Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls What Is Your Perception?

I recall a very small number of sites were contacted, but that was enough to make waves in the fanfic community. A lot of sites changed their ratings systems when those few were contacted.

Nice idea, but the problem is that most of us post our stories before we've finished writing them, and we don't write to a strict plan, either. This means we don't know, when we start posting a story, how the content will turn out, so we can't really post a meaningful warning. What I do, usually, is to post warnings at the top of any particularly intense sections of a story. I'll tell you if there's bad language, or extreme violence either implied or explicit. I won't, if I'm posting in the nfic folder, warn you if there's going to be any sexy content because my assumption is that anyone reading in the nfic folder is comfortable with that type of content. I could easily and happily change that practice, though.

As Rat said, the attraction of the nfic folder for me these days is that it gives me the freedom to express myself freely without having to worry whether any particular character may or may not overstep the PG limit. My default setting, therefore, is to post in the nfic folder just in case some non-PG content turns up at some point in the story.

That said, having dabbled in sexy scenes and pretty much learned how to write them, these days I find myself disinclined to include them. It's a kind of 'been there, done that' thing. And as someone else said, citing CC's story, the most effective lovemaking scenes are those which contain minimal detail of the mechanics and lots of information about the participants' emotions. IMO.

Yvonne

Quick thought. Probably been floated before, but, even if so, can't hurt to try again. Minds may have changed. (It happens. Sometimes. Really.) Feel free to reject or ignore.

Change "Nfic" to "18Fic" or "18+."

Set up a voluntary system where writers, if they so choose, can include single-initial warnings in the subject line of the individual post.

For example:

Heated Visions (3/8ish) *SL*

That would indicate that in this post (Part 3 of the story "Heated Visions"), there is sexual content and strong language.

You can also choose to include an author's note at the beginning with what you expect, but the subject line warning will cover the "It's a WIP and I'm not entirely sure what will or will not happen" problem.

Thoughts?

Paul

It's an interesting issue.

Many times I wonder if my one story even had a non n-fic version because the subject matter was so harsh.

Sexuality doesn't offend me at all, and I'm planning on letting my kids view certain movies/tv shows when they demonstrate both the interest and maturity to handle (i.e. Buffy - which got pretty steamy for it's 8pm slot in later seasons, but which I think was such a powerful and amazing epic with wonderful thematic development that i'd want my kids to see it, just as I'd want them to enjoy other great epics)

Sexuality is a part of life - *the* part of life, and to me, consensual loving intimacy is something we need in this world.

I can deal with the non consensual (in fact, I wrote about it) as long as it's not gratuitous or just the result of lazy characterization.

I'm more likely to be offended by the characters just acting in ways that they never *should* based on even the loosest reigns of canon. Lois Lane has always been an intrepid girl reporter, and I would never expect her to be a weepy clinging vine, for example.

I would also never expect her to be a child abuser (which i've never read, but I'm just listing it out as an example)

As far as the dividing line - anything I write that will get me in trouble if someone under 18 reads it belongs in the nfic folder, and that's how I try to make the distinction in my mind and in my writing.