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."

And don't forget the color orange, Hec.

And FWIW, every large organization I've belonged that's predominantly made up of women, has asked for people not to wear perfumes or heavily scented deodorants at conferences.

Which, of course, was blown to hell the year we got trapped in the same hotel with the Mary Kay ladies.

then soon I'll have to warn for the color orange! (That's an actual argument.)

I believe that is the primary reason that A Clockwork Orange is such a controversial movie.

Gud for the win.

From now on we should refer to it as A Clockwork Whitefonted.

And you still wind up with authors acting like complete asshats (Alice Hoffman, I'm looking at you) because they take exception that a reviewer didn't like their book and "spoiled the plot."

Oh my God, I just found out what you were talking about. That's ridiculous. And now she's deleted her Twitter.

The review did seem to spend half the time describing the plot, though. But I think that's typical of professional book reviews, isn't it? I tend to skip most of the first paragraphs where they tell me what happens and look for the parts that tell me how the book is.