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I have some things to say about hurt/comfort.
I don't like it. And not on "somebody might get it wrong grounds." I, personally, just do not enjoy reading it.
I find it either boring or frustrating.
The boring part is, I don't want to watch one of my couple in some kind of pain while the other strokes his forehead and says, "Poor dear. Poor, poor dear," until the one in pain is better. I don't care if it's realistic or un, it's fucking boring. Done well, done fabulously, done so brilliantly it blots out the freaking sun, it is still unutterably boring! You know why it's boring? Because I've done that shtick, and I was bored while I was doing it. Helpless, useless, couldn't make things better, and bored. I wanted my partner back, I wanted to be able to play, and when she couldn't, I looked after her and tried not to let her know I was bored out of my mind. Why the fuck would I want to read about it? (And I felt this way even before caregiving became a large part of my life. There's a reason I mentally recoiled whenever my grandmother suggested I become a nurse.)
(There's hurt/comfort of a kind in the Roadhouse Blues stories, but Sonny's idea of comfort is to punch Vinnie--whose pain is psychic. Not even Sonny would punch him for having a broken arm. And Sonny's boredom and frustration radiate off him. Being a caregiver is not exciting work.)
The frustrating part is how many hurt/comfort stories are about torture. First somebody's kidnapped and tortured, then they're rescued and comforted. I guess this is supposed to be cathartic, but what I would read is hurt/revenge. The hurt/comfort I've read has very little revenge in it. If you're going to torture one of my couple, the other one better not only look after him, he better avenge him. If he's not going to do that, just leave me out of it. Comfort is not cathartic. Finding the guy who hurt your partner and shooting him until you're out of bullets is cathartic.
Also, I don't know what this has to do with bingo, but I can live with that.
I don't like it. And not on "somebody might get it wrong grounds." I, personally, just do not enjoy reading it.
I find it either boring or frustrating.
The boring part is, I don't want to watch one of my couple in some kind of pain while the other strokes his forehead and says, "Poor dear. Poor, poor dear," until the one in pain is better. I don't care if it's realistic or un, it's fucking boring. Done well, done fabulously, done so brilliantly it blots out the freaking sun, it is still unutterably boring! You know why it's boring? Because I've done that shtick, and I was bored while I was doing it. Helpless, useless, couldn't make things better, and bored. I wanted my partner back, I wanted to be able to play, and when she couldn't, I looked after her and tried not to let her know I was bored out of my mind. Why the fuck would I want to read about it? (And I felt this way even before caregiving became a large part of my life. There's a reason I mentally recoiled whenever my grandmother suggested I become a nurse.)
(There's hurt/comfort of a kind in the Roadhouse Blues stories, but Sonny's idea of comfort is to punch Vinnie--whose pain is psychic. Not even Sonny would punch him for having a broken arm. And Sonny's boredom and frustration radiate off him. Being a caregiver is not exciting work.)
The frustrating part is how many hurt/comfort stories are about torture. First somebody's kidnapped and tortured, then they're rescued and comforted. I guess this is supposed to be cathartic, but what I would read is hurt/revenge. The hurt/comfort I've read has very little revenge in it. If you're going to torture one of my couple, the other one better not only look after him, he better avenge him. If he's not going to do that, just leave me out of it. Comfort is not cathartic. Finding the guy who hurt your partner and shooting him until you're out of bullets is cathartic.
Also, I don't know what this has to do with bingo, but I can live with that.
