Smut pet peeve: First times that aren't.

[resonant]

High on my list of unpleasant story surprises is the one where you're going along, thinking you're reading a first-time story, and then you hit a line like this:

"They'd been fooling around since fourth year, of course, but they'd never done this."

Or something like this:

" 'C'mere,' he said. 'It's been days. I've been going nuts.' "



Now, see, maybe this is just me, but when I read a slash story, and there's rising sexual tension but no actual touching, I'm going to assume it's a first-time story unless the writer finds a way to tell me otherwise.

A first-time story is a particular kind of pleasure. A fuckbuddies-turn-to-something-deeper story and an established-relationship story are different pleasures -- and while they can be done well, to my mind they're generally lesser pleasures.

So if your story appears to promise a first-time scene, and then it delivers a fuckbuddies-go-deeper scene -- even if it's a very, very good fuckbuddies-go-deeper scene -- I'm going to be disappointed.

This is something I don't get, because it's so easy to avoid. If they're in an established relationship, mention that some conversation took place this morning while Ray was shaving and Fraser was brushing his teeth. If you're planning to tell me eventually that they've been fooling around since fourth year, tell me on page one, not after I've been watching their apparently new attraction unfold for fifteen pages.

Just don't get my hopes up.

Comments

[ukcalico.livejournal.com]

What an excellent tiger!

And yes. Narrative clumsiness = best way to puncture the hot smouldering ust balloon.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Pretty, no? It's from one of kidlet's Animal Folktales books (as is this one).

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

I'm disappointed as well when what looks like a first-time story turns out not to be. Many people incorporate something into the summary of a story that flags pre-existing relationships, but once in a while, there's that unpleasant mid-story surprise.

So it's not shallow and immature to like the first-time dynamic better than established relationship scenarios?

[panisdead.livejournal.com]

I hope it's not immature, because I sure prefer it. The "stealth established relationship" story is also a huge pet peeve of mine.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Not shallow at all.

What I like -- what I read slash for -- are stories about relationship transitions. About moments when people take a risk, face a fear, overcome resistance and gain a deeper intimacy.

First-time stories are guaranteed to deliver that, just by virtue of being first-times.

You would think established-relationship stories could do that as well, but very few of them do. Mostly they're either basically gen stories punctuated by kissing or something like "And then there were peaceful years filled with very good fucks. Here's one of the better ones." Yawn.

[panisdead.livejournal.com]

"And then there were peaceful years filled with very good fucks. Here's one of the better ones."

I wish this was not so painfully true, and that I was not laughing so hard.

[evilprettykitty.livejournal.com]

I just read something today that did this to me! I was so annoyed!

[lotesse]

I actually rather prefer established relationship stories, but I still find it terribly frustrating when a story turns into something different in the middle. For one thing, it's shoddy writing. If they've been fooling around since fourth year it ought to be apparent in their manner, speech, and interaction. If other people know about it, they'll react appropriately. If it's a secret, that's going to have an impact too. The thing is that relationships, even just fuckbuddies, change interpersonal dynamics, and good writing show how this particular relationship changes these particular dynamics. That's why it's interesting.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I agree with completely here -- I think there's a logical step missing between "the author didn't make it explicit that that the characters have a sexual/romantic relationship early in the story" -- which is what I read resonant8's annoyance as -- and what you're saying here, which is more like "the author has not taken that relationship and its effects into account in writing the characters." I mean, sometimes the two things go together, but I don't think they always do. Because, I mean, I've read some stories with Resonant's pet peeve clearly that, where I get halfway through before I realize the two guys are supposed to be together, and been able to go back to the beginning and reread them and have their interactions and dialogue, etc, strengthened by that background knowledge, even have it clarify things.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

I agree with you, but also think that a lot of it is about intention; like, I did a story that deliberately did this, which was Merry Go Round, where you're meant to suddenly see that you're in an established relationship story and be a little shocked by that. And it's not my best work or anything, but I think that a lot of it is about what you said, Peral--the writer taking the relationship into account when writing the characters.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I love first-time stories. Love them to an exclusivity that is probably unhealthy, if I think about it.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Oh, me too. (See above (http://www.livejournal.com/users/resonant8/81150.html?replyto=1311742) on relationship transitions.)

It's not just the novelty. It's having something at stake.

[serasarahhhh.livejournal.com]

hehehe, I was scrolling through the comments just waiting for you to pop up! ^.^ Yay for first-time!

[goldie.livejournal.com]

HAH! Yay for the daily_snitch and alter egos!

[stellahobbit.livejournal.com]

I love first-time stories. I like watching how the characters build up to the point where they've just got to do something.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Ack. What a horrible fic crime you describe.

A first-time story is a particular kind of pleasure. A fuckbuddies-turn-to-something-deeper story and an established-relationship story are different pleasures -- and while they can be done well, to my mind they're generally lesser pleasures.


Melikes these categories. I adore first-time. I love and adore it. And the longer the fic lasts till consummation, the better. But the consummation also has to be done consummately well, otherwise it is a let-down. I have read many fics with delicious run-ups and endless wonderful sexual tension and then, all of a sudden, they're kissing and immediately fucking and moaning, and it's like: oh. Is that all there is to a sex act?

The pinnacle of the story has to be that first touch, that first thing that crosses the boundary -- that has to be the ultra-delicious, spine-tingling paragraph that I keep reading and re-reading and going squee-squee about.

Now fuck-buddies turn to something deeper: I also adore this. I see Resonant as that. Well, it's a bit first-time, too, but once the first-time is over, it morphs into fuck-buddies-turn-to-something-deeper. I actually love this way around. I love the contradiction in it, the physical intimacy and the holding-back on the emotional intimacy, the having-to-pretend while kissing and fucking, and the nonchalant laddishness that one can get in the dialogue, the beer drinking and drunken fucking -- ah, I could wax on about this for pages!

Established relationship? *yawns* It is so marauder, and so Viggo-Bean. *falls down bored* I can only get really excited about it if it's BDSM.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I have read many fics with delicious run-ups and endless wonderful sexual tension and then, all of a sudden, they're kissing and immediately fucking and moaning, and it's like: oh. Is that all there is to a sex act?

Yes! This especially bugs me where the characters are not just new to one another but virgins (hello, HP writers, I'm talking to you) -- I mean, hell, necking is fantastic; why shy away from it when you've got a good canonical reason to keep them all hot and bothered and mostly-clothed for hours on end?

The pinnacle of the story has to be that first touch, that first thing that crosses the boundary

In my head I call that the Transition. The first moment when you can't take it back. I love it.

the physical intimacy and the holding-back on the emotional intimacy, the having-to-pretend while kissing and fucking

Bless your soul. I always knew you were a wise and discerning reader. Seriously, though, that was the very thing I loved, and I love it as a reader, too -- the sense that there are still defenses left unbreached, and that in fact those defenses are being strengthened and reinforced even while the sex is happening, to prevent any further vulnerability.

I have sometimes read and enjoyed established-relationship stories (see above (http://www.livejournal.com/users/resonant8/81150.html?replyto=1311742) on relationship transitions), but oddly, the ones I've really liked have been painful. There's so much at stake, when it's done right, and the longer the relationship has lasted, the more ways they know to hurt each other in order to protect themselves.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I actually love this way around. I love the contradiction in it, the physical intimacy and the holding-back on the emotional intimacy, the having-to-pretend while kissing and fucking, and the nonchalant laddishness that one can get in the dialogue, the beer drinking and drunken fucking -- ah, I could wax on about this for pages!

Eeeeee! Yes, that's probably my favorite type of fic. In fact, the RPG I'm writing in now, the characters are in an established relationship and have been for the past year and a half, but before that there was like 12 years of trying to fool themselves into thinking they were nothing more than fuckbuddies.

I think I actually don't like first time stories all that much because they tend to be the whole fic building up to the climax where they fall in love and have sex, and I'd really rather have them shagging first and love develop somewhere along the line.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Duh. Not Resonant (duh, that is you) but I mean Transfiguration. I've been shining my sink too often, clearly.

[lapillus]

Exactly! I find that with other than first time stories I generally want a strong plot independent of the relationship. While I also like this with first times, I really need it for others. They joy for me there is seeing how the relationshp and its evolution fit into the larger world.