FIC: "The Bandage and the Blade," Helen/Will/Nikola, Sanctuary, NC17

[geonncannon]

Title: The Bandage and the Blade
Author: geonncannon
Fandom: Sanctuary
Pairing: Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla/Will Zimmerman
Word Count: 2,432
Category: AU, Angst, hurt/comfort, drama
Spoilers: End of Nights, Vigilante, One Night, Wingman, Carentan, Out of the Blue
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me.
Rating: NC17
Sequel to: The Whisper and the Shout, but it's

Comments

[technosage]

In the interests of full disclosure: I am female, I identify as female, and I'm one of the owner-operators of an erotic romance publishing company known for publishing extremely edgy and sometimes very dark stories. Dubious consent is a staple, for example, but it's something we always warn for.

You've taken care of the warning issue, but I think it could be stronger, to be honest. I'll leave that up to you and your conscience when we're done.

I'm not going to go after anything to do with the use of the characters specifically, because your Helen, Will, Tesla, etc are not mine and they don't have to be. You're free to interpret them in ways that I don't or wouldn't.

I'm not even going to go after the idea that someone could want to be raped/used aggressively to help get over the pain of a deeply personal loss for which they feel responsible. The psychology of that, while somewhat tragic, is certainly documented.

My problem with this fic is that you are male writing in a predominantly female space; even when it's not a predominantly female space, we try as the free-floating entity known collectively as Fandom to make it an all-people safespace. I don't feel especially safe in a space where a guy is writing about a woman asking to be raped. It's very uncomfortable in general, because it's just like "she was asking for it" as a rape defense. But it's especially uncomfortable in fandom.

I'm not suggesting you're a terrible person for writing this story or having the thoughts or that anyone who reads it and finds it hot and beautiful is any such thing. But the next time you sit down to write a story, please consider the women you play and write with and how some of us might feel about you suggesting Helen might ask for something like that.

[geonncannon]

I totally get your complaint and, to be honest, I'm starting to wish I'd listened to my better conscience and not included that line. But I thought I would throw it out there and... sigh. Yeah. ~rubs head~ It was a mistake. :(

I think part of the problem is that I was completely in a strange, weird, unusual place for this story. This is so not my typical type of story. Just to put it in perspective of being a male writing in a female space, my five published novels have lesbian protagonists (and predominantly lesbian casts). I was the first male to win a Golden Crown Literary Society award for my novel Gemini, and two of my other novels were finalists (in 2010 and 2011).

I appreciate your comment, and I think the main problem isn't so much with my writing of women, it's with my venturing into this kind of neighborhood with my writing. I wasn't used to the territory and I overstepped. I went way too far for no good reason and I don't have an excuse for it.

I will try to do better in the future, if I should find myself writing this sort of thing again.

And all that aside, I owe you a blanket apology. That anything in my writing made you uncomfortable or disturbed you is just completely wrong and I hope you'll give my other stories a chance in the future. :)

[technosage]

I very much appreciate you not getting super-defensive about this. It's difficult to hear criticism of something that you put a lot of work into, especially when it's a few lines in a larger piece.

I don't, for clarification, have any problem with men writing women. If I did, I shouldn't be allowed to write men or Abnormals.

We write where the muse takes us, and that's all right. You've been gracious, and seem to understand the content of the objection. Thank you for that.

In the future if you do choose to venture off in this direction - darkfic has a place in Fandom, lots of people write it, and I don't have to read it if it bothers me - just use a much stronger warning, and it'll help balance out the other issue.

[geonncannon]

There's nothing to get defensive about. It was a valid concern, and I should have thought more - a LOT more - about how to phrase the warning. It's rare for me to write a fic that needs two warnings, so I thought I had my bases covered with the first. And, technically, I should add a third for the bloodplay with Nikola and Will.

I'll do better in the future. It's far, far better for people to look at a warning and wonder why I bothered than to click and get blindsided by something they should have been warned about.

(I added a third warning... and the reason I'm doing it as second, third, is so that it's not buried/lost in the length of the first one... so I hope it'll keep anyone else from stumbling over it.)

Thank you for speaking up! It would be very easy to just wrinkle your nose and move me onto the blacklist or something. ;-D

[technosage]

I think your warnings are more than fine now. You probably could cover the entire thing with "character death, bloodplay, and controversial dubious consent, likely to trigger for rape and sexual abuse." That's probably what I would say if I'd written it.

Like I said, I appreciate your reasonableness all the way around. I'd rather speak up for my sake and that of others and give you a chance to speak for yourself, which you've done well.

Thank you, also.