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catscradle Jun. 27th, 2002 08:51 am)
catscradle Jun. 27th, 2002 08:51 am)Thank you, Yoiko, for providing that link to Livia's rant about mandatory labels in fanfic.
I'm not sure I have anything new to say on this subject. I'm with the people who think warnings should never be mandatory, but are courteous and the nice thing to do if you've written a fic that has sensitive material in it such as rape, incest, graphic violence and so forth. However, in the seven years I've been around the fanfic arena, I've seen a growing faction of label fascists rising in the ranks (there are all sort of fascist practises going on in fanfiction communities today, but right now I'm going to stick to the Label Reich).
Now, I'm not totally against madatory labels. The most obvious should be what fandom you're writing in if you're posting to a list that contains more than one. You'd be surprised how many people forget this. It's especially important to fandoms like Star Trek that have 5 series and an RPG to contend with, or Buffy and Angel who share the same universe. In terms of what's in the fic to beware of, I think the standard G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17, and genre headers of Drama, Angst, Comedy, Action, PWP, and so forth are good not only for giving the readers a bit of a heads up at what to expect, it gives the archivers a break on where to put the damn thing whithout having to read the storys first. You writers out there that refuse to give at least those labels, please take yourself out of every archive you're in and apologize to the archivist for any inconvenience you may have caused. Put your ego away, these people have a lot of work to do without reader your crap.
But outside of the bare essensetials, a writer should never be required to add more labels to the fic. R and NC-17, combined with an Action or Angst tag, should clue the readers in that there will be violence and sex - and that it might be of the dark variety. Most people will add in the "dark" tag if they feel it crosses the line from Arnold Swartzanegger type violence to more Kevin Spacey type twisted mental angst. If they don't, well, the rating and the genre tag should at least tell you the level of adult material to expect. R and NC-17 means "This is for adults" - if you know you're the type of person that can't handle some forms of adult material, then it's time to eitehr ask around and see if that fic is suited for you. Write the author and ask. If they don't reply, put the question to friends or a list. Most people would be happy to help.
Sub labeling fics should be completely up to the author. And let me stress that I think it is only courteous and nice to let the readers know if you're adding in rape, incest, death, et cetera. These are elements that can trigger traumatic reactions to some readers that might have experienced this in real life. We live in a society were rape is very common and half the nation experiences Post-Traumatic Stress in some form or another. So a heads up on some serious matters can be a good thing that puts to ease the minds of some readers.
But today our fics are being sub-labeled to death. You must add the main characters, the slash/yaoi pairing, who is top or bottom, if there is naughty language, drug use, if there is sex, if there is no sex - all that on top of rape, incest, death. ..
It's getting tiring. Yeah, it's easier for us if the fic has the main slash pairing labeled - we might not want to read a 1x2 fic, just the 2x1 fics. Fine - if the author wants to label that, cool. Thanks. I'm not even going to get into the incredible stupidity that one must be engaged in to demand to know the sexual position of the characters up front in the header. I ran a few experiments a while ago and found out something interesting. If you don't list the slash pairing in the header, more people read your fics, despite the claim that they won't. Why? My guess is that they're reading the fic to find out if their favorite character will appear in the fic. The slash pairing in a fic are not necesarily the main characters in the fic. By putting out that header of 2x1, you have told the reader who are the ones to look out for. That can be misleading and you've inadvertantly cut off people that might like another character more. I've received many replies of "I've never really like 1+3 before, but you made me reconsider. . ." They most likely would have passed it over completely if the fic was labeled 1+3 - and that makes me wonder how many good fics are being passed over in favor of a fic with Duo topping Heero.
I sometimes think that readers don't give themselves enough credit - they are capable of reading and liking a fic based on the quality of writing and not the immediate gratification of graphic sex between two characters. Not saying graphic sex between two characters is bad or that there's not a place for that in fanfic - there certainly is - but with all the fics out there that do label the pairings, why bitch about the writers that don't? If that's whats important to you, don't read the fic. But consider the fact that you may be missing a great fic or reading a really shitty one, based on a label. My gold standard for judging a fic is to read at least a page. That will at least tell me if the writing style is something I can get into or not.
If you're an archivist, I can see a case for demanding pairings up front if you archive specifically by pairing - but that's easily handled by having the author supply you with the pairing - and writers that want their fics archived should first check with the archivist to see what the archivist wants in terms of labels. If you don't agree with them, don't archive your fics there.
Last, but not least - if you run a list - be very up front about labeling, don't make the writers and readers guess how strict or lenient you are about them. The reader should know if they're on a list that has no labels, just as much as they should know if they're on a list that demands using them for every situation. That way we protect the innocent without being totalitation or insensative.
I'm not sure I have anything new to say on this subject. I'm with the people who think warnings should never be mandatory, but are courteous and the nice thing to do if you've written a fic that has sensitive material in it such as rape, incest, graphic violence and so forth. However, in the seven years I've been around the fanfic arena, I've seen a growing faction of label fascists rising in the ranks (there are all sort of fascist practises going on in fanfiction communities today, but right now I'm going to stick to the Label Reich).
Now, I'm not totally against madatory labels. The most obvious should be what fandom you're writing in if you're posting to a list that contains more than one. You'd be surprised how many people forget this. It's especially important to fandoms like Star Trek that have 5 series and an RPG to contend with, or Buffy and Angel who share the same universe. In terms of what's in the fic to beware of, I think the standard G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17, and genre headers of Drama, Angst, Comedy, Action, PWP, and so forth are good not only for giving the readers a bit of a heads up at what to expect, it gives the archivers a break on where to put the damn thing whithout having to read the storys first. You writers out there that refuse to give at least those labels, please take yourself out of every archive you're in and apologize to the archivist for any inconvenience you may have caused. Put your ego away, these people have a lot of work to do without reader your crap.
But outside of the bare essensetials, a writer should never be required to add more labels to the fic. R and NC-17, combined with an Action or Angst tag, should clue the readers in that there will be violence and sex - and that it might be of the dark variety. Most people will add in the "dark" tag if they feel it crosses the line from Arnold Swartzanegger type violence to more Kevin Spacey type twisted mental angst. If they don't, well, the rating and the genre tag should at least tell you the level of adult material to expect. R and NC-17 means "This is for adults" - if you know you're the type of person that can't handle some forms of adult material, then it's time to eitehr ask around and see if that fic is suited for you. Write the author and ask. If they don't reply, put the question to friends or a list. Most people would be happy to help.
Sub labeling fics should be completely up to the author. And let me stress that I think it is only courteous and nice to let the readers know if you're adding in rape, incest, death, et cetera. These are elements that can trigger traumatic reactions to some readers that might have experienced this in real life. We live in a society were rape is very common and half the nation experiences Post-Traumatic Stress in some form or another. So a heads up on some serious matters can be a good thing that puts to ease the minds of some readers.
But today our fics are being sub-labeled to death. You must add the main characters, the slash/yaoi pairing, who is top or bottom, if there is naughty language, drug use, if there is sex, if there is no sex - all that on top of rape, incest, death. ..
It's getting tiring. Yeah, it's easier for us if the fic has the main slash pairing labeled - we might not want to read a 1x2 fic, just the 2x1 fics. Fine - if the author wants to label that, cool. Thanks. I'm not even going to get into the incredible stupidity that one must be engaged in to demand to know the sexual position of the characters up front in the header. I ran a few experiments a while ago and found out something interesting. If you don't list the slash pairing in the header, more people read your fics, despite the claim that they won't. Why? My guess is that they're reading the fic to find out if their favorite character will appear in the fic. The slash pairing in a fic are not necesarily the main characters in the fic. By putting out that header of 2x1, you have told the reader who are the ones to look out for. That can be misleading and you've inadvertantly cut off people that might like another character more. I've received many replies of "I've never really like 1+3 before, but you made me reconsider. . ." They most likely would have passed it over completely if the fic was labeled 1+3 - and that makes me wonder how many good fics are being passed over in favor of a fic with Duo topping Heero.
I sometimes think that readers don't give themselves enough credit - they are capable of reading and liking a fic based on the quality of writing and not the immediate gratification of graphic sex between two characters. Not saying graphic sex between two characters is bad or that there's not a place for that in fanfic - there certainly is - but with all the fics out there that do label the pairings, why bitch about the writers that don't? If that's whats important to you, don't read the fic. But consider the fact that you may be missing a great fic or reading a really shitty one, based on a label. My gold standard for judging a fic is to read at least a page. That will at least tell me if the writing style is something I can get into or not.
If you're an archivist, I can see a case for demanding pairings up front if you archive specifically by pairing - but that's easily handled by having the author supply you with the pairing - and writers that want their fics archived should first check with the archivist to see what the archivist wants in terms of labels. If you don't agree with them, don't archive your fics there.
Last, but not least - if you run a list - be very up front about labeling, don't make the writers and readers guess how strict or lenient you are about them. The reader should know if they're on a list that has no labels, just as much as they should know if they're on a list that demands using them for every situation. That way we protect the innocent without being totalitation or insensative.
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This was written very von well.