I used to ding fics for Fiction Alley. We drew the line between R and NC-17 with the description of bodily fluids and genitalia. I'll show you an example. This is NOT a PWP fic, fwiw.
NC-17 (Skyehawke):
Potter was still tense, but Draco felt Potter's grip over his own hand relax a touch. Taking this as permission to continue, Draco resumed stroking Potter's cock, pulling and jerking lightly at the head before sliding his palm back down Potter's hard length. He worked Potter's erection until Potter's cock was stiff and unrelenting in his hand, and Potter began rocking clumsily under his touch.
"Ah, God." The words drifted from Potter's mouth, unbidden, and he let his arm fall from across his face onto the bed, and Draco curled in sideways against him and laid his head on Potter's bicep. The knuckles of his free hand brushed against the warm slice of skin at Potter's waist, where he'd pulled Potter's t-shirt up. Draco felt a fine trail of goose bumps rise under his touch, and imperceptibly he lifted his chin until the divergent scents of clean, wholesome soap and well-worn shirt assailed his senses. His breath puffed warm against Potter's shoulder as he worked Potter's cock. "Oh." Potter sighed then, and turned his head, looking down at Draco. The tips of their noses met clumsily, prompting Draco to lift his chin. It had happened reflexively, for Draco neither kissed nor fucked boys, but when his bottom lip accidentally brushed against Potter's, his own cock burgeoned and grew painfully hard within the sturdy seams of his jeans.
Draco felt Potter's breath hot and muggy against his mouth, and his damp, keening breaths urged Draco on. He'd established a firm, steady rhythm -- balls, cock, head -- but when he next rubbed at the tip of Potter's cock, Potter groaned, and Draco thought he heard him hiss, "Yes."
and the same passage as an R (Fiction Alley):
Potter was still tense, but Draco felt Potter's grip over his own hand relax a touch. Taking this as permission to continue, Draco resumed his stroking, pulling and jerking lightly and sliding his palm all around. He worked Potter nimbly, until Potter began rocking clumsily under his touch.
"Ah, God." The words drifted from Potter's mouth, unbidden, and he let his arm fall from across his face onto the bed, and Draco curled in sideways against him and laid his head on Potter's bicep. The knuckles of his free hand brushed over the warm slice of skin at Potter's waist, where he'd pulled Potter's t-shirt up. Draco felt a fine trail of goose bumps rise under his touch, and imperceptibly he lifted his chin until the divergent scents of clean, wholesome soap and Potter's well-worn shirt assailed his senses. His breath puffed warm against Potter's shoulder. "Oh." Potter sighed then, and turned his head, looking down at Draco. The tips of their noses met clumsily, prompting Draco to lift his chin. It had happened reflexively, for Draco neither kissed nor fucked boys, but when his bottom lip accidentally brushed against Potter's, he felt himself grow painfully hard against the sturdy seams of his jeans.
Draco felt Potter's breath hot and muggy against his mouth, and his damp, keening breaths urged Draco on. He established a firm, steady rhythm and then Potter groaned, and Draco thought he heard him hiss, "Yes."
As you can read, the first example is a more graphic description of a hand-job, with cock-cock-cockity-cock used liberally! The second example is more segue and leaves a little more to the imagination.
NC-17 vs R for violence is a little more difficult to pin down. When I dinged fic, I only once dinged a fic for being NC-17 for violence; it was really, really gratuitous and graphic. Graphic descriptions of violence or rape or abuse would probably call for an NC-17 rating if you were trying to post at a more conservative archive like Fiction Alley, but, otoh, if you're posting at Skyehawke, then you'd probably be fine giving violence an R rating.
I'd say if you're truly unsure whether something is R or NC-17, then it's best to err on the side of caution and call it NC-17 and then do a rewrite to an R.
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Date: 2011-04-03 12:44 pm (UTC)NC-17 (Skyehawke):
Potter was still tense, but Draco felt Potter's grip over his own hand relax a touch. Taking this as permission to continue, Draco resumed stroking Potter's cock, pulling and jerking lightly at the head before sliding his palm back down Potter's hard length. He worked Potter's erection until Potter's cock was stiff and unrelenting in his hand, and Potter began rocking clumsily under his touch.
"Ah, God." The words drifted from Potter's mouth, unbidden, and he let his arm fall from across his face onto the bed, and Draco curled in sideways against him and laid his head on Potter's bicep. The knuckles of his free hand brushed against the warm slice of skin at Potter's waist, where he'd pulled Potter's t-shirt up. Draco felt a fine trail of goose bumps rise under his touch, and imperceptibly he lifted his chin until the divergent scents of clean, wholesome soap and well-worn shirt assailed his senses. His breath puffed warm against Potter's shoulder as he worked Potter's cock. "Oh." Potter sighed then, and turned his head, looking down at Draco. The tips of their noses met clumsily, prompting Draco to lift his chin. It had happened reflexively, for Draco neither kissed nor fucked boys, but when his bottom lip accidentally brushed against Potter's, his own cock burgeoned and grew painfully hard within the sturdy seams of his jeans.
Draco felt Potter's breath hot and muggy against his mouth, and his damp, keening breaths urged Draco on. He'd established a firm, steady rhythm -- balls, cock, head -- but when he next rubbed at the tip of Potter's cock, Potter groaned, and Draco thought he heard him hiss, "Yes."
and the same passage as an R (Fiction Alley):
Potter was still tense, but Draco felt Potter's grip over his own hand relax a touch. Taking this as permission to continue, Draco resumed his stroking, pulling and jerking lightly and sliding his palm all around. He worked Potter nimbly, until Potter began rocking clumsily under his touch.
"Ah, God." The words drifted from Potter's mouth, unbidden, and he let his arm fall from across his face onto the bed, and Draco curled in sideways against him and laid his head on Potter's bicep. The knuckles of his free hand brushed over the warm slice of skin at Potter's waist, where he'd pulled Potter's t-shirt up. Draco felt a fine trail of goose bumps rise under his touch, and imperceptibly he lifted his chin until the divergent scents of clean, wholesome soap and Potter's well-worn shirt assailed his senses. His breath puffed warm against Potter's shoulder. "Oh." Potter sighed then, and turned his head, looking down at Draco. The tips of their noses met clumsily, prompting Draco to lift his chin. It had happened reflexively, for Draco neither kissed nor fucked boys, but when his bottom lip accidentally brushed against Potter's, he felt himself grow painfully hard against the sturdy seams of his jeans.
Draco felt Potter's breath hot and muggy against his mouth, and his damp, keening breaths urged Draco on. He established a firm, steady rhythm and then Potter groaned, and Draco thought he heard him hiss, "Yes."
As you can read, the first example is a more graphic description of a hand-job, with cock-cock-cockity-cock used liberally! The second example is more segue and leaves a little more to the imagination.
NC-17 vs R for violence is a little more difficult to pin down. When I dinged fic, I only once dinged a fic for being NC-17 for violence; it was really, really gratuitous and graphic. Graphic descriptions of violence or rape or abuse would probably call for an NC-17 rating if you were trying to post at a more conservative archive like Fiction Alley, but, otoh, if you're posting at Skyehawke, then you'd probably be fine giving violence an R rating.
I'd say if you're truly unsure whether something is R or NC-17, then it's best to err on the side of caution and call it NC-17 and then do a rewrite to an R.
Hope this helps. :)