fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2896 ]

[ SECRET POST #2896 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2896 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 052 secrets from Secret Submission Post #414.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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Aren't there any fics where "soulmate" is a bond that two people create and develop through their love or friendship or whatever meaningful connection they form?

Instead of this massively depressing, impersonal "so, all the things you do for each other and all the choices you make for each other are irrelevant -- you don't love each other for actual reasons, you love each other because you're ~soulmates.~"

because that's not what people mean when they say 'soulmate'

the whole reason people like soulmates in fiction, as far as I can tell, is because of that paralyzing, all-consuming love thing

There are plenty of fics where two people create and develop a bond through love/friendship. They're just not soulmate AUs, because that's not what the label "soulmate AU" means. You want slow build/developing relationship tags instead.

There's one in the MCU (Clint/Coulson) where bonding happens in three stages by showing degrees of trust and love and a conscious desire to be together.

...because that's not what the word "soulmate" means?

The kind of fic you're talking about exists, it's just not "soulmate" fic. I mean this is kind of like asking "Aren't there are any fics where 'slash' refers to a heterosexual couple?"

Umm...have you ever looked up the word "soulmate"? I assure you it can mean a range of things quite different than the "soulmate AU" definition.

"Slash" means something different outside fandom, too.

I've read lots of fics that were not soulmate AUs that still referred to the non-soulmate-AU concept of soulmates.

But I've never read a slash fic that was het.

And that's why your analogy doesn't work.

But the original person was talking about Fic Type A not being like Fic Type B, so "slash isn't het" does work.

She didn't specify fic type, she just said "that's the definition of 'soulmate'" when actually, no, it isn't. That's what "soulmate AU" means, but not "soulmate."

(And really, there's no reason not to write an AU that involves soulmates where you, say, spontaneously *develop* some sort of supernatural bond after being extremely close lovers/friends/whatever for a period of time, rather than the typical soulmate AU gimmick.)

DA

Slash can mean several different things outside though: the typographic character; the guitarist; the action of slashing e.g. with a blade; and in some countries/dialects, the act of taking a piss. It's generally pretty clear from the context of usage which definition you mean.

There's way more overlap and room for confusion -- as this thread attests -- with a term like "soulmates."

lol no. Here:

Google: "a person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner."

Wikipedia: "A soulmate is a person with whom one has a feeling of deep or natural affinity. This may involve similarity, love, romance, friendship, intimacy, sexuality, sexual activity, spirituality, or compatibility and trust."

Dictionary.com: "a person with whom one has a strong affinity, shared values and tastes, and often a romantic bond"

Mirriam Webster: "1) a close friend who completely understands you, 2) a person who has the same beliefs and opinons as another person"

DA

That's how I've always used it -- as a "deep or natural affinity" that could be romantic or platonic.

I'm not saying there isn't a more specific fandom-definition of it in another context, but that wouldn't be the first thing most people would associate with the term.

Okay, that's fair enough.

I was wrong.

ayrt

No prob. ;)

I admit I always thought that's what it was. It'd certainly be my definition, and the only reason I'd call any of my ships "soul-mates".

I had no idea that it had its own distinct meaning within fandom.

I've read the trope in published fiction once or twice, but there it was sold more on the 'destined mates/partners thanks to some ancient magic prophecy' angle.

DA

I admit I always thought that's what it was. It'd certainly be my definition, and the only reason I'd call any of my ships "soul-mates".

I had no idea that it had its own distinct meaning within fandom.

Same. The definition everyone's using in this thread actually surprises me because I've never seen/heard it before.

ayrt

I guess I'm (and maybe you too?) just not in a fandom where this trope is very prevalent?

I am in one with the definition of "a bond that two people create and develop through their love or friendship or whatever meaningful connection" though, and while I'd have called them soulmates, now I'm wondering whether I might have been talking about something totally different?

FWIW I'd use the term "soulmates" IRL in that context too -- as something that's developed and based on a meaningful connection rather than this out-of-the-blue preordained destiny thing that seems to be the fannish definition.

nayrt

Nah, you're not using it wrong: see comment above with definitions of "soulmate" from several sources. The fanfic trope is a specific sub-category that took on a life of its own.

If you mean a fic where there actually is a mystical bond that can form with the whole 'sense their emotions, sense their life' thing that happens in soulbond AUs, but that bond is a thing that has to be worked for and willingly formed between people of their own will instead of by destiny, I would be all over that. I've never come across it, but I would be all over it.

I have read one fic that had this! It wasn't really an AU in the sense of alternate-universe-where-this-is-a-normal-occurrence, but it had almost the exact trope you describe, emotion sensing and everything. Let me dig it up...

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1972186/1/When-I-Breathe

http://archiveofourown.org/works/2081835

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #2896 ]

Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Definitions, folks

Re: Definitions, folks

Re: Definitions, folks

Re: Definitions, folks

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

Re: Why are soulmate fics all this pre-emptive fate bullshit

here you go