Warnings in Stories: How and When Should We Use Them

Filistata:

druscilla out loud.:

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.

Sorry if that sounded all bossy and shit. I just reread what I typed and it could have come off with that tone, but I didn't mean it like that.

These have all been very helpful.

I also have a one shot with sexual abuse as the main content but I didn't want to give anything away. I was really confused as to how I should be warning about that, but this thread realy helped me out. ^^

druscilla is alice.:

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.)

This part is questionable, though. Personally I agree with you, but I've posted enough that some people still think they should be warned about them. I posted something on LJ, and someone said I should have warned about one of the characters possessing unnaturally douchey traits. For me, it wasn't worth it at all-- but others have preferences and they prefer to be warned about them.

The Way:

druscilla is alice.:

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.)

This part is questionable, though. Personally I agree with you, but I've posted enough that some people still think they should be warned about them. I posted something on LJ, and someone said I should have warned about one of the characters possessing unnaturally douchey traits. For me, it wasn't worth it at all-- but others have preferences and they prefer to be warned about them.

Warn for douchey traits? Like, really? That's... weird.

Does anyone thinking a warning for marijuana use is necessary?

^I wouldn't think so. It's not like it's a hard drug or anything.

^
Yeah, I didn't think so either, but I wanted a second opinion.

I had a story where a character was coming down off coke, but you never saw coke, so I didn't warn for it.

What about warning about sensitive issues, such as suicide or cancer or things along those lines? I know you've already mentioned eating disorders, and I'd assume those were in the same group.

Roseh; contact:

What about warning about sensitive issues, such as suicide or cancer or things along those lines? I know you've already mentioned eating disorders, and I'd assume those were in the same group.

Suicide probably goes hand in hand with depression, so I might just warn for depression. If it's about someone coping with a suicide, you could put that in there but if it's going to kill the end, I wouldn't say warning: suicide.

Also, cancer. Eh.

Eating disorders and self-harm are triggery. Reading about someone who has cancer isn't going to cause someone to develop cancer or go into remission, y'know? I know there are people who have had someone die of cancer so it might upset them, but I still don't consider it triggery.

If it's a story about someone with cancer, that generally tends to show up in the summary anyway, right?

Would you warn for a fic with a character that isn't cis-gendered?
I'm writing a trans!fic and I didn't warn because I don't feel it's necessary, just like I don't warn for slash. But normally my summaries are quite blatant and this one isn't.

As far as warnings for sensitive subjects should I put a warning about abortion? In one of my stories the character had one in the past but it's mentioned several times throughout it.

^I might put a warning for abortion just because it's so controversial. Unless that would ruin the plot, then I would probably just say 'adult themes' or something of the like. Or even just an appropriate rating might be fine.

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I recently put a warning for strong language, just because some of the characters swear and use slurs almost every sentence (because it just fits with their personalities: they're teenage boys), but I only put it because, like I said, it's really, really heavy swearing. Just an f bomb here and there doesn't call for a warning, I don't think.

As for drug use: I think if there's enough casual drug use, a warning might be necessary.

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I'm personally getting sick of fanfictions where the warning is something like 'I don't own these characters though I'd like to don't sue blah blah blah.' It's fanfiction, obviously you don't own the actual people, we're quite aware and it's free speech, nobody could really sue.

generated anomaly:

As for drug use: I think if there's enough casual drug use, a warning might be necessary.

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I'm personally getting sick of fanfictions where the warning is something like 'I don't own these characters though I'd like to don't sue blah blah blah.' It's fanfiction, obviously you don't own the actual people, we're quite aware and it's free speech, nobody could really sue.

I never warn for casual pot use. Ever. And I'd probably laugh if someone got up in arms about it, too, 'cause I'm just mean.

I totally agree on disclaimers though. I won't even enter a contest if it requires a disclaimer 'cause I think they're kind of tacky.

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Warning for transgendered/non-cisgendered fics? Y/n?

^Pot, never. Because I feel like it's not a big deal. If people get pissy, they get pissy, whatever. I'm talking harder drugs and Adderall, just because I feel like, from personal experience, Adderall can be as bad as crack.

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I don't think transgendered or the like needs a warning, especially because I feel like most summaries would say that anyway and I don't think it's offensive or should be taken as such (though I'm aware that a lot of people probably do take offense to it).

generated anomaly:

I don't think transgendered or the like needs a warning, especially because I feel like most summaries would say that anyway and I don't think it's offensive or should be taken as such (though I'm aware that a lot of people probably do take offense to it).

That's kind of what I was thinking. If someone takes offense to it, I really don't want them reading it anyway.

generated anomaly:

^I might put a warning for abortion just because it's so controversial. Unless that would ruin the plot, then I would probably just say 'adult themes' or something of the like. Or even just an appropriate rating might be fine.

Okay, thank you.

generated anomaly:

I don't think transgendered or the like needs a warning, especially because I feel like most summaries would say that anyway and I don't think it's offensive or should be taken as such (though I'm aware that a lot of people probably do take offense to it).

I don't think it needs a warning as such, but I think it should be mentioned in the summary because some people aren't offended by it, they just aren't comfortable reading about it.

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In (sort of) the same vein, would you warn for/mention cross-dressing?

darvill.:

I don't think it needs a warning as such, but I think it should be mentioned in the summary because some people aren't offended by it, they just aren't comfortable reading about it.

Yeah. My summary mentions cross-dressing, but not transsexuality because it wasn't appropriate to include in the summary. It just didn't flow properly. And, to me, I don't want to fuck with the flow of the summary anymore than I want to mess with the flow of the story.

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In (sort of) the same vein, would you warn for/mention cross-dressing?

I did once because it was an NC-17 fic. I only did 'cause it was being used as a form of kink. If it wasn't being used as a form of kink, I wouldn't warn. That's just me, personally.

Although I make sure to mention it on LJ 'cause people will read your fic just for that over there.

^ Fair enough. And to be honest, if someone's not going to read about transsexuality they probably won't want to read about cross-dressing, so.

I don't think it'll be a kink, but I'll probably mention it just in case.

Should you warn for homophobia/homophobic slurs? I only ask 'cause we have to for racism, and it's along the same lines.