#with the exceptions of kierarktina the leverage ot3 and the siren polycule... i'm never gonna see my ships be canon

[crimeronan]

i actually DO think that polyamory fic and non-canon ship fic (ESPECIALLY rarepair fic) tends to be higher quality than mainstream canon gay fic. this has been my experience regardless of how complex and nuanced the canon gays actually are. i think it's because 1) canon gays are more popular, and 2) canon gays are easier to write, because you don't have to really transform the source material.

i don't mean this in an elitist way, either. i'm saying this because some of my best writing advice to people who want to get better at characterization is to explore non-canon non-mainstream pairings (or polyships). you'll find yourself asking questions like: what would make this work? what would make it different from the main gay ship? how would these two interact similarly and differently to how they do in the canon?

it's really good for broadening your understanding of character dynamics and how they change in different circumstances.

similarly -- if you're feeling burnt-out on fic in a fandom, and you've been mostly reading mainstream ship fic.... look for rarepairs. even of pairings you don't ship yourself / can't really see together! you'll get a much broader and more transformative look at the canon elements in your fandom. you may end up hating an author's takes on various rarepairs, but at least it'll be INTERESTING, you know??

#writing advice #i guess #i've been writing polyamory since i was 16 which means that like #with the exceptions of kierarktina the leverage ot3 and the siren polycule... i'm never gonna see my ships be canon #and that means there's a lot more to explore as a writer. because what i don't see in canon is something i can now make up for myself #fandom