I think it's easy to see that is going to be limited, if only in the scope of one's imagination. Unless one is particularly rebellious, one will be regulated by the group, perhaps without even realizing it. It is in this sense that having an OTP or an LDB can be dangerous for a writer. Again, it isn't necessarily limiting, but it is more likely to be so, than an OTP/LBD-free state.
Oh, I would certainly agree that OTP (or even OTC [One True Character, which is another way of saying Little Black Dress]) is limiting. It's like taking one bit of fanon as canon.
I mean, I honestly believe that Sirius and Remus are lovers during OotP. I don't know if it's a continuation of an earlier relationship, the culmination of a relationship that never quite got off the ground before 10/31/81, or if they'd broken up over the suspicions or if they had a fling in their seventh year and swore to never speak of it again.
Which means I've got lots of scenarios to play with as a writer, but it also means my view of the characters and the canon is limited by this extra-canonical bit of information that I've gleaned through my reading. For *me*, it may as well be canon, because that's how I view it.
So yes, it can be limiting in that sense.
And yes, the community that springs up around rabid OTPers, be they CLex or H/D or Spuffy or Squidwarts, can be *very* limiting (I'm not in H/D circles, but isn't there something about hair care and leather pants? Much like Angelus, I guess, Draco needs his leather pants) - Logan/Rogue fic must be this, this, this and this (Jean is a bitch, Scott is a priss, Logan has the brains of toast, Rogue is perfect) etc.
And yes, it can be limiting in the sense that one sort of forgets that say, Buffy Summers, Harry Potter or Frodo Baggins is the main character of the actual text, the one on whom so much depends, while one is playing around with Xander or Snape or Legolas.
I do think, though, that for the emotional fulfillment, that investment in a pairing or character can't be matched. It's when the writer's skills begin to atrophy in service of nothing *but* the OTP or LBD that it's a problem.
::looks over list of stories::
I've written a lot of Logan/Rogue stories, but I've also tried to vary not only the plots/themes/nuances of their characterizations, but also written about other characters and other ships, and obviously, other fandoms. *g*
I mean, my first HP story was about Snape, of all people, and my big HP epic (well, in HP it's a tiny oneshot, but for *me*, it's a 15,000 word epic) is Draco/Hermione. Both of which came way the hell out of nowhere.
So I am an example of how one can be OTP and not be *solely* OTP, though I freely admit my limitations.
no subject
Oh, I would certainly agree that OTP (or even OTC [One True Character, which is another way of saying Little Black Dress]) is limiting. It's like taking one bit of fanon as canon.
I mean, I honestly believe that Sirius and Remus are lovers during OotP. I don't know if it's a continuation of an earlier relationship, the culmination of a relationship that never quite got off the ground before 10/31/81, or if they'd broken up over the suspicions or if they had a fling in their seventh year and swore to never speak of it again.
Which means I've got lots of scenarios to play with as a writer, but it also means my view of the characters and the canon is limited by this extra-canonical bit of information that I've gleaned through my reading. For *me*, it may as well be canon, because that's how I view it.
So yes, it can be limiting in that sense.
And yes, the community that springs up around rabid OTPers, be they CLex or H/D or Spuffy or Squidwarts, can be *very* limiting (I'm not in H/D circles, but isn't there something about hair care and leather pants? Much like Angelus, I guess, Draco needs his leather pants) - Logan/Rogue fic must be this, this, this and this (Jean is a bitch, Scott is a priss, Logan has the brains of toast, Rogue is perfect) etc.
And yes, it can be limiting in the sense that one sort of forgets that say, Buffy Summers, Harry Potter or Frodo Baggins is the main character of the actual text, the one on whom so much depends, while one is playing around with Xander or Snape or Legolas.
I do think, though, that for the emotional fulfillment, that investment in a pairing or character can't be matched. It's when the writer's skills begin to atrophy in service of nothing *but* the OTP or LBD that it's a problem.
::looks over list of stories::
I've written a lot of Logan/Rogue stories, but I've also tried to vary not only the plots/themes/nuances of their characterizations, but also written about other characters and other ships, and obviously, other fandoms. *g*
I mean, my first HP story was about Snape, of all people, and my big HP epic (well, in HP it's a tiny oneshot, but for *me*, it's a 15,000 word epic) is Draco/Hermione. Both of which came way the hell out of nowhere.
So I am an example of how one can be OTP and not be *solely* OTP, though I freely admit my limitations.
Is that what you mean?