Second Favourite Pairings / Fic Tagging

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

Recent discussions on Tumblr set me thinking about these topics and as it's easier to discuss things on here and not everyone is on Tumblr anyway, I was wondering what the most popular pairings are after Lister / Rimmer.

If anyone disagrees with my assumption that male Lister / Rimmer is everyone's favourite pairing, please say so.  I'd say my second favourite is Lister / Ace - I just love their easy camaraderie, especially in "Dimension Jump".  Or if you want a pairing that isn't a variation on Lister / Rimmer, maybe Mellie / Ace.  I wanted to see a lot more of her than we got - kudos to Hattie for making the most of her role.

Also, how do people feel about tagging rarer pairings in fics if they're not the main focus of the story?  Would you feel cheated if they're restricted to the background or only have one brief scene or would you be so pleased to read them that it doesn't matter?

I ask because I've noticed in some larger fandoms some people refuse to read anything that doesn't end in requited happiness for their OTP.  I don't think anyone here is quite that choosy though.  We don't have that luxury. ;)

Comments

[rosecathy1.livejournal.com]

Does Lister/Nano-Rimmer count as a separate pairing? :p I have a soft spot for Kryten/Lister, although I don't think I could write it.

I have seen a little bit of what you described about other fandoms, complete with accusations of bashing. :/ I've thought a lot about the tagging issue and I still don't know. The Pairings categories on AO3 do provide some wiggle room -- for example, I have a few stories tagged Kochanski/Lister because there are brief moments or references, but they're all labelled "M/M", not "Multi". Hopefully that indicates to people that the story is L/R?

(I'm not sure what ship-bashing in a fic means, anyway. Is it bashing to write [just as an example] Ace saying "I've realised that Bongo and I are too dysfunctional; Mellie is the love of my life"? Surely you need to give some sort of explanation for why not Person X, but person Y in a plot-heavy story?)

Also, how do you tag for requited happiness? What if you don't want to spoil whether the story is sad or not?


...sorry, that's a lot of question marks and rambling.

[kahvi.livejournal.com]

Oh, and in answer to your question - I'd say that was Lister/Kochanski? I know it has to be the most featured pairing other than R/L, fer sure, by simple virtue of being canon, and thus having to be mentioned in many canon-compliant fics...

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen any Lister/Cat fics for a while and they can be quite fun. If anyone's seen the Identity Within storyboard then that had a lot of potential for Lister/Cat slash.