WARNINGS REVISITED

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

Do you feel that the listed pairings on an R or NC-17 fic automatically implies that there may possibly be intimate or sexual activity between those characters? I do.

For example, if I see Harry/Draco; Ginny/Blaise; Pansy/Parvati; Albus Severus/OFC listed on a fic that's rated R or NC-17, I assume there may be scenes with any of those pairings, even if I'm reading mainly for the H/D. This does not bother me.

The reason I'm asking, though, is because I'm writing a fic with the above pairings scenario (not with those pairings exactly; I only used those as an example) and I am of the mindset that I will not warn for het. I won't warn for slash and I won't warn for het. On principle, I feel it is unnecessary to warn for slash or het when it's clearly an NC-17 fic and the pairings are clearly listed. As well, I've added a note to readers to make sure they've read the pairings listed before beginning the fic, just so it's clear. I feel this is totally sufficient, but what does the community think?

I've never written a slash fic that also has a het scene in it (it's mild -- just a kiss), but I have no patience for people who can't cope with a small display of het, just as much as I have little patience for people who yowl about a paragraph or two of slash, when the pairings have clearly been listed.

What say you, writers?

Comments

[oldenuf2nb.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. I've never warned for het, and I won't.

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

BLEH, WARNINGS.

That pretty much sums up my entire worldview on that issue.

[meglw0228.livejournal.com]

I agree that it might be a possibility. Most of the ones I've read even include the pairings when it's only a passing mention of the couple, and I've even come to expect that if a pairing is listed that it might mean there is up to a sex scene with that pair if the story is rated that high. On the het/slash... honestly if you've already listed all of the pairings then I think you've basically said it is het! And I don't see a reason to state it again. Maybe it's just me but that seems a bit redundant and I chuckle about the people who do list it after seeing as example a Ron/Hermione pairing listed.

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

Yes. My warning would say, "THERE COULD BE SEX HEREIN. BE WARNED, ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE, ARRRRRR."

*stumps off on peg leg*

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

Will someone please take away my wine glass?

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

But leave the wine, because I am using it.

[leo-draconis.livejournal.com]

*passes the wine, via naked pilots*

[leo-draconis.livejournal.com]

If the pairings are listed and the rating is listed - fair warning. Worst case scenario, I scroll past a section I don't want to read. No sense in complaining about it, for me.

[leo-draconis.livejournal.com]

THINK OF THE SPLINTERS, FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN!!! ANAL SPLINTERS!!!

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

YOU ALMOST MADE ME TO SPEW MERLOT ONTO MY PRECIOUS BRENT, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN A VERY BIG CRIME...

I am now tempted to write pegleg porn YOU ARE A BAD INFLUENCE, EVIL CULTY TYPE PERSON.

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

YAAAAAY MOAR!!!!!!

*fills glass*

[vaysh]

I've never felt comfortable with the warning cult in fandom, and in my own LJ I don't use them. However, I have come to understand that for other people, warnings are important. And I personally wouldn't necessarily assume that there is het sex if a het pairing is listed in the header. Like, there are many NC-17 rated H/D fics that also list Hermione/Ron as side pairing, but never feature a het sex scene between Hermione and Ron.

So my two cents is, if it's just a kiss, I don't think a warning is necessary. But if it's a sex scene a "het sex" warning may be called for.

[kitty_fic]

I agree. The pairings and rating are self explanatory. No need to warn beyond that.

Although, if you are concerned - instead of warning - you could make a separate section -"contains" and there you could include het and slash

[leo-draconis.livejournal.com]

"OUCH!!! WTF, Potter???" Draco shouted.

"OMG Draco - I seem to have inserted a splinter into your colon with my peg leg! You know, the peg leg I have because of the leg I lost while dueling your father during the final battle."

Draco sniffled. "You hate me. You blame me for my father's mistakes and now you want to hurt me."

"Draco, I don't!" Harry embraced Draco, wooden leg clattering against the footboard. "I love you. I swear it."

"You promise?"

"I do."

"And what about this splinter? My arse hurts."

"Accio tweezers."

[deirdre-aithne.livejournal.com]

Usually, I don't assume that all pairings listed involve sexual content just because the fic is R or NC-17. But then again, I'm also not bothered by slash, femmeslash, or het, so it's not something that would ever be a deal-breaker for me anyway.

I don't see a need at all to warn for het if it's a slash fic, but I imagine there are some people out there that- Merlin only knows why- would throw a huge fit over a lack of clearly stated warning about that. I think it falls in my theory that most of fandom is 13 year olds who can't monitor for themselves what they're reading on the internet... Much like the people who sue for spilling hot coffee on themselves in the car because the cup didn't say it would be hot.

But yeah... I don't think it needs a warning.

[blossomdreams.livejournal.com]

I agree I don't warn for het or slash anymore. I used to warn for that, but I don't anymore.

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's just a kiss, but, GAH, I am so loathe to cater to what I consider to be immaturity. I can totally understand being kind of WTF if a het scene popped up between a pairing that wasn't listed in the headers -- especially if it were a favorite character paired with an unfavored character -- but I just get so sick of, as you say, the warning cults. I am so disinterested in catering to that bullshit, IYKWIM. I suppose if I were to do a warning, to be fair I would warn for BOTH het and slash, but there's that stubborn part of me that just feels like people should be sensible (ha! I know . . . ) and deal.

Thanks for your two cents!

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

BLEH, WARNINGS is how I feel too. I do warn for graphically violent stuff, like rape, but that's not the same as warning for het or slash when the pairings are clearly listed.

I've written peg leg fic, too, although not in this context because, yeah, THINK OF THE SPLINTERS >:0

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I agree with you 100%. I'm not going to call it whining, bullshit because you already have and it doesn't need repeated, but I have little patience for it, either. If it isn't to someone's liking you can do one of three things: read it and deal with it, skim or skip over that part or hit the back or delete key. Simple! It's ridiculous to warn for sex het or otherwise in an NC-17 fic that has pairings listed. I would assume that there be sex.

[nimielle.livejournal.com]

Hm, warnings. I have to say that I don't necessarily assume that any pairing listed in an NC-17 H/D fic can also be seen in explicit sexual situations, I'd be quite surprised to encounter that to be honest, however anything but sexual situations wouldn't even register as something mentioned in the header with me.

Either way, as a reader I prefer to be warned about character death, extremely kinky stuff and possibly triggery stuff as well as mpreg, because those are usually the things that make me avoid a story in the first place. Yes I know mpreg is very common and nothing bad, it just doesn't work for me, which is why I find it nice if mentioned.
I also don't understand a warning about something to be a bad thing, it's not like the people who wrote "might contain nuts" onto the ingredients list on the back of a chocolate bar hate nuts, they are merely mentioning it, because some people are allergic.

Bottomline I guess is that I can see the point of and very much rely on that "list of ingredients" and my decision to read a fic is usually influence by it. However anything but the stuff listed above (I might as well add non-/dubcon and dark fic to that) won't make me go all "but you should have warned for that!" inside my head.

And back to the het-sex thing. From what I've read so far I wouldn't expect it, but it totally wouldn't be something that bothered me either. Although on one occasion I did avoid a fic for a while because it listed the boys with other people as well and mentioned explicit sex scenes and that just isn't for me. Grah! I can go either way on this apparently, it's not a big enough issue to be anything I'd lose any sleep over though, the whole thing is supposed to be fun and whoever kicks up a shirtstorm over something they wanted to be warned for in fic clearly has too much free time on their hands.

I guess there is no way you can make everyone happy, someone will always take offense at something, just warn for what you feel you'd like to be warned for and tell everyone who gets up in your face about it to just suck it up!

[skriftlig.livejournal.com]

I think if you have shown the pairings and given a high enough rating, then the reader should be prepared for sex scenes between any of the characters.
Though I agree with vaysh11 that often the sex scenes are just between Harry and Draco, so some readers might not expect het.

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

Right, or at least the possibility of some kind of sexual activity, even as innocuous as a kiss. Nothing enrages me more than someone who bitches about pairing stuff that is clearly listed and fully disclosed. Hey, you don't want to read an H/D fic that has prior Draco/Astoria? Then don't read it. But if I list that as a pairing, you read, and then you bitch? I have no patience for that!

[thisgirl-is.livejournal.com]

Screw that. The info is there in the header - this is a high-rated fic with het pairings. Caveat emptor, baby.

To me, you warn for things that could be actively traumatic for someone. So rape, hell yes. Incest, hell yes. Your standard sexual activity between a listed pairing, NOOOO.

I do believe in warnings, I do. I don't believe attempting to cater to people who aren't mature enough to deal with anything outside their immediate preference.

I refuse to specify in the header who's topping in a slash fic, either.

[damned-queen.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'd necessarily expect sex scenes with the other pairings in a H/D fic if it's not explicitly mentioned, and it might annoy me a little bit if I wasn't warned before hand. E.g. when a H/D fic mentions Ron/Hermione as a side pairing I fully expect there WON'T be any sex scenes involving the latter unless it's explicitly mentioned -- and if there would be explicit Ron/Hermione scenes without warning I'd be a bit miffed.

I guess I just like to know what to expect *shrugs*

It's not that I will ever skip a fic because of a warning (except some extreme kinks maybe, but even then it's negotiable) but I just like to KNOW what I'm getting myself into so I always read all the warnings.

Also, if I don't like some of the characters or pairings that are listed I would probably only read the fic when I expect there won't be any explicit sex scenes involving them.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

"but I have no patience for people who can't cope with a small display of het" This. I never warn for het. People can just deal. I don't warn for slash either, because I don't believe it needs to be warned for.

[rebecca_selene]

Oh wow, I could have written this post! :-) I completely agree with not warning for het/slash. If a pairing is listed, then, you know, it's pretty self-explanatory. And since when have such basics become necessary to warn against?

I've actually been rolling around an idea in my head of gauging interest for/creating a community like "hp_nowarning" or something. The idea originally come from not wanting to be spoiled for endings (character death, HEA/dark!fic, etc: I mean, I love all those things, but sometimes I like not knowing how it's going to turn out, and reading a fic from a fluff comm or a dark comm kind of spoils it). But the "no warnings" part could also apply to het/slash and other stuff. Thoughts?