New F&F fic

[gwyn]

I've posted the new Fast and the Furious story, On Beds of Sorrow at my web site. Yes, this is the death story, but... see rant below, because to me, it's a lot more than just that, and I hate labels and this is why. It's a bit over 12,000 words. The title comes from a William Blake poem (And men are bound to sullen contemplation in the night: Restless they turn on beds of sorrow;) that I paraphrased in the story. The blurb for the story is on my main page, but even then it doesn't say much more than "features character death."

Why am I such a meanie? Well, because. I just am. (ETA: I just wanted to add that the reason I am ranting about labels isn't to passively-aggressively pick on anyone I know personally. It's just all about something that comes up every time I write something Sad with a capital S, and I like Sad, so I get it all the time. It's not nothin' personal to my peeps, 'cause they're my peeps, yo.) I hate labels, warnings, keywords, disclaimers, all of that craptastic nonsense that really got going with fandom on the web and quickly spread out of control. I'll spare you my rant against the uselessness of disclaimers and the stupidity of the other things, but the reason I hate labels like "deathfic" and like that is that it's so monumentally reductive and insulting to have a carefully crafted piece of fiction dismissed as one thing because it features that one theme or topic in it. Yes, I know, most people are not as talented as we might wish and do not have multiple layers in a story, or many people find labels helpful so they can avoid things they don't like, such as male pregnancy -- and yes, I know that with the thousands of people "writing" fanfic, labels might help people choose. I get that, I do. But they also dismiss and degrade the work, I believe, especially when there's much more to a story than just death or angst or non-con or whatever. A label just reduces fiction to its lowest common denominator, and I hate that. This story has so much more than just character death -- it's got a great Brian/Dom reunion full of lovey-dovey stuff, smut (69 smut!), a road trip (my favorite thing in the world), reVENge, Warpath!Dom, and postcards. Postcards! And lizards! (Not as many lizards as I'd hoped for, but it ended up not fitting as much, but still -- lizards!) But a label doesn't encompass those things, and that is why I hate them. So there. (I also find it weird that the people who often scream the loudest for reductive labels on fic are often the people who whine and moan if you "spoil" things even by something as simple as saying you liked it. I do not get why it's okay to spoil the story, but they'll scream bloody murder if you say anything about the show.) Death is the only thing I put a warning on, and that's only on the main page with the story blurbs -- and the only reason I do it is because my friends whine, and sometimes I even like my friends, so I defer to their phobias. Otherwise, you're on your own. ;-)

Comments

[spasticat.livejournal.com]

It's funny how you posted this about "labels, warnings, keywords, disclaimers, all of that craptastic nonsense" because the other night I was pondering this subject. I came into fandom via Jossverse and watched as a story that at first began with a title, author, and pairing suddenly acquired disclaimers and warnings and other nonsense that far outweighed the content of the story. Gimme the story! ;)

I'm all about the surprise. But I understand people wanting to know this stuff. Yet I also understand that it can take away from the impact of the story. Or as you said, the reader doesn't even get to the story because they've dismissed it based on the label.

In popslash I see less with the disclaimers. Fic announcements are pretty basic and usually seem to only give a plot synopsis, pairing, and some form of rating like R or PG. It seems to be a fandom thing. The only time I usually see the flag of disclaimer raised is when it's mpreg.

Anyway, I'm wholeheartedly agreeing with you.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I just... ratings make me insane, but the rest of the stuff just adds to the whole infantalization of fandom quality that annoys me. When they turn into a half page of crap, then I lose it. The worst thing is that disclaimers are the most useless things ever -- they will not protect you from C&Ds, they will not help you in court, they do nothing at all and yet all the lemmings fall in line and put them up. For paragraphs and paragraphs. But the warnings... it's harder because so many people who do want the protection are people I like and respect, and it would be easy to just dimiss them as pussies or whatever, but they're smart people that I like. So I don't know what to do other than just warn for the worst thing and then continue on my merry way, annoying everyone and sundry.

One thing you might try

[maygra.livejournal.com]

Especially since you tend to post to your website, is a separate warning page. You link to it in the title...just a link to let people know there is a warning page if they want it -- if they are cool without it they'll skip it. If they feel the need, they'll click the link. I've thought about going back and retroactively fitting my HL fic like that...but the thing is so damned old..I don't think anyone who'd still read it, doesn't know. {g}

[spasticat.livejournal.com]

ratings make me insane, but the rest of the stuff just adds to the whole infantalization of fandom quality that annoys me

Infatnalization...very good point. I find a lot of the "pre" stuff to a fic to be too explanatory. There's no need for alll of that. Title, pairing, fandom, and a link to the fic, please. ;)

I'll admit it, though, I have a disclaimer on my main page that pretty much says all characters are owned by large corporate entities and that all is fiction. It's totally out of this naive belief that it means anything. Like you said, it doesn't. Totally done out of lemmingness. On my individual fic pages it just says, "the above is a work of fiction" which is all that really needs to be said. Though, who would think any of the fic is real?

In terms of protection, and just based on me, if there are no warnings as to specific content then I'm more likely to read the stories and enjoy them. Otherwise I might think twice and not get to experience something new and different. Teasers are fine, y'know, like the ones for a book. Those I don't mind. Even a little backstory is a-okay. But there was one list I was on that had at least ten items you had to put before your fic if you wanted to post it. Yikes!