I sometimes regret my inability to develop plots which have surprising twists in, but this discussion is making me happier about my tendency to write many variations on the "boy meets boy, boy angsts over boy, boys have sex" story. No twists, no angst over whether to label or not.

I still respect writers who can write twists, though.

The thing is, by using broadly-stated warnings, I don't think I've damaged anyone. I've never been flamed, and frankly my rep precedes me: if you can't handle some damage, you don't read my stuff. It's not that hard.

::shrugs::

A fair compromise, Consuela. Whatever works for you, you know. And for an author like yourself who is well-known enough to have a rep, "by X" can be enough warning or description or whatever. It's unlikely to ever work for me, though.

I wish there were warning labels like NOTICE: BAD PROSE HEREIN or CHILDISH CHARACTERIZATION or FLEE! FLEE FOR YOUR APOSTROPHES' LIVES!!

Alas, even if there were a social convention for such labels, the people who need to use them would not understand that need.

WARNING: XANDER SPELLED WITH A "Z"

Speak of the topic, and a good writer shall give good rant on the subject.

Hah. I had a rant about warnings a while back. I'm fairly hardcore on not wanting to warn for specific plot elements, but if the entire basis of the story is about death I suppose it doesn't give much away to warn for it.

Oh, dammit! I just remembered what I meant to request for my Yuletide fic! Ah well, I probably wouldn't have gotten it anyway. Still... I've always really wanted Pretty in Pink Steff/Blane. Ah well.

Ok, I have to admit that I have gone back to reading that mpreg story. In my hunt for something else to read I came across a Hermione story that hooked me to start with and then went way downhill. I figured, that other story had me hooked, was consistently well written, and it is a magical world...soooooo.

I'm coming around on my stance of warnings. Thanks for opening my eyes on this. I still feel like such a newbie.

I'm coming around on my stance of warnings. Thanks for opening my eyes on this. I still feel like such a newbie.

Like Suela said, it's a perennial argument. I plant myself firmly on the "wuss" side. I acknowledge authors' rights to not warn for bad things, if they acknowledge that I will therefore skip to the end if I get the slightest inkling that things might go badly. Or I will get shrift to read it for me and tell me if it's okay.