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the typical fic
There is a Typical Fic in the 2K - 8K range, and approximately 1/3 of this Typical Fic is the Advertised Porn. Sometimes it's closer to 40%, sometimes closer to 25%, but 30% is the most common ratio.
The remaining fic is usually something like 50-69% Getting There, 1-10% Sex is Next, with 1-10% Aftermath. "Getting There" most typically includes groundwork for the trope (we are best friends realizing our feelings; we're enemies but we're in prison together; aliens are going to make us do it! etc). Groundwork for the trope can be laid by talking about the trope (which was set into motion pre-fic, e.g. the enemies start in prison) or plot to make the trope happen (e.g. the enemies team up against a Bigger Enemy and get caught and thrown in prison).
"Sex Is Next" refers to the denouement of "Getting There." The best friends confess they love each other, the enemies get bored and one mentions there's nothing to do but The Do, the aliens who are making them do said do are herding them toward the arena. In other words, the plot is either resolved or stops; the other characters go away; there is a moment of They're Going To Do It before they, you know, Do It.
The Advertised Porn is whatever kink or tropes are referenced in the title, tags, and/or summary (usually all three).
Aftermath length can vary wildly depending on whether Getting There involved Plot (the enemies have to get out of prison) or Talking About It. The aftermath for the latter is usually How They Feel about each other, usually with a little nod to how they Got There ("Why did it take us so long?" "See you next time you're in prison!" "Let us never speak of that planet again.")
I don't have any particular value judgments about the Typical Fic as I've laid it out. I have come across examples both terrible and amazing. I was just wondering if you have thoughts about it, including but not limited to: how did we arrive at these ratios, is this a pwp, what are your thoughts on yaoi
The remaining fic is usually something like 50-69% Getting There, 1-10% Sex is Next, with 1-10% Aftermath. "Getting There" most typically includes groundwork for the trope (we are best friends realizing our feelings; we're enemies but we're in prison together; aliens are going to make us do it! etc). Groundwork for the trope can be laid by talking about the trope (which was set into motion pre-fic, e.g. the enemies start in prison) or plot to make the trope happen (e.g. the enemies team up against a Bigger Enemy and get caught and thrown in prison).
"Sex Is Next" refers to the denouement of "Getting There." The best friends confess they love each other, the enemies get bored and one mentions there's nothing to do but The Do, the aliens who are making them do said do are herding them toward the arena. In other words, the plot is either resolved or stops; the other characters go away; there is a moment of They're Going To Do It before they, you know, Do It.
The Advertised Porn is whatever kink or tropes are referenced in the title, tags, and/or summary (usually all three).
Aftermath length can vary wildly depending on whether Getting There involved Plot (the enemies have to get out of prison) or Talking About It. The aftermath for the latter is usually How They Feel about each other, usually with a little nod to how they Got There ("Why did it take us so long?" "See you next time you're in prison!" "Let us never speak of that planet again.")
I don't have any particular value judgments about the Typical Fic as I've laid it out. I have come across examples both terrible and amazing. I was just wondering if you have thoughts about it, including but not limited to: how did we arrive at these ratios, is this a pwp, what are your thoughts on yaoi
no subject
It's hotter to a lot of us if the characters interior lives are explored.
That is definitely true for me. Of course, I'm the person who read the lead-up and post-coital pillow talk for MANY SPN kinkmeme fills that were about kinks I wasn't even into, just because the premise sounded emotionally interesting. On the other hand, if it's not emotionally interesting at all, then I get impatient with that part even if they are my kinks.
However, I think you can absolutely get that interiority while also devoting a lot more than 30% of the fic to porn. It just kind of depends on your set up, and how much of the story is happening DURING the porn as opposed to BEFORE the porn.
And I think there's also the thing where we assume the porn is the narrative climax as well as the other kind, and sometimes that's just not true. In one of the fics I was looking at, after the sex, the fic has another 20 or 25% to go, because the sex is just the catalyst for what the story was actually about. In fairness, that was the one that I felt least sure about calling porn in the first place.
no subject
Part of my point with this post is that the sex is not the narrative climax at all; it is in fact its own arc, either occurring after the plot arc or in fact during the plot arc, but with a separate climax. For instance, in friends-to-lovers the climax is a mutual declaration of feelings, which usually occurs before the sex, which makes the 30% of sex that fails another narrative arc (because it's too long and has too much shape to simply be the denouement). In enemies-in-prison, the narrative climax is getting out of prison/escape/defeating the bad guy, but the sex has no part in the "rising action" because it did nothing to escalate the plot and everything to escalate their relationship, thus making their relationship a second narrative arc within the plot arc of their capture.
Now I go to look at your porn post!