Warnings in Stories: How and When Should We Use Them

Often in online fiction, writers post warnings at the start of a story (or chapter) as a courtesy to readers. These warnings be about taboo topics, unpopular topics, sensitive topics, or topics that may serve as negative triggers for some members.

What, when, and how do you think writers here should include warnings in their stories? Do you think warnings should be included at all, or do you think that the story's rating and genre is warning enough?

---

Personally, I think warnings should be used when there is a content in stories that may offend or trigger negative reactions in people, or for topics that people may not want to read.

I think that if a story contains triggering content in stories - such as eating disorders, cutting or other similar behaviors - there should be a warning. However, if your summary states that this is what your story will be about, I think a warning would be unnecessary and redundant.

I think incest is also something else you should warn about. Nobody should have to read it if they do not want to and lots of people find it objectionable, so it should have a warning. Once again, however, if your summary says "Waycest" you don't really need to warn that it is Waycest.

Sometimes you come into problems with warnings for things that only happen on occasion are are only briefly mentioned in the story. For instance, I have a story called "Snapshot" which is quite old so I'll discuss it openly. It involves child molestation. There is no detail. However, if I said this story included molestation it would give away a lot of the plot. Therefore, I said this story had dark themes and that it should be read with caution.

I don't think that a specific warning should be given if it will give away the plot/mystery, etc. If the warning will be discovered in the opening, paragraph, then I think you should warn, otherwise simply warn that the story may contain dark or triggering content and should be read with caution.

Here are some things I think should be warned about:

Things you should always warn about.

- Incest
- M-Preg
- BDSM.
- Other "kink" people may find objectionable such as watersports, scat.
- Racism. (Added by robert smith.)

Things you should warn about unless it will destroy the plot.

- Eating disorders.
- Cutting.
- Rape.

Things you shouldn't warn about.

- Character death. (It's sad when someone dies, but we'd rather read it.)
- Sad ending. (We need to read the ending, not know that it will be sad as we read.)
- Slash. (Enough people know about/read it that it doesn't really need a warning. They can generally hit the back button without being scarred for life.)
- Sex. (Rate your story accordingly instead.)

I'm unsure about other sexual things one should warn about. Should one warn about fisting?

Just recently (and I'm not sure if it's still going on, although I'm sure it's died down) there was a huge controversy on warnings over at Livejournal.
Mainly in fandom. A tiny thing started it and it was blown out of proportion and before you know it, there were two sides screaming at each other.
A side that said it was an authors right to warn and if they didn't want to, they shouldn't warn.
And another that said warnings should always be included when things like the ones you've listed above are in a story.
Out of common respect for the readers; not every reader is the same.
Who knows what a certain reader has experienced, and if they read an unwarned story with (for example) rape, what if they trigger?

I'm all for warnings. There is a ton of ways to list warnings for people to see without giving away anything to those who don't want to know.
I hardly ever read warnings, but that's because if I don't like something, I simple click out. That's it, no harm done.
But I know some people can't do the same, and it really affects them when they stumble across something they had no idea was coming.

For other sexual things. I'm not sure. If a story has fisting, would that be labeled a kink?
I guess if a writer wrote that their was kink in their story, that could be covered under it.

I see people write "warning: boysex. Don't read if you don't like" all the time, and I just cringe.

People on LJ in slash communities warn for "gayness" quite frequently, as well and it's just... eugh. :cheese: It's a slash community, obviously we're aware your story is going to have gay men in it.
And the fact they say 'gayness.' Gayness? I will stop before I go off on a tangent.

But I agree with warning for kink and if it's not clearly shown in the summary, incest, for sure. I don't personally need warnings, but I know that there definitely are more sensitive people out there that like them, so I'm all for it in those cases.

paranormality.:

People on LJ in slash communities warn for "gayness" quite frequently, as well and it's just... eugh. :cheese: It's a slash community, obviously we're aware your story is going to have gay men in it.

I agree. I'm in a kink fic community on LJ. We warn for scat and watersports.
But the other stuff we just say includes.
Includes: fisting, rimming, etc.
Not to warn, but so people know if the fic includes the yumminess they're looking for. :weird:

^ Exactly. :tehe: I wouldn't think fisting, rimming, etc would even be a warning. More of a "hey, we've got what you're looking for" type of deal.

I think people sometimes go overboard with warnings. If your story is PG you don't have to tell me it's PG because of profanity and m/m kissing.

I hate the way they label that too. "m/m kissing"? I've never ever seen a "m/f kissing" warning.
Ever. And I've been in multiple fandoms since I was 13.
I think if you're going to warn for things, are least be consistant. Or learn what to warn for, is the big thing.

In my older threesome story, I warned for kinky things...:XD
But that's all I've ever had to warn about, because I kinda stay away from sensitive issues...

I think you should also warn for racism and stuff in stories, because I've had an idea for a story, and it's all about white power and stuff (which I don't believe in, just saying...) and I think it'd be a pretty sensitive thing to post about.

I think you should also warn for excessive violence and gore.

And, seeing as this is related, I have an incest story but I don't directly state that in the summary. This is it: A rather complicated love story. Frank has a crush on his best friend, Gerard. Gerard has his sights set on someone a little closer to home. Is that enough of a hint, or should I include something afterwards? (I mention it in the short description though.)

Smashed Pumpkin:

And, seeing as this is related, I have an incest story but I don't directly state that in the summary. This is it: A rather complicated love story. Frank has a crush on his best friend, Gerard. Gerard has his sights set on someone a little closer to home. Is that enough of a hint, or should I include something afterwards? (I mention it in the short description though.)

Short summaries come up on search and are displayed on your profile's story page, so I would say you're covered.

robert smith:

I think you should also warn for racism and stuff in stories, because I've had an idea for a story, and it's all about white power and stuff (which I don't believe in, just saying...) and I think it'd be a pretty sensitive thing to post about.

That's a good one. AFF actually added a warning for that about a year ago at user request.

---

One of my old stories "Rebirth" was set during WWIII and used a lot of hate language against gays, Jews, Middle Eastern people, etc. I warned and apologized for that.

druscilla lifetime.:

Not to warn, but so people know if the fic includes the yumminess they're looking for. :weird:

:lmfao Dru, you make me laugh.

I have a question. In my fic Cameras Make Ghosts in the future there will be blood (:lmfao I didn't even mean to make a film reference, but that is awesome), and violence. Not excessive gore, but like... not to completely give away the plot, but someone is going to get stabbed and it will be more descript than just "he was stabbed."
I was wondering if I should put a warning in the summary or not. And if so, what should it be?

paranormality.:

druscilla lifetime.:

Not to warn, but so people know if the fic includes the yumminess they're looking for. :weird:

:lmfao Dru, you make me laugh.

I have a question. In my fic Cameras Make Ghosts in the future there will be blood (:lmfao I didn't even mean to make a film reference, but that is awesome), and violence. Not excessive gore, but like... not to completely give away the plot, but someone is going to get stabbed and it will be more descript than just "he was stabbed."
I was wondering if I should put a warning in the summary or not. And if so, what should it be?

I don't know. I'm not a person who read gore/violence fics really unless it's abuse or rape. So someone else can answer if it needs a warning. However, if it does I would simply say Warning: Violence.

^Okay, thanks. That's simple enough. I think I'll put it in there, just in case.

There is an excuse to write a warning for EVERYTHING that will be in a story.. It's the user's discretion I believe as to what they should put in as a warning... Maybe have it like the ESRB ratings...? "G: May contain common phobias" or "T: Contains Alcohol and Sexual References" "R: Contains morbid and illegal sexual acts"

Make it vague without giving away the plotline, cause no one likes to read and go "Oh! Well I already knew that was going to happen..... =/"

DeSignFluX:

Maybe have it like the ESRB ratings...? "G: May contain common phobias" or "T: Contains Alcohol and Sexual References" "R: Contains morbid and illegal sexual acts"

We already have ratings.

... what's an ESRB rating?

This is actually really helpful. One of my one-shots is centered around sexual abuse but it doesn't out-right say it in a blatantly obvious way, and I don't really go into detail in the summary otherwise it would give the plot away. I didn't even think about putting up a warning.

And on that note, I'm off to do a little editing. :shifty

I've never put warnings in my stories.
I have quite a few M-preg and Waycest stories, and I don't put out warnings for it.

I do, however, always put M-preg, or Waycest, or Rape in my short descriptions.

Filistata:

This is actually really helpful. One of my one-shots is centered around sexual abuse but it doesn't out-right say it in a blatantly obvious way, and I don't really go into detail in the summary otherwise it would give the plot away. I didn't even think about putting up a warning.

And on that note, I'm off to do a little editing. :shifty

Don't feel the need to have an explicit warning however. You can simply say something like "dark themes, proceed with caution". That's what I did. If I had said "warning: sexual abuse" for Snapshot, I think I would have destroyed the story.

druscilla out loud.:

DeSignFluX:

Maybe have it like the ESRB ratings...? "G: May contain common phobias" or "T: Contains Alcohol and Sexual References" "R: Contains morbid and illegal sexual acts"

We already have ratings.

... what's an ESRB rating?

"The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that puts ratings into force, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles for computer and video games and other entertainment software in Canada and the United States"
-Source: Wikipedia.

It has ratings like "T for Use of Drugs." or "R for Strong Sexual Content."

I think it would be cool if when you created a story under ratings, after the drop-down menu for PG-13, etc, there was a list of topics that you could click, like you can with genres. Like, violence, gore, fisting, etc.
Then you wouldn't have to put a warning in your summary at all.

spiderweb of dreams.:

druscilla out loud.:

DeSignFluX:

Maybe have it like the ESRB ratings...? "G: May contain common phobias" or "T: Contains Alcohol and Sexual References" "R: Contains morbid and illegal sexual acts"

We already have ratings.

... what's an ESRB rating?

"The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that puts ratings into force, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles for computer and video games and other entertainment software in Canada and the United States"
-Source: Wikipedia.

It has ratings like "T for Use of Drugs." or "R for Strong Sexual Content."

I think it would be cool if when you created a story under ratings, after the drop-down menu for PG-13, etc, there was a list of topics that you could click, like you can with genres. Like, violence, gore, fisting, etc.
Then you wouldn't have to put a warning in your summary at all.

I like the way we rate them now.

druscilla out loud.:

Filistata:

This is actually really helpful. One of my one-shots is centered around sexual abuse but it doesn't out-right say it in a blatantly obvious way, and I don't really go into detail in the summary otherwise it would give the plot away. I didn't even think about putting up a warning.

And on that note, I'm off to do a little editing. :shifty

Don't feel the need to have an explicit warning however. You can simply say something like "dark themes, proceed with caution". That's what I did. If I had said "warning: sexual abuse" for Snapshot, I think I would have destroyed the story.

Nah, I just put up something similar. I simply said it has mature themes and should be read with caution.