Warnings and Sim stories
Feb. 27th, 2010 12:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
profbutters There was an interesting thread last night in Sim_Secret, leading to some interesting discussion on various communities. Basically, the discussion was about story warnings and whether or not those ought to include portrayals of same-sex relationships. I wanted to share a few thoughts and see what other people thought, too.
I think for a lot of us, this isn't an issue we're used to. Many of us began our SIms stories on the Exchange, where there were fairly stringent standards you had to adhere to or else. I didn't always agree with them. I think subbing in "airline swearing" for the real thing is silly, and a naked male rear end faaaar in the distance shouldn't be enough to get a story axed. Still, people writing for the Exchange had a pretty clear set of guidelines about what they could and couldn't do.
Enter EAxis and its enormous PHAIL with uploading to the Exchange. This meant a lot of authors migrated to LJ, where there was already a thriving Sims community and a much wider array of possibilities, and also broader guesses about what should be rated at what level.
Most of the Sims communities I frequent --![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sim_spiration , sim_scenes , and now sims_crossing -- use the old exchange level of ratings. I'm not used to doing "warnings" in Sims stories. Back in the day when I wrote fanfic, there were ratings, usually based on ERSB on fanfiction.net, and on movie ratings on Fiction Alley (an HP fanfic community). This is what the headers look like on Fiction Alley:
There are a few exceptions, which I'm not going to get into here: they are a whole different kettle of fish. But yeah, even in my Squeaky Clean little world, there are going to be some gay and bi people and they are going to lead happy, fulfilled lives as much as anybody else.
Warning: Equal Opportunity Happy Endings.
I think for a lot of us, this isn't an issue we're used to. Many of us began our SIms stories on the Exchange, where there were fairly stringent standards you had to adhere to or else. I didn't always agree with them. I think subbing in "airline swearing" for the real thing is silly, and a naked male rear end faaaar in the distance shouldn't be enough to get a story axed. Still, people writing for the Exchange had a pretty clear set of guidelines about what they could and couldn't do.
Enter EAxis and its enormous PHAIL with uploading to the Exchange. This meant a lot of authors migrated to LJ, where there was already a thriving Sims community and a much wider array of possibilities, and also broader guesses about what should be rated at what level.
Most of the Sims communities I frequent --
sim_spiration , sim_scenes , and now sims_crossing -- use the old exchange level of ratings. I'm not used to doing "warnings" in Sims stories. Back in the day when I wrote fanfic, there were ratings, usually based on ERSB on fanfiction.net, and on movie ratings on Fiction Alley (an HP fanfic community). This is what the headers look like on Fiction Alley:Title:
Author Name:
Rating:
Spoilers: (A big deal in HP fanfic, especially once upon a time!)
Genre:
Era: (also unique to fanfic)
Main Character(s):
Ship(s):
Summary:
Author's Notes:
ETA: Note the "ships" line. That is because at least once upon a time, the really big snarling, incoherent rage in the Harry Potter fandom used not to be "het" vs. "slash." It used to be Harry/Hermione vs. Hermione/ Ron.
Maybe it's the terminology. I think it's strange to "warn" for fluff (which basically means "you know that heavy breathing? well, forget it.") Usually I used to add something to explain the rating, mostly that Cartman has a potty mouth. There are very practical reasons for warning about Not Safe For Work.
But I am not going to warn for same-gender relationships. Nuh-uh.
Here's where I am on this personally: I write one of the most belted-down Legacies around. There's hardly any cheating, just about no murder, very little violence (you don't even see too much in the way of fights!) and just about zero sex, pre-, extra-, or just plain marital. I don't use anti-censor blur, I don't use ACR, I don't use adult pose boxes. There's nothing wrong with them, I just don't.
Now, sometimes, this feels like a straitjacket, to be honest. But I created a certain 'verse and I want it to be consistent within itself, mostly.
But it bothers me to think that the DG/Brutus storyline, which I think is one of the sweetest I've ever created, ending in DG singing the equivalent of "Dear Prudence" under Brutus' window, would have to be stamped "WARNING WARNING WARNING: THERE ARE TWO MALES IN LOVE."
Also, I get a fair number of readers who expect Squeaky Clean to be even cleaner than it is. They don't understand that with a last name like "Goodytwoshoes," I am partly being tongue in cheek. I had one set of comments from a girl who said "I don't like Emerald because she dated someone else in high school." Got that? ONE date, with ONE other boy, turned my heiress into a sleaze. Even CECIL wouldn't have said that, though he did express shock at the time. I get tired of the pressure from readers who say "oh, you CAN'T marry in Spencer: he's married to Dagmar Bertino! You CAN'T marry in Brody: he's married to Heather the Zombie!" After a while, I start to feel overwhelmed with all the special orders and just want to scream "write your own."
ETA: Note the "ships" line. That is because at least once upon a time, the really big snarling, incoherent rage in the Harry Potter fandom used not to be "het" vs. "slash." It used to be Harry/Hermione vs. Hermione/ Ron.
Maybe it's the terminology. I think it's strange to "warn" for fluff (which basically means "you know that heavy breathing? well, forget it.") Usually I used to add something to explain the rating, mostly that Cartman has a potty mouth. There are very practical reasons for warning about Not Safe For Work.
But I am not going to warn for same-gender relationships. Nuh-uh.
Here's where I am on this personally: I write one of the most belted-down Legacies around. There's hardly any cheating, just about no murder, very little violence (you don't even see too much in the way of fights!) and just about zero sex, pre-, extra-, or just plain marital. I don't use anti-censor blur, I don't use ACR, I don't use adult pose boxes. There's nothing wrong with them, I just don't.
Now, sometimes, this feels like a straitjacket, to be honest. But I created a certain 'verse and I want it to be consistent within itself, mostly.
But it bothers me to think that the DG/Brutus storyline, which I think is one of the sweetest I've ever created, ending in DG singing the equivalent of "Dear Prudence" under Brutus' window, would have to be stamped "WARNING WARNING WARNING: THERE ARE TWO MALES IN LOVE."
Also, I get a fair number of readers who expect Squeaky Clean to be even cleaner than it is. They don't understand that with a last name like "Goodytwoshoes," I am partly being tongue in cheek. I had one set of comments from a girl who said "I don't like Emerald because she dated someone else in high school." Got that? ONE date, with ONE other boy, turned my heiress into a sleaze. Even CECIL wouldn't have said that, though he did express shock at the time. I get tired of the pressure from readers who say "oh, you CAN'T marry in Spencer: he's married to Dagmar Bertino! You CAN'T marry in Brody: he's married to Heather the Zombie!" After a while, I start to feel overwhelmed with all the special orders and just want to scream "write your own."
There are a few exceptions, which I'm not going to get into here: they are a whole different kettle of fish. But yeah, even in my Squeaky Clean little world, there are going to be some gay and bi people and they are going to lead happy, fulfilled lives as much as anybody else.
Warning: Equal Opportunity Happy Endings.
