Campaign for Real Gen

[kerravonsen]

I have decided to instigate a Campaign For The Preservation Of The Real Meaning Of "Gen". Please, when you find people using "gen" to mean "no romance", please gently point them towards the definition of gen, and tell them that the word that they are looking for is noromo. The problem with arguing with people about the real meaning of gen in the past has been that people weren't aware of the perfectly good word "noromo" which could be used instead. Mind you, I am being deliberately subversive, because people haven't been using "noromo" to refer to fic so much as to people who liked fic of a particular kind, but it is the perfect word for this newfangled faux-gen that people seem to think is gen. Don't let them muddy the definitions -- give them a word of their own!

Comments

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

erm... I've never used "gen" to mean "rated G" ever. I've always used the "gen" label to differentiate a plot driven or character story from a romance (het or slash). And I started off in media fanzines in the late 1980s. Where did this definition come from?

I've only ever seen "noromo" online in The X-Files fandom in the mid 1990s, so it sounds like it might be isolated case in one fandom being applied pan-fandom?

[kerravonsen]

I've never used "gen" to mean "rated G" ever.
It doesn't mean "rated G". What gave you the idea that I said it did?

I've always used the "gen" label to differentiate a plot driven or character story from a romance (het or slash). And I started off in media fanzines in the late 1980s. Where did this definition come from?

Er, from media fanzines in the '80s? I've never seen "gen" used to mean "no romance" until I came across the usage in Stargate fandom.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

It doesn't mean "rated G". What gave you the idea that I said it did?


From your glossary.

"Gen fan fiction is that which is suitable for a GENeral audience"

That's what "Rated G" stands for in the MPAA ratings--"General Audiences." Which is why I was all "Bhhhh?"

Er, from media fanzines in the '80s?

I think we must have been in totally diff. fandoms. *lol* But I think that "gen" is used far more prevalently today on-line and off- to refer to "not romance."

[kerravonsen]

From your glossary.

And the next sentence says:

"That isn't to say that if it were a movie it would get a G rating; gen fiction ranges from G to M in its rating"

I thought that was clear enough?

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

then you probably need to remove the "General Audiences" bit. Especially as that is the first sentence?

I'm not trying to be bloodyminded, honest. I'm just saying that "Rated G" = "General Audiences", hence the confusion. Because you literally say "gen = Rated G" and then right after that say "Gen doesn't necessarily equal rated G" all in the same paragraph. So you need to edit the definition to not include the MPAA definition of "Rated G" for me not to think that's what you mean...

[kerravonsen]

Definition now revised.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I've always used gen to mean no explicit sex of any kind even if there's a romance. And I've been around in fandom a fair number of years...

het in my book means there's explicit sex, though I'm inconsistent as I use slash for any story with a gay pairing even if there's no sex...

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

isolated case in one fandom being applied pan-fandom?

That's a more common phenomenon than one might think, particularly in fandom terminology. I'm always amused when I see the term "Jossed" outside the BtVS/A:TS/Firefly fandoms, but it's used all over now.

As I entered online fandom through "The Sentinel," I still tend to think of "gen" as meaning "not slash." Seriously, when Stargate fans bother to use three fic divisions (slash, het, and gen), I tend to get a little confused. :-)

I do agree with Kat's basic definition--as long as it does include the adside that different fandoms may use the term a little differently.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

I actually meant that I'd never seen the term "noromo" outside of XF fandom--and the only reason I think it persisted in XF fandom is that it was one of the first fandoms which develoepd primarily on-line, with fans who had never read a 'zine or been to a con, so they'd never heard of "gen." So they invented a new term for an existing one out of ignorance.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

And here I thought "noromo," in XF fandom anyway, was pretty much used to refer to those fans who prefered the M&S partnership to M/S romance. (since I was one myself, for a time.) "Noromo" being the opposite of "shipper".

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

well, "shipper" is a relatively young term as well, which also originated in XF fandom I think, circa 1995-ish. So that makes sense to me that they'd be paired. I actually first came across 'shipper" in Star Trek: Voyager fandom, since I didn't really participate in XF fandom past the 1st season. However, while "shipper" has become panfandom, I've never actually seen "noromo" outside of XF. Hence me still clinging to "gen" as the default label for plot and/or character driven fic, as opposed to romance fic (of either flavour--het or slash).

[kerravonsen]

Or a desire for precision.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

except I really don't think that was the case.

I mean, as I said in another comment, I didn't particulate at alt.x-files.creative past the hiatus between first and second seasons, but I don't think "noromo" passed into common usage because "gen" was too imprecise, so much as the majority of the readers and many of the writers in the fandom being unaware of "gen" as a label because they simply hadn't encountered it (unless they had come from other fandoms prior to XF).

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Gen means "not slash or het", at least in every fandom I've ever been in. It's not a word that has anything to say about the MPAA rating of a story, imho. I have to admit to having never heard the term "noromo" used before.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Can we define "het," then? Because I tend to think "heterosexual romance regardless of rating" when I see "het," and clearly that's not what some people mean by it (or maybe this is a side-effect of seeing "het" used first in Stargate fandom, where it *does* mean that).

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on "heterosexual romance regardless of rating", and I was in Stargate fandom before any other. :)

[kerravonsen]

I've always (until Stargate fandom) thought "het" meant teh m/f SEX, which is why it makes me hesitate when I see a "romance" story described as "het", since I can't be sure whether it will be something I want to read or not.

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

Am I really the only one who includes reasons for a rating in a fic? I mean how hard is it to say "this fic is rated, say, 13+ for sexual inneuendo and mature themes" or whatever. (in my case, inneuendo and language, usually)

[kerravonsen]

Not that many people do, though it's becoming more common, I think.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'd define gen as not slash or het (IOW explicit sex) but also with no really graphic violence. I don't write explicit sex or violence, so I consider my stores gen even when they imply a sexual relationship between a couple.

Did someone consider one of your stories not to be gen because there was a pairing in it?

I've never heard 'noromo' before either.

[kerravonsen]

Did someone consider one of your stories not to be gen because there was a pairing in it?

Not one of my stories, but someone else's, yes.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

As someone who dislikes violence I would not be pleased at all if gen only meant no sex.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I just can't look at the word "noromo" somehow and take it seriously. It's so... silly-looking and clunky. :)