Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Interesting post on babyfic in fandom

Hey all,

Last time I was here, I remember some discussions mentioning babyfic. It recently came up in one of the comms I frequent and someone posted what I thought was a pretty interesting commentary on the subject.

I have to disclaim that I don't agree with all of it and definitely don't think all of it fits with the canon of LnC, so I take it with a grain of salt. That said, it gives food for thought about the reasons why babyfic might not be so popular as other types of fic.


My 7 reasons why babyfic is a bad idea by thelana

So how do I explain why I like LnC babyfics? It is probably because I love the idea that Lois and Clark are a romantic couple, meant by destiny to be together. It's strange that I would feel that way, because I am in many ways such a skeptic. If people tell me that they are soulmates in real life, then I'll congratulate them and be happy for them, but I won't really believe that it is Fate that has brought them together and decreed that they are going to be happy ever after.

Well, Lois and Clark is where I indulge my romantic fantasies. That is why I have a romantic take on the LnC babyfics, too. To me, it adds to the miracle if Lois has Clark's child. Such a thing shouldn't be possible, and therefore it is all the more sweet if it happens all the same in the LnC fics I read.

Bottom line, though, I'm not all that interested in Lois and Clark's children themselves. In particular, I'm less and less interested in seeing Lois and Clark's children become old enough to start seriously dating. It becomes even worse to me if Clark's son acts just like his father, and we are meant to enjoy how much the son's personality and behaviour mirrors the father's. To me, this is the kind of story that undermines the uniqueness of Lois and Clark themselves. I want them to be special, incomparable, and that is why I don't want to read about Clark Jr. dating young almost-Lois. As much as I think that Lois's pregnancy and successful delivery of Clark's babies underscores her and Clark's uniqueness and "miraculous-ness", I think that a story about young almost-Clark and almost-Lois undermines that one-of-a-kind miraculous togetherness that I want to see in Lois and Clark.

Ann

I don't mind babyfic. My own gripe is for fics where the woman gives birth and then acts as if she hadn't--running down alleys, climbing through windows and wrestling guns away from villains. In the first twenty-four hours after I've given birth, I have someone at my elbow just in case I feel faint on the short walk to the bathroom or to the kitchen table. Even a few weeks later, if I were to run down an alley there would be physical consequences like pain or increased blood flow. If we're going to write accurate stories in other genres, let's write accurate stories here, as well.

Elisabeth

Three weeks after DS was born, I chased a bus a block down the street because they didn't give me my daughter like they were supposed to [2nd day of school, buses had been changed around and this driver hadn't picked her up that morning or dropped her off the day before, ended up she was actually on her old bus - hadn't gotten switched and was dropped off 5m later]. I barely managed to limp down the street home.

I paid for it for weeks, if not months afterwards. And this was a relatively easy baby #4. CAN it happen? Yum, sure. Is it realistic for most women? Uh, no.

That said, if someone came after said baby, like someone surely could in this particular universe, you better believe I'd fight like that hot place for him or her and consequences/recovery time be dam**d.

I like some babyfic - I've written fic with kids, rarely as the main characters - not ever I don't think, but just as a part of life.

I like Next Gen fics if done well. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Home and would LOVE to see more stories about the kids/grandkids [the ones we've come to care about through the SoulMates fics of Clark and Lori] - not necessarily random person we've seen mentioned in passing unless it somehow gives us insight into C/L too [wasn't there one with Clark's great great niece or something who had the hots for him and wanted Lori out of the way? And the fic was mostly about her, but we learned about C/L along the way iirc.]. I'd love to read about Ryan, for instance.

I also enjoy Honesty - look forward to every post. Jon/Jor isn't Clark, though he has some of the same characteristics and Kaylie isn't Lois though she has some of the same characteristics as well.

I don't enjoy all babyfic or all Next Gen, but if it's well done... AnnieM's Anybody's Baby was great in the 'have to care for a baby for a time' thing.

I think it may be 'more' acceptable in LC than in some others [Bones was mentioned in the comments there] because they were actively trying for a baby when the show ended and we were left with a very unsatisfying end [though fanfic authors have come up with some fabulous answers for the FH baby].
Carol

Don't forget the golden oldies. I loved TUFS. It was babyfic at its best.

I don't argue with you that a woman can't go running, climbing, limboing and wrestling if her or her loved one's lives depend on it; I just have found a lot of fics that seem to ignore that there are consequences for their actions.

My own personal story was with DD#3. She was two days old when our plans fell through for Independance Day. I had the choice of canceling viewing the fireworks (which would have been hard on the older two), staying at home alone with a 2-day-old or going along. I eventually went along. We thought we had it all worked out. We parked where I wouldn't have to walk very far but we could still see things. The only detail we overlooked was that we were there for hours and it was a quarter mile hike to the bathrooms and the 3-year-old and I both had to go. I made it just fine on the way there, but then I realized it was a quarter mile hike back up the hill to get back to the family. I did it, but it took a l-o-n-g time and I paid for it dearly. At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do, but looking back it was immensely stupid.

Elisabeth

I can sympathize. DS was born on a Wed [30 days early]. We came home on Friday. Sat was the baby shower. I sat in my big cushie chair and did nothing. I don't think you could have paid me to do more . I told everyone they were welcome to go ahead and come over and do the shower - it was at our house - but I was going to sit there and do nothing. They were fine with that .

Monday of that week, I'd thought "You know, if he comes by Wed, we'll be home in time for the shower..." Sometimes a mom just knows!
Carol

LOL, Elisabeth. Is that because, aside from the first story which explained where the baby in the last ep of S4 came from and then returned him, there were no babies in the series until the last story?

Interesting link, btw, Alcyone. Thanks for posting it.

c.

Yes! I agree.
I do love babies... but I *am* stopping with two! Ugh! No... NextGen fics don't work for me... small kids and young LnC do the trick... I love those especially seeing Clark as a loving father of kids aged upto five or six years, but not more than that!

I do believe in and love the growing-old-together theory and even think it's romantic, but as stories I simply can't imagine Lois as a fifty year old woman and especially Clark as ... no no and no! *shudders*

I think one of the points the post brought up that I agree with (and never thought about) is the babies as OCs. It's difficult for me to like a baby character if it has nothing going for it than the fact that its Lois and Clark's. That's not enough for me. I need to be sold on it like any other OC. I think that's why, for example, Shayne's Family Hour worked so well for me. I became invested in Lisa, wanted to know more about her, etc.

But more than that, I think I scurry away from babyfic because of the disturbing idea mentioned in the post on babies as "completion" of a couple's perfect love and "proof" and validation of a couple and that they were meant to be." I've seen this one too many times in LnC fic and it makes me really uncomfortable every time.

There's also the phenomenon of the baby tack-on, which is kind of like a nscene tack-on where its almost as if they can't be happy unless a baby was inserted into the story. These just don't work for me so well either.

alcyone

Personally, I love NextGen. (And Carol, there's a new post of Honesty up right now!)

But I hate it when LnC's kids are used as a plot device. Sometimes it seems that author's just added a kid in to increase the drama. Especially the overly cutesy kid who's so perfect and nice and brings great emotional healing for Clark (usually after he's returned from NK, or some other terrible ordeal)

I love kids when they have a uniques character that adds to the story, but other than that, they just tend to annoy me. Babyfic tends to fall into that catergory because I can never get a real handle on the character of a 3 month old. Usually, they just end up being a really cute baby that everyone fawns over.

But I do love kids and babies in real life, honest! I just feel that sometimes they don't add anything to the story.

/me runs to Fanfic boards

After I say...

Yeah - I don't get the whole 'I know a baby's personality at 3m' thing. Yeah some are easier to care for than others, but the idea that I know my child will be well suited for this profession or that profession or will make a good parent etc at 3m is ludicrous to me [of course, I can never tell who they look like either ].

/me now runs to boards
Carol

Now you've got me laughing, too. I remembered it started with a baby and I remembered how much I love it and I suppose I must have filled in the rest with a warm, fuzzy blur.

Anyway, IRL I do think three month old's have a personality. My oldest CAME OUT with a very strong personality, but we were too inexperienced to recognize it for a long time. After that, I became a baby detective, trying to figure out what each baby is like. The younger they are the more general it is, but they still have personalities. For example, my second child felt the need to smile whenever she was smiled at; no matter how upset she was she always tried to smile back--hilarious at times. How that communicates to fanfic, I'm not sure; but I do know that babies are real people with real emotions and real personalities.

Elisabeth

I have never been able to pinpoint why but I really dislike baby fics.

However... I LOVE LOVE LOVE nextgen fics where the child is older. Usually around the age of Lois and Clark.

They are some of my favorite stories.

For me there is a vast difference between the two. In baby fics the stories seem to be rather boring to me but in NextGen not only do I get to meet the person that the author imagines LnC's child to be but I get to see how LnC have matured themselves.

Win/win situation for me.

I simply love babyfics, ok, I love well written babyfics!

Especially if it is Lois & Clark’s babyfic, because it was clear that Clark longed for kids so much. And the fact that Lois didn’t think she wanted kids, then realizing that she in fact did, but was told she couldn’t have.

It’s fun to read Lois’ confusion over having a baby, it’s heart warming to see Clark holding a baby. It’s like Mary Alice (Desperate Housewives) once said, “Why do we listen again, and again? Because these are the stories of family.”

And this is why I like babyfic so much, because it’s something almost instinctive, you love someone, you get married, you have children. I’m not saying that Lois and Clark need a baby to be complete. It just seems like natural course. And since that they wanted kids so much, I feel happy when they are given!

And I love “Anybody’s Baby”, it’s one of my all time favorite. I also like “Little girl lost”, and if I am in the mood for a babyfic I just look for it in Stopquitdont’s file.

.. AnnieM's Anybody's
“Little girl lost”, and it's sequell "Innocence lost" have got to be three of my favourite fics ever...
definitely on the most read list (about 50x each)


I guess I love any well written story,
but because I fell in love with L&C as a couple (and not their kids) I love L&C + kids but "don't love" (As opposed to hate) next-gen fics where the kids are the adults facing adult dilemmas....

whereas the family with kids may or maynot be seen as extensions of the characters portrayed in the original show... next gens (such as Home et.) for me fail to carry with them
the continuity that I am looking for in fan-fic...


perhaps this has a lot to do with my general philosophical objection to the notion of reincarnation and the episode SM (presumably due to my Christian upbringing, with the emphasis on the individual's uniqueness in this world... each person being a miracle in their own right)...

In Essence I would state that next gen adults in fics (such as Home) to me are a bit more closely affiliated to ORIGINAL FICTION, whereas baby fics could be more easily linked to the genre of fanfiction...

See, I don't know if this makes a difference or not, but I don't see Home as Next Gen. Yes, Lois and Clark's kids/grandkids/etc. are all present, but most of the stories are essentially about CLARK and the next incarnation of Lois in Lori. I would consider it a SoulMates fic, but not NG and it's still 'our' Clark. The latest one that Nan posted would be considered NG because Clark and Lori get a passing mention at best.

Honesty, currently being posted by Beth, would be Next Gen because Lois and Clark are in it, but the focus is on Jon/Jor and Kaylie.

Neither are babyfic... IMO of course. Beethoven - you are, of course, entitled to your opinion, but I would disagree with your definition of most of the Home series as Next Gen... not that it really matters of course .

Carol [who absolutely loves Home and Honesty but knows NG/SM/Babyfic are not for everyone...]

I agree with a lot of what Ann said. Because Lois and Clark may not "supposed" to be able to conceive a child together and then do anyway, is lucky, miraculous and also a testament to their love for one another.

I also enjoy kid fics because they can bring up the issues of the child's powers as well as those of Clark and how they might play out in the future.

But no, I agree to not being that into stories which solely focus on a child of L and C's alone and out in the world.

Mona

I find myself in a paradoxical situation here. I hate next gen. Kids? Cute antics? Lois and Clark being parents? So not my thing. BUT IRL, I love kids. Love them.

The reason this is paradoxical is that I like most babyfic yet IRL I hate babies. They bore me to death.

I think the reasons for this paradox is that I read fanfic to see Lois and Clark; when a baby is in the womb, it's still going to be a story about Lois and Clark. Once it gets big enough to have a mind of its own, I'm over it. IRL, however, I like to interact. I love to watch the language acquisition process happen, and I find the developing personalities/changes to be fascinating.

Strangely enough, I don't feel the same way about stories in which LnC interact with a child that isn't their own. I can't say if it's that the authors of such fics as 'Innocence Lost' or 'Redemption' are about issues rather than children or what it is. And yes, I know this means I'm going to have a real problem if I ever have a baby.

Personally, ever since having a baby of my own, I've found myself with a renewed interest in reading stories about women with babies. Not necessarily romance novels with the single woman with a baby who meets a guy... maybe because that's not the stage of life I want to read about. What I want to read about is what happens after "happily ever after." Once the happy couple marry, I want to know what happens next in their lives. Do they have kids soon? Do they wait? Do they disagree about when to have kids or how many to have? Do they have trouble *having* kids? What are the kids like?

I do agree with whoever pointed out that it's a different stage in life, and that people can even change after having children. Once Lois has a baby, she's not going to be Season One or even Season Four Lois again, even if she keeps being a journalist. She's going to have to cope with childcare, she's probably going to start thinking twice about jumping in without testing the water. Her priorities are going to change. She's going to have to divide herself between her children and her career, starting with sleepless nights tending a baby and then going in the next day without her full mind able to focus on the job (because, no matter our intentions or our caffeine ingestion, we cannot work as well on limited sleep). And that's just Lois! Clark is going to change as well, perhaps in different ways because every person reacts differently, but change all the same.

I do see a child as a product and a validation of a couple's love, but I'm not sure that I'd say that it "completes" their love. But for many (most) couples, it is the natural next step. So I think at some point, wanting to read stories where a fanfiction couple (say, Lois and Clark, for instance... ) has a child seems only logical.

I think the best sequel stories, like continued seasons or just a series of stories after the show ends, would have some stories in which children are the focus, but only when appropriate (because the story has to do with the children), some stories in which they don't appear at all, and some in which they are almost "accessories." Why? Because I think that's how children are in real life. Sometimes it's all about them. Sometimes their parents have adventures without them. And sometimes their parents have them along, but the focus is on what the parents (or perhaps older children) are doing, and the baby is just along for the ride. Maybe babies who sleep in strollers all the time oh-so-conveniently aren't realistic, but then, how often do you see characters stop to run to the bathroom in the middle of looking for a bad guy? It happens in real life, but it's not important to the story, so it gets left out. And sometimes, so does the baby!

Elisabeth, did you mean S6 instead of TUFS? That entire season included Lois and Clark's daughter, Laura. Interestingly, her position in the story was much as meerkat mentioned above. Sometimes she was the center of the story, and sometimes she was an accessory--or complication, as the case may be .

Not everyone will like babyfic any more than everyone will like deathfic or prefer S1 to S4 or vice versa. That's okay. That's why we have so many writers telling so many stories. I tend to prefer stories written about "our" L&C--not what-if-they-did-this-instead stories--but stories that assume the entire canon and either fill in the gaps in the series (i.e. we never saw L&C celebrating Lois's birthday) or tell stories about what happened after the series. That's probably why I love Nan's Dagger series. She filled in some gaps with the first 3 and then told their story following Family Hour. Naturally, it included kids.

That's also what we tried to do in TUFS, S5, and S6.