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Why Are We Even Debating This?
Jun. 24th, 2009 03:13 pmMy two cents on the fic warning debate that's been wanking all over my flist:
I feel the same way about the writers arguing against warnings as I did when PAD flipped out over people spoiling the big reveal in his X-books: if your story is so dependent on its twist or its shocker ending or its big character reveal that it is ruined if people find it out ahead of time, you are doing your job as a writer WRONG. You have written a story that is entirely hinged on a gimmick and can't be enjoyed on its own. Not that there is anything wrong with surprise endings or shock scenes, because there isn't, but the story should be able to support itself as a piece of good writing without it.
And when the debate is between people wanting to maintain their ~artistic integrity~ (artistic integrity! For writing porn on the internet!) and people who want to avoid being triggered for their own rape or abuse...yeah, that's not really a contest. I'm going to side with the people who want not to be forced to relive something horrible that happened to them. No one is asking writers not to write rape or dub-con or incest or death fic or torture. All they are asking is that they give a warning, so that people for whom reading those things would be incredibly painful can avoid them like the plague. Don't like, don't read only works if you give people enough info to make an informed choice about what they are or aren't reading.
TL;DR: the writers who are defending their artistic integrity over not hurting their readers can shove it. Any stories I write that require a warning will have one, and you think I should warn for something that I didn't, just tell me and I'll add it, no bitching, no questions asked. I'm not talking into a void here; I'm writing so you guys can read it, and if you can't enjoy what I write, I'm not doing my job.
I feel the same way about the writers arguing against warnings as I did when PAD flipped out over people spoiling the big reveal in his X-books: if your story is so dependent on its twist or its shocker ending or its big character reveal that it is ruined if people find it out ahead of time, you are doing your job as a writer WRONG. You have written a story that is entirely hinged on a gimmick and can't be enjoyed on its own. Not that there is anything wrong with surprise endings or shock scenes, because there isn't, but the story should be able to support itself as a piece of good writing without it.
And when the debate is between people wanting to maintain their ~artistic integrity~ (artistic integrity! For writing porn on the internet!) and people who want to avoid being triggered for their own rape or abuse...yeah, that's not really a contest. I'm going to side with the people who want not to be forced to relive something horrible that happened to them. No one is asking writers not to write rape or dub-con or incest or death fic or torture. All they are asking is that they give a warning, so that people for whom reading those things would be incredibly painful can avoid them like the plague. Don't like, don't read only works if you give people enough info to make an informed choice about what they are or aren't reading.
TL;DR: the writers who are defending their artistic integrity over not hurting their readers can shove it. Any stories I write that require a warning will have one, and you think I should warn for something that I didn't, just tell me and I'll add it, no bitching, no questions asked. I'm not talking into a void here; I'm writing so you guys can read it, and if you can't enjoy what I write, I'm not doing my job.