So what would you call a fanfic that has same-sex characters that are shown to be together (but aren't in the source), but the story is about a straight couple (which may or may not be together in the source), not their romance but their quest to defeat an Evil Wizard?
Or, what about a fanfic (let's define that: a story that heavily borrows setting and characters from an original source, in this case Harry Potter) that's centered around two boys who're not together-- or even apparently known to one another-- in canon, and they're already together at the start of the fic, so it's not a get-together romance, and the fic itself is a mystery? All right, I'm talking about ajhalluk's `Lust Over Pendle'. Draco & Neville got together off-screen, and the fic is definitely set in the HP universe-- cannot be seen as 'normal' literature by any means-- and it's not -about- Draco & Neville being together. I think it has sex, though. Neither is it 'about' being gay-- it just has two same-sex characters (who might be bi, actually) together in a sexual/romantic/committed partnership.
I mean, most people see it as slash. In fact, enough slashfics aren't romance & are instead mysteries or slice-of-life fics or comedies-- I've written plenty of slash comedies myself, only there to amuse. Like, I remember this one fic where the 'joke' was that Harry wanted Draco and he bantered with Ron about it a lot. Was that a romance? Was it slash? Of course it was slash, but it wasn't a romance (that is, no one was 'involved' romantically with anyone-- I'm not even sure if full-on sex occurred), that's for sure, and neither was it gay literature by any stretch of the imagination.
Anyway, I just think it doesn't make sense to combine all the fics that are out there under the label of 'slash' unless you have a semi-precise yet non-exclusive definition. 'Fanfic which has same-sex characters paired together' seems to work best as far as I can see.
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Or, what about a fanfic (let's define that: a story that heavily borrows setting and characters from an original source, in this case Harry Potter) that's centered around two boys who're not together-- or even apparently known to one another-- in canon, and they're already together at the start of the fic, so it's not a get-together romance, and the fic itself is a mystery? All right, I'm talking about
I mean, most people see it as slash. In fact, enough slashfics aren't romance & are instead mysteries or slice-of-life fics or comedies-- I've written plenty of slash comedies myself, only there to amuse. Like, I remember this one fic where the 'joke' was that Harry wanted Draco and he bantered with Ron about it a lot. Was that a romance? Was it slash? Of course it was slash, but it wasn't a romance (that is, no one was 'involved' romantically with anyone-- I'm not even sure if full-on sex occurred), that's for sure, and neither was it gay literature by any stretch of the imagination.
Anyway, I just think it doesn't make sense to combine all the fics that are out there under the label of 'slash' unless you have a semi-precise yet non-exclusive definition. 'Fanfic which has same-sex characters paired together' seems to work best as far as I can see.