In a message dated 2/20/01 5:38:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, nydersdyner@yahoo.co.uk writes:
<< And I also sometimes feel as if nobody really questions the concept at all--like it's just assumed that everyone's OK with this. >>
Maybe that's because in American fandom, as a rule, hurt/comfort is "standard" in fan fiction and therefore it probably *is* assumed that everyone's "okay" with it. In fact, hurt/comfort is a standard in pro fiction, as well, even in something as "nuts and bolts" as mainline SF. I can only quote from one of my favorite authors, Orson Scott Card, a winner of multiple Hugos (actually I will paraphrase). Scott says find the character in your story who hurts the most... and hurt him SOME MORE.
You really can't write a story that involves the reader emotionally without putting the hero/heroine into trouble.
Annie