Anya ,'Touched'
This thread is for fanfic recs, links, and discussion, but not for actual posting of fanfic.
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.
I hate summaries.
I agree/disagree with this. I hate the kinds of summaries that you quoted above. They fall way, way flat. I do like summaries that are more teasers than summaries. Then again, some of those can look cheesy as hell.
In terms of warnings, I don't like it when any HSQ factor is spelled out ahead of time. I mean, what if they'd preceded "Passions" with "Warning! Character Death!"? I think that a rating (R, NC-17) with a general tip of the hat to whether its due to sex, violence, sexual violence, etc. should suffice. "Dark" also works as a generall all-purpose warning, IMO.
t cue the background music of the pathetic feedback whore
There's rec thing going around on LJ, rec three writers, who then rec three writers and so on. A couple of those writers I talk to a lot and t cue pout I thought they liked me, but they haven't recced me, and now I'm being all ridiculously hurt and adolescent and disgusted with myself for feeling hurt and adolescent.
I'm going to go get chocolate.
for shrift, the latest LFN crazy report:
The chick who, at last count, had three stories going on three boards under two different names and who snapped at me and delle for outing her pseud? Posted a chapter of her supposedly kinda autobiographical "Nikita gets MS" story on the Beta board.
Posted a chapter of her supposedly kinda autobiographical "Nikita gets MS" story on the Beta board.
Iiiinteresting. Possible beginning of Munchausen by Interbunny!
Yeah, that's the thing. She's pinged so many troll buttons that some of us are wondering if it's just a huge joke on the fandom: