h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is either really out of date or completely wrong, I suspect the latter.

One, and the one that irked me most as a slasher is, well, the definition of slash. The second one, that of a fic representing a sexual relationship that hadn't been or never would be confirmed is crap. Every glossery I've ever been to, never mind the fact that I practically live in fandom, some how 'misssed' that. That is not a definition of slash, or ship for that matter. The first definition focusing on the actual sex side of it is also crap. Granted, there is a lot of that around, but that's not untrue for the ship stuff either.

The definition of slash is easy and goes something like this:

A genre of fandom involving the romantic and/or sexual relationship between two (or more) people of the same gender.

Easy as that. You say slash on the LJs (Live Journals) and that's what they'll take it as, same as if you go to the boards on Gateworld.net, or any other major site in fadom.

There is plenty of slash fic out there that isn't NC-17 or R rated, I've written some myself. There is just as many plots there as in ship. The characters are just as capable of loving each other and expressing it as characters in ship, even if it is often different. There's only a couple small differences, in terms of deffinition, between slash and ship.

You replace the word 'same' with 'different' and stick an s onto 'gender'. The 'or more' part is a matter of opinion, mind you.

That's it.

Also, Gen. You got that wrong. The entire idea of gen, as it has always been, is that it's general. As in no romance, except maybe what's already firmly established as cannon. But that's a matter for debate. Yes, sometimes it does start leaning towards ship or slash but it's not about the romantic relationship.

And by the way, there's a subcategory for slash. Pre-slash. This is like some kind of gen/slash hybrid in which it explores the relationship between two (or more) people of the same gender that though not romantic is leading towards that.


I can't really comment on your stuff on Anime because I don't know much about it, though I suspect you've got that wrong or completely askew in anycase.


I'm not saying that this was bad, not all of it, but you got some stuff wrong. I'm aware that you've since written fic, and fair enough. But just reading glosseries isn't enough if you're going to do something like this. You have to read fic, hang around in fandom. Though it's better not to lurk, you can if you want. Chat with people, and you get a feel for what it all means beyond the dictionary.

Out of date, perhaps, but as accurate as possible at the time. The definitions were cross-referenced between several glossaries in multiple fandoms for maximum compatibility, which is perhaps why they are a little vague, and with reference to as great a number of fanfics as was reasonable to read without getting caught at work and a large number of serious articles and essays on fan fiction, most of them written by fanfic writers and readers. I may not have known much fan fiction at the time, but I do know research.

I accept that the section on slash/gen/'ship requires review, but unfortunately this is not something H2G2 is much good for. As near as I've been able to make out since writing the article, 'ship was going through some kind of weird, transitional schism and a small corps of self-styled shippers were making a concerted effort to rid themselves of the 'scourge' of slash. As you'd know if you'd read the other threads in this discussion area, this is a point that has been raised, discussed and admitted many times over.

I think that the definition of slash works pretty well. But I've pretty much retired from the fanfic world so I'm not that fussed now.

I liked this article, and chuffed at the mention of SG1 "Danny Whumping" something common in not only fanfiction, but cannon as well.

I also understand what you were saying regarding slash/het/gen/ship definitions. Now 'slash' is basically commonly know as the gay version of 'ship', but this article should remind us this wasn't always so.

There was a time when the gender of the people involved didn't matter. A loving caring relationship ie 'ship' was possibly between any pairing. Now, despite a good majority of M/m & F/m fiction containing no sex whatsoever, homosexuality has been shoved into its own catagory and notably separated from its hetrosexual counterparts. Suceeding in placing a divide which I find unsettling.