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.

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.

ALL STORIES SHOULD HAVE WARNINGS FOR HAIRCUTS!!! IN GIANT ASSCAPS!!!

Ahem.

Sorry.

Just a knee-jerk response. Had it last time a list I'm part of had the warning discussion, because it never stops cracking me up.

Also, there really needs to be a Blaircut archive. All hairporn, all the time.

I'm fond of a vague warning, especially if the author is taking things pretty distant from the general mood of whatever the fandom is. If I'm reading in Fluffy Penguin Fandom-a-go-go, and the author decides to write about the slow, graphic ritual torture and murder of Fluffy Penguin herself? Seeing a "character death" warning would be appreciated. But if I'm reading in the Angst and Terror Fandom-of-Doom, it's less of a concern for me.

I respect the author's right to keep their plot twists a secret, but the occasional warning is something that's nice when provided.

One thing I've noticed in due South more than otherwhere is story descriptions that just take a quote from the story.

I do that because I hate summaries. Aeryn mourns John as she prepares him for burial. or Jack buys coffee and waits for Sam to come back. or Sam, Jack, and Daniel are broken but having happy three-way sex in a farmhouse.

Ewww. Bland, bland, bland. Instead I find an appropriate quote from the story that conveys something of what it's about without giving too much away. That, combined with the rating and an appropriately vague warning about angst, usually does the trick.