Who would have thought that my report on slash fic writing would start with the mentioning of the character of Lori Weston. Well it does…… 😛
But before I continue with that though, I just want to explain why I am writing the report the way I am. (Invitation – Alex O’Loughlin and his shippers – Going from Bromance to Romance) I got a lot of information about slash fic writing itself, but I did not get a wide variety of actual writers responding to my invite. My aim was to find out more about the slash fiction where Alex is involved. So I am working with what I got and adding a big THANK YOU to those who did respond!
I also saw some conversations on twitter that let my thoughts take a different path to just clinically reporting back on what I found out about slash fic writing. It took me more on a general road of how we all see each other and interact because of what we believe and love.
When Lori was introduced into Hawaii-Five-0 in S2, there were a lot of comments flying around everywhere on threads surrounding the subject. I myself did not like the character, how she was introduced or the actress, but it definitely did not put me on a crusade to get rid of her. But why start here with the Lori story?
One of the things that pissed me of the most at that time, was people saying on comment boards, that the fans that did not like Lori were all ‘these women‘ that are so in love with Alex and also so delusional about him being with any woman other than themselves, that they do not even want his character of Steve to have a relationship with a woman.They apparently don’t want to see him with a girlfriend in real life either. It is INSANE!! 🙄 Nobody I know who did not like Lori have any delusions like that (well I hope not, because most are married in any case as well :wink:). And frankly, if there are any fans like that, they might want to seek professional help. I am very serious about that.
If you are so involved with you obsession about an actor, that you can not see him or his characters with other women or men in relationships, you might end up like some crazy person actually hating him. And even if you are breathtakingly pretty and do get to meet him one day and start a relationship with him, you are definitely not the right person for him if you think like that. He is an ACTOR. He plays roles that will include kissing and making out with other women in fake relationships. He has fans who he handles very lovingly. The woman in his life really need to be sure of herself and accept that for sure, otherwise she will have a hard time!!
Having said that, that is what I thought about the straight women shipping men and writing slash fic about them. That they are so “in love” with the actor (in this case Alex), that rather than have him ‘doing’ another woman, they write about him in love with a man, who are not competition for them as women.
I apologise for thinking that! Maybe we should all let go of that idea as the go to excuse when somebody thinks differently to us. 😀
What do we all want out of life? Happiness, togetherness, Ohana, love and acceptance. In our Fairy-tale world the ultimate of happiness is for Prince Charming and the Princess to get through all the obstacles, kiss and live happily for ever after. I believe that in any story that we follow, we look for that connection. Each one of us look to see which couple has the potential to tell that story of eternal love. Some of us like what the writers dish up for us and go along with it, but for those who don’t, they have to ship their own happy couple.
This is me – I ship McKono. But McKono of 3-4 seasons from now. Now at this time it is just ewwwwww to me. 😮 Once WoFat is beaten and all the McGarrett secrets have been solved, when Steve is prepared to settle down and start his Hawaiian family, he and his true counterpart, Kono will find each other and live happily ever after in their own Hawaii Five-o heaven. The End.
I do not however hate McCath for now. I love them. Michelle is such a great asset to the H5-0 team. I wish she had been there from the start as a regular. Their relationship is helping to give the new season some lighter moments and maybe some tense ones coming up soon and it is great for now. Just give her role some meat and do not let her presence take the place of the Ohana, that is my wish. 😀
And when it comes to our dearest Danno, in my eyes there is only one woman for him, Rachel. Rachel to me the most misunderstood character in the show, because the writers chose to write her the way she is – I think I hate them a little bit for that …… but it is needed to keep the story going and I have accepted that.
But Hawaii Five-0 is the brain child of the writers and producers. We are the spectators. It is their baby. In real life most of us can accept some guidance from people when raising our children, but they are ours and we all prefer to do it our own way. So let the writers be. Let them create their fantasy baby within the boundaries they are given by their network and the availability of actors and resources. We as fans however, do not have boundaries and we can create our own stories to suit our own fantasies.
I believe that, that is why there is such a need for fan fiction writing. People with writing skills and a vision for the story of the characters they choose, write and their followers read. They will also take some advice or guidance from their readers, but ultimately it is their story and they write it for themselves. When I say fanfic writers here I also include slash fic writers of course.
The biggest difference apart from the same-sex love story with fan fic and slash fic writers, is that the slash fic writers chose a pairing that will most likely never find their happiness in the story itself, because it is outside the norm of present society. They chose two very manly men that have always been straight that find a special love for each other and they write about them. This provides their stories with enough obstacles and sexual tension for them to then actually get to the “they live happily ever after” part. Fan fic and slash fic writing also do not have the boundaries that family network television have of “showing” us the actually intimacy. Fiction writers can write anything from secret glances to real hardcore sex (and the readers can choose what they would like to read).
I want to share something about myself once again just to explain where my opinions come from and why slash fic is not part of my fantasy scenarios. I have quite a number of gay people in my life, male and female and most of those men are manly men. My dearest friend is a gay man and we have known each other for more than two decades already. I am more than just his hag; we are soul mates – something like ‘Will and Grace‘ from the TV show. We have been there for each other through many relationship and the joys and heartaches that go with it.
Unfortunately I am a realist, even in my fantasy world. Some things just work in a certain way and would rarely change for me. Hence my belief that gay people normally know their orientation from an early age and although some of them try to find love in the heterosexual world, even marry and have children, they never find their true happiness until they accept themselves the way they are.
There however seems to be a small part of the population that regard themself as bi and are able to swap their sexual orientation around to fit the person that they are in love with. They look beyond the gender and they focus on the person. I think it is more commonly found amongst women than men. My gay friends also believes that there are no such thing as Bi men. For them some gay men might choose to sleep with women for some specific reason, but never for love or passion.
So in my opinion men who have been straight for 35 years of their lives and now suddenly finding love with each other as a scenario can not be ruled out, but is highly unlikely. BUT that is me and I am not going to take away anybody’s feeling or fantasy that it is possible. They might even just have always been in denial about their sexual orientation and this specific person that they love deeply, gave them the courage to admit it, who knows…..who knows and who cares, they have found love and happiness in the mind of the people who ship them. The shippers and the slash fic writer saw the potential for romance and the eternal love here and want to write it and that is their brainchild!
Most of what I have written above, inspired the specific questions I asked the slash fic writers to answer. I wanted to get a feeling of what their experiences as far as gay people are. Also if they would just ship any character that play opposite a character played by their favorite actor. And if it is about just the sex or if it included the love story behind it for them.
What I have found is that the people who have had experience in the same-sex world, would maybe write more to help people understand that world. They want to open up people’s minds to different views that are out there in the world. Whereas for the writers that have had less close relationships with gay people, it is more about the love story and this specific romance itself.
All of the writers that responded also seems to have what they call a “one true pairing” couple that they write about. It is therefore not about gay or straight for them, but it is more about those two specific characters and what they have found with each other.
And ultimately love is at the heart of all of it: love for the show; love for the characters; love for the craft of writing itself. I write slash fiction to honour the characters I fell in love with. Besides that I find it also happens to be damn good writing practice. You take two known characters and place them in a situation that, let’s face it, isn’t ever likely to happen on the show itself, and if you want it to be believable then you have to pay closer attention to things like dialogue, characterisation, the story plotting itself, and so on. It’s not always as easy as it looks, and I enjoy that challenge.
So there you have it, the reasons I slashed two characters, and I liked it.
And I bet some of you thought all we did was write gay porn. 😉
Emerald – Mick/Josef slash fic writer
I also wanted to find out how the slash writers feel about the real actors involved in the couple that they ship. There are a lot of the shippers that do in fact also ship the actors themselves. There however seems a code of honour amongst most not to write about them, at least not publish it on open forum where everybody can read it. They keep it private amongst themself and their friends.
I can understand why there seems to be a lot more people also shipping O’Caan (the real actors) than what seemed to be the case with Alex and Jason Dohring from Moonlight. Alex and Jason were in stable heterosexual relationships during the making of Moonlight. While filming Moonlight, Jason had been married for 3 years and he still is married and welcomed his new-born girl recently. Alex and Holly made a lovely loving couple and were together for more than a year by then. Being seen at public events a lot and also privately hanging around town and traveling home to Australia a few times, always looking very much in love…..
Maybe that gave the shippers less material to work with in regards to shipping the real actors than in the case of the two Hawaii-Five-0 men. Although Alex and Scott are both and have both been in relationships since the beginning of the making of Hawaii-Five-0, they are not often seen with their girlfriends or partners publicly and much less as lovebirds. It is not clear when Alex and Amber broke up and they were always very reluctant to share their relationship with the fans in any case, up until Alex moved to Hawaii.
Alex and Scott are seen together a lot because most of what we see of them are work related. BTS pictures, press conferences and charity events. There has also been a few paparazzi and fan photo’s of them around Hawaii. They are obviously great friends and do not hesitate to show their affection towards each other. They have stated that fact in interviews numerous times and Alex even proclaimed his ‘love‘ for Scott in one of their latest interviews. All of us however perceive their actions towards each other differently.
I see two very affectionate individuals who are very comfortable with whom they are. Whether they just can’t help it to be so affectionate towards each other because they are in love or just good mates, or if they do it deliberately to please the shipping fans, we will never know. For me Alex have always been comfortable to show physical contact with a lot of his friends. He was practically hanging on Jason during one interview they did for Moonlight. When it comes to his friends and loved ones and even fans, male or female his personal space is not very big. So for me it is not surprising that he would show the same kind of physical affection to his fellow actor and friend. Therefor I do not experience his physical affection towards Scott as anything new or out of the ordinary.
So to summarise this very long story of mine:
- We all love Alex as an actor and his different roles.
- We want to see him and his characters happy.
- If the story does not provide satisfaction to our fantasy, we ship.
- Some of us write about the characters we ship.
- Some of these stories also take us to the heights of passion.
Every one of us form part of the bigger fandom surrounding Alex and his work. Best thing we can do to support his career is to take hands and share that love for him. My best friends in the fandom laugh at me shipping McKono, but that does not make us enemies. Some of us like the Bromance, others see the Romance …… and in the end it is about the show and the characters we love!!
A special thanks to Emerald for suggesting that I look further into the work and lives of the slash writers and for sharing her own experience. Also thank you for all the reading material on the subject that you provided. You can find more or Emerald’s thoughts and also links to subjects regarding slash fic writing in the comments on the original invite page to the slash writers here.
Alex O´Loughlin ~ An Intense Study 