What's another word for Warnings?

[browngirl]

So! More contemplation of how I tell people what's in my stories.

I read a rant recently about the practice of listing 'slash' and 'het' among the Warnings, which rant I agreed with, then realized with a shock I was a subject of. I list 'slash' and 'het' because I've been flamed before for not explicitly listing them and I tend to treat the "Warnings" line as a Major Ingredients list, not least because when I'm looking for stories to read I treat it that way. "Hmm, this story lists slash, het, nonmonogamy, and threesomes in its warnings! I'm going to love it!"

However, listing 'slash' and 'het' in warnings may cast a pejorative pall on those genres, or at least seem as if that's what I mean to do. I don't want anyone to think that I think slash is the entertaining description of something fundamentally evil, or that het means "icky unavoidable girl content in here, but we'll return to the slash soon" (not least because I write a lot of stories that have both slash and het in them). Out here, I have only my words to define me, so I should use them as carefully as possible.

Maybe I should rename my "Warnings" line, but what one word would clearly convey "content you should be aware of whether you seek it out or seek to avoid it"?

Comments

[sophinisba]

Eh, but then other people will get offended by that. Today I saw someone complaining that a line reading "rated PG-13 for slash" in a story heading was homophobic, but this was because the reader assumed that the author wouldn't also label a story "PG-13 for het". I'm frustrated with fandom today.

[capra-maritimus.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those stubborn people who refuses to warn for het OR slash per se. IMO, that's what the rating and the pairing are supposed to do. I'd be more likely to say 'PG-13 for non-explicit sexual situations and profanity' or somesuch and leave the het/slash thing stated by the pairing - something that evolved when I started writing threesomes/moresomes with characters of differing sexes.

But yeah, it's difficult (if not impossible) to please everyone. I'm just trying to avoid harming anyone, and the rest can accept that I may not please them. :D

*huuugs*

[sophinisba]

*hugs* I think we're all trying to do our best! It's a very tricky thing.

*extra hugs for rubynye*

[msilverstar]

You may be talking about my experience, where I knew clearly from a long trend that the author was using "PG" when there was no pairing or a het pairing, and "PG-13 for slash" when there was any kind of m/m romantic relationship even vaguely implied. It started to grate after a dozen or so, so I quietly sent her a message and she replied thoughtfully and has not done it any more.