If you want to write erotic fan fiction, you need to think about boundaries–and then you need to push back against them!
Fan fiction author Celandine Brandybuck explored this dynamic in a personal essay about Slash Fanfiction, a fan fiction genre which focuses on romance and sex between same-sex characters.
We have highlighted her insights to give you writing advice to apply to your own work. Here’s what Brandybuck teaches us about writing boundaries.
Push Genre Boundaries
Don’t feel trapped by the convinces of your genre, let the story dictate where your characters can go. In her story Passages, Brandybuck is trying to do two things at once: “use the AU element of slash to explore some of the boundaries of Elvish society,” and at the same time write “unashamed graphic smut” in a short story. This convergence of writing techniques allowed her to explore uncharted territory and go deeper with the storytelling.
Explore Transgressive Story Lines
Create transgressive scenarios, which will draw in readers. By writing a romance between two Elves, Brandybuck has pushes the boundaries, building character and intrigue. “Why would a bisexual woman like writing (and reading) sex between two men, or in this case, Elves? Part of it is the transgressive nature of the setup; these two Elves are consciously outside the borders of what is acceptable to their people. I think it’s for something like the same reason that teenaged girls (and older ones too) swoon over the bad-boy, dangerous types. There is an attractiveness to the freethinker, the rebel.”
Create Androgynous Characters
Human beings are complex and the more your draw out their unique features and personalities, the more compelling they become. Consider how androgyny can make a man more attractive and play up these elements when writing romance. “This need not be effeminateness, but can also be expressed in other ways; being physically smaller than average, for example. Or being willing to express emotions in ways that are more typically in modern western culture considered female.”
Bring Equality to Relationships
Equality is at the heart of the best relationships, and readers are turned on by stories that include lovers that are also equals. Characters that fall in love should be equals, both physically and emotionally. “While it is certainly possible to write strong female characters who will take equal power with male characters, it is a difficult thing to do in a fandom where there are few canonical female characters to begin with, and whose personalities are relatively established.”
Don’t Make Women Always Make the Sacrifices
There are too many stories in which strong women are making bigger sacrifices than the men in their lives. Brandybuck points out that this is often true in Tolkien’s work. “I have very consciously chosen to avoid assigning ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ roles to my two protagonists, because one of the things that I rejoice in, in slash, is this equality.”