Ampersand!

I am spreading a meme. So there. alara_r wrote in this post about the "&" fic as opposed to the "/" fic -- where "/" is used to show the "pairing" of the story (whether that be a slash pairing or a het pairing). Wheras an ampersand fic is about (deep but) platonic relationships. Blake & Avon. Jim & Blair. Jack & Daniel (and indeed, Jack & Daniel & Carter & Tea'lc). It's a more positive term than "noromo" and less confusing than "gen" (because "gen" has about four or five different meanings already, depending on who you're talking to). It's more specific too -- I mean, you might write a PG-13 Jack/Carter Jack & Daniel story -- and while that's "gen" by one of the definitions, by other definitions it isn't. And it certainly isn't "noromo"!

I mean, what is it with all this "pairings" stuff anyway? I just saw a fanfic meme on my friendslist recently which had questions in it like "What's your favourite pairing?" -- as if fanfic was defined by pairings! How can I answer that question -- I don't have a favourite pairing, but I have some favourite ampersands? (Jim & Blair, Jack & Daniel, Avon & Blake, Avon & Vila...). It was friendships that drew many of us into those fandoms in the first place! Are we forgetting that?

Actually, I have a theory... (oh dear, the song from the Buffy musical just wafted into my head)
This emphasis on pairings could have arisen partly from the practice of many archives and ficlists of requiring or requesting that people say what pairings occur in the story. Or maybe that's just a symptom, not a cause, considering that I just remembered another major archive which just requested that people list what characters appear in the story, not the pairings. Both requests have been done in order to aid the readers in search of stories about their favourite characters. So why the emphasis of pairings over characters?

Not that I want to put down pairings per se (though that does seem like such a... non-romantic word...). I like romance (as distinct from lust-at-first-sight). I've never liked the term "noromo" because I don't want to exclude romance from my fics where it fits. I just want friendship and platonic deep friendship to be recognised on equal terms, is all. So let us use an equal term: ampersand.