Kid Fic

[ithildin]

So a question for some of the M7 fans on my f'list. I keep meaning to ask, but always forget! In regards to what I always think of as 'Little Britches' fic, fic where some of the guys are adults and are the parents/guardians of some of the others, who are children. It's a phenomena I hadn't come across before in any of my other fandoms, but it seems incredibly popular in this fandom. I'll admit, it's one of those things that sorta baffles me, and it's not a genre I read, but I'm terribly curious [g] So, for those of you who are fans of such stories, what do you like about them, what attracts you to the genre, and do you read similar fic in any other fandoms, or is M7 unique? And if anyone knows how such stories all started, that would be interesting to know as well. So come, assuage my curiosity!

Comments

[juniperphoenix]

I don't watch/read M7, but I've come across this type of fic in both SGA and Star Trek. And now that I think about it, I actually started writing one myself (that was never finished) before I'd even discovered that fanfiction was something other people did. It must be something in the fannish collective unconscious. :)

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Might be :)

[grachonok.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I'm a typical fandom representative:), but I'll try to say something:).
As you might remember:), I started reading M7 fic before I saw the series; and I decided to dive in the world of M7 fics not to fill the gaps in canon, which had been my main reason in other fandoms, but because I thought there would be lots of stories focused on building friendships, trust issues, finding home... The staff I've adored, both to read and write:), for as long as I can remember:). And I was right, you know:). Kid fics are for the most part about the same things, and that's why I read them - because there is a good chance I'll enjoy the plot turns, or some scenes, or angst, even if half of the characters won't be recognizable at all:). Of course, after I had seen the series, my canonist instincts kicked in, but not as strong as it migh have been:).

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your thoughts. It's never going to be a genre I read, but I like understanding why other people like things I don't get.

[brightknightie.livejournal.com]

I've never encountered this in fanfiction -- perhaps because I read mainly in FK and secondarily in HL, where complete AUs are rare -- but I remember vividly encountering a similar trope in Marvel Comics. Perhaps it contributed?

Specifically, two years in a row, back in the late eighties or early nineties, Chris Claremont wrote the standalone annual issue of The Uncanny X-Men as a plot in which the rest of the team was reduced to childhood, and one member remained an adult and had to take care of them; the first time, it was a very serious, thoughtful plot, the companion piece of the matching The New Mutants annual that summer, in which the teenage characters were artificially advanced to adulthood, all but one. The second time, returning to popular acclaim, it was just a romp. Later, the whole idea of these "mini" characters, the superheros and villains as children, became an ongoing humor trope in Marvel; I own two collections of such stories.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I have run across, Stargate fic I think it was, where the adults became/transformed into children, but never AUs where they are actually children, while some are adults. It was just one of those things that made me scratch my head :)