author you think their story is pre-slash? |
External Links: | On the Borderline/WebCite |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
On the Borderline is an essay by Shomeret.
It is part of the Fanfic Symposium series.
Excerpts
Early in the history of slash there were some slashers who thought that hurt/comfort was closet slash and that eventually slash would replace h/c. This prediction turned out to be wrong. The h/c syndrome has its own special attraction, and it's become a sub-genre within slash as well as having its gen manifestations.Yet there are still stories that seem to strongly imply slash without actually going there. This is called pre-slash because the relationship described in the story seems to be traveling toward the slash destination.The pre-slash concept is fraught with controversy since we're talking subtext here, and as I pointed out in "Subtext Anxiety" no writers like to be told about something in their fiction that they didn't intend.
If someone writes a story of this type and follows it with an overt slash sequel, then we can safely call it pre-slash. The author has shown that slash subtext in the original was intentional. Yet if you call something pre-slash when the author never intended it, then watch out.
Reactions and Reviews
Short but meaningful article which brings up the brilliant point about how often h/c and slash walk hand in hand... but that relationship should not necessarily be implied or expected or analyzed (unless you're reading my stuff and then even gen h/c can easily come out as slash- LOL!) [1]
References
- ^ Essay/Thought Recs; archive link (April 18, 2006)