RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2006-08-24 09:45 pm
ratcreature) wrote2006-08-24 09:45 pm
Entry tags:
gratuitous poll post
I rather like D/s stories, obviously not all kinds, for example characters doing the responsible "safe, sane, consensual" thing works less well for me than stories which are a fantasy directly (like slave!fic), rather than a fantasy once removed, but I've been wondering how much characterization (as I see it in the source) matters to me in the context of this kink.
The thing is, at first I was quite sure that how I perceive characterization doesn't have a lot of impact on whether I can get into a D/s story, for example in any pairing I like my preferences for who ought to be submissive and who dominant tend to be fixed, and I figured that that was a result of who my favorite character is, rather than any actual extrapolation I was attempting from the character's personality.
I simply have a preference for my favorite character to be submissive. That is true for me in TS with Jim Ellison, in XF with Mulder, in DS with Fraser, in SW with Obi-Wan, and mostly true with Sheppard in SGA (though I'm a bit more flexible there)... however it didn't hold up in HP. My favorite character is definitely Harry, but while I do read stories with him as submissive sometimes (that is, I'm not actively turned off by those, like I am in some of my other fandoms if a D/s story for my favorite pairings doesn't match my preference), I prefer Harry to be dominant by a vast margin. And I'm not really sure why that is, it might be because submissive!Harry kind of collides with my other kink for powerful!Harry, but then again I actually want my favorite characters to remain powerful and competent, even when I like them to be submissive.
I mean, when a story works for my kinks I'm pretty easy-going wrt characterization, but one thing that will cause me to stop reading even then is when a confident and competent hero character I like is turned into a snivelling, insecure idiot or saddled with neurosis and issues that are just completely not there in canon (it's not as if they don't usually have enough problems without adding random eating disorders and the like).
Anyway, the inexplicable glitch with HP in my personal pattern aside, I still think that my preference for whom I like as submissive in a D/s story is kink for me first, not characterization, though obviously I like stories much better if they get the character to fit with my kink while staying in character or at least arriving at the OOC place starting from canon characterization in a believable progression, rather than starting OOC. And I am curious about other people, so I made a poll:
[Poll #805849]
The thing is, at first I was quite sure that how I perceive characterization doesn't have a lot of impact on whether I can get into a D/s story, for example in any pairing I like my preferences for who ought to be submissive and who dominant tend to be fixed, and I figured that that was a result of who my favorite character is, rather than any actual extrapolation I was attempting from the character's personality.
I simply have a preference for my favorite character to be submissive. That is true for me in TS with Jim Ellison, in XF with Mulder, in DS with Fraser, in SW with Obi-Wan, and mostly true with Sheppard in SGA (though I'm a bit more flexible there)... however it didn't hold up in HP. My favorite character is definitely Harry, but while I do read stories with him as submissive sometimes (that is, I'm not actively turned off by those, like I am in some of my other fandoms if a D/s story for my favorite pairings doesn't match my preference), I prefer Harry to be dominant by a vast margin. And I'm not really sure why that is, it might be because submissive!Harry kind of collides with my other kink for powerful!Harry, but then again I actually want my favorite characters to remain powerful and competent, even when I like them to be submissive.
I mean, when a story works for my kinks I'm pretty easy-going wrt characterization, but one thing that will cause me to stop reading even then is when a confident and competent hero character I like is turned into a snivelling, insecure idiot or saddled with neurosis and issues that are just completely not there in canon (it's not as if they don't usually have enough problems without adding random eating disorders and the like).
Anyway, the inexplicable glitch with HP in my personal pattern aside, I still think that my preference for whom I like as submissive in a D/s story is kink for me first, not characterization, though obviously I like stories much better if they get the character to fit with my kink while staying in character or at least arriving at the OOC place starting from canon characterization in a believable progression, rather than starting OOC. And I am curious about other people, so I made a poll:
[Poll #805849]
Errr....
I didn't know what to answer in the poll as it's a mixture of all those things really.
In HP I like the darker characters as dominants. Snape domianting Harry is my favourite by far. With Lucius as a close 2nd.
In LOTR Aragorn dominating any male characters.
In BTVS Angel dominating Spike or Spike dominating Xander or Giles dominating all or any of the above.
But I'll read any dark fics and I'm not easily squicked accept prehaps by limb amputation. Other than that I don't really mind anything else.
I guess my only rule I that I don't like good characters as dominants, although I don't mind if the bad guys are unwilling Masters.
There a few acceptions though but not many.
Sorry this seems to have turned into an essay. Lol!!
Re: Errr....
How does that work with your preference for Aragorn as dominant? He is a rather archetypal good guy? Or is that one of your exceptions? (Though I have to admit that my mind kind of boggles at the idea of LOTR D/s, as that is one of my fandoms where I stick rather closely to the canon pairings, i.e. I see Aragorn epically in love with Arwen... which doesn't lend itself to kinky scenarios *G*) Also Giles is a good guy too, even considering stuff from the "Ripper" days of his misspent youth.
Re: Errr....
Bad guys as Dominants is a HP only rule.
I'm not so picky in other fandoms, good or bad guys; it don't matter so much as long as the charcters feel right in their roles.
I love LOTR canon and Young Estel growing up in Rivendell fics have a special place in my heart but as for Arwen... I only read slash.
I'm afraid D/s in LOTR makes me melt!!
And with Fandoms, other then HP where it's pretty much shown in the canon that the line between good and bad are blurred, especially with Snape, Good guys usually have a dark side in my mind, Fanfiction just helps them discover it, even if their still fundamentally good!!
It also goes with my love of recovery fics!!