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::
Mal: Okay. She won't be winning any beauty contests anytime soon. But she is solid. Ship like this, be with ya 'til the day you die. Zoe: 'Cause it's a deathtrap.
'Out Of Gas'
Fan Fiction: Writers, Readers, and Enablers
This thread is for fanfic recs, links, and discussion, but not for actual posting of fanfic.
Consuela - Nov 16, 2004 9:21:01 am PST #9210 of 10000
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
Am-Chau Yarkona - Nov 16, 2004 9:40:05 am PST #9211 of 10000
I bop to Wittgenstein. -- Nutty
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.
Nutty - Nov 16, 2004 9:47:25 am PST #9212 of 10000
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
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.
Connie Neil - Nov 16, 2004 9:48:32 am PST #9213 of 10000
brillig
WARNING: XANDER SPELLED WITH A "Z"
P.M. Marc - Nov 16, 2004 11:27:16 am PST #9214 of 10000
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear
Speak of the topic, and a good writer shall give good rant on the subject.
Consuela - Nov 16, 2004 12:11:54 pm PST #9215 of 10000
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
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.
Emily - Nov 16, 2004 5:18:14 pm PST #9216 of 10000
"In the equation E = mc⬧, c⬧ is a pretty big honking number." - Scola
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.
SuziQ - Nov 17, 2004 8:34:32 am PST #9217 of 10000
Back tattoos of the mother is that you are absolutely right - Ame
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.
Dana - Nov 17, 2004 8:37:55 am PST #9218 of 10000
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
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.
brenda m - Nov 17, 2004 8:40:14 am PST #9219 of 10000
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there
I like warnings to be as vagued up as possible. One thing I've noticed in due South more than otherwhere is story descriptions that just take a quote from the story. What I want to know in advance, generally, isn't plot detail but more a sense of the tone or mood of the story - dark, light, fun, whatever.