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Seanan McGuire and Narrative Kinks
Er...sorry to disappoint you if you saw the the subject heading and were expecting some smut! For today's topic, I'm borrowing another post from Seanan McGuire, this time on Narrative Kinks--by which she means "those storylines, themes, tropes, and motifs that really get you cooking as a reader, a writer, or both," and not necessarily anything sexual. (Although it can be, if that's what gets you cooking, so to speak!)
Here are a few of my (not-so-kinky) narrative kinks, in no particular order:
1) Magic/wizards/witches/sorcerers: Hey, why else do you think I started reading the Harry Potter books? ;-) And when I used to play Dungeons & Dragons, I was almost always a Magic User--once I was a Bard because they do have the ability to cast some spells, but I was never interested in being a plain old Fighter. (No offense to any of you warrior-types out there!) I kind of stretch "magic" to include Heraldic magic in Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series and laran in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series, which are really closer to psionics (telepathy, telekinesis) than the Harry Potter type spellcasting magic. I particularly like it when magic imposes some sort of clear price or limitation on the user, which I talked about while back in my review of Hibiki's Magic and my Snapedom essay on Fannish Magic: The Price of Magic. In Bradley's and Lackey's systems, using magic tires the spellcaster, much as physical labor does. Therefore, it's unwise to waste magic on small, trivial tasks, because you might deplete your energy and not have enough left when you really need it, especially in a time of war. One of my disappointments with the Harry Potter series was that the limitations of magic are unclear and inconsistent.
2) Orphans and/or outcast children who have to make their own way in the world: I am totally a sucker for this trope! Talia and Skif from the Valdemar series are prime examples of this, and also Rune from Lackey's Bardic Voices series, so it seems that this is probably one of Lackey's kinks, too! To be honest, my OC werewolf Ash (from my Snupin series) is modeled a bit after Skif and Rune, at least in the flashback scene where he does drudge work at an inn to survive after he runs away from home. And of course Harry Potter is an orphan, too.
3) Werewolves--I've loved wolves ever since I was a child, and I always thought they were beautiful rather than scary. Naturally, Remus Lupin is one of my favorite HP characters, and I love the werewolves in the Mercy Thompson novels by Patricia Briggs. And I love it when the werewolves can change form at any time and not just the full moon (as with Briggs's werewolves).
4) Other types of shapeshifters--e.g. dragons who can take human form, or the Karasu Tengu of Japanese folklore, who are part crow and part human. Which brings me to...
5) Japanese folklore in general. I love stories about the tengu, and the mischievous trickster tanuki and kitsune (raccoon dogs and foxes), as well as beautiful crane maidens and dragons who live in palaces under the sea, and various other types of supernatural beings.
6) Japanese history--mostly in the feudal era. In other words, I love stories and dramas about samurai! Throw in a few ninja and maybe an onmyouji (sorcerer or diviner), and I'm ecstatic!
7) Faeries/elves--I especially like the moral ambiguity of Unseelie Sidhe who are not wholly evil and Seelie Sidhe who are not wholly good. The first two books of Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series handled that trope very nicely with a good plot and characterization amid all the hot sex, until it just got to be all about the sex and became utterly ridiculous. (From what I understand, Merry eventually gets pregnant by her numerous lovers, and somehow each child has more than one father, although I have no idea how that works, even with magic involved.) Holly Black's novels Tithe and Ironside are also an interesting take on this trope, with less sex and better writing: both the Seelie and Unseelie faeries are mostly a nasty bunch, with the Seelie queen being even more evil and ruthless than her Unseelie counterpart.
8) Romance with a bit of angst--I like it when something comes between two potential lovers and they have to go through some angst before they're able to get together, be it past grudges, opposition by family and/or friends, or being on opposite sides of a conflict. But only I like the angst if the story eventually ends happily! So I guess that means my next kink should be...
9) Happy endings--or at least a hopeful ending. I know that things don't always turn out happily in real life, but I'm reading for pleasure, and I don't really want to read a completely depressing story about a character who lived a miserable life and died a lonely death without ever finding some happiness. Which isn't to say that I'll never read a book or watch a TV show/movie with a sad ending--many of those samurai dramas do end in tragedy, and it wasn't like I was expecting a happy ending when I went to see a stage production of Hamlet. But for comfort reading/watching, I definitely prefer happy endings, because they make me...well, happy.
10) Aloof, closed-off, and/or distrustful characters learning to trust and open up to someone, usually a lover. Eve Dallas from the In Death series by J.D. Robb is a great canon example of this, and in fanfiction, I love it when Snape is finally able to find love with Lupin after years of enmity and distrust. And also my fanon!Onozuka, who's afraid to commit fully to Kikuchi, and even keeps parts of himself hidden from his closest friends (Katou and Miyasaka). It can also be a child/parent or child/mentor relationship: Talia, who after being scorned by her family for most of her short life, is afraid to trust her new Herald teachers and fellow trainees; or my fanon!Theodore Nott, who is (sort of) adopted by Snape and Lupin after being orphaned during the second war, but is cautious about opening up to his new parents even though he loves them.
11) Emotional hurt/comfort--this is related to numbers 8 and 10, I suppose. Some people like physical hurt/comfort--say, Snape nursing an injured Lupin back to health or vice versa. For me, I prefer emotional hurt/comfort, where the aforementioned aloof, distrustful character slowly finds healing and love in their lover (or parent or friend).
12) Families--which can mean blood relatives like Iwaki and his family in Haru, and Leon and Chris Orcot in Petshop of Horrors, or Remus and Teddy in HP. And also the families that we make and choose for ourselves--like the way Iwaki and Katou get married and become each other's family (or actually, I think it happened symbolically even before the wedding, when they bought a house together), or the wolf packs in the Patricia Briggs novels, who are bound together as tightly as family. Or in fanon, it can be Snape and Lupin and Teddy becoming a family together, even though Snape isn't Teddy's biological parent, or in my own fanfics, Snape and Lupin adopting Theodore and Dylan (an OC Slytherin student)--or any of the adopted children in this essay/rec list. (See also this related essay on Snape, Lupin, and babies.)
Do you have any favorite narrative kinks, whether in the fic/shows you read and watch, or in the stories that you write? Feel free to share in the comments if you'd like!
More thoughts on narrative kinks here and here.
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(Btw, I just found a wonderful werewolf book - havent' had time to read more than a few pages, but it looks very, very promising. The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan - seems to contain quite a few of your above preferences.)
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I also have both an interest in religious and philosophical themes and a bit of a priest/monk kink (Eiri and Sanzo, once again) and love thrillers and mysteries. The fantasy elements matter less to me. Supernatural elements are more my speed.
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I kind of have a thing for manga/anime that feature shrine maidens (like Shrine of the Morning Mist), although it's partly for the shallow reason that I think their outfits are really cool! But I do think their traditional role as a medium for the gods/spirits is interesting.
And ooh...I forgot to include mysteries on my list! I love watching detective shows and reading mystery novels, so maybe I'll do another follow-up post later.