So what is Slash, exactly?

So I was going to write this up myself, and include a lot of links and history, but the truth is, it has been written before, and by more clear and concise writers than I feel I am able to be. So instead, I'm going to do a mini-master post on places where you can learn more.

I apologize to everyone out there who has been confused by the title of my blog. I meant to do this far sooner, but I kept dithering on the post I'd written up because I knew it wasn't perfect. Then I ran across an article about Slash that was perfect, and realized what I needed to do, so here we are.

But for a simple definition, we will start with the Urban Dictionary version:

slash

1. Genre of fanfiction involving pairing two male or female characters together; characters are commonly shown with a slash in between.

For a pretty basic overview, Wikipedia's article on Slash Fiction gives a good amount of detail not only of how it is defined and used in the fanfiction world, but also a lot of the history of slash in fanfiction, and some of the sub-genres you might find.

A more indepth look at Slash can be found at FanLore, which covers a much more fan-specific view of the genre, as well as a deeper look at its history in fandom and some of the controversies surrounding it. There is also an article about the History of Slash Fandom at fanlore as well, if you want more information on how all this came about.

And then, for a beautiful comprehensive version of why people enjoy reading and writing slash and where it comes from, I highly recommend The Brat Queen's "What Is Slash?"

This list is of course, by no means comprehensive, but all of the above articles have links to other articles about slash and its effect on fandom. I highly recommend you check it all out.

Happy reading!