(And, really, I don't think you need to be more explicit than 'deals with potentially triggery issues' in your warning - something generic and heads-up-ish would be fine, surely, without spoiling one's storytelling.)

THIS.

Granted, I'm coming at this from the perspective of a spoiler-ho who doesn't read much fic, but my general feeling is - if your work can't stand up to the kind of vague minor spoilers we're talking about? It probably needs rewriting anyway.

wrod. I don't know, Connie, how much do they discuss it in the story? If they do, I might, but if you're too crazy about that, every story about fictional abuse survivor Tim Bayliss should have a warning on it(Many of them ought to anyway, but that's more a 95% of everything is crap thing.)

God, 95% of everything is crap, isn't it? I do find that the majority of the stories I click on in SPN have me hitting the back button within a paragraph.

sighs

It's not that I don't grok that there are lots of attractive people on the show, because, yes, I am shallow - but, ffs, I'd so much rather read them in-character chatting over coffee than out of character shagging.

Is there any talk of adopting a Not!Warning warning? Something along the lines of: For creative purposes I do not give warnings on my stories. Please ask a friend who is aware of your concerns to read it first.

This makes sense. Also, it might be possible to have a generic may or may not contain rape, murder, incest, orange. Drop me a note if you want to know more.

Yes, Fay, this. It's enough to give a woman eternal bleeding.

The generic warning sounds like a good compromise. God knows I've heeded various warnings in the past--and wished for some that weren't there--and respect people's concerns, but as a writer I can see myself wondering "Will this bother someone?" everytime I go somewhere gritty. Sometimes gritty is just there for the shock factor but sometimes gritty is necessary, and sadly that means it's a story that should be skipped by certain people. Sucks to be human, sometimes.

BOO!!

runs away....

Moooooommmmm, tommyrot oranged meeeeeee.

but as a writer I can see myself wondering "Will this bother someone?" everytime I go somewhere gritty.

See, I think in the act of writing, you can't let yourself think this way. You can't allow the external world to intrude until you're done writing the story you have to tell, warts, grittiness and all. However, I'll freely admit I'm coming at this knowing that I'm writing something I expect will be bound and have a back cover blurb that will to some degree give a clue as to what the book is about. For example, with Accent, the back cover blurb mentions that the lead character finds herself in a dangerous situation without giving away that she's raped. Which is a major plot point and would completely change the entire story if it didn't unfold in the manner it does.

I guess to me, a "warning" for fanfic should serve the same sort of purpose as a back cover blurb, combined with some sort of rating that would put the fic on the proper "shelves" so to speak, since you're not browsing in a bookstore. Wasn't it fanfic.net that used to separate the fics out with movie style ratings?

It's interesting how the fic warning argument parallels the issues that happened around the Michigan Women's Music Festival where a few scent-sensitive people complained and they wound up banning fragrances altogether.

As a matter of principle, it winds up being a discussion of a minority within a larger group asking the entire group to accommodate them. How burdensome is it to make the accommodation? How small is the minority? Does one person complaining mean the group has to change? Then how many people? etc.

As a practical matter, though, it seems like there are always a few simple accommodations which address most of the issues without being unduly burdensome. Like generic warnings: "This story contains sexual violence, references to breakfast cereal and a preoccupation with the iliac crest."