On warnings, and other matters

[winter]

The post at metafandom seems to have sparked quite a debate on what warnings are warranted in fanfiction (my favourites: haircutting, feet, non-fluff) and what should be done to writers who don't precede their stories with at least a paragraph-ful of caveats. The latter doesn't go quite into graphic detail, possibly because that would warrant warnings, but tarring and feathering seem to be a good guess for starters. See kyuuketsukirui's post for more information.

Which is as good a place as any to state my own warning policy. Now, I understand warning for squick - I've put down many a book because it just turned my guts and I didn't see the point of forcing down nausea just to read it through in hope of finding some gem buried in the dung. Consequently I do warn for all things sex-related, which are also good indicators that should anyone want a story with torture, bondage, dubious consent and bloodplay to brighten their day, Als es Sommer war is a good choice. (And I still can't believe I wrote that one. fyrie is a bad influence on me.) The same goes for squicky graphic violence, though apparently the same story misses a warning for rib-breaking - something I never thought would warrant one.

On the other hand, I don't understand warning for general mood of the story - angst or fluff belong in the summary, not the warning section, though I may put them there jokingly. And no, I will not warn for character death. I never kill people gratuituously. If I do kill someone, I want that death to grab the reader by the throat and force a gasp from their mouth. I might or might not accomplish that, but I won't warn and spoil it for everyone. If you haven't gotten the message yet that I've a twisted brain and a liking to be cruel to my muses, you're in the wrong territory.

I've yet to get a flame for killing people off in my fics. I think that means my strategy is working.

Now, off to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Yo ho ho and a bottle of amaretto, because I can't stand rum :P

Comments

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Just read the metafandom post. Then saw that there is now a SGA community for readers to post the warnings for stories that the authors omitted. Then saw your post.

I'm not going to start warning about feet, (unless my characters for some reason end up having them removed in violent ways).

And I think I may have to blatantly imitate this post of yours and state my own stance on warning... wouldn't want anyone to stumble across sudden incidents on haircutting and then complain that I accidentally didn't warn about it.

[winter]

I think I might link this one from my userinfo and/or my fic site just to be on the safe side. I used not to have warnings at all before I picked up my current set of uber-violent and oversexed muses, not to mention very perverted fic-prompters. Snippet from the current opus:

“You need time, don’t you?” Gently, Death leaned in and pressed his lips to the dip between Rudolf’s eyebrows. “Let me show you what I offer.”

Hands slid to his wrists, his body still pinned by the weight and power of Death’s own. Rudolf’s hands were directed outwards, spreading against the wall, brought to protruding bricks that provided purchase for his fingers.

Then Death gripped two sides of Rudolf’s shirt and tore it apart, the sound deafening in the stillness. Rudolf gasped and clutched at the wall. At that moment, he could swear no heritage of madness had anything to do with his very real fear.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Oh, nice! Poor Rudolf finally gets some affection.

I have my warnings explained on my webpage. But well... I only warn for sex and violence when it goes beyond an R rating, so people are on their own there. But anyone who can handle the source can handle my stories, I fee.

[winter]

For some values of affection ;) Death's one bitch of a muse, let me tell you that. Once again I'm sharing fyrie's headspace there.

You know, that's a good point. I won't warn for eyegouging on Once Upon A Time In Mexico fic, or mention of dismemberment in Silmarillion, language in Boondock Saints etc. It looks like a lot of the kerfuffle is from Harry Potter, which is after all a kids' book - with the most kinky fandom imaginable. The difference has to grate.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Makes me glad that I went through my Elisabeth phase years ago. *grin* And that Kamaras doesn't nearly do as much for me as Death as Kröger did. That one... *purrs* Far more subtle in his seduction.

I daresay Silmarillion is a fandom that can exist entirely without warnings. There's nothing Tolkien didn't do himself, after all. All I gave my Celebrimbor torture fics was a half-hearted violence warning with a pointer at canon.

HP is such an incredibly insane fandom... the schizophrenia really has to hurt at times.

[winter]

I'm currently rather enchanted by Maki Ichiro's Death, which is a bit boggling ;) But the way she moves and sings - quiet commanding elegance. The polar opposite of Kamaras. I guess my affinity for bishounen is showing.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*coughs* I'm shallow and Kamaras is pretty and snarly. Needless to say I have multiple muses immediately wanting to tip him on his face and bugger him backwards :D

Not one has managed yet...

[winter]

Death vs Vienna!VK? :>

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*STARES*

...

This means having a pure Vienna!VK...

...

which I don't.

Yet.

[winter]

*flutters eyelashes* Yet, m'dear? :D

Also, Gerald Tarrant.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Actually, surprisingly, don't have a Gerald, which is another reason Lazarus is such a bugger to write. I can't write Gerald right. Everything I write with him is just Damien telling me what he's doing and saying. No Gerald in ma noggin.

And Damien just snorted and said Gerald would avoid Death, just in case. Mainly because I won't get a Gerald-ish reaction about what his thoughts would be.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Do say when they manage. Or even better, take pictures. ;-)

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Well, Herbert's jumped him once so far. And there will be more encounters, all of which Death thinks he's in charge of. One includes five angels and a dozen hands ;)

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

And there will be more encounters, all of which Death thinks he's in charge of.

Somehow I'm getting the impression that Death is slightly delusional. *snickers*

*bookmarks fics for leisurely breakfast reading*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*snickers* He catches on quick, but the boys like annoying him ;)

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

Oooh, where is that from? A new fic? *starry-eyed look*

alighiera has been feeding me the Vienna version of Elisabeth and I think I'm in desperate need of fics^_^

[winter]

Yep. I'm fulfilling a Yuletide request, even - Death/Rudolf, Death/Elisabeth, slash and het and shades of (mistakenly-thought) incest :>

And if you're in need of Elisabeth fic, fwibble has a pure-Elisabeth ficlet and an ongoing series that features Death's interactions with, well, guy in my icon. If you read the first installment, which she should post today (as opposed to installment #3, Dance of Death - Elegy, posted several days ago), you'll get all the Tanz der Vampire background necessary.

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

So your fic isn't finished yet?^^ *pouts*

[winter]

One more section to go :P Complaints should be addressed to my Official Motivator. Apparently fyrie is not poking me efficiently enough.

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

I'll let her know^_~

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*smites* oy! In my defence I've been working, unlike you, you lazy bum :P

[winter]

I have... um... avoided work on thesis? :P

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Whereas I have posted a fic almost every day for a week? :P Shame on you :D

[winter]

I'm writing though :P And poking you and editing stuff for you.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*g* I preen on the fact I've actually had you producing fic :) It pleases me :D

[winter]

Then keep at it :P I want to finish Closer To The Veil before you leave.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*prodprodprod*

...

retreating elsewhere now :D

[ciciaye.livejournal.com]

"But *why* is all the amaretto gone?" doesn't really have the same ring, though, does it? :-)

Hope you enjoy POTC2 - I haven't seen it yet, but it looks good.

CCA

[winter]

That would be a quote from me last week, when I finished off the birthday bottle :> Mmm. Haven't had any for a week. Should fix that mistake.

POTC2 is good. Not as good as the first one, but moments of severe squee, and oh gods is there setup for a third installment to blow your mimnd.

[seraphim-grace.livejournal.com]

i think death fics should have warnings but not character death. Character death happens, but a death fic is surrounded by the whole aspect of mourning and i dont want to go into that without a warning.
FMA warnings amuse me because there is always the foul language warning, Ed is a potty mouth, why warn, it's canon?
I must admit though i did read a fic because it's warning said necrophilia, of course having read the fic she didn't know what on earth she was talking about but i was, why hello new warning.
i very rarely even read the warnings any more. I recently posted a kink fic on my journal with the warning "do not expose to naked flames" and no one noticed so i wonder if we should include them at all except for possible squicks.

[winter]

That's a good point - character death of the plotty kind is a whole different kettle of fish than deathfic written with the intention of making the reader mourn with the characters. Though I'd still put a "tragedy" warning on the latter rather than deathfic if the death doesn't happen on the first page.

I routinely warn for fluff and excessive amounts of sugar in my babyvampire stuff :)

[alice_montrose]

Warnings. oh yes. Well, I don't really see the point of having a field that says "Warnings: None", in any case. I'll usually warn for angst when there's a lot of it (in order not to squeak the US readers too much), and for elements such as bondage, non-con, etc. But to warn for lemon, yaoi, etc.? It's more likely I'll warn for het, if that's the case.

And no, I wouldn't warn for character death either. In orignal fic it has no point, and in fanfic... well. Why take away the element of surprise. Unless it's a deathfic, which is thus categorized and obvuiously has character death in it.

But hey. We're European. We have a different mentality than US-based writers. We also have lower ratings.

[winter]

Yeah, there's the feature of "it's MY fic, what did you expect??" to it ;) Though I'll always warn fully on communities, since I acquire new readers that way.

Good point with the European thing. Americans are far too used to being warned that coffee may be hot.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*snickers* My warnings are limited to the sex-kinks and suchlike. Mainly because good lawd these vampires like to play in different ways. Death? No. Angst? No. Just the sex. I don't like to spoil the surprises ;)

[winter]

Sometimes the sex is a surprise ;) And I think you didn't actually warn exactly for what happened in Contact, but even I'm stumped at how to describe it without using the i-word.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*snickers* yes, that was something of a boggle, wasn't it? And yet, definitely not the i-word. Closest they have and ever will come is in that fic which has yet to be edited/posted, in accordance with the need for its prequels.

[winter]

Even there, the closest they went was the licking Herbert did, right? It was strongly hinted the kiss was chaste, the almost-biting's a vamp thing, and undressing doesn't count.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Yep. And Herbert considered that cleaning dad and dad was shuddering because he was squicked to the extreme ;) The kiss was entirely Herbert and the almost biting doesn't count at all, because they've done full bite since then :D

[winter]

I think that with the blood factor, the licking can be considered a vamp thing too, as per the Herbert-turning fic, and you've had Herbert reacting way wilder to VK's bite before. So you're in the clear there ;)

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

And that was more the fact he was getting turned than that it was his father doing it, so yep. He's just kinked for the vamping when he's a human ;)

[winter]

I also meant the latter half of Contact, where the subtle bite has him entirely melting and happily snuggling ;) I think it's established that biting has a strong emotional/instinctive context for him rather than a sexual one, unless it's a mix of both with Spike.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Definitely - Herbert only bites when he kills for feeding. Any other kind of biting is very significant for him and very few people have actually been bitten by him in that context; dad, Alfred, Spike...

I guess I'm old but.......

[dracschick.livejournal.com]

I started reading fanfic back in the mid-80s. The reader usually got the name (was real back then) of the person writing the story, a brief summary and the rating. I dunno, that's all I like, even now.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Some of the warning stuff is beyond silly. How do such sensitive, easily traumatized people dare leave their house?

Why do so many people have trouble putting down a story that's disturbing them? It's not like the browser will refuse to close until you've completely finished the fic!

[winter]

Some people apparently only have to read a mention of hair-cutting for their virgin eyes to start weeping :/ I can't say I'm not for labels in fanfiction after all, but when I recently read a Pirates story that was unlabelled in pairing and only warned for fluff, but ended up as lovey-dovey Sparrow/Norrington, I just scoffed and hit the back button. Didn't even need the brain-bleach, much ;)