Finish-a-thon 2009 Post of Squee

[kerravonsen]

One thing I am missing about this year's sign-ups is the squee that people would do when they saw what people have signed up with. So, in the name of "Take Back The Glee" Year, I hereby open the Post of Squee.

Take a look (and come back to) the Full Author List, and post here about the story ideas that you are squeeful about.

ETA2: I have added links back to this post, so you can click on a link at the individual author page and it will post it here! (I love it when a plan comes together)

Comments

Vana Tuivana

[melannen.livejournal.com]

Genly Ai/Estraven. Neither slash nor het, but definitely smut. During the crossing of the ice, Genly falls into the white. Estraven saves him, and the two of them finally act on the sexual tension that went on through the whole darn book. Occurs not long before the Tragic Ending, so there's also the potential for angst.

YES PLEASE!!!

Re: Vana Tuivana

[vana-tuivana.livejournal.com]

:D

I'm actually... secretly afraid I'll butcher the characters, especially Estraven, because I've never written that fandom before. But ooo, such an amazing book, and yay, I'm glad it's interesting to somebody other than me! <3

Re: Vana Tuivana

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Well, if you can sell it more power to you, but I recall thinking the moment where they *don't* give in to each other to be one of the most powerful statements about the value of non-romantic relationships I'd ever read. (I'm assuming I'm recalling the character names correctly--it's been a while since I read this!)

Re: Vana Tuivana

[vana-tuivana.livejournal.com]

(Apologies in advance for length and general fuzziness of thinking; I probably should have waited until it wasn't the middle of the night to reply here.)

You're definitely thinking about the right characters, and I agree with you to an extent. That book was made of awesome in general, and Estraven has got to be one of the most complex characters (in several different ways, even) I've ever read. It would be a shame to hack the deep and complicated relationship between the two characters to fit the mold of a simple romantic pairing, so hopefully, if I end up writing this fic, I can avoid that.

One of my favorite things about this novel is the subtlety and the blending of "opposites", the theme that boundaries are artificial and constructed. Gender is the obvious example here, but there's also a political aspect to it -- I mean, the idea that there are these two nation-states that are, in some sense, "opposites", and yet they've never been at war and their goals end up being the same (towards the establishment of the Ekumen on Gethen). And when it comes to relationships between the characters, nothing is ever, ever what it seems. Towards the beginning of the novel, Estraven brings a halt to the sort-of friendship he's developing with Genly in order to advance Genly's mission; he ends the relationship to continue it, iow. Genly, of course, needs this explained to him later on -- his mindset is so different from the Karhidish one that he's not even in opposition to it; it's almost like they're running on parallel tracks toward two separate parts of the same goal, and yet Genly, with his binary Ekumenical (probably not a word, oh well) mindframe, can't comprehend this at all.

So you've got the whole theme of "nothing is binary, everything flows", and then you've got the issue of defining what exactly the relationship is between Genly Ai and Estraven during that months-long trek across the ice. It's not as simple as "oh, they're good friends" or "oh, they're in love" or anything like that, because I think it's both, and it's also far deeper. They're completely dependent on one another both for physical survival and for spiritual sustenance (or some phrase that doesn't sound so silly, but after all, how do they avoid going mad in a world that's entirely white?). I think this is where the blurring of boundaries comes in -- they are everything to one another at this point -- platonic friends, romantic companions, symbiotic organisms, what have you. The point in the ice journey where Estraven is in kemmer and in pain because he (or, actually, she, at this point) is keeping away from Genly is really, really touching to me. It's an expression not only of the deep platonic regard he has for Genly, but also of the romantic respect between them. They're different, and yet they're the same, and it's all whirled up into those few pages. I love it so much. And I don't want to undermine the power of their platonic relationship, but I think that relationship already has so many levels of friendship, love, lust, etc. built into it that it's possible to maintain the characters as themselves while also exploring a sexual side to that relationship.

Oh, drat. I didn't mean to write a novel in the comments -- sorry for the tl;dr. In short, I see your point and agree with you to an extent, but I also see their relationship as far more complicated than merely a platonic one. Sexuality is already present during their time on the ice, and I think it would be awesome to explore yet another level of that relationship. :)

Re: Vana Tuivana

[melannen.livejournal.com]

I agree that their relationship in the book is perfectly drawn as it is, and that moment of things *not* happening is just an amazing moment, and that it's important to value non-romantic relationships, which is one of the things tLHoD highlights.

....I just also think that some pairings are *made* for huddling-for-warmth pon-farr telepathy-porn to be written about them.

(I agree with vana_tuivana about all the other wonderful things you could do with this story in terms of wider themes - I also think that the way tLHoD, the story, thinks about sex and relationships is something that could use some deconstruction - and Le Guin herself wrote a pwp femmeslash short story set on Gethen that tried to fix some of those issues, but it could use more. But I also enjoy the old-fashioned slash tropes for their own sakes.)