Shipping Rare Pairs
Here’s what I can’t understand about the racing fandom.
Rare pairs.
We have one of the richest canons of any fandom. WHY aren’t we utilizing our rare pairs? WHY is it just teammates getting shipped??
It’s fanfiction, the timelines don’t matter. You can ship ANYONE and ANYONE.
We could have a James Hunt/Mitch Evans flirt-offs.
We could have Mario Andretti/Dan Wheldon domestic fluff.
We could have Niki Lauda proving to Marcus Ericsson/Felix Rosenqvist/Kevin Magnussen that if he can handle James, he can handle them.
We could have Francois Cevert and Marc Marquez exchanging dance moves.
We could have Jules Bianchi and Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn and Marco Simoncelli all watching over their friends.
We could have Ricky Carmichael/Esteban Ocon arguing about whether it’s better being tall or short, and then declaring they love the other just how they are.
We could have Mark Webber and Damon Hill commiserating about how annoying their rival German is.
We could have Keke Rosberg forbidding Nico from seeing that Richard Petty.
We could have Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in a highschool AU competing to see who can win Joachen Rindt.
Max Verstappen, Marcus Gronholm and Danica Patrick as first years at a school for witchcraft and wizardry.
Juan Manuel Fangio and Carlos Pace as Hawkeye and Black Widow, in an Avengers where Tony Stark is Tony Kanaan.
Can anyone explain why we don’t?
Please?
At least then I’ll know.
Imho it’s because it doesn’t make sense, you can’t just pluck random characters and force them together. There needs to be a common thread and a chemistry there, but also a reader who wants that paring. I can’t see how some of these would ever work or make sense. Ships aren’t just created through randomness, they’re built from a catalyst - event, character similarity, friendship. Oh
Yeah, the inspiration element. I tell you what. Crossover Fanfiction is popular for a reason, too.
SuperWhoLock is something everyone into fanfic knows exists. X-character in the Harry Potter Verse is ubiquitous in fandom.
I’m not suggesting they’re obvious fits. And, yeah, random won’t work as well.
But let’s talk about Damon Hill and Mark Webber for a second. The parallels in their careers are fantastic. They’re basically the same guy from two different generations. I’m not saying that means they would be a natural ship, but I’m saying I’d love to see these two beautiful, tall, severe brunettes sitting in a bar and telling each other their war stories.
– Mark scratched the back of his head and ran his finger down the glass mug of beer, tracing the line of condensation. “Yeah, mate, I know what you mean. The press just…” He stopped.
Damon leaned over just enough to bump his shoulder. A companionable touch. He rearranged his long legs under the bar and glanced at the chiseled jawed Aussie. He’d always secretly adored dimples. “Germans, eh?”
“Do you know, they took away my front wing and gave it to him? Just gave it to him.” Mark shook his head.
“What? Your wing? Not your wing. Team outta stick up for a man’s wing.” The scotch was definitely getting to him, now. Poor Mark, he needed someone to look after him. That was just about a job Damon could handle, and once he got the poor man back to the hotel room, well..
The door opened and a compact blonde came in, with another hovering along behind him. Both’s men’s faces reddened. “Ay, mate, you wanna head back to mine, maybe grab some more brews there? I’m sick of this place.” Mark growled towards the two Germans, getting a rousing welcome from the rest of the bar.
“Yeah, mate, just let me help you.” Damon slipped under Mark’s arm and waited until Michael and Sebastian were looking, then put his hand on Mark’s ass.
- Yeah, sure, I know, then you have to understand like, the history of the sport and more than just the current grid and the Redbull era.
But there are some pretty amazing things tucked away in history. How about a Simi fic that invokes the story of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins?
In fandoms like Star Trek, rarepairs serve to help readers expand their interests. “Oh I haven’t seen Deep Space Nine, but this Julian character sounds adorable.” Or “I never realized Spock and Kess had so much in common!”
There’s just so much great material, and only using the current grid, in it’s current team configurations, is a lot like ONLY writing fanfic about the latest episode of Sherlock, or only about the last Harry Potter book.
There’s a lot to F1
*shrugs*
I for one, am a fan of the whole series.
You asked, so I gave my opinion, by all means ignore it, but don’t tell me i’m wrong.
Writing is about self expression, you write for own enjoyment or for your audience. The pairings you’ve used aren’t something I agree work, nor are they something I’d read as I can’t find the common thread between them. I enjoy F1, I don’t really follow other series, so I for one, wouldn’t know anything about the character of some of those people. Imho I can’t see the connection between them and it feels like some are just thrown together based on the fact they drive/ride something. Whilst it is fiction, the characters aren’t entirely fictional. It’s different to tv shows etc.
That’s my own view, we are all different of course. If you want to explore characters and ‘rare pairings’, go right ahead, but do it for yourself and maybe you might find an audience there, it’d be great if you do. But don’t be offended if you don’t. You imply that we’re stuck in our common pairs, but that’s because that’s what we enjoy.
As writers we shouldn’t try and dictate what others spend time on, by all means we can have POV on what our own personal preferences are and that is all my reply is. A POV. Others may agree with you and that’s fine, but it won’t change my views. I have to connect with a character/pairing, there are some I don’t read because I don’t identify with them. I don’t question those who do, I appreciate that we all have our own quirks. But I feel like you’re trying to force your POV.
Don’t worry, I won’t tell you you’re wrong, because you’re not.
Those pairings pretty much were random. I was just grabbing names off the top of my head.
I am not going to tell writers not to write what they want. I am NOT the person who is going to tell people they shouldn’t write their favorite pairing, or even write for hits.
However, a lot of the people I’ve been talking to since I posted this, hadn’t considered the idea of crossover Motorsports fanfiction. I’m just sharing something I’m enthusiastic about. It’s fanfiction, the setting doesn’t matter. A university AU works as well with two people who we KNOW have good chemistry as with two people who WOULD have had good chemistry, had they been the same age or in the same series.
If you do decide to read the end result of this project (and yes, some pairings are working out better than others, lol) then please enjoy the characters you’re not familiar with as you might a piece of original fiction. Some of them will be people you’ll be familiar with.
And some of them are already dynamite.
I completely understand where you're coming from and it's great you have something you're passionate about. Write whatever you feel works for you, ultimately writing and expression is the most important point here.
I'm just nervous that perhaps a reader wouldn't understand the characters if they are from other disciplines or eras. But I suppose that give you the opportunity to write them however you see fit and blur the lines of reality.
Personally, I have 4/5 ships I read, they tend to be characters that I know and understand.
