What does "slow burn" mean?

[schneefink]

In the last posted chapter of DD's MDZS WIP, the main characters (spoiler!) finally kiss! After more than 100k, but less than a month actually passed in the story. So we talked about the term "slow burn" and decided that similar to game speedrunning categories, there should be categories for "slow burn."

Poll #25610 Slow burn

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 55

View Respondents

"Slow burn" means the relationship develops slowly from the point of view...

View Answers

of the characters
2 (3.6%)

of the reader
5 (9.1%)

both
12 (21.8%)

either/or
3 (5.5%)

mostly the characters, but not too fast for the reader either
3 (5.5%)

mostly the reader, but not too fast for the characters either
27 (49.1%)

idk it's just a gut feeling
3 (5.5%)

other (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[mllesatine]

It's weird. I would never categorize a story that spans 20 years from first meeting to first kiss that is only 15,000 words long as "slow burn". On the other hand I've read a story where the characters kiss after roughly 50,000 words and say "I love you" after 100,000 words and I also don't think that was slow burn because the story focus wasn't the romance.

I only have 9 stories bookmarked where the author uses the term. It's clearly not something I seek out for its own sake. Would love to hear what other people expect or search for in "slow burn".

[schneefink]

Yeah, what "slowly" means would be the next question ^^

I never look for slow burn specifically, but I do enjoy it sometimes :) And sometimes it's a promising additional tag, like in combination with pining or stories where two people start out on different sides.

[sheron]

It's actually one of my favourite things in fanfic. I loooove slow burn. For me, it's something very character and specific-relationship focused, where each rung of the trust ladder is hit as the relationship sloooooooooowly progresses from something like antagonism to true love. It could even have characters sleeping together from the start, in a fuck-buddies way, where the emotional agony of 'but do they actually like me?' is still there.

[schneefink]

each rung of the trust ladder is hit as the relationship sloooooooooowly progresses from something like antagonism to true love
Nicely put.

Yeah, the slow burn can only be feelings-related. I've even read a few platonic relationship slow-burn stories that were great :)

[mecurtin]

As a Good Omens fan, I feel highly qualified to have opinions on this topic. Good Omens, *canonically*, is a 6000-year slow burn. Getcher slow burns here! We have the slowest of burns! 6000 Years of Slow Burn is one of our big tags!

As you can see from that tag, in GO fic "slow burn" *mostly* means the story takes you slowly through the burn. But it can also be for fics that are relatively short, but reference how slow the damn burn has been. So I'd say that here in Slow Burn Land, the defining principle is that it's slow for the *characters*, though generally what we want is for it to be slow for the readers, too. It doesn't *have* to be, in GO fic, because the writer can just gesture at all the canonical slow-burning and the readers will go along with it.

[schneefink]

As a Good Omens fan, I feel highly qualified to have opinions on this topic. Good Omens, *canonically*, is a 6000-year slow burn.
Valid xD Yeah, if "slow for the characters" is literally 6000 years that feels different than, say, 5 or so. In that case I think for me it would depend on how well the author can convey/emphasize(?) the canonical slow-burn, even in a shorter fic.

[justanorthernlight]

Word count is definitely more important than publishing schedule IMO, I've binge-read completed slow burn fics and still found them slow burn, but it's mostly about the relationship itself advancing slowly throughout the narrative, with tension and complexity, if that makes sense.

[mllesatine]

How fast an author publishes a story didn't even occur to me. *g* Although sometimes the anticipation of a new chapter certainly adds to the enjoyment of a story. I've never been able to recreate that feeling. If I had more self-control I could just read one chapter per week. :D

[schneefink]

I didn't even think about the publishing schedule, that's an additional level.

it's mostly about the relationship itself advancing slowly throughout the narrative, with tension and complexity, if that makes sense.
It does!

[starshipfox]

Slow burn is one of my least favourite tropes to read (I'm a fan of established relationship), so I would probably class more fic as slow burn than others in the comments here. If it takes more than 10K to get to relationship dynamics, I'm not reading it!

[schneefink]

Every time I seek out established relationship fic I feel like there's not enough of it by far. (Granted I often think this when looking for one particular trope, but this one in particular.)

[starshipfox]

I've always been more interested in how relationships develop over time, and the ways in which couples deal with emotional and external challenges. I've never really understood fandom's obsession with "getting together" fic -- but it's certainly the vast majority of fic.

[moonvoice]

Huh, I've never really thought about that before, and realised for me it's slow burn from the perspective of the reader, not the characters. I suppose because I consider FFS a slowburn, but in reality it's like both characters admit they're attracted to each other within like two weeks and are in a relationship in a month, lol.

And likewise I think there's different kinds of slowburn. Like you can get to the sex quickly, but get to the love really slowly, and I would still consider a fic like that a slowburn if there were pining feelings and it was taking the characters a really long time to admit an emotional connection. Stuck on the Puzzle has been described as a slowburn despite the fact that their first kink experience together is 3 chapters in. But it takes nearly the whole story for them to admit they love each other, *to* each other.

I've never really... thought it out before but yeah given my thoughts are so weird about it, there must be tons and tons of different variations for people re: what slowburn actually means!

[schneefink]

There's definitely many different kinds of slow burn. I've been trying to think of what's necessary for me to consider a story a slow burn. I think it might just be any kind of highly anticipated emotional pay-off - usually related to romance, but not necessarily.

[nonesensed]

Late too this (though I did vote, but now I can't remember which option I picked XD) but I agree with several other comments that "slow burn" is a varied kind of description. I think it needs an additional "modifier" aka is it "slow burn romance" or "slow burn read".

That said, I do think I tend to expect both a slower paced story and a slowly building relationship across in-story time when I see that tag. But that might just be me.

[schneefink]

Almost half of the responses are for "mostly the reader, but not too fast for the characters either," which is probably what I would have picked. But my expectations probably depend on the fandom too - "Good Omens" probably has its own subcategories ;)

[nonesensed]

Very true! What's a slow burn is very much up to the genre/fandom/format. I've seen fairly short fics (word count wise) tagged as slow burn since the relationships develops over several short scenes over a long period of in-story time, and while I don't think that's "wrong", I'd myself not use the tag unless the fic itself is a "long" one.

And yeah, the Good Omens fandom is All The Kinds Of Slow Burn XD It's like an ice cream bar full of different kinds of "watch these two people slooooowly get together" XD