I ship, I suppose. I'll take SG-1 as an example, because it's my most active fandom right now. Jack and Daniel have something in the show, something that stretches beyond teamy goodness. Even gen-fic/friendship in the fandom can be read as slash or pre-slash, I've noticed. So the reason I go to fandom is mostly to see how their relationship developed and how they moved alongside canon in someone's personal fandom. Did that make sense? I love episode tags, I like fic that do a 'behind the scenes' cut, fic that can be fit into the episode seamlessly.
Now, Firefly... that is something completely different. I won't get in to much because I don't want to spoil it for you, but the canon pairings are so solid for me that I just can't break those ships like I would in, say, Rowling!verse. If I didn't like a pairing in Harry Potter, I would just go to the fandom and/or write my own fic with the 'right' couple. In Firefly, I can't do that. And it's not even like I agree with the pairings (no canon slash *tear*), I just cannot see the characters any other way than who they are with.
So I suppose I am in fandom to see what the relationship does to the characters. I cannot read any fic that isn't character-centered, and I can't read AU. It just loses my interest, because I love the different takes authors spin on their characters, as long as it is canon-compliant. I read to see the relationship as an extension of their already-existing canonical personalities. :D
In which I ramble about SG-1 and Firefly....
I ship, I suppose. I'll take SG-1 as an example, because it's my most active fandom right now. Jack and Daniel have something in the show, something that stretches beyond teamy goodness. Even gen-fic/friendship in the fandom can be read as slash or pre-slash, I've noticed. So the reason I go to fandom is mostly to see how their relationship developed and how they moved alongside canon in someone's personal fandom. Did that make sense? I love episode tags, I like fic that do a 'behind the scenes' cut, fic that can be fit into the episode seamlessly.
Now, Firefly... that is something completely different. I won't get in to much because I don't want to spoil it for you, but the canon pairings are so solid for me that I just can't break those ships like I would in, say, Rowling!verse. If I didn't like a pairing in Harry Potter, I would just go to the fandom and/or write my own fic with the 'right' couple. In Firefly, I can't do that. And it's not even like I agree with the pairings (no canon slash *tear*), I just cannot see the characters any other way than who they are with.
So I suppose I am in fandom to see what the relationship does to the characters. I cannot read any fic that isn't character-centered, and I can't read AU. It just loses my interest, because I love the different takes authors spin on their characters, as long as it is canon-compliant. I read to see the relationship as an extension of their already-existing canonical personalities. :D