geri_chan | Fic update news and OC sexuality poll

First off, I promised to have my Harudaki fic "Going Steady" finished by this past weekend, but it obviously didn't happen--my apologies! In my defense, I did get distracted by the birthday fic that I wrote for Iwaki, Strange Bedfellows. Anyway, I plan to get cracking on that and will try to finish it by this weekend.

In other news, I noticed this interesting poll on

metafandom: "When you write original characters and you don't have a reason to specifically make them gay or straight, what happens?"

The OP asks:

1) Do you have a default assumption?
2) Do characters always come fully formed with their own sexuality?
3) Do your characters generally have the same orientation as you?

I thought about it, and I actually did write some OCs or minor canon characters (who might as well be OCs, since I invented most of their personalities and histories) who were intended to be straight (or have no pairing at all) and turned out slashy.

I didn't start off intending to make Theodore and Blaise a couple in my Always series. In fact, I vaguely had in mind that Blaise might start dating Lisa Turpin for some reason--I can't really remember why now. Maybe it was because I had her very briefly dating Dylan, and I wanted to give her another love interest after he moved on to Hermione. But then Theo and Blaise seemed to click, and suddenly it seemed like they were meant to be together.

Likewise, I wasn't really picturing Aric as gay or bi initially, but when he met Takeshi, something started sparking between them in my brain, so they became a couple, too. It actually worked out nicely, since it added conflict to his relationship with his parents and gave him and Theo something in common.

Neither was Ash intended to be gay, or rather, bi--I had him flirting with Tonks in his first appearance. But when I decided to make him a more major character, well...Tonks was already taken, and to be honest, it's more fun to slash the guys. ^_^

So no, my characters don't always come fully formed with their own sexuality. I don't know if I would say that I have a default. Most of the time, I don't really think about it one way or the other until they get involved in a romance, or unless they're already married when I'm creating the characters--such as Takeshi's and Tsubasa's parents.

There were a few who started off as "gen" and wound up in a straight romance, such as the werewolves Brian and Kyra. I wasn't planning for them to get together, since I was going to kill off Brian in the final battle, but at the last moment, I couldn't bring myself to do it, and suddenly Kyra was kissing him! ^_^

I can't say that I've ever had a character who started off as gay and turned straight, though. But since I am a slasher, it's not unusual for me to decide to pair off the guys. I just thought it was kind of interesting, not so much that the characters "change" sexuality, but that sometimes they kind of have minds of their own and decide to go down a path that I hadn't intended.

Okay, enough rambling. Now for sure I'm getting back to that "Going Steady" fic! ^_^

Fic update news and OC sexuality poll

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