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

[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 :)