MPREG. The phrase that strikes fear in the hearts of we cockroaches and is a surefire way to get us sharpening the sporks.

At the Old-Old Place, I recall we had a fantastic discussion of how it ties in with the seme/uke dynamic, and the general fanbrattish understanding of sexuality, and I'm sure someone way less hungover than me could write some meta on this.

The reason I started this thread? I found this thread at the Pit of Voles.

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So...generally when I write I am perfectly confident in what I put on paper. But, I have this issue when it comes to stepping out of my knowledge zone. *rolls eyes* Despite the incredible pregnant man who was actually born a woman...there hasn't been any sort of record that a man has ever gotten pregnant. I've generally got baby on the brain...meaning I love writing fictions about pregnancies, birthing, and babies/children. Those are normally the only stories I write...pregnancy stories...hehe. Anyways I normally wont write something that isn't believable, but I really love male pairings and surprises...like pregnancies. So my thing is, pretty soon I want to write a MPREG story either between H/D or H/R. But I don't know how to make it come about. I mean, I've read stories where the guy would use a potion to conceive...or casting a spell to make the man temporarily a woman. But I want to do something different. So, does anybody have any suggestions as to how I might come across this problem between the boys but make it believable as if male pregnancy could really happen. *sigh* I hate being stuck.

The replies are gold:

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So, basically, semen is routed through the prostate, which is considered an errogenous zone by many slash authors. In wizards, it might be plausible that, should the prostate be ruptured in sexual acts, the semen of the sub could conceivably be susained by magic to act as an egg rather than sperm as they ought to.

I think if the prostate ruptured, there would be a few more problems than pregnancy...

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Well...you could always do it the only way it has been done. dude sex change surgery into girl, girl gets knocked up, then either has the kid or changes back and gets a c-section. It would be lengthy, but you could drag the story out longer...

Uh... right.

I've heard rumblings that MPREG can be done well. But I have yet to spot the mythical beast, and I fear it's a lost cause. So knock yourselves out. Let's discuss the hell out of bad MPREG: how it happens, why it happens and what it all means.

I myself am going to have two male characters have a child, but I'm going to do it in the way God intended: genetic engineering and gestating the kid in a big glass tube for nine months.

Um...I've written MPREG which people tell me isn't absolutely awful.

Plus, they're the stories I still get (positive) feedback on - most of my other stuff is now too old to be popular, but the MPREGs for some reason people carry on reading and commenting. So there's an audience for it.

I could see MPreg done well if it was a comedy.

Adoption is so underrated.

Lexin, I'd be interested to read your MPREGs... I think I must just be jaded.

I kind of want to write a fic where unscrupulous Mafia-backed doctors perform an experiment on a comatose male patient to see if it's possible to implant him with uterine cells which can then sustain an embryo...

The last mpreg fic I read was titled 'The bad news is, it's blown your cock out'.

Here's one that's actually pretty decent...and it gives a reasonable explanation for mpreg.

Family Over Fate

I really have trouble figuring out why no one wants to write about slash couples adopting. Young children are more fun to write about first off. Writing about a baby is about as much fun as writing about a coma patient. Also, if the kid's been living on the street or been tossed around in the foster care system, you have all this lovely angst to play with.
Yes, I'm aware they could adopt a baby, but it's difficult in modern times even for a straight couple to adopt a newborn. In a historical/fantasy setting, they could find an abandoned baby a la Oedipus.

The real reason people don't write m/m characters adopting is because you can't "accidentally" adopt a kid. They want a surprise pregnancy and nine months of angsting or h/c moments between the couple. That's it.

I firmly believe most anything could be done well with the right angle and a competent author, but I have yet to see it with mpreg.

Of course, there are the fandoms where m-preg is canon, like Red Dwarf, Quantum Leap, Alien Nation, Junior, or any sea horse opera.


And some canons might lend themselves to the idea, even if they didn't show it. If Glory had knocked boots with a guy before (or while) draining his brain, would Ben have had to carry the kid?

People write MPREG because men should feel what it is like to give birth. Just for a bit. Some suffering will do them good.

You know what? The actual pregnancy and birthing, be it Cesarean or borderline ass-babies, doesn't irk me too much if anything. I've truly read worse. What irks the fuck out of me is that most of them shit on the characterization. Woobification. Every. Fucking. Where. Not everyone that gets accidentally knocked up is going to be all giddy and ready to make booties and all that good shit, and don't expect someone who couldn't give two shits about raising family to be all excited about being pregnant. Even then, when they do attempt for more "realistic" approach (about as realistic as ass-babies can get), the wangst most of the time comes from events that are almost unrelated to the freshly awarded fuck trophy.

I would've said the same thing about babies being as much fun to write about as a coma patient, until I read this one utterly bizarre Gorillaz fanfic. Babies are much, much more boring.

You know a hilarious pattern I've noticed with mpreg fanfics? The author gets to the point where the mommy-to-be is at around 6-to-8 months, and then they give up. It's like they don't have the heart to finish the inevitable.

I've read a couple of good MPREGs in Torchwood fandom, one in Trigun (where it was played entirely for laughs), and one in FFVII, where Reno ended up carrying the last of the Ancients after Hojo decided to implant an artificial womb in him. The last one was good simply due to the fact that Reno reacted completely in character-he did NOT want to be pregnant, and spent the first four or five months trying to figure out ways to make himself miscarry. In the end, he only carried the baby because Tseng ordered him to. By the time the baby was born, he'd become a little more adjusted to the idea, and there was some bonding, but you're left with the impression that Tseng and Elena will probably end up raising the child.

I also don't understand why more writers don't have the couple adopt a slightly older child. Pregnancy, by and large, is only interesting to the person who's pregnant and their partner and family, as are babies. But you take a kid who's four or five, who's mother didn't want him, and who's grown up being kicked from one foster home to another because he has problems (possibly related to all the drinking/drugs his mother did while pregnant with him), place him with two guys who want children and are willing to work on giving him a good life, and you've got a story I'd be willing to read. Especially if the author doesn't sugar-coat the whole business and shows how difficult (yet rewarding) creating a family can be.