On my way out for a long weekend. You may or may not notice.
~
Today at work, I was knocked for a loop by a fic idea. It's one of those things where I feel intense infatuation -- stomach butterflies and all -- but for an idea instead of a person. Some fic I just fall in love with. It's a wonderful feeling. All of the rush with none of the human complications. *g*
~
Some interesting (but locked, so no link) comments by 
darkkitten1 about fanon reminded me of something I'd meant to post about.
I've long had this idea that in any given fandom there are "default pairings". Both slash and het, but I'll probably mostly use slash examples here. Most characters have a default partner, though it's not always reciprocal. For example:
In Stargate, Jack's default partner is Daniel. And Daniel's is Jack. I'm not sure about Teal'c -- probably Jack. Paul Davis -- Daniel.
The default partner is the one who probably makes the most sense. In the X-Files, I would argue that Mulder has two default slash partners -- Krycek and Skinner. (Others would probably argue that Mulder has only one -- Krycek.) But Krycek only has one default partner -- Mulder. (And here I'll spare you a digression about Skinner and Doggett and Their True Love.)
A default pairing is one that you can usually write about without having to make your case for them every time. Mostly, this is because so many people have written first time stories about this pair that fanon accrues around them. You can write about how Harry and Draco got together if you like. But if you start in media res and deal with something else entirely no one will question it. On the other hand, if you want to write something not so mainstream like, oh, Snape/Percy, you have to back it up every time. (Well, until that pairing becomes mainstream.)
So, when you want to knock off 500 words of smut or a quick drabble or a cheap joke where you don't have time to spend on the actual relationship, you can grab a default pairing and slot them right in there and no one will bat an eye. I do it all the time.
~
Found quote:
When I'm old, here’s how I'm going to describe the early 21st century: We were always having to provide people with content.
Enough content for today.
