gratuitous poll post

[ratcreature]

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]

Comments

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

[Here from metafandom. [wave]]

I said "something else entirely" because my d/s preferences don't quite fit any of the other answers. :P Most of the time I'm a shallow person who goes by the age and body type thing -- the smaller/weaker guy or the younger guy is the sub, and if the smaller one is significantly older then that just messes everything up in my brain. [laugh/flail] (Yes, I know that in real life physical size and strength have nothing to do with a power exchange, but this is just how I'm wired to enjoy things.)

However, that said, a good writer can make me buy just about anything, in all areas of fanfic and not just BDSM. I know someone who plays Adam Baldwin (the actor who plays Jayne in Firefly and Serenity) over in Citadel and she plays this six-foot-four stack of rippling muscle as a switch, which means about half the time he's taking the bottom and/or submissive role. Usually I wouldn't be interested but this person is a great writer and I love reading her Adam. She makes it work for me and I have no problem seeing Adam dominated by someone significantly smaller and weaker. And in the same game, someone else plays Elijah Wood as a dominant. o_O That's all kinds of weird, and a less skilled writer wouldn't be able to pull it off IMO, but Jess rocks and she makes it work. He's very Elijah, but when he's in dom mode he's strong and... dominating, and without abandoning any essential part of his character. It doesn't feel like the dom part of him is stuck on with duct tape; it works smoothly and it's hot and I love reading it, despite how it goes against my usual preference.

I guess my answer is that I DO have a clear preference for the character's role, but I'm fine as long as the writer makes me believe it. :)

Angie

[ratcreature]

Yeah, the "really good writer" exception makes me see and read a lot never thought I would consider, but that's not really how my actual preferences work or particular to my D/s kink, it's more a case of fiction working for me despite my preferences. I mean, I have read stories making me believe all kinds of things about characters for the duration of the story, that I would have never thought I could buy. For example despite liking D/s I have a domestic discipline squick about a mile wide, especially when it's played non-sexual, yet I have read stories making me not only like it, but buy it for the characters.

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I like good writing and that'll trump just about anything. :) I don't really have any squicks, but there are some things that don't generally do anything for me, you know? But if it's sufficiently well-written, all bets are off.

Angie