This is a fun topic; I was about to run out the door to work so had to keep it short but now am settled here. :)
The character dynamic is what gets me into a pairing, regardless of whether it's 'canon' or not (having said that, I definitely tend toward 'main' pairings in a canon that look quite obvious, like Holmes/Watson or Kirk/Spock or something). But the characters can have chemistry together regardless of whether I find them fanciable, and I feel like, I don't know, I'm writing them for each other, not for me, if that makes any sense! Like, even with those pairings--as good-looking a fellow as Benedict Cumberbatch is, I don't fancy Martin Freeman at all, but I still would (if I were writing in that fandom) have them have a lot of edgy repressed sex. ;)
Or, say, Kirk/Spock: in the reboot, okay, I am desperately in love with Chris Pine like a 14 year old girl, but I also write TOS, and Shatner and Nimoy, while awesome, are sort of like grandparents and I am EWW about them being naked when not in character. But the characters are so clearly hot for each other that I forget I don't fancy them and write them as if I do.
FWIW, when writing original characters having sex, I almost go out of my way to have them not be the sort of person I fancy. Is that odd? ;)
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The character dynamic is what gets me into a pairing, regardless of whether it's 'canon' or not (having said that, I definitely tend toward 'main' pairings in a canon that look quite obvious, like Holmes/Watson or Kirk/Spock or something). But the characters can have chemistry together regardless of whether I find them fanciable, and I feel like, I don't know, I'm writing them for each other, not for me, if that makes any sense! Like, even with those pairings--as good-looking a fellow as Benedict Cumberbatch is, I don't fancy Martin Freeman at all, but I still would (if I were writing in that fandom) have them have a lot of edgy repressed sex. ;)
Or, say, Kirk/Spock: in the reboot, okay, I am desperately in love with Chris Pine like a 14 year old girl, but I also write TOS, and Shatner and Nimoy, while awesome, are sort of like grandparents and I am EWW about them being naked when not in character. But the characters are so clearly hot for each other that I forget I don't fancy them and write them as if I do.
FWIW, when writing original characters having sex, I almost go out of my way to have them not be the sort of person I fancy. Is that odd? ;)