I agree and disagree with you about spicyhoney. I do feel like it's an overused ship in the papcest part of the fandom. Like, you want to read a papcest fic? There are a lot of spicyhoney ones, but not that many for other papcest ships like mappleblossom or Pap/Stretch (I'm not even sure of the shipname for this one). (1/2)
I get what you’re saying, and I don’t necessarily disagree with you. What I do disagree with is the idea that, because Spicyhoney gets more attention in the Papcest sphere, it is now less deserving of attention than other Papcest pairings. On the occasions when I’ve heard someone say they think Spicyhoney is “overused”, that seems to be the implication, and it usually seems like the speaker is casting shade on the writers and artists that choose to focus primarily or exclusively on Spicyhoney. (That’s not what I think you were saying, Anon; I’m just clarifying my position.)
Creators are in no way obligated to create for pairings or characters or enen to use characterizations they aren’t interested in—whether because a ship “needs” more content or because it’s a fan favorite. Which, sadly, does mean some things will get less representation.
But, if you look at something like Spicyhoney, a huge percentage of that content is produced by only a handful of people. It’s arguably still a rarepair if you look at fandom on the whole, but I think it’s really wonderful what these people have done for their ship; it’s not only more popular than it was a few years back, the way it’s portrayed has changed drastically. (For example, a lot of the tropes I was playing with and poking at in Broken Bones just aren’t as common anymore; for new readers, I have to imagine it just doesn’t read the same.)
So, lol, the moral of the story is—create things you feel passionate about. Not only will you be able to create more, you’ll be happier doing it. Discard fanon if you don’t like it. Hell, tweak the canon if that’s what’s holding you back. Create the fic or the artwork that you want to exist—chances are, no one else will.
(Btw, the pairing you’re thinking of is Honeyblossom. It actually does have a long fic for it—“Honey, You’ve Blossomed” on AO3. I wouldn’t call this a rec because I haven’t actually read the fic—I’m not really into Tale/Tale ships—but I wanted to point it out for any interested parties.)
