Danger, Will Robinson: The Ins and Outs of Warnings

By Gabrielle

Warnings - they're essential. But using them properly can be a tricky business. That's why I've decided to write what I hope you will find to be a useful guide towards using them properly and thus making your readers (and the moderators of awards sites) a happier and more contented group of people.

First things first: Let's talk about when to warn. If there is any nonconsensual or semiconsensual sex in your story (even if it is not explicit), WARN. There are folks out there who find any discussion of those topics undesirable or even traumatic, and upsetting people is never the goal. Same goes for things like mpreg; for sexual kinks like bondage, BDSM, piercing, and golden showers; for spoilers (if you are writing in a fandom whose canon is still evolving); for character death and strong violence; for child abuse; for emotional abuse and humiliation; for slash in a fic where the main pairing is not a slash pairing; for any sexual content involving an underage character. There are those who choose not to read about those things, and they need to be warned in advance. Good conduct will encourage people to like you and want to read your other work that might not contain objectionable material, so that's an incentive to be a good fandom citizen (besides the obvious fact that you're a good person and want to do the right thing for its own sake).

Now let's talk about something trickier - when not to warn. If your main pairing is listed as Jack/Ianto, there's no need to warn that your fic contains slash, and if your main pairing is listed as Jack/Gwen, there's not need to warn that your fic contains het. If your fic is rated NC-17, you probably do not actually need an explicit sex warning (as long as your fic does not contain extreme kink, see above), and if you've labeled it a PWP, you definitely don't need an explicit sex warning (again, extreme kink does rate warnings, but regular sex…not so much). Also, if your fic just contains some light sexual content, please don't warn - rating it appropriately is more then enough. There are greater annoyances in life than ridiculous or unneccessary warnings, but said warnings are still irritating and why irritate potential readers? Let's remember what the word warning connotes and warn for things that merit caution only.

I hope this little piece has given you some things to think about and that it will help you to better "market" your story to fandom. Thank you for reading. Happy writing!
All characters, images and, settings are the property of the BBC. No copyright infringement intended.