On the Borderline

Meta
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
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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!)