30 Day Fanfic Writing Meme Days 15 and 16

[samsom]

15 – Warnings – What do you feel it most important to warn for, and what's the strangest thing you've warned for in a fic?

The last thing I’d ever want is for someone to get traumatized, or even mildly discomfited, while reading something I wrote, so think it’s important to warn when you’ve got something under the cut that you even think might be upsetting. I think the most important to warn for is rape. Whether it’s a rape fantasy playing out or a straight up rape for the sake of being ‘gritty’. Anytime it’s dubious consent because that’s not everyone’s kink and a hell of a lot more people than I ever previously imagined has had some kind of sexual trauma in their past. Fic should be fun. It should not send you into the corner of your bathroom, rocking back and forth and scrubbing your skin raw.

Now , if writing non-con or dub-con is something you are sort of known for writing, then regular readers ought to have an idea when they click your cut of what they’ll probably be seeing. But every fic writer hopes for new readers and I think it’s only fair to let them know what you’re into writing. I’m not sure if everyone does, this but whenever I come across something interesting, the first thing I do is click User Info. It gives me an idea of the writers’ likes and kinks, just from the comms they belong to. The icons they have also can be very informative. You can put a blurb in there of what readers can expect to see if they click on one of your fics.

The oddest thing I’ve ever warned for is blood fic. I’ve written three…I think…fics where smut ensued during – and because of – Cordelia’s period. Angel’s a vampire, Cordelia menstruates once a month. How this never came up in the show I will never know, but I wanted to acknowledge it because not to would be like to ignore the gigantic pink elephant in the room. Or red. Hehe.

Anyway, yeah, as warnings go, it wasn’t the most odd, but the most odd for me. I’m afraid for all my smut, I’ve never gotten truly funkykinky.







16 – Summaries – Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?

I hate them so much, omg. How do I say in a couple of succinct sentences what my fic is about without essentially doing a recap of my fic –which is commonly on the short side anyway? – I have no clue. They are second to the last thing I ever do when I’m writing and posting. How I come up with them is I essentially pull it out of my ass and tack it on before thinking too much about it before I click “post”.