a brief note about ratings and content warnings

[schmevil]

All of my fic is archived at martianhouse. In my policies sticky post, I note that: "I mark stories as Adult if they contain violence or sexual situations that eljay wouldn't want minors stumbling across. I also warn for canon compliance (Pre OotP, S2/3). If you think a story needs a warning, let me know."

I'm extremely lazy when it comes to labeling fic. When posting to a comm, I follow their header rules. At my own fic journal I try to keep things to a minimum. I consider my stories to be 'adult' or not 'adult', with no ratings in between, and I try to make it obvious why I consider a given fic to be 'adult'. I inform my readers about canon compliance, and depending on the context, character death. I've warned for torture. I would warn for rape and dub-con, if I wrote it.

That's my standard practice, but I want to emphasize this part of the note: "If you think a story needs a warning, let me know." Because if you tell me that my not warning for x story element hurt you, then I will put up a warning, no questions asked.

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about headers. I don't especially care about headers. Give me an idea of what's going on in your story, and about how long it is, and I'll be happy. However, as someone without triggers, I have the luxury of not caring. Reading about a fictional rape won't lead to my self-harming, or being unable to function for several hours. So again, in all seriousness, if you think a story needs a warning, let me know. I'm not interested in hurting my fellow fans.

I am also completely uninterested in coddling my fellow fans. Don't expect lengthy explanatory notes, warnings for naughty language, or for me to reveal just how AU my AUs are. It's not going to happen. I think my readers are smart enough to know their own tastes and limits. I also know that sometimes even the best summary can be misleading. Sometimes readers do get triggered. The solution is imho, fairly simple: warn for the most common triggers, and add warnings when my readers tell me they're necessary. If warnings would be spoilery, I might hide them behind whiteout text. That's how I balance the ~artistic integrity~ of my fic, with the needs of my readers.

What's your balance?

Comments

[torachan]

I was doing the adult/not adult thing for a while after I got too frustrated with MPAA ratings, but then I started finding that too confusing and frustrating as well. How much sex makes something adult? References? Making out with some groping? Only detailed descriptions?

So now on my journal and website I don't have any ratings at all. I'll add them for comms if I have to, but ugh. I shouldn't have to get a headache trying to think about it every time.

[schmevil]

I loathe the MPAA system. Even when I was using it, I didn't entirely grok it, and I doubt that even the members of the MPAA board do. For one thing, why do they need G, PG, and PG-13? The differences between the three ratings are so subtle, and frankly, variable, as to be useless.

How much sex makes something adult? References? Making out with some groping? Only detailed descriptions?

I gave up rating my stories for a few years, but got enough complaints that I took up the adult/not system. (Most of those complaints were about violent, rather than sexual content, btw). I've only waffled about a few fics since making the switch over. I've written a few PWPs with graphic depictions of sexual acts. Those were obviously 'adult'. I've written three stories that depict torture, or the aftermath of torture, and all of them included enough graphic details of violent acts that I was comfortable labeling them 'adult'.

The hardest to rate was a story that dealt with teenagers doing the kinds of things that teenagers with a bit of freedom are bound to do, (experiment sexually, and with drugs and alcohol), but that many adults aren't comfortable with. iirc I ended up rating 'adult', for a semi-graphic sex scene about six chapters in. I'm still unsure about that one, although most readers assure me that the story edges on R territory. *shrugs*

[torachan]

I don't think I've ever written anything really violent, so usually I'm thinking of it in terms of sex.

And yeah, I do write a lot about teens having sex, so it seems weird to label them adult... XD

[schmevil]

I'm more likely to write stories with graphic violence than graphic sex. I'm a fandom rarity, I know. ;)

'Adult' is probably the wrong word, for exactly this reason - it seems weird to limit the audience to adults, when the story's about teens, and of course lots of potential readers are be teens. I dislike age ratings on principle, because I tend to think that even young kids are capable of understanding more than their parents give them credit for.

Maybe I should take some time and switch to 'explicit sex' and 'explicit violence'.