Unromantic Rec: halotolerant's Like Gravity

[intheyear2004.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the great idea, byslantedlight!

Title: Like Gravity
Author: halotolerant
Link to story: read here

Recs for unromantic stories are just what I'd love to see, because I really, really dislike romance. Or perhaps I just hate to be beaten over the head with it. I mean, I like to have romantic feelings invoked, but I don't like it if writers use all the old clichés to do so. Like candles, roses, declarations of undying love etc. From Doyle to Bodie or vice versa? Come on!

halotolerant's fic Like Gravity has Doyle and Bodie in love with each other without using any of the above and it moves me, it touches me, and I'm left with a feeling of contentment. See? The fic works without the cheap tricks of romantic clichés (which would make me snort and hit the back button pronto), but the effect it has on me is that of an intense love story.

Many readers have commented about her 'matter of fact style', 'clean precise language' and 'understated realism', to quote just a few, and have done her far more justice than I could, so I'll just say in closing that I loved her nitty-gritty, real and unsentimental take on the lads which fits right into Pros' canon.

Comments

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Lol - definitely depends on your definition of "romantic" I'd say, but in general I'm with you about the candles, roses and declarations of undying love! Except... I don't mind that there might be candlelight, I'm just not convinced the lads would go all out to set it up (although I know blokes who do, so it might depend on the context), and there are ways that the lads can declare undying love without it coming across, to me, as soppy and over-romantic, but in general I can't be done with long pained discussions about it, and... well, anyway! *g*

But I agree that this fic isn't any of those things! I liked it very much, although I though Bodie was maybe a bit too unemotional for the Bodie we see on screen sometimes... I could live with that though, the way the author wrote it! But definitely not over-romantic for me anyway, so I agree with you there! And thanks for the rec!

[intheyear2004.livejournal.com]

Well, you know, romantic clichés are so...harlequin! I know many readers love harlequin romances, but I really, really dislike them... to the point where I use 'harlequin' as a cuss word. And I always hate the use of clichés in whatever genre.

Yes, of course there could be candle light. But I just don't see any of the lads setting the scene like that for seducing the other. They would perhaps do so for a 'bird', but if they did it for each other the reaction would probably rather be a roar of laughter. They're just not that sappy.

There has just been an excellent rant about the use of clichés in h/c fics here: http://community.livejournal.com/fanficrants/6818073.html?format=light, where she states a lot of points which are true for other genres as well, like 1) Know Your Canon! and 7) No More Sappy Dialogue, Please!

I always feel that use of fanon clichés is just lazy writing, a short-cut to the emotions used by writers who can't be bothered to come up with something authentic.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but you have to remember that alot of Prosfic was written back before the cliches had become cliches... We're talking writers who were exploring a) their own writing skills, b) an unfamiliar sexuality (m/m), and c) an unfamiliar genre (slash). So I don't think it's possible to make a blanket statement saying that every piece of writing that uses (what's now) a fandom cliche is lazy writing (and I'm sure that's not what you're saying, I know we're both generalising like crazy - that's what people do in discussions!)

Actually, I could get even more devil's advocate-y - what about people now who've come new into fandom, new into slash and new into writing? They can't possibly have read all the fic yet, so how do they know what's a fic/fanon cliche and what isn't? Especially if they're not Harlequin/Mills and Boon readers to start with?!

Actually the first fic I ever posted (tiny little short thing) was something I'd never come across at the time, Bodie writing a letter to Doyle about what he really thought of him, so to me it was an original storyline. Of course about a year later I came across another fic with a similar premise that had been written a dozen years or so earlier, and since then a few more. So I wrote something that maybe in another ten years will be thought of as a cliche. But I didn't know! And I know I've heard of that sort of thing happening to other people.

And of course everyone has their own kinks, and some people love sappy dialogue as much as I love h/c or a touch of the BDSMs. *g* So I'm not sure that it's fair for people to say that no one should write that sort of writing... (Plus if nothing else, being told I shouldn't immediately makes me wanna go do it... I know, me mum battled for years... *g*)

But basically, because of the multiplicity of individual experiences in the world as a whole, I'm not sure you can argue that one person's "cliche" isn't another person's "authentic". Especially as that's how they came to be "cliches" in the first place... And especially with fanon - unless of course you're talking about people who've never bothered to actually watch the show they're writing about... *g*

Your cliche is my favourite trope

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

The thing is, almost everything is something that has been done before, going back centuries!

I think it's perfectly possible to take an idea that is supposedly a cliche, like Bodie & Doyle going undercover in a gay bar, and write it in a fresh way. (Lacey McBain's 'Fools in Paradise', if you're interested). And it's also possible to read an old story knowing all those things that BSL mentions about attitudes and genres and so on, and enjoy it (which is why people still read stories like Dumas' "The Three Musketeers", for example).

Actually there was a story I rather enjoyed involving Bodie setting a scene for seducing Doyle (candles included) - although the whole thing imploded, rightfully so...

Re: Your cliche is my favourite trope

[intheyear2004.livejournal.com]

I don't know the fic you mentioned, but of course it is possible for a good writer to take a cliché and turn it into something new and genuine. The thing is not everyone is a good writer, sadly.

Re: Your cliche is my favourite trope

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

True - and generalisations are difficult to discuss, because everyone reads them differently.

[intheyear2004.livejournal.com]

I think we're talking about different things here. Harlequin clichès have been harlequin clichés since even before anyone knew what the word 'harlequin' meant. There have always been ways to tell a story in a genuine way, doing the actual story telling all by yourself or just re-telling the things you've heard/read a thousand times before.

A letter from one lad to the other is not necessarily cliché - but the way it is written could be. Falling in love is not a clichè - although it happens all over again since time out of mind - but the way it is described can be either genuine and new or just same old, same old.

May be soppy declarations of undying and eternal love may be genuine for someone - but where do you find something like that in Pros' canon? Even at times when they were about to lose each other - like when Bodie was knifed in Klansmen or Doyle shot down in DIAG - they did not revert to saying things like, "Don't leave me because you're so important to me etc." but said things like, "You dumb crud, what did you have to do that for?" or things to that effect. It can therefor be argued that soppy language is at least OOC which is the opposite of good fanfiction.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Hello!

I second, third and fourth your Rec -- it is lovely isn't it? :D

I did want to point out that you've linked to part two of Halo's story. Part one is HERE (http://halotolerant.livejournal.com/20789.html)

If someone is reading it for the first time I thought it might be confusing. Thanks!

[intheyear2004.livejournal.com]

Oh dear! I'm sorry and thanks for letting me know. Will correct that in a minute.