Neil said (and I apologize for the earlier mis- attribution of the typology):
It's worth bearing in mind that slash today is the current phase of a long process of evolution. Sarah Thompson or someone else who knows will have
to
correct me on this, but I gather there are essentially three phases to
this: I don't think it's a matter of evolution so much as a matter of what the writer is aiming for in a particular story.
Phase 1: the characters discover their homosexuality. That is, writers began to posit that the characters might be gay.
There are a lot of coming-out stories (are there ever!) but then first love and development of sexual expression are very common subjects even for literary fiction.
Phase 2: the gayness of the characters comes to accepted as a given, as a basis from which to develop their mutual attraction to each other.
There are still immense numbers of issues to be worked out even if both Blake and Avon think of themselves as gay and are comfortable with it--not to mention issues if attraction exists even though one/both considers him/themselves straight or are uncomfortable with same-sex relationships.
Phase 3: the 3rd generation of slash then takes the attraction as a given, to concentrate on the dynamics of that attraction.
Not to mention stories about an ongoing relationship.
There are also analytical differences between PWPs, stories about relationship issues, (i.e., a romance, albeit one about Blake and Avon's or Anna's and Servalan's or whoever's relationships) and stories about external forces that also have sex scenes that are more or less integrated with the external force (e.g., adventure story or caper--1. background to crew mission 2. Jenna and Cally make love 3. beginning of mission 4. Jenna and Cally make love again 5. dangerous complications of mission. 6. Reunited Jenna and Cally retire to cabin to celebrate safe return and triumphant conclusion of mission.)
There are also "La Ronde"-esque stories and stories that parallel one or more same-sex experiences/relationships with one or more other-sex relationships.
What I'd like is a typology that explains the truly extraordinary amount of sexual activity occuring in bathtubs and showers in B7 smut.
-(Y)