Things I like in Femslash: Rivals who understand each other better than anyone else. Extra points if they used to be super close friends. eg Buffy/Faith, Terezi/Vriska, Paris/Rory, Kim/Shego, and "D.E.B.S".
Crossdressing and swords eg Revolutionary Girl Utena, The Privilege of the Sword
In terms of female characters, I like female scientists who genuinely love science, and morally ambiguous dangerous brunettes who are following along with the bad guys but more because they like breaking things or have no other options than because they really believe in the Evil Goal. (I'm not sure that quite captures it)
I'm about to go to bed, I'll try and think of some more and see what other people have said in the morning :)
I love a really good well-rounded queer villain, one who's smart and who's cruel without being petty (or at least without seeming so). I love a woman with intimacy issues who doesn't really know how to talk about her feelings and who tends to be very guarded about showing strong emotion. I love a really hardcore Mama Bear. I love it when a story shows a woman who's a capable leader.
A trope that needs to die in a fire: the woman who's drunk on power and has become dangerous. Also the unwritten rule that if you're a feminine female character, even if you're involved in a physical fight with someone, you won't ever actually throw a punch. Especially not if your combatant is relatively masculine compared with you. Also, as a visibly queer woman who's just naturally a fairly quiet and reserved person, I'd like to see a little less of the lesbian who's only gay because she's had bad luck with men or been sexually assaulted or something. Because I can tell you from experience, people are dumb enough to buy that shit as an accurate depiction of what lesbians are really like, and it's extremely annoying.
the lesbian who's only gay because she's had bad luck with men or been sexually assaulted or something
A TV show I'm watching at the moment has gone with that trope for a previously apparently straight character, while claiming that they were definitely not doing that trope with that character. Blah.
"I'd like to see a little less of the lesbian who's only gay because she's had bad luck with men or been sexually assaulted or something." I concur, and I always, always groan out loud when I read it, or see it. *sighs*
I remember seeing it with Tom Paris too, when B'Elanna was part of the femslash pairing (don't know if it's still as prevalent as it used to be though). I really disliked it a lot. It was the first inkling I had that "you don't need to bash the canon love interest to get your characters together" works both ways. I'd already figured it out for guyslash by then. Oddly enough that canon female love interest was B'Elanna.
I really like a sort of younger woman - older woman mentor relationship in fic (meant in a gen way, not femslashy). See this Yuletide fic for a good example. I realized this after I saw that I'd written it myself a number of times without being aware of it as a trope that I liked.
I also like stories with a competent female protagonist who does stuff (solves problems, has action adventures, whatever) with no romance at all. That kind of story is often a comfort read for me.
I like to see when two female characters are introduced in canon as romantic rivals, but the slash doesn't use the third party as an intermediate. Basically when the two characters are shown to relate to each other in some deeper way, that doesn't have much to do with how they originally met. There are some Ginny/Cho fics like this in Harry Potter fandom, I remember reading them but can't think of the titles offhand.
One I don't like is a really strong emphasis on femme presentation. Not so much in a neutral way, but when it's contrasted favorably against butchness or gender ambiguity. I much prefer when a character's gender presentation stands on its own, butch femme or otherwise.
Yes, especially when a character gets more femme as she becomes happier/more in love and this is seen as a natural and positive outcome! I don't mind when it's a character taking on more of her partner's style, or experimenting with looks, but that's not the problem.
Like: Long-term relationships! While I like getting together fics just fine, I love fics where women have known each other for a long time (whether as partners or as workmates or as friends) and know a lot about each other.
Dislike: when one partner is pregnant and described as the epitome of womanhood, or "more feminine/female than ever before".
Long-term relationships! I wish there was more of that in femslash. Like you said, first time is great and all, but sometimes, I just want to get to the "we've been together so long, I know you drink out of the milk carton and that's why I put Tabasco sauce around the lip of it :P." Or something goofy and fun like that.
My favorite trope = female1 is disguised as a male, female2 falls in love with female1 but after finding her real gender out (and some other minor tribulations), they get together and ride off into the sunset. (I think I've rec'ed this in a few genres.)
I love male slash tropes in femslash or male tropes assigned to women (as long as it doesn't get to making one of them 'the guy'). The powerful woman falling for a co-worker, the figuring out how to have a relationship outside work, all that kind of thing. Fpreg. I also love women being into their partner's clothes - everything from sexy lingerie to paint-stained jeans. Not as a girly thing but as a kink (I also like guys into clothes as a kink).
Back story, sudden superpowers, adorable slow courtship/dating, Canon AUs, Fairy Tales, episode tags, case fic, crack.
I also really like amnesia, especially when set in a world different from ours and one or both characters have to adapt and figure things out.
Tropes I avoid:
Aliens made them do it, sex pollen and similar. The lack of/mudddling of consent is a serious squick for me.
What do you desperately wish with all your heart would become a trope?
I'd love to read more fic about middle-aged or older women being in love, maintaining a relationship and/or having sex. For example: Lorelai/Sookie, Joyce Summers/Jenny Calendar, Esme Weatherwax/Nanny Ogg... Sadly it's pretty rare.
You should check out chainofclovers' fiction -- she writes almost exclusively femmeslash, and she's big on slow courtship, nuanced relationships, and "older" women (whatever that means). She's good at being adorable without being sickeningly sweet, and she's also very, very careful about how she handles consent in sex scenes. Not sure if you're into her fandoms (The Devil Wears Prada and Doubt), but either way I'd give her stuff a chance, because she's also very talented.
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Crossdressing and swords eg Revolutionary Girl Utena, The Privilege of the Sword
In terms of female characters, I like female scientists who genuinely love science, and morally ambiguous dangerous brunettes who are following along with the bad guys but more because they like breaking things or have no other options than because they really believe in the Evil Goal. (I'm not sure that quite captures it)
I'm about to go to bed, I'll try and think of some more and see what other people have said in the morning :)
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I am necroposting because Kagura.
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A trope that needs to die in a fire: the woman who's drunk on power and has become dangerous. Also the unwritten rule that if you're a feminine female character, even if you're involved in a physical fight with someone, you won't ever actually throw a punch. Especially not if your combatant is relatively masculine compared with you. Also, as a visibly queer woman who's just naturally a fairly quiet and reserved person, I'd like to see a little less of the lesbian who's only gay because she's had bad luck with men or been sexually assaulted or something. Because I can tell you from experience, people are dumb enough to buy that shit as an accurate depiction of what lesbians are really like, and it's extremely annoying.
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A TV show I'm watching at the moment has gone with that trope for a previously apparently straight character, while claiming that they were definitely not doing that trope with that character. Blah.
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I also like stories with a competent female protagonist who does stuff (solves problems, has action adventures, whatever) with no romance at all. That kind of story is often a comfort read for me.
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One I don't like is a really strong emphasis on femme presentation. Not so much in a neutral way, but when it's contrasted favorably against butchness or gender ambiguity. I much prefer when a character's gender presentation stands on its own, butch femme or otherwise.
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Dislike: when one partner is pregnant and described as the epitome of womanhood, or "more feminine/female than ever before".
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Anything that stereotypes women, can diaf. Now.
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Back story, sudden superpowers, adorable slow courtship/dating, Canon AUs, Fairy Tales, episode tags, case fic, crack.
I also really like amnesia, especially when set in a world different from ours and one or both characters have to adapt and figure things out.
Tropes I avoid:
Aliens made them do it, sex pollen and similar. The lack of/mudddling of consent is a serious squick for me.
What do you desperately wish with all your heart would become a trope?
I'd love to read more fic about middle-aged or older women being in love, maintaining a relationship and/or having sex. For example: Lorelai/Sookie, Joyce Summers/Jenny Calendar, Esme Weatherwax/Nanny Ogg...
Sadly it's pretty rare.
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