INTERACTIVE: 30 DAYS OF FAN FIC || DAY 15

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

DAY ONE - How did you get into fan fic?
DAY TWO - What fandoms have you written in?
DAY THREE - Favorite characters?
DAY FOUR - "Muse" character?
DAY FIVE - Pushy characters?
DAY SIX - Male or female characters?
DAY SEVEN - Fic affecting your view of a character?
DAY EIGHT - OCs
DAY NINE - Favorite Pairings
DAY TEN - Pairings and your comfort zone
DAY ELEVEN - Favorite Genres
DAY TWELVE - Adaptations
DAY THIRTEEN - Canon or Fanon
DAY FOURTEEN - Ratings

15 – Warnings – What do you feel it most important to warn for, and what's the strangest thing you've warned for in a fic?

We welcome your participation! There is no minimum or maximum requirements for your answers -- they can be as long or as short as you'd like. I will include my answer as a comment.

Comments

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

Ooooooo, warnings. *rubs hands together*

I absolutely 100% do not believe in warning for either het or slash. If you can read -- which I presume one who is searching for fan fic can -- then you will always see the following on my fics:

Title The Whaler's Delight: Harpooned!
Author: slytherincesss
Beta: A Cool Person
Raiting: (this part is important)
Pairings:(this part is also important)
Word Count: ∞
Summary: Someone's getting flensed tonight! Who will it be? Read and find out. DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!
Warnings (May Contain Story Spoilers): (skip (#skip.The Whaler's Delight: Harpooned!)) I will warn for extreme kink (which I don't even write); rape; dub con; non con; Polyjuice!sex; CHARACTER DEATH YES FFS; certain language; certain scenarios; childbirth/infant loss/pregnancy loss/abortion; incest; sexual abuse; physical abuse. NOTE: Please take a moment and note all the listed pairings and the fic rating of NC-17/Adult, and all implications therein. ()

Now, if a reader is intelligent and they see the 1) rating of NC-17 and 2) the pairings of Harry/Draco and Draco/Pansy, then I expect the reader to put two and two together and discern that the possibility of sex between the listed pairings exists. Thefeore, if someone later complains "Eww, OMG, BOYSEX!!!!!" I can roll my eyes at them and not give a shit what they think. Because clearly listing the pairings and the ratings is giving the reader important information. AND A RATHER LARGE CLUE. I refuse to treat gay sex as if it's something deviant in need of a warning. It's really that simple for me.

Can you tell that people who complain about sexual activity in a fic where the characters, pairings, and rating are all clearly listed is a peeve of mine?

But do I deliberately want to hurt someone by not listing something like character death, rape, incest, dub con, or Polyjuice!sex? No. So, yeah, I do warnings. I feel that the "highlight to read" warnings are a reasonable compromise.

The most bizarre warnings I've given on a fic?

1. Kreacher
2. Draco insulting the developmentally disabled
3. Wizarding Uno
4. BANANAS!
5. Parseltongue (RAWR!)

NOTE: The "Warnings (May Contain Story Spoilers)" section is usually under "highlight to read", but the HTML won't take in a comment.

[girlofavalon.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should know the answer by now, but what is the difference between non-con and rape? I've been trying to understand it for years.

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

Non-con, to me, might mean someone who is legally not eligible to consent to sexual relations . . . for example, they might be intoxicated, impaired in some other way, or under the age of legal consent.

Rape is criminal, violent, forcible sexual intercourse (or other sexual acts, as defined by individual law), an offense committed against an unwilling person.

That's my interpretation of non-con versus rape; others may have different interpretations.

[deirdre-aithne.livejournal.com]

Oh good lord.

Okay, I hate warnings. I understand why people want to be warned for triggery stuff (doesn't mean I always agree with it, but I understand the point). But the ridiculous extent that people demand to be warned for just drives me up a wall. I look at fics the same way that I look at books- you don't get a list of warnings when you pick out a book, so why do you need them when it comes to fic?

I'm a firm believer in the idea that everyone should behave like adults and realize that when you run into something that you don't like in a fic, then just close the damned fic.

All of that said, I use warnings, more because it's expected than because I feel like I should. The triggery stuff, I can go either way on, to be honest. But when it comes to kinks, even the hardcore ones, I really hate warning for that, but I know that if I don't, someone is going to throw a hissy fit like a five year old, and I just don't have an effective enough brain-to-mouth filter to not come back to something like that with a scathing rant. Occasionally, I'll 'warn' for random things, just for the laughs, but when it comes down to it, I think warnings are useless hand-holding.

edited to add
With the exception of the 'chan' warning, which is a legal issue for the Aussies.

[amt149.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on the fic. If it's a crack!fic, then I warn for stupid/silly stuff like "excessive use of peanut butter" and such.

If it's a fluff or angst or flangst fic, I'll warn for more normal things, like Character death, rape, D/s, etc. I think the main importance is to name the major squicky things that Do NOT Happen in Canon. I mean if you put "Character Death" in, say, a H/D fic, and it turns out to be Voldemort dying (cause Harry killed him), I will say "really?" And close the fic. Basically, if it happened in Canon and you still love the Fandom, I think you should be able to handle it in a fic.

If I'm writing a Dark!Fic, I tend to get a little paranoid and try to emphasize that it is indeed a Dark!Fic. I think a little paranoia isn't too bad this way, because it lets the reader know that this is not a semi-dark fic for them to test their boundaries with. I tend to use "Highlight to read, Warning contains spoilers" for this, because paranoia=spoilers most of the time for me and I want to be fair to those who like surprise.

What bothers me the most is when people flame for Slash Smut, Het Smut, or Smut in general. It makes me want to bash their head in. I mean, that's what the rating is for! It also bothers me when people complain about the plot if that part of the plot was in the summary or Parings.

The most bizarre warnings...I can't really think of anything except for "cheesy fluff" right now...

[meglw0228.livejournal.com]

The most important for me is pairing, rating, and any unusual kinks/behaviour. I, myself, like to warn for the smallest thing in the hopes that no one is squicked. The strangest thing I've warned for would probably be first person POV (a few readers of my SW fics hate first person, so I mainly do it for them) and underage drinking (which I know is a trigger for a few people).

[crazyparakiss.livejournal.com]

I really don't like doing warnings unless it is for something "triggery" and even then if the summary eludes strongly at what will happen then I don't feel obligated to warn. The most hardcore triggery thing I write is incest and by the rating and pairing people should be able to put two and two together. But I warn anyways because I know people don't like surprises and they get kinda "flamey" when you don't warn their fragile hearts.

Hardcore stuff I'd say needs to be warned for: Rape,Chan, Bestiality,SuperDetailed Abuse, SuperDetailed Torture and stuff like that. Things I don't like being told in warnings are: Slash, Het, Infidelity, Character Death, Angst, Fluff, Divorce,Mpreg,SWITCHING(I could live without this warning forever, why the fuck is that important) ect, ect. Mostly because this stuff should be covered in the summary, pairings, ratings. But this is just me being ranty, carry on :D

[girlofavalon.livejournal.com]

So, that's a matter of technicalities?

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

Yes, pretty much.

[rebecca_selene]

It's important to warn for triggery stuff: rape, homophobia, bullying, abuse (mental and physical), etc. I don't warn for het/slash/femslash because it's already in the pairing, and I don't cater to people to whom I have to say "DUH!"

I understand the need for warnings, but at the same time I'd also like an area where warnings are not allowed, so that I can be surprised. If I'd known ahead of time that Bellatrix would torture Hermione or that everyone I loved would die, it wouldn't have had the same emotional impact that's essential when reading stories. There should be an hp_no_warning community.

The strangest things I've had to warn for are cross-gen incest, chan, and menstrual blood. All in the same fic. O_O

[tigersilver.livejournal.com]

Warnings to me are both ridiculous and essential. I think a reader should be able to handle most things; if not, click on through. I'm not responsible for babying your personal squick. However, from a reader's perspective, I'd like to know what my choices are, in much the same way I read the back cover, author's notes and sometimes the last few pages of a novel. If it's all about certain squicks I maintain personally, I shan't be reading. So I warn for the really obvious (character death for Main Characters of the Pairing, MPREG, hardcore kinks)...but then sometimes I dip into the silly and warn for every little thing I can think of; sort of thumbing my nose at warnings in general. Which has earned me a dubious distinction of having one of my fics being sorted into the 'Worst HP Summaries' category.
...Which (might I add) makes me proud, perversely:)

[hpfangirl71.livejournal.com]

I tend to go above and beyond for warnings... I like letting people know exactly what they are getting into... To me, the warnings are like an advertisement for all the good stuff in the story. I tend to look for warnings that contain my fave kinks so to me that's not a warning, its a promise of something delicious!! ;D

I don't find anything I've warned for to be strange cuz its usually norm for me... I am a kink whore and I write alot of my fave kinks... pushing the envelope is what I do best!! probably the strangest thing I warned for was slight femmeslash since I don't write that at all but I did write a short nonexplicit femmeslash that was Luna/Hermione and I don't usually do that!! :D