So, the post about warnings.
I’m for them. I say this in the memory of the adolescent reader I once was, who very often found myself triggered by things in the novels my adults chose for me. I told my local children’s Librarian that I never wanted to read another Paul Zindel book again, after "The Pigman" (character death) and "My darling My Hamburger" (sexual coercion, abortion, male privelege unremarked by the author).
I do not mind offering warnings on my work. I’ve never written character death, dub- or non-con, or even serious violence– but I plan on stretching my skills, and I promise I’ll warn for those things whne they occur. I’ve warned for BDSm practices, in memory of my sister who is BDSM-phobic, not that she’ll ever read what I write!
But in several discussions, the point has been made that "BDSM" is not exactly a warning, but more like a feature. So from now on, my headers will have warnings for the nasty triggery things, and a features line for details that might be squicky for some, desired by others.
As a side note, the only times that character death has actually hit me in fanfic was when the writer was that good.
Sounds very reasonable to me!
Only problem I can see with a general effort along these lines (not your work, but that of some other writers) is when the writer has no idea they’re offending in some way, they don’t even realize what they’ve done, as in all those racefail issues and economic discrimination and and traditional male privilege blindness that you mentioned. Well, I can’t see fandom avoiding those opportunities to point out where somebody maybe needs to wake up.
Well it’s not been a problem just yet as my readership is pretty small… And mostly I warn for non-sex because that would be the surprise!
Most of the time, I do give warnings. But you know, sometimes I just want to take people for a ride. I don’t want them to brace for it. In Beautiful Broken, I started with a universe in which Buffy had died before the action started. But I didn’t warn on the chapter with Buffy’s death (at the hands of our hero–Spike–who was forced to end her pain). I wanted people to suffer with him and with Xander who was just finding out.
I would think that anyone who’d made it through your fist chapter would have an idea that the story was going to be a tough one emotionally. You pulled not. One. Punch. from the beginning sentence.
And the way you wrote it was a warning in itself; *Spike* was letting Xander know that bad news was coming, and the focus of the episode was Xan and his misery at hearing about it.
Beautiful Broken was the one that totally pulled me into your BTVS fic.
Sounds very reasonable to me!
Only problem I can see with a general effort along these lines (not your work, but that of some other writers) is when the writer has no idea they’re offending in some way, they don’t even realize what they’ve done, as in all those racefail issues and economic discrimination and and traditional male privilege blindness that you mentioned. Well, I can’t see fandom avoiding those opportunities to point out where somebody maybe needs to wake up.
Well it’s not been a problem just yet as my readership is pretty small… And mostly I warn for non-sex because that would be the surprise!
Sounds very reasonable to me!
Only problem I can see with a general effort along these lines (not your work, but that of some other writers) is when the writer has no idea they’re offending in some way, they don’t even realize what they’ve done, as in all those racefail issues and economic discrimination and and traditional male privilege blindness that you mentioned. Well, I can’t see fandom avoiding those opportunities to point out where somebody maybe needs to wake up.
Well it’s not been a problem just yet as my readership is pretty small… And mostly I warn for non-sex because that would be the surprise!
Most of the time, I do give warnings. But you know, sometimes I just want to take people for a ride. I don’t want them to brace for it. In Beautiful Broken, I started with a universe in which Buffy had died before the action started. But I didn’t warn on the chapter with Buffy’s death (at the hands of our hero–Spike–who was forced to end her pain). I wanted people to suffer with him and with Xander who was just finding out.
I would think that anyone who’d made it through your fist chapter would have an idea that the story was going to be a tough one emotionally. You pulled not. One. Punch. from the beginning sentence.
And the way you wrote it was a warning in itself; *Spike* was letting Xander know that bad news was coming, and the focus of the episode was Xan and his misery at hearing about it.
Beautiful Broken was the one that totally pulled me into your BTVS fic.
Most of the time, I do give warnings. But you know, sometimes I just want to take people for a ride. I don’t want them to brace for it. In Beautiful Broken, I started with a universe in which Buffy had died before the action started. But I didn’t warn on the chapter with Buffy’s death (at the hands of our hero–Spike–who was forced to end her pain). I wanted people to suffer with him and with Xander who was just finding out.
I would think that anyone who’d made it through your fist chapter would have an idea that the story was going to be a tough one emotionally. You pulled not. One. Punch. from the beginning sentence.
And the way you wrote it was a warning in itself; *Spike* was letting Xander know that bad news was coming, and the focus of the episode was Xan and his misery at hearing about it.
Beautiful Broken was the one that totally pulled me into your BTVS fic.
Putting ‘BDSM’ or ‘MPREG’ on a story is pretty much honey==flies situation.
But the warning issue for original work is very much more complicated than it is in fandom. I try to warn for big stuff but I never know what’s enough. I just hope people will tell me if I get it wrong.
I just treat original the same as fanfic, really. Like I say, I often wished I could be warned about published fiction … Maybe Zindel wrote something wonderful later, but I wasn’t going to look for it…
Putting ‘BDSM’ or ‘MPREG’ on a story is pretty much honey==flies situation.
But the warning issue for original work is very much more complicated than it is in fandom. I try to warn for big stuff but I never know what’s enough. I just hope people will tell me if I get it wrong.
I just treat original the same as fanfic, really. Like I say, I often wished I could be warned about published fiction … Maybe Zindel wrote something wonderful later, but I wasn’t going to look for it…
Putting ‘BDSM’ or ‘MPREG’ on a story is pretty much honey==flies situation.
But the warning issue for original work is very much more complicated than it is in fandom. I try to warn for big stuff but I never know what’s enough. I just hope people will tell me if I get it wrong.
I just treat original the same as fanfic, really. Like I say, I often wished I could be warned about published fiction … Maybe Zindel wrote something wonderful later, but I wasn’t going to look for it…
I agree. I state what my work contains, be it a warning or a feature. I do like to stretch my skills, my own boundaries to see what I can come up with.
)
After I was raped, I did write a story about it and it was accepted by Horrotica. It didn’t glorify it by any means, nor was it a tears in my beer kind of thing. It just… was. It was also a new thing for me. Because it was so cathartic I had to be careful not to Mary Sue myself.
I try not to veer too far from the path that I promised the reader, but I want to push boundaries too. It’s a fine line. One I feel that you have no trouble walking.
So yeah, I’m for tagging, and warnings.
I agree. I state what my work contains, be it a warning or a feature. I do like to stretch my skills, my own boundaries to see what I can come up with.
)
After I was raped, I did write a story about it and it was accepted by Horrotica. It didn’t glorify it by any means, nor was it a tears in my beer kind of thing. It just… was. It was also a new thing for me. Because it was so cathartic I had to be careful not to Mary Sue myself.
I try not to veer too far from the path that I promised the reader, but I want to push boundaries too. It’s a fine line. One I feel that you have no trouble walking.
So yeah, I’m for tagging, and warnings.
I agree. I state what my work contains, be it a warning or a feature. I do like to stretch my skills, my own boundaries to see what I can come up with.
)
After I was raped, I did write a story about it and it was accepted by Horrotica. It didn’t glorify it by any means, nor was it a tears in my beer kind of thing. It just… was. It was also a new thing for me. Because it was so cathartic I had to be careful not to Mary Sue myself.
I try not to veer too far from the path that I promised the reader, but I want to push boundaries too. It’s a fine line. One I feel that you have no trouble walking.
So yeah, I’m for tagging, and warnings.