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ravenThe warnings debate. Hmmm. I don't feel like I have a lot to contribute to the debate, per se, but as someone who purveys fannish content for the benefit of the wider internet, I ought to say something about how I put warnings on my stories. (I like ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
taraljc's point that it makes more sense if you call it a "content advisory"; the point is not to warn people off your story, but to let them read it, or not, under advisement.) The subject has never come up with my stories merely because I don't write noncon, I don't write dubcon, I don't really write sex beyond a sort of fade-to-black thing, and I only rarely write anything with graphic violence. If I did, I'd warn for all of those.
Beyond that - I warn for anything I think I ought to. Which isn't, as I've said, scientific, but it'll do. I don't pretend to know much about what triggers and what doesn't, and I suspect it's different for every person, but if something's in the realm of the obvious, I'll warn for it. Beyond that... well, I don't know. I'm always open to suggestions, both generally and in relation to any specific story of mine.
Some people have wondered about cases where the warning would "ruin" the story - where it would give away the twist twenty pages in advance, or something. To these people, I suggest: be creative, you're writers. White on white text, for example, doesn't work - people may be using any number of screen readers, and also ?style=mine - but one solution I think is very neat is the simple "click here for warnings". If I wrote stories that needed warnings often, I'd create an LJ/DW post just for them, adding a fresh cut-tag to each batch and linking directly to the relevant one from my story headers. You can even add target="blank" into your links if you're feeling punchy.
...that's it, yeah.
In other news, everything is unmitigatedly vile. Am revising for resits, and the doing of same continuously reminds me I am fail enough to be doing resits, and going through the motions of applying for jobs I am never going to get. I am trying very hard to make lists of things that make me happy, and giving myself stern talking-tos (talkings-to?) along the lines of really, life is not that bad, just fucking put up or shut up, and taking a lot of baths, but it's not working and I seem to have talked myself into my very own blue period, with less proto-cubism and more fail.
For example. A visiting family friend sent me a present. That's nice, isn't it? It's a lipstick. It's red. That's nice too. Red is my favourite colour. Hurrah. And the lipstick is not orange-red or pinkish-red but perfect even ruby red, and it's a nice creamy soft one that oozes decadence out of the very environmentally-unfriendly packaging, and I spent a very teenage twenty minutes meticulously trying it out with liner and brush, and a very very teenage further two blowing kisses at the mirror.
Only, then, my brain started to explain, in its best insidious whine, how I am not in any way the sort of person who can wear red lipstick, that it is for extroverts and beautiful people, and that geek-girls like me shouldn't have ideas above their station. Boo, hiss.
So, in an attempt at revenge, I decided that today, despite the fact I had nothing planned except getting out of bed and another bath, I spent another twenty-two minutes with the same lipstick doing exactly the same thing, and kept on wearing it this time even though it had worn off before I actually had contact with another human being. So there, brain.
...oh my god, I am a fucking lunatic.
Random fannish peeve of the day: people who put "copyright [author's name]" in their story headers. Just... why. Why. Why do you do this. Do you think it will stop someone plagiarising, if they were going to? Especially why do you do this for a bad drabble. Also, people who put full, longer-than-fic headers on drabbles annoy me too, but that's just me, I suspect.
Also! also, people who write "I wrote this in, like, an hour, and didn't get it betaed" in their headers. I am, myself, often guilty of writing up ideas quickly and posting them as-is. But as for writing it in the headers - that is just self-sabotage. I mean, do you want people to read your fic? Never explain, never apologise! Write your glorious fic in your glorious way and if it is bad it will be gloriously bad!
...see above re: fucking lunatic, plz.
Yeah. This afternoon I am writing a silly Star Trek story with lots of shouting, and this morning I applied for a job. Still here.
taraljc's point that it makes more sense if you call it a "content advisory"; the point is not to warn people off your story, but to let them read it, or not, under advisement.) The subject has never come up with my stories merely because I don't write noncon, I don't write dubcon, I don't really write sex beyond a sort of fade-to-black thing, and I only rarely write anything with graphic violence. If I did, I'd warn for all of those. Beyond that - I warn for anything I think I ought to. Which isn't, as I've said, scientific, but it'll do. I don't pretend to know much about what triggers and what doesn't, and I suspect it's different for every person, but if something's in the realm of the obvious, I'll warn for it. Beyond that... well, I don't know. I'm always open to suggestions, both generally and in relation to any specific story of mine.
Some people have wondered about cases where the warning would "ruin" the story - where it would give away the twist twenty pages in advance, or something. To these people, I suggest: be creative, you're writers. White on white text, for example, doesn't work - people may be using any number of screen readers, and also ?style=mine - but one solution I think is very neat is the simple "click here for warnings". If I wrote stories that needed warnings often, I'd create an LJ/DW post just for them, adding a fresh cut-tag to each batch and linking directly to the relevant one from my story headers. You can even add target="blank" into your links if you're feeling punchy.
...that's it, yeah.
In other news, everything is unmitigatedly vile. Am revising for resits, and the doing of same continuously reminds me I am fail enough to be doing resits, and going through the motions of applying for jobs I am never going to get. I am trying very hard to make lists of things that make me happy, and giving myself stern talking-tos (talkings-to?) along the lines of really, life is not that bad, just fucking put up or shut up, and taking a lot of baths, but it's not working and I seem to have talked myself into my very own blue period, with less proto-cubism and more fail.
For example. A visiting family friend sent me a present. That's nice, isn't it? It's a lipstick. It's red. That's nice too. Red is my favourite colour. Hurrah. And the lipstick is not orange-red or pinkish-red but perfect even ruby red, and it's a nice creamy soft one that oozes decadence out of the very environmentally-unfriendly packaging, and I spent a very teenage twenty minutes meticulously trying it out with liner and brush, and a very very teenage further two blowing kisses at the mirror.
Only, then, my brain started to explain, in its best insidious whine, how I am not in any way the sort of person who can wear red lipstick, that it is for extroverts and beautiful people, and that geek-girls like me shouldn't have ideas above their station. Boo, hiss.
So, in an attempt at revenge, I decided that today, despite the fact I had nothing planned except getting out of bed and another bath, I spent another twenty-two minutes with the same lipstick doing exactly the same thing, and kept on wearing it this time even though it had worn off before I actually had contact with another human being. So there, brain.
...oh my god, I am a fucking lunatic.
Random fannish peeve of the day: people who put "copyright [author's name]" in their story headers. Just... why. Why. Why do you do this. Do you think it will stop someone plagiarising, if they were going to? Especially why do you do this for a bad drabble. Also, people who put full, longer-than-fic headers on drabbles annoy me too, but that's just me, I suspect.
Also! also, people who write "I wrote this in, like, an hour, and didn't get it betaed" in their headers. I am, myself, often guilty of writing up ideas quickly and posting them as-is. But as for writing it in the headers - that is just self-sabotage. I mean, do you want people to read your fic? Never explain, never apologise! Write your glorious fic in your glorious way and if it is bad it will be gloriously bad!
...see above re: fucking lunatic, plz.
Yeah. This afternoon I am writing a silly Star Trek story with lots of shouting, and this morning I applied for a job. Still here.
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no subject
on 2009-06-26 06:45 pm (UTC)(Speaking of, have you happened to go past Merchants' recently? It looks... different, shall we say.)
no subject
on 2009-06-26 07:39 pm (UTC)(I have seen the fancy glass thing yes, not sure of the point of it but then again if I go past the place it is at a dead run really XD)