Favorite and Least Favorite Themes

[tinturtle]

Today I reread the very amusing Least Favourite Themes Drabble by The Hag (hagsrus).

What are your favorite and least favorite themes/tropes/story elements in Pros fic? What would your ideal story have in it? What about your own least favorite themes drabble?

Comments

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

*snirk* That is priceless.

[tinturtle]

I like hurt/comfort, believed-dead plots, amnesia, melodrama generally, undercover as gay, arcs about overcoming internalized homophobia, fics with backstory, dæmon fic, and sci-fi AUs, especially if the characters retain analogous jobs and backgrounds.

I don't like rape fics, years-long separations, permanent disability, fics with open endings, or AUs that give the Lads totally different lives or histories. That said, I think I have examples of all of those things except the last in my collection of favorite Pros fics.

[grey853.livejournal.com]

I love h/c and angst fics, especially if the focus is on Bodie hurt and Ray providing the comfort. I love stories that give us the backstory of either man, but I will admit to a strong Bodie preference. I don't mind crossovers especially if it's with a favorite fandom such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. or Starsky and Hutch. I enjoy first time stories or when they're struggling with coming to terms with their true feelings. I like episode-based stories, where the writer shows what happened after they went home.

My list of least favorite is much longer. I don't do death fics. I also don't care for the following: mpreg, gender swap, bdsm, partner betrayal, Cowley as a complete S.O.B., AUs where it might as well be original fic because there's no resemblance to Bodie or Doyle. I don't care for Ray as an elf or some other mythical character. I don't mind violence in a story, but there needs to be a reason. Don't give me pages of torture and then no payoff of comfort and recovery.

And on a general note, I find reading first person and/or present tense not as appealing as third person.

I'm not a fan of drabbles in general. I prefer a meaty, long story with lots of development and detail.

[tinturtle]

I love h/c and angst fics

Ah yes, "angst" was probably the word I was looking for when I wrote "melodrama."

I don't mind crossovers especially if it's with a favorite fandom such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. or Starsky and Hutch.

Have you read The Discovered in a Congo Prison Affair by jj_minerva? It is my favorite crossover between Pros and MFU.

And on a general note, I find reading first person and/or present tense not as appealing as third person.

Heh. Both of my Pros fics are present tense and first person.

[grey853.livejournal.com]

Physical traumas don't always trump the emotional ones, which is why I enjoy an angsty story as much as a h/c filled with lots of battering of the lads. As long as in the end there's enough comfort to balance it all out, I'm good with that.

I have read that story and it a good one. I love it when an author can fill in the backstory for one or more of the characters.

A lot of authors, and readers, enjoy the first person/present tense narrative style, but it just doesn't suit me most of the time. I much prefer the more traditional narrative style. It doesn't mean one is better than the other. It's just a personal preference.

Speaking of work, I do love your fanvids! That's a fine art and not one I've ever mastered other than in the appreciation side of it.

[tinturtle]

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoy them. I need to make another one soon.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

The Hag is a master at humour. I just read all of her stories on Proslib this past week.

I have read probably read every sort of story written because zines don't generally have warnings and when I read a zine I go from cover to cover. I have bailed on stories when death seems to be on the horizon for either lad, and I will read the last page if I'm not sure.

There are stories I avoid: death, AIDS, Doyle as pitiful, Bodie as cruel (he's almost always the rapist in a partner rape story), Cowley lusting after either lad (it's so OCC to me)... I'm sure there's more. LOL! I also like a good crossover but I'm very particular about the other fandom. I have to at least marginally like it and none of the other characters should be with Bodie and/or Doyle, at least by the end. Bodie and Doyle can have other lovers, male and female, but I want a happy ending. Ambiguous is a tad annoying but I can sometimes forgive it on a super story. And no gen. It is actually the most unfulfilling of the genres to me.

I will read any AU. Of course, some are better than others but I love a good AU. It takes my brain on a happy journey picturing the lads in any place or time.

[tinturtle]

Doyle as pitiful

Indeed. I forgot to list that among my dislikes, though it's another case where I do have an example among my favorite fics (a mild one, in this case).

Bodie as cruel (he's almost always the rapist in a partner rape story)

Yes, I've noticed that. I said in a recent comment that I'm game for most adventures in characterization. Partner rape has never seemed plausible to me, though. I've encountered one story that came close—which I think the author wrote expressly to see if she could make the trope believable—but it still didn't quite convince me. (Bodie was the aggressor in that one, too.)

And no gen.

Hee.

[grey853.livejournal.com]

I didn't even think of that. Doyle as pitiful and Bodie as cruel, especially to Ray or an innocent, is totally out of character in my mind. I shudder and just back away.

[ali15son.livejournal.com]

I will read most fics especially h/c if it's Bodie being hurt and Doyle being the comforter and i will read a death fic if it's believable but i'm not so keen on au's. I read one of my favourite fics recently "October" by Rowan which for me sums up the partnership perfectly.

ETA....seeing cim3745 post below , elves, i don't read them, and any fic that includes Bodie fancying his boss , it's Bodie and Doyle together (or just Bodie) for me.

[tinturtle]

I also read deathfic. It seems pretty common in this fandom (more than in MFU, my other major fandom), so it's interesting how many Pros fans still avoid it entirely.

I have read October. It's good for what it is, but that is not a thing I particularly like.

[ali15son.livejournal.com]

I love the fic "october" i don't understand what you mean by it's good for what it is, but then each to their own.

[cim3745.livejournal.com]

Least Favourite Themes Drabble sums it up perfectly :-)

mpreg, B/C and elves — I can't even try. Even a brilliant writer can't make me believe that.

I'm not keen on sci fi and have some problems with AUs and crossovers. Two of my top ten stories are AUs ....... :-)

Tags I can't resist: h/c, angst, first meet, amnesia, believed dead and need the lads at least nearly happy at the end

But there are some good death fics I like to read occasionally.

[tinturtle]

mpreg, B/C and elves — I can't even try.

The Least Favorite Themes Drabble was the first mpreg story I'd ever read. I've since read a proper one in another fandom, just to see what it was like. I wasn't squicked, but I don't get the appeal. And the trope doesn't work well in realistic settings, of course.

I don't feel differently about elves than about one of the Lads being any other sort of supernatural creature. That feeling might be described as open but skeptical.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good question.... My ideal story would have a plot, and humour, and depth and absolute knowledge of the lads from the eps, even if the author interprets an ep or trait slightly differently to the way I usually do. I like a dark theme now and then, although I want it to work our for our lads together, or at least to be left with the possibility it could. I don't want to be told that a story is a Happy-Ever-After story, because that ruins the tension of it, but I can't really get behind stories that don't end well for them - I'm always disappointed at the end! That said, I'd rather be unspoiled and disappointed than given a list of tags or promised a HEA so I know exactly what's going to happen...

I like angst and partner worry, but only up to an extent - I don't like it to get too soppy, or the lads too weak and wimpish about things. They cope with the harsh world of CI5 for goodness sake — I like to see them flawed and struggling, but I've also got to see them as strong enough to cope with it all. They might break at the end — but if they broke too hard they wouldn't be able to come back to CI5, and I like them in that world.

What else... I can't stand super-Bodie fics; I've got to the point where I put them right down! The idea that Bodie is some perfectly wise, tough, strong being who is there to support the more innocent, emotional, wimpish Doyle is just more than I can bear... Neither of our lads is perfect, and they each have their own strengths to support the other, and that's what I like to see — their equality and counterbalance. Their chalk-and-cheese-ness! *g*

I quite like a fic where they're reunited after having been separated for years — usually because they've been forced apart, not through choice — because there's so much that can happen in a reunion, and they're rarely smooth and perfect. It makes for such intriguing interactions between them, if done right.

I like AUs as long as our lads are still our lads. They can be in outer space or an elvish land, or have entirely different careers, as long as I see their very own characters and reactions shining out of them...

I could go on and on, I think - but I'd better not. *g*

[tinturtle]

Ooh, good question...

Glad you like it. It seems to have done the trick of stirring up a little discussion.

I quite like a fic where they're reunited after having been separated for years

This is the premise of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. reunion movie. People usually dismiss the movie as canon, though. That's partly because it just wasn't very good, but I think the fact that people hate this plot element is also part of it, too. Isn't years-long separation a marker of one of the higher levels in the angst scale?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I've only just seen your angst scale question, and now realise this is where it's come from! *g*

And lol, Alexandra has put 10-year separation as Level 4/5, but I'm not entirely sure it should be ranked more highly than Doyle won't let Bodie f**k him because of child abuse memories...!

Also, who are these "people" who hate the plot element — I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes it!!

[tinturtle]

Nope, everyone except you hates years-long separations of the heroes. They only write stories about them because they are perverse.

In seriousness, though, there are a few MFU writers who take the reunion movie as a jumping off point for fic or who come up with their own plots involving long separations. Presumably those fans find that scenario interesting and don't hate it. Based on comments, though, I think most MFU fans do hate the idea of Illya and Napoleon being separated for 10+ years. This fits in with the angst scale, as MFU tends to have lower levels of angst on average than Pros.