30 Days of Fanfiction - Day 14 - 17

[blythechild]

Wait... whaaaat? Why so many days at once? To me, these questions are linked so, once again, I've decided to tackle related subjects in one post. /explanation

14. Ratings: How high are you comfortable with going? Have you ever written higher? If you're comfortable with NC-17, have you ever been shocked by finding that the story you're writing is G

Comments

[draycevixen]

I've always been surprised by how much debate has taken place over these topics in fandom. What doesn't help any is how standards for it vary between fandoms. In the Life on Mars fandom, everyone expected warnings for the "big" four -- major character death, non-con/dub-con, underage and incest -- at the very least. When I got into the Pros fandom I found a raging debate about whether there should be warnings posted at all.

Summaries continue to be a problem for me. I think mine are often quite flat because I rely heavily on the tag system but, as I remember, you do a good job with yours in terms of giving a flavour of what lurks beneath the cut.

As to titles... I'm always amazed when people start out with a title. I always feel like the work has to really take shape before I know what its name is.

[blythechild]

Warnings are important imo. I've had good experiences in my life and as a result I don't have a bunch of personal triggers or PTSD, but you can't assume that for your readers. You have to respect that they could walk into something awful completely unawares. It's your responsibility to give them the tools to decide whether to read something or not. To me, that isn't optional regardless of a fandom's policy. I've been asked to warn for stupid things - things that are personal preferences rather than triggers - and I won't do that, but for the big stuff? You bet your adverbs that I'll warn for those things.

Sometimes a story title comes to me first but I've gotta say that's a rarity.