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ariadnes_stringThere are some wonderful WIPs being written about S1 SPN, even as S4 is reaching its conclusion:
The Bright Lights of Disturbia by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
leonidaslion : At Stanford, Sam accidentally sees Dean in a hardcore gay porno, and goes kind of crazy with anger, guilt and lust. The events of S1 play out as they do in canon, while Sam pines for Dean and Dean suffers from the after effects of a still mysterious trauma. 12/30? parts posted so far.
The Drive 'verse by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
roque_clasique : Pre-series, Dean suffers a cataclysmic accident that leaves him permanently disabled and in considerable pain. Sam and Dean reunite, and, as above, the events of S1 play almost as they do in canon, while Dean tries to learn to live, and hunt, in his new body, and Sam struggles with a new relationship to his older brother. 9 stories in the 'verse so far; 6/? of the latest story, "The Good of the Few" posted.
Not that these wonderful stories really need recs: lots of people are reading them already. Of course, the same people might not be reading both, since one is centrally and intensely Wincest, and the other is just as intensely gen (with the occasional het interlude). And some people might not be planning to read either, at the moment, since they are both WIPs.
Still, they have a few interesting things in common:
First: Both are methodical AU revisions of SPN S1. Pretty much all SPN fic is intersticial, inserting itself into an empty space in some stage of the show’s chronology (ie, by imagining a case happening under the general conditions and dynamics of waiting for Dean’s deal to come through, or by writing a coda for a specific episode). Or, it’s contingent: if the story is an AU, it changes one aspect of the set up, and goes on from there. It’s less common, in my experience, to find stories that change some significant aspect of the lives of the Bros. Winchester, and then go back to explore the effects of that AU development on the actual episode set-ups of a season.
Yet, that’s what both of the fics rec’d above do: “Disturbia” has now taken us through “Provenance,” asking what Sam and Sarah’s encounter would have been like if Sam were truly pining for a damaged Dean; the Drive 'verse is in the midst of a retelling of “Scarecrow.”
Second: They both posit a much more fragile and damaged Dean: in “Disturbia” that damage is almost entirely psychic, and its extent and causes have yet to be revealed. In the Drive 'verse, the damage is at root physical, but has, by necessity, psychological ramifications. Now, Dean-whump is hardly unusual in in SPN fic (indeed, it’s probably one of its constituent elements), but again, what’s more unusual about these stories is that they try to think through what such disability would have meant for the cases dealt with in S1. Also, both acutely explore what reuniting with a damaged Dean would have meant for S1 Sam. “Disturbia” compellingly imagines a Sam caught between his own lust, and his need to help Dean overcome whatever has hurt him. The Sam of the Drive 'verse has been spiraling into alcoholism, driven by the losses he has sustained, and the stress of his newly remade relationship with his brother.
MUSINGS (or why I think it’s interesting that these stories are being written now):
One of the things I love about fanfiction is the way it walks a line between two kinds of creativity: invention and interpretation. Now, IMO, all fiction walks this line, but, because it deals with pre-established characters and situations, fanfiction throws the interpretative dimension of fiction into sharp relief. That’s to say, fanfiction doesn’t simply imitate or borrow those characters and situations. Rather, it offers us an interpretation of them.
So, putting aside the amazingly inventive aspects of both WIPs, I want to think for a minute about how they are interpreting SPN, or, more specifically, the relationship between the Bros.Winchester.
If the actual SPN S1 told the story of Sam and Dean learning to be brothers again, and struggling for some kind of equal partnership, since the beginning of S3, the show has, tentatively, tried to imagine what would happen if Dean needed Sam’s help: in S3thinking about what would happen if Dean needed Sam to save him (Sam didn’t); and in S4, thinking through the possibility that Dean would be the “weaker” brother (and I’m not saying he is, or has been this season, just that the show has been, quite bravely IMO, exploring what would happen if Sam thought he was). On TV, a kind of mutual refusal to deal with their changing identities and roles towards each other has driven the brothers apart.
Now, why Show Sam n’ Dean have been unable to change the terms of their relationship is a fascinating question, and I, personally, think the show deserves a lot of credit for attempting to explore the darker dimensions of family rifts and fissures (even if the execution has been sloppy at times). It’s clear though, that the slow bleed of brotherly intimacy out the Winchester fraternal bond has been truly painful to watch. And lots of fans, and fanfic writers, want that love back.
And, as I’m not the first to say: that is one thing fanfiction is for: to give us what we can’t get from TV. There have been many, many, consoling stories of Winchester love written this season, and I’ve enjoyed them as much as anyone. The fics I’ve rec’d above aren’t exactly consoling, but they do allow us to focus on the love:
Both stories try to imagine the shift in hierarchy brought about by a weakened older brother (an older brother plagued by PTSD) happening in S1—happening in and around the actual cases of S1. Yet, both also imagine that shift happening under circumstances that will not allow for the brothers to split up (as they just did in 4.21): in “Disturbia,” not simply brotherly love but also obsessive lust keeps Sam at Dean’s side; in the Drive verse Dean’s physical disability, has made the brothers more physically co-dependent than they ever are on TV (caveat: so far, anyway, for all I know a separation could be looming in either story—that would be the inventive aspect of things!). So, the shifting landscape of their relationship is difficult, as protector becomes protected, caretaker becomes the recipient of care, but it is happening under conditions of greater love and intimacy than even SPN S1 allowed for. This is very satisfying!
In other words, the fics take the problem of role reversal or hierarchy shift that has perhaps always been inherent in the Winchester fraternal narrative, import it back to S1, and watch it to take place under conditions that don’t allow for the kind of rupture we’ve seen on TV. They don’t sugar coat the process, or make it seem easy. As I said, these aren’t consoling stories—they are psychological complex, refuse to make easy fixes, and in the best SPN fanfic tradition, filled with angst.
I am NOT saying that these stories are REACTIONS to S4. Instead, I’d argue that they, along with S4, are working out the narrative possibilities started by Dean’s deal (or maybe even before that*). They AU versions of the same dilemma, running concurrent with what we’re seeing on TV, but following it down different roads.
*Of course, S1 does do a mini-version of this narrative, in “Faith,” and there’s actually a great “Faith” AU WIP running of ff.net at the moment (more of a conventional intersticial narrative than the others): Heart to Heart
The Bright Lights of Disturbia by
leonidaslion : At Stanford, Sam accidentally sees Dean in a hardcore gay porno, and goes kind of crazy with anger, guilt and lust. The events of S1 play out as they do in canon, while Sam pines for Dean and Dean suffers from the after effects of a still mysterious trauma. 12/30? parts posted so far.The Drive 'verse by
roque_clasique : Pre-series, Dean suffers a cataclysmic accident that leaves him permanently disabled and in considerable pain. Sam and Dean reunite, and, as above, the events of S1 play almost as they do in canon, while Dean tries to learn to live, and hunt, in his new body, and Sam struggles with a new relationship to his older brother. 9 stories in the 'verse so far; 6/? of the latest story, "The Good of the Few" posted.Not that these wonderful stories really need recs: lots of people are reading them already. Of course, the same people might not be reading both, since one is centrally and intensely Wincest, and the other is just as intensely gen (with the occasional het interlude). And some people might not be planning to read either, at the moment, since they are both WIPs.
Still, they have a few interesting things in common:
First: Both are methodical AU revisions of SPN S1. Pretty much all SPN fic is intersticial, inserting itself into an empty space in some stage of the show’s chronology (ie, by imagining a case happening under the general conditions and dynamics of waiting for Dean’s deal to come through, or by writing a coda for a specific episode). Or, it’s contingent: if the story is an AU, it changes one aspect of the set up, and goes on from there. It’s less common, in my experience, to find stories that change some significant aspect of the lives of the Bros. Winchester, and then go back to explore the effects of that AU development on the actual episode set-ups of a season.
Yet, that’s what both of the fics rec’d above do: “Disturbia” has now taken us through “Provenance,” asking what Sam and Sarah’s encounter would have been like if Sam were truly pining for a damaged Dean; the Drive 'verse is in the midst of a retelling of “Scarecrow.”
Second: They both posit a much more fragile and damaged Dean: in “Disturbia” that damage is almost entirely psychic, and its extent and causes have yet to be revealed. In the Drive 'verse, the damage is at root physical, but has, by necessity, psychological ramifications. Now, Dean-whump is hardly unusual in in SPN fic (indeed, it’s probably one of its constituent elements), but again, what’s more unusual about these stories is that they try to think through what such disability would have meant for the cases dealt with in S1. Also, both acutely explore what reuniting with a damaged Dean would have meant for S1 Sam. “Disturbia” compellingly imagines a Sam caught between his own lust, and his need to help Dean overcome whatever has hurt him. The Sam of the Drive 'verse has been spiraling into alcoholism, driven by the losses he has sustained, and the stress of his newly remade relationship with his brother.
MUSINGS (or why I think it’s interesting that these stories are being written now):
One of the things I love about fanfiction is the way it walks a line between two kinds of creativity: invention and interpretation. Now, IMO, all fiction walks this line, but, because it deals with pre-established characters and situations, fanfiction throws the interpretative dimension of fiction into sharp relief. That’s to say, fanfiction doesn’t simply imitate or borrow those characters and situations. Rather, it offers us an interpretation of them.
So, putting aside the amazingly inventive aspects of both WIPs, I want to think for a minute about how they are interpreting SPN, or, more specifically, the relationship between the Bros.Winchester.
If the actual SPN S1 told the story of Sam and Dean learning to be brothers again, and struggling for some kind of equal partnership, since the beginning of S3, the show has, tentatively, tried to imagine what would happen if Dean needed Sam’s help: in S3thinking about what would happen if Dean needed Sam to save him (Sam didn’t); and in S4, thinking through the possibility that Dean would be the “weaker” brother (and I’m not saying he is, or has been this season, just that the show has been, quite bravely IMO, exploring what would happen if Sam thought he was). On TV, a kind of mutual refusal to deal with their changing identities and roles towards each other has driven the brothers apart.
Now, why Show Sam n’ Dean have been unable to change the terms of their relationship is a fascinating question, and I, personally, think the show deserves a lot of credit for attempting to explore the darker dimensions of family rifts and fissures (even if the execution has been sloppy at times). It’s clear though, that the slow bleed of brotherly intimacy out the Winchester fraternal bond has been truly painful to watch. And lots of fans, and fanfic writers, want that love back.
And, as I’m not the first to say: that is one thing fanfiction is for: to give us what we can’t get from TV. There have been many, many, consoling stories of Winchester love written this season, and I’ve enjoyed them as much as anyone. The fics I’ve rec’d above aren’t exactly consoling, but they do allow us to focus on the love:
Both stories try to imagine the shift in hierarchy brought about by a weakened older brother (an older brother plagued by PTSD) happening in S1—happening in and around the actual cases of S1. Yet, both also imagine that shift happening under circumstances that will not allow for the brothers to split up (as they just did in 4.21): in “Disturbia,” not simply brotherly love but also obsessive lust keeps Sam at Dean’s side; in the Drive verse Dean’s physical disability, has made the brothers more physically co-dependent than they ever are on TV (caveat: so far, anyway, for all I know a separation could be looming in either story—that would be the inventive aspect of things!). So, the shifting landscape of their relationship is difficult, as protector becomes protected, caretaker becomes the recipient of care, but it is happening under conditions of greater love and intimacy than even SPN S1 allowed for. This is very satisfying!
In other words, the fics take the problem of role reversal or hierarchy shift that has perhaps always been inherent in the Winchester fraternal narrative, import it back to S1, and watch it to take place under conditions that don’t allow for the kind of rupture we’ve seen on TV. They don’t sugar coat the process, or make it seem easy. As I said, these aren’t consoling stories—they are psychological complex, refuse to make easy fixes, and in the best SPN fanfic tradition, filled with angst.
I am NOT saying that these stories are REACTIONS to S4. Instead, I’d argue that they, along with S4, are working out the narrative possibilities started by Dean’s deal (or maybe even before that*). They AU versions of the same dilemma, running concurrent with what we’re seeing on TV, but following it down different roads.
*Of course, S1 does do a mini-version of this narrative, in “Faith,” and there’s actually a great “Faith” AU WIP running of ff.net at the moment (more of a conventional intersticial narrative than the others): Heart to Heart
no subject
Date: 2009-05-18 12:07 am (UTC)So, the shifting landscape of their relationship is difficult, as protector becomes protected, caretaker becomes the recipient of care, but it is happening under conditions of greater love and intimacy than even SPN S1 allowed for.
And given my age group I wonder how many people can relate to this in their own lives.
In other words, the fics take the problem of role reversal or hierarchy shift that has perhaps always been inherent in the Winchester fraternal narrative, import it back to S1, and watch it to take place under conditions that don’t allow for the kind of rupture we’ve seen on TV.
Hmm, yes, because leaving is easy. Which is kind of what Bobby told Dean. And as you said, I appreciate that the show has been willing to do what they're doing with the brothers.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-18 02:40 am (UTC)That's interesting!
Yeah--though I wrote this before 4.22, and am still trying to sort through the double-fake we were offered on the Winchester break-up...I do think that fanfiction has been wrestling with the darker undercurrents of the show this year--so much has just blocked its ears so to speak, and been simply consoling--though there have been some very good, less consolatory fics. I liked the two stories I discussed in this post because they seem to get around the consolatory-non-consolatory dilemma.
But it's really interesting the degree to which what goes on on TV influences characterization in fic. For instance, I think Sams have become much edgier, even in fic written about previous seasons, than they were in say S2 fic written during S2 (like this "Mystery Spot" tag--written in Fall 08, with a darker Sam than I think would have been written in Winter 08--pure spec., though, of course!).
In a happier and more direct relationship: in the tiny bit of post 4.22 fic I've read, the Winchesters seem to be having much more sex with each other than they have all year!
I read your post on fic types a few months ago, but just went back and looked at it again. So interesting! It would be interesting to go back to it and see what S4 has added to the mix. All the Smith/Wesson fic seems a version of "separated at birth," but Castiel/Dean--is that a new type of story, or a new version of an old type?
(I was thinking of posting this to Heavy Meta, but it has almost nothing to do with canon SPN...do you think it would be okay? Also feel I should warn the authors I discuss...)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 01:09 am (UTC)You know the issue about Sam's darker characterization, and the growth of darker fic in genersl in SPN -- I wonder if it's a reaction to the storylines or an inevitable development in the fandom? Because, on the one hand, it's a horror show, and this storyline has been building for a while. So if there was a ready-made fandom for that sort of storytelling I'd think it would be this one. But I noticed in the Buffy fandom that darkfic tended to grow at the end of the series, and I'm wondering how much that's typical of all fandoms?
Hmm, yes, the Smith/Wesson would definitely be that type. But the introduction of Castiel will be most interesting in seeing what it does regarding Sam and Dean, I think. Like the OFC, OMC, or rare pairings in SPN, I think the primary purpose is to examine Dean or Sam or John in a separate light from the rest of the family. Not unlike JtS did with Adam, in fact. I think (and I can only guess because I haven't read any) is that those and Sam/Ruby fics probably both have an element of the forbidden minus the "knowing" of S/D. Because in some way Ruby and Castiel are both unknowable and the relationships both supernatural and inadvisable.
If you feel you should warn the authors, I imagine they'd like knowing they've been recced :> And I don't see why it shouldn't be posted there. It does actually deal with canon in its own way.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 02:48 am (UTC)Yes--great questions! I feel like I could go on and on about all of them, but won't (*g*). Here's one thing I've wondered about (1), though: some of the best long SPN fics, IMO, have filled in the gap of what Dean was doing while Sam was at Stanford, so I thought we might see some epic fic about what Sam was up to while Dean was in Hell over the summer, but I've seen very little, and what little there was, was short. I know the TV show tends to privilege Dean's POV and character development, but isn't that the kind of gap you'd expect fanon to fill? In other words, why is it easier (more interesting?) to see Dean w/o Sam than Sam w/o Dean?
That's interesting. I've never really followed a body of fanfic before, so I couldn't say...You could very well be right. In any case, it does seem a real question how much fic reacts to what's on TV, and how much it develops things that are inherent in the set-up from the beginning (parallel to TV, so to speak).
Yes, I hadn't thought about it that way, but I think you might be right about this. They seem to be gradually giving Castiel more backstory/ character, but yes, at the moment, the pairing mostly serves to throw new light on Dean (so to speak). I haven't read a lot of Dean/Cas fic, but it does seem to work the same way. It's a nice ballast to the DeannSam relationship, since it works along the axis of mutual unfamiliarity, as you say (instead of longterm hyper intimacy), and because Castiel maybe the only person Dean has ever had a relationship with who knows him exclusively as an adult. (okay--you can tell I like the pairing-- I've read Sam/Ruby fic, but it doesn't do anything for me!).
Yeah--maybe I'll update a bit re: 4.22 and post it...thanks again for commenting
no subject
Date: 2009-05-21 01:45 am (UTC)I know the TV show tends to privilege Dean's POV and character development, but isn't that the kind of gap you'd expect fanon to fill? In other words, why is it easier (more interesting?) to see Dean w/o Sam than Sam w/o Dean?
I think that the POV has definitely shifted in the series, with S4 being the most clearly from Dean's POV (those first scenes really set that up). I think that Dean has gotten more character development overall as a result of wanting to hold things back on Sam. But I think he still got a fair amount of it last season. This season was a distinct change, though.
As to fanon filling it, I suspect that there's a certain disinterest in telling pieces of the story given what we now know of it. I mean there was a lot of longer fic written in the last hiatus speculating about how both spent their time apart. I haven't been reading much current SPN fic during this season, but older work, stuff set farther back, and J2 fic. I think this has been mostly because the arc has been developing strongly in the latter half of the season and I think people haven't been able to do much with it.
Overall, though, I think fic in general tends to focus much more on Dean because people either (1) find his POV easier to write or (2) they prefer the character and so stories on him are more involved.
I've never really followed a body of fanfic before, so I couldn't say
I'm not sure I've seen anyone write about it, but I'd be curious to know that.
and because Castiel maybe the only person Dean has ever had a relationship with who knows him exclusively as an adult
Since you have read in the pairing, you might be able to answer this, then -- is there an element of Dean being parental to Castiel, in the sense of teaching him how to be human and such?
no subject
Date: 2009-05-21 03:14 am (UTC)I liked him a lot too! I have this (unrealistic) theory that since the flashbacks eps. have been moving forward in time, that in S5 we're going to see that primal scene of SPN: Sam leaving for Stanford (not the fight, 'cause of JDM's movie career). But I don't think we will, because 1) CF is now definitively wee!Sam, and he could never play 18 and 2) It's the PRIMAL SCENE and must never be faced head on!
I think this is true--there aren't as many places to insert fic as in S1-2. It'll be interesting to see if writers choose to go back to S4 now and write fic about it--maybe not--there really isn't much new S3 fic (except for the occasional MS tag). Of course, what happens next is wide open for the summer at least!
I haven't read enough to be sure of this, but, yes, kind of, I think. There is definitely some decent fic where Dean (and Sam) teach C. to be a "guy"--drink, eat, etc. And there are some fics that tweak the situation somehow so that Dean (and Sam) can look after a kind of de-powered Castiel. But there's also a strand of fic in which C., through the force of his love for Dean, teaches him to think more highly of himself; fic where they are grown-up men together, so to speak, without the undercurrent of childhood memory that's always present in Dean/Sam. Which I think is interesting--and does put Dean in a new role.
I keep thinking I should read more, since the pairing intrigues me on TV, but if D/S has a squick factor, D/C has a kind of ridiculousness factor, for me--since, you know, he's an ANGEL. (there are actually a couple of v. good stories by
no subject
Date: 2009-05-22 11:59 pm (UTC)Heh, you'll probably not want to read my review then!
It's the PRIMAL SCENE and must never be faced head on!
I like that description of it. Along with Mary's death it certainly seems to be one -- the second dissolution of the family.
I think this is true--there aren't as many places to insert fic as in S1-2.
Especially S1. The season even had gaps built into it for additional cases or downtime.
Of course, what happens next is wide open for the summer at least!
It is to an extent. One could, of course, go wildly AU at this point with things like alternate timelines, universes, the return of Mary or John Winchester as angels-ex-machinas, etc. Certainly apocalypse or post-apocalypse fic would make a lot of sense. But I think the show has left the characters in a hard place. I would expect most writers to try reconciling them. There might also be a lot of Castiel fic, with the three of them on the lam from the warrings sides.
Which I think is interesting--and does put Dean in a new role.
But what happens to Sam in those cases? I can only really picture Dean in a new role when Sam is no more. For example I remember a het amnesia fic where Dean is without Sam for all but the final bits of the story. He really does get the chance there to be a new person.