Look I'm not one to hate ships and what not but I really wish there were more stories about other things, like for example...Shelia and Kyle's relationship, Randy and Stan's relationship, or even Gerald and his mentality after season 21. Or better yet, Butters and Cartman's toxic friendship, and the infamous Cartman vs Kyle rivalry. There's just so many non-shipping routes that aren't being used, and it sucks. There really is a lot to be said that doesn't require an underlying romantic tone
i agree w this for the most part; i think the fact that the majority of fics surround romance is that itās something youāll never see in show yāknow? like the things you mentioned ā stan and randyās relationship, cartman and kyle rivalry stuff, etc. ā is all stuff weāve seen before whether itās a continuous element to character development or if itās what drives the plot of an episode.Ā
iāve read a handful of fics like this before where there wasnāt really anything shipping-wise and iāve found most of them pretty boring if iām being honest. i think the flaw with going that route is it requires you to have 1.) an interesting plot that feels organic to the show and 2.) a good handle on established characterization as well as a good use of your own creativity to elaborate and provide additional personality quirks to really make the characters feel real and 3.) a good understanding of the intricacies to how specific characters interact with one another in both a public and private setting. like as an example, stan interacts very differently with cartman than he does with kyle or kenny, and he often acts differently toward cartman when itās just the two of them than he does when theyāre together as a group.
imo the biggest problem when there isnāt a romantic story to follow is the plot. thereās a big difference between writing something intended to take place in a stationary setting or dialogue-based or slice-of-life focused and writing something wherein which nothing happens. no, stories donāt need to people die or have sex to be interesting, but itās an easy way to do so b/c the alternative of captivating an audience without it is much harder.
i'd be interested to see more stories like this though. if any of yāall have recommendations iād love to have themĀ
