Story Warnings (1998 meta)

From Fanlore
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Meta
Title: Story Warnings
Creator: Bagheera
Date(s): June 17, 1998
Medium: online
Fandom: The Sentinel, The X-Files
Topic:
External Links: Story Warnings
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Story Warnings is a mid-1998 post by Bagheera. It was made in regards to The Sentinel fandom.

Some Topics Discussed

The Essay

Bleh. I'm going to complain a little here, for no other reason than that I need to get it off my chest and the bad taste out of my mouth.

[snipped]

Polite fanfiction culture includes story warnings, it seems, for just about everything. I don't mind that--it helps me determine if a story is what I'm in the mood for at the moment, and I've known people who needed the warnings to avoid being squicked.

And we have to apply slash warnings even when the story is completely G-rated and the relationship barely mentioned, or people have conniption fits. I can deal with that (not the conniption fits, but using the warnings). What I want to know is why can't the gen writers use het warnings too?

I mean, het isn't the same thing as gen. I like gen fiction. I read gen fiction. The show is gen, for pity's sake, (with the occasional exception of het episodes like Inside Man)--and I love it. I also like slash, because I think the relationship makes sense between Jim and Blair. I prefer not to read fiction that involves either of them with original characters--of any gender--because that's not what I watch the show for and it's not what I read fanfiction for. And if someone writes a story involving an original male character, fandom culture demands that they slap both a slash warning and an original character warning on it, and the writers comply and everyone is happy. Then someone else goes and has Jim or Blair planning marriage with an original female character...and there's no warnings given at all.

I just spent the last few hours reading the latest stories by a gen writer I really like. She usually does good stuff and has done some really great stuff. I don't have time to read all the fiction out there (and wouldn't want to read it all anyway), but she was a writer I thought I could trust to be well worth my time. Then suddenly, in the last few stories both Jim and Blair are thinking marriage to original characters and development of those relationships are taking up large sections of the stories. On the one hand, I'm disgusted with the double standards applied to gen and slash fiction, that gay non-canon relationships require a warning, no matter how G-rated or how inconsequential, while het non-canon relationships don't, even when they're developed into romances that are going to have a major impact on The Guys' lives. At the same time, I'm frustrated that reading this writer's work has gone from being a 20/80 chance in favor of wonderful smarm to 50/50 odds of being smarm or a het romance, with no way of knowing which it will be until I'm halfway through the story. And I'm disappointed that what was a really good smarmy series with good exploration of the secondary characters and a take on the Guys compatible with my own has taken a sharp turn into something I've no interest in reading. If there were warnings on the stories, well, at least then, I could skip the ones that focus on the romances and still read the smarmy or plot-oriented ones.

I mean, even the _show_ gives us warnings, in the promos, if there's going to be a het relationship in the next episode that's more than casual flirting with the BoTW. Why can't the fanfic writers do the same?

Blah. [1]

Some Comments Posted

[Star]:

I think I know of the author, and I like her stories as well, but they are COMPLETELY different then anything on the show. Trust me, I've been reading them since she first started writing them. And she is quite good with her material.

I also agree about the warnings, all authors should have them, whether or not is is slash...

... being kind is good, but not all that enforcable when you get right down to the thick of things.

[Wolfwind/Robert Ressman]:

Maybe writers should take a page from the major fanfic archive for X-Files. The gossamer project. They not only give it a rating, the tell you if it is romance/comedy/angst/friendship/etc. If it is a relationship, *SLASH OR NOT* they tell you who it is between. Ex: M/S romance (Mulder/Scully romance). Rated G: (They have a candle-light dinner) or NC-17 (use your imagination). Is that what you're looking for?

[XmagicalX]:

Not to throw oil on the fire or annathing, but I think at least some writers don't put warnings 'cuz they don't want to spoil things. Warning on basic things like slash vs het--that's long-standard practice, as it's well understood that some people really have strong aversions to one or the other... Well, yes, some folx have strong aversions to death stories too, but if you put a death story warning on a fic, sometimes you're giving away the ending. And to warn about romances and whatnot...well, X-files fic does have an elaborate categorization system, but I myself have ducked out of it a few times, having stories which are sort of MSR but I don't want to list them as such because that's not really the point (actually I run into more troubles 'cuz most of my stuff isn't MSR--but that's another story, as I was saying...what was I saying?)

If I know the gen writer referred to, I don't think she was seeing those stories as romance, as she's got a decidedly unique view on the whole Sentinel thing anyway. She's often enough just writing about life, of which love, romance, marriage is a definite part for most people. And which doesn't come with warnings...

Warnings as far as gen vs slash, those are understandable. Ratings like G, R, NC-17, those are quite good, even necessary to avoid insulting people and exposing them to what they'd rathr avoid. But imho warnings can be taken too far, I mean, if a fic is labeled WARNING Blair-napping, minor char serious injury, major char minor injury, villain killed in a sort-of-but-not-too graphic manner, secondary villain escapes for a sequel...well, what's the point of reading the fic, when you know it all already? (don't answer that! it was a rhetoric example! anyone who invokes "Beach" will be steadfastedly ignored!)

Just random thoughts, as always, and late-night ones too, how much sense will they make in the morning, I wonder?

[Sairobi]:

If any of you happen to hang out on ATXC, (Alt.tv.xfiles.creative.) you know debate pops up every other week about ratings/summaries/categories/etc. While annoying, I can see both sides. (Which I will graciously share...heehee.)

The up side: you actually <gasp> know what you're getting into. When I first started reading senfic, I was more than slightly confuzzled by the lack of categorization, much less summaries. Going thru Guide Posts is a game of luck at this point--what's the chances of scoring a decent read if you don't even have any recs to work off of?

But, of course, there's the not-so-sunshine-y side of the road.

With nearly mandatory summaries, (As is in the XF fanfic universe; you can only get away with non-summarization if you're a well known writer.) you risk losing readers afraid of the big bad label. (Example in terms of XF: Reader does not read anything non Mulder/Scully. Reader approaches story; non MSR label. Reader doesn't give story a chance. Writer cries. Writer stops writing fanfiction. Writer begins drinking. Writer's wife leaves him. Writer loses custody of the 2.4 children, but retains care of family dog, Muffy. Writer contemplates the virtues of a .38 versus a razor. See where I'm going here? <wink>) Sure, summaries and categories help set the reader on the right track...but at times, they can be more of a hindrance than help to the author.

I know a gal who writes wonderfully....but only deals in minor character fic. Does she give a flying rat's ass as to what the mainstream thinks? No. But has she been pigeonholed by labels? Yes. Consider it before going too gung-ho into something that may not be as great as you think.

Example of what you may be getting yourself into....

Standard XF Categories:

Major:

Not So Major:

  • X--X-File/Case File
  • R--Romance
  • A--Angst
  • T--Action *H--Humor
  • UST--Unresolved Sexual Tension
  • RST--Resolved Sexual Tension (As in marriage. Ewww.)

Romance:

And, of course, usual ratings apply.

[XmagicalX]:

....categorizing can often be a pain, when you don't know where something fits...it's easy to say "humor" or "smarm" but then angst/action/humor/plot tends to get a wee bit confusin'...

Concerning the categorization examples--totally accurate (but Pendrell/Krycek? the mental picture alone is enough! ;) but I think if you even tried to suggest that to the poor Archive Elves of Guide Posts they'd probably come at you with their elfshot and their bows and arrows and their rocket launchers...they have their hands more than full. Categorization is probably not the route TS fic will follow, at least not for a while yet, especially w/ those limitations.

I personally would rather it stayed the way it is, slash, adult, gen being about the only dividers--everything on an equal standpoint, and we all bumbling through it having fun. JMHO, of course--but I'm a simple sorta gal, and like to keep life that way ;)

[Mick C]:

Warning, ng sibs. 852 Prospect is a slash archive. <g> Smarm abounds, but it's slash smarm. Actually, with the TS boys it's kind of hard to tell gen smarm from slash smarm. :) Just stay away from those with the handy NC-17 warnings and you'll avoid being saddled with mental images you could have lived without. ;] ...

And us slashers would dearly love a warning of approaching 'het' interaction. Nothing worse that finding some Mary Sue suddenly crawling all over one half of your favorite slash pairing! <SHUDDER>...

If you're posting to SXF or to either of the archives it is. Death stories are a particularly touchy issue. There are Senners who will have a flaming cow if a main character dies in a story and you don't tell them right up front. Me, I don't wanna know in advance that Blair's going to get shot in the head and die at Jim's feet. I want to be right there in the land of shock with Jimbo when it happens. Differences like that caused the evolution of the "0/1 of ?" section. That "O" section is supposed to contain all the handy dandy category listings, warnings and summaries, allowing us to skip, tra-la-la, past them if we like.

If you have your own web site you can, of course, do as you like. ;)

[Star]:

I've seen some of the ratings/summaries on Gossamer, and I thing I can see both sides also, but it would make it easier on the reader so that can decide after seeing the warnings/ratings/summaries whether or not they want to read that particular story... With XF fanfic, you actually KNOW what is in each of the stories, and with senfic, it really IS a game of luck. The only way to know what is in the fic is if you click onto the link, and it's only after that that you really see what it is your about to read....

In the case of the MSRs, summaries are a big help as far as TXF fanfic goes, but I would probably not like to see TO MUCH of it as far as Jim and Blair being with someone else is concerned, unless there was something else involved, like the rape <el sucko> of one of the main characters goes, or the death <el puk-o> of a main character goes.

There, I think that about does it. At least the Archive Elves should be pleased that we are trying to iron things out here. <g>

References

  1. ^ Story Warnings, post by Bagheera, June 17, 1998
Retrieved from "https://fanlore.org/w/index.php?title=Story_Warnings_(1998_meta)&oldid=1612117"