in which i randomly attack a well-loved trope

[seperis]

This is, surprisingly, non-HP related. No, *really*. This is A Moment of Random Fanfic Bitching.



Okay.

I totally am behind the rentboy-kink thing. I do. Seriously. I'm not a huge fan of it (my only attempt at it went to the most depressing places *ever*) but I do get it. It's kink. It's hot (so I've heard. Not my thing, but I've read some I enjoyed that didn't verge on character assassination).

But God.

This is just--kind of a rule I wish I could set up. For fic that is not supposed to be kink. Because kink-fic is a different animal.

Unless your character canonically has no other possible skills up to and including the ability to use a spatula at McDonalds, maybe most of them *might* choose to not sell their asses (or other sexually-charged body parts) for money. I know, crazy thoughts.

But really--suddenly Random Character X is fired/wife dies/sister dies/mother dies/Dark Lord dies/Lionel dies/world ends/au-where-everyone-is-a-prostitute*/head-injury-so-terrible-they-lose-their-minds and boom, they are offering up asses like it's Christmas and someone gave them a hit of ecstacy to surpass all hits of ecstacy. It's *bizarre*.

*shusu has permanent exception to this rule because she's doing things with her rentboy au that I've never seen done before and also because, to me, she set up a universe where I could see John Sheppard doing this and still be John Sheppard. Also, no humiliation moments that seem so rife in other fic. Also, Jesus, hot.

But other than that--okay, admittedly, I don't get the attraction. Since it's not my kink, I can't go to that mental place very well or easily--frankly, shusu tricked me. I'm fairly certain this is one of the things I Just Don't Get because to me, I cannot imagine anyone taking it up willingly. Totally a me-thing. And it's a me-thing that is totally scraping my nerves raw when I see it, because it always seems to be paired with a fairly high level of humiliation like this is some sort of punishment for the character in question for whatever the author doesn't like about them in canon. Not always, and probably not even most of the time, but it does feel like it sometimes.

Right. Done here.



This has been A Moment of Random Fanfic Bitchery. Please return to your porn writing, plz.

Comments

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

And yet people do IRL. Lots of them. Most of whom, I'm sure, have some other skills, however minimal.

I do agree that fics that start in the canon universe and then have the characters become prostitutes are much more likely to be badfic.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Well, no, they don't IRL. Not lots of them. Many people, but not so large a percentage of the population that it's something most people would consider right off as a normal source of income most of the time.

And IRL--well, real people? Are a lot more flexible than fictional in doing what's in character.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* I'm one of those who thinks a good writer can convince me of anything. OOC comes from bad writing, not the acts themselves.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

That's kind of the point. Not a lot of authors are willing to put in the work necessary to make the job one that fits the character and explain why he wouldn't do pretty much *anything* else with his life. There's a reason I'm okay with Shusu's despite the fact that anything in the rentboy family to me falls automatically under humiliation because most authors treat it as either humiliation or Pretty Woman and Shusu's--hmm. I'm honestly not sure what she's doing there.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't like the Pretty Woman scenario. I've actually not seen any humiliation rentboy fics, I don't think, so I'm not quite sure what you're referring to (but it sounds bad, so I'm glad I've escaped unscathed).