"Mature" Content
Dec. 22nd, 2019 08:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI know this is frowned on in the current culture of fandom, but I’m going to have to admit that I don’t feel any particular need to “protect” anyone who finds and reads my fanfic.
Even though I didn’t understand everything that was going on, I really enjoyed stories written by and for adults when I was younger, and I appreciated that writing for adults didn’t feel any need to shield readers from the more unpleasant aspects of human nature. I guess I’d like to extend the same courtesy to anyone reading my own writing.
I do my best to be conscientious about the stories I write and not include violence (of any kind) for the sake of violence, but I’m also not interested in excising something that I think is important or tagging a novel-length story with a content warning because of a brief mention of something upsetting in one scene.
I’m writing this because I’ve seriously considered it, though.
For the story I’m currently writing, it might make more sense to warn for content at the beginning of a particular chapter. Specifically, I’m working on a pair of scenes that involve a romantic encounter that develops in an awkward way. A major issue with communication arises, and it’s strongly suggested that one character may have had an experience with assault in the past. Both characters get frustrated and angry, and they do and say the sort of things that people do and say when they’re frustrated and angry. Still, I’m afraid that using a “nonconsensual” warning (or even an “author chose not to use warnings” tag) might give people the wrong idea about the story's tone and content.
I think that, in the end, I’m going to have to trust that the “Mature” rating will be a sufficient warning for story elements intended for a mature audience.
Even though I didn’t understand everything that was going on, I really enjoyed stories written by and for adults when I was younger, and I appreciated that writing for adults didn’t feel any need to shield readers from the more unpleasant aspects of human nature. I guess I’d like to extend the same courtesy to anyone reading my own writing.
I do my best to be conscientious about the stories I write and not include violence (of any kind) for the sake of violence, but I’m also not interested in excising something that I think is important or tagging a novel-length story with a content warning because of a brief mention of something upsetting in one scene.
I’m writing this because I’ve seriously considered it, though.
For the story I’m currently writing, it might make more sense to warn for content at the beginning of a particular chapter. Specifically, I’m working on a pair of scenes that involve a romantic encounter that develops in an awkward way. A major issue with communication arises, and it’s strongly suggested that one character may have had an experience with assault in the past. Both characters get frustrated and angry, and they do and say the sort of things that people do and say when they’re frustrated and angry. Still, I’m afraid that using a “nonconsensual” warning (or even an “author chose not to use warnings” tag) might give people the wrong idea about the story's tone and content.
I think that, in the end, I’m going to have to trust that the “Mature” rating will be a sufficient warning for story elements intended for a mature audience.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-31 04:39 am (UTC)I am glad I can have provided support!