Polyfanamourous

Polyfanamourous, coined by shakespherical here; being hopelessly in love with multiple fandoms (and pairings)
Polyfanamourous multishipper - someone who loves multiple pairings in multiple fandoms

30 Day Fanfic Writing Meme – Day 15

15 – Warnings – What do you feel it most important to warn for, and what's the strangest thing you've warned for in a fic?

I warn for character death – which is an odd one in many fandoms, where death is often a temporary inconvenience – and for non-con/dub-con, although I write those only rarely. I sometimes put a disclaimer about the violence involved being on par with the relevant show, because I tend to write in-line with that. I will warn for torture.

I sometimes think about replacing 'warnings' with 'content' because some things aren't necessarily warnings but people might like to know if they're featured in a fic. For instance I mention if there's vomiting mentioned because I know that's a squick for some people. Prevailing wisdom inists that Warnings as a category is important for the big three [death, non-con, graphic violence] and that other potentially troublesome content should be mentioned separately.

I also mention if I'm tackling themes like depression or suicide, and I specifically warned when I wrote a piece that it contained ' unsympathetic response to the depression by a major character, including scenes of verbal domestic abuse'. This might seem a bit over the top, but I don't know who might come across the fic, and what their triggers are. Furthermore, forewarned is forearmed. One day you might not be up to reading about a character with depression or a fic containing animal abuse or unwanted pregnancy; another day you might find the subjects bearable or even cathartic. So it's about building trust with your potential readers.

I also sometimes include spoilers with the warnings, saying 'spoilers for episode three' or 'first season setting' as a heads up.

Oddest thing? Probably for Sounds of the Sixties, which featured the following advisory:
Content and Warnings: Sex [f/m, m/m, threesome, masturbation], Drugs [marijuana] and rock'n'roll [OK, this one's not a warning unless you really hate Sixties music!]
The music was an important part of the fic, but I was really just joking when I 'warned' for it, riffing off the aphorism :D - and hence the 'content' part.

( rest of the days )