What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry

melancholic romantic comic cynic. bi & genderqueer. fantasy writer. sysrae on ao3.

Anonymous asked: Hi Foz! I've found your advice about fanfiction for men absolutely sound, and I was wondering if you could assemble a list of maybe 5-10 relatively shortish (not novel-length) heterosexual fanfictions for straight men to learn the most from in terms of female romantic and sexual desires. It would be a priceless asset in contrast with, say, the mostly one-sided know-how of the PUA community that, in essence, is centered around the exact same topic but comes from a very different place. Thank you.

Okay, so: I’m slightly uncomfortable with the wording of this question, not because I think there’s anything wrong with you asking for recs - and I’ll give you some eventually! - but because I dislike the idea that any list I could assemble might act as a “resource” to help you “learn the most” about “female romantic and sexual desires”. Yes, women are the primary creators and consumers of fanfiction, and yes, that means it has a lot to teach about female desire. But as I’ve also said, women are not a hivemind; and given that the vast majority of fanfic involves same sex pairings, it’s a mistake to think that slash isn’t relevant in this instance. 

The idea isn’t to give you a definitive list to use as a how-to guide to ladies; firstly because every person is different - which is one of many reasons why the whole PUA logic is so offensive: it assumes that women, en masse, are a system to be gamed, rather than a collection of distinct individuals who deserve to be treated as such - and secondly because this misses the point of what fanfic has to offer. 

See, one of the key differences between fanfic and mainstream porn is the emotional context: the fact that, in fics, the reader has a pre-existing connection to the characters and wants to see them together, whereas the actors in porn are barely even given personalities, reduced instead to little more than bodies performing a function. So even when a fanfic is utter PWP, there’s always going to be a greater emotional resonance there than porn can achieve, because we know these people. It’s not just about the sex, is what I’m saying, even when it is: it’s also about who’s having it, and why. 

The other thing to understand about fanfiction - or one of the things, anyway; I’m trying to keep this brief - is that, by virtue of the fact that women aren’t a hivemind, it offers a spectrum of female desire, whereas mainstream het porn - which was the original point of contrast - barely cares for female pleasure at all, and is in fact both overtly misleading and frequently misogynistic in its portrayal of women, period.

So when I say that straight dudes can learn a lot more about female desire from fanfiction than from mainstream het porn, I mean two things: firstly, that this is in fact a super low bar to hurdle; and secondly, that the lesson itself is less about the mechanics of sex - although, good lord, knowing what to do with your partner’s body is hella important - and more about understanding that, contrary to the extremely limited, frequently puritan and often highly stereotyped narrative we’re otherwise sold about What Women Want, women do, in fact, want a great variety of things, and that reading fanfiction is a really awesome way to discover what some of them are.    

With all that being said - and bearing in mind that you can also check my personal ficrec list for inspiration - here’s a few fics that fit your requirements. Don’t treat them as gospel; use them as a starting point. Pick a show you like, a pairing you like, and look that shit up on AO3. Read around. Ask other people for recommendations. Read stuff you like, and stuff that surprises you. Just remember that, inasmuch as you’re trying to learn about women, the point isn’t to learn our similarities, but to appreciate the scope of our differences.

Some short het fics:

Hold Up, by the_ragnarok - rated E, 681 words, complete (Teen Wolf). Summary: Maybe in high school Lydia liked being in charge all the time, but now she’s an adult and needs to let loose sometimes. Enter Stiles.

Supernova, by Amelia_Clark - rated E, 3929 words, complete (Superatural). Summary: They’re curled up postcoitally when Cas asks, “Dean, do you miss heterosexual intercourse?”

Inconceivable, by jaegermighty (moirariordan) - rated E, 8798 words, complete (The 100). Summary: “Well,” Bellamy says dryly, “this whole diplomacy thing sure is going great.”   

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  5. psyfic said: Your response made me want to applaud. Well said.
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