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(I'd like to preface this by stressing that it's completely unrelated to any fics I may or may not be working on at this present moment)
Ages ago I'm sure someone commented on a fic I'd written saying that I should've put 'Character Death' as a warning because, funnily enough it involved the death of a character in it. The whole review was a bit harsh because he clearly hated it and just stopped by to tell me so (Fair enough, I'm not sure how I feel about it now as well but I do remember his drive by was on Christmas Eve- asshat).
I don't really care about the negative bordering on offensiveness of it (he asked me what was the 'lesbian viewpoint on men'? Wtf? I speak for a 'lesbian collective' all of a sudden?) but for some reason the 'Character Death' part came into my head just this second. Personally, I think putting a 'warning' for Character death is no more, no less than a spoiler. And pretty pointless as well. Where's the dramatic tension and emotional shock if you knew from the bloody beginning?
Surely there's some difference of impact between a chaptered fic and a one shot when it comes to this. If I knew from the beginning of a chaptered fic that one of the main characters was going to die I'd feel a little disappointed that it couldn't have just unfolded within the scope of the story. It weakens the payoff when it finally happens because you're like "Oh, it's all right, I knew that was going to happen." If it was a one shot then who the Hell cares? It's more often than not the climatic result of the story or the main source of tension/emotion/drama throughout.
So why put 'Character Death' warnings? I understand and support squick type warnings because there are obviously readers who wish to avoid beastiality/anal/incest/BDSM all together in life, no problems. I do think that it's only fair.
But to warn the reader of events or plot points? I put it to you that this is, indeed, bullshit.
I can't remember reading a fic which warned me of character death (I surely have, but cannot remember). Mostly because I'm thinking 'What did you tell me that for?' and scrolling down. I have read plenty non-warned fics in which beloved characters died and I'm pleased to report that I am still standing.
The day authors start putting 'warning: Character Death' on the cover of their novels I'm gonna be really worried. I wonder if JKR would've sold less books if she explicitly told people in interviews before : "Look, I'm offing Ron, Hagrid, Flitwick, and Lucius. Just to warn you. Just in case. So if any of them are your favourite characters, you might just not want to bother with it. If you don't, I understand. Because at least I warned you first."
When I was but a sad Buffy obsessed teenager I wrote loads of very crap B/A fics instead of drinking and whoring on the streets like many of my classmates. I'm sure I killed each one of them off loads of times. Y'know, just for fun. And with no warning. No one ever bitch slapped me then for not telling them the ending up front (probably because they were awful, people just grimaced and passed by).
Is the death of a fictional character - which in the case of fanfiction wasn't even yours in the first place - such an offensive act that it must be censored via warning to those sensitive souls or those who couldn't bear the thought of their fictional hero/heroine dying? Fanfiction gives us licence (albeit slightly illegally) to do whatever the fuck we please. We can make Harry a dancing fairy with a coke problem, a rubber fetish and suffer an untimely death if you so wish. Although whether anyone would like to read it is another matter - but the point is *that* is what you want to write. Surely readers have the same right to look at this fic and think 'Harry the coked up, rubber clad fairy! Boy, that's right up my street' and thus read on to the finish where they discover Harry's death as part of an unfolding narrative, not because the author's too scared of offending those so easily offended. (*cough* By the non-canon death of a fictional character *cough* pussies *cough*)
M'Laud, the prosecution rests.
Ages ago I'm sure someone commented on a fic I'd written saying that I should've put 'Character Death' as a warning because, funnily enough it involved the death of a character in it. The whole review was a bit harsh because he clearly hated it and just stopped by to tell me so (Fair enough, I'm not sure how I feel about it now as well but I do remember his drive by was on Christmas Eve- asshat).
I don't really care about the negative bordering on offensiveness of it (he asked me what was the 'lesbian viewpoint on men'? Wtf? I speak for a 'lesbian collective' all of a sudden?) but for some reason the 'Character Death' part came into my head just this second. Personally, I think putting a 'warning' for Character death is no more, no less than a spoiler. And pretty pointless as well. Where's the dramatic tension and emotional shock if you knew from the bloody beginning?
Surely there's some difference of impact between a chaptered fic and a one shot when it comes to this. If I knew from the beginning of a chaptered fic that one of the main characters was going to die I'd feel a little disappointed that it couldn't have just unfolded within the scope of the story. It weakens the payoff when it finally happens because you're like "Oh, it's all right, I knew that was going to happen." If it was a one shot then who the Hell cares? It's more often than not the climatic result of the story or the main source of tension/emotion/drama throughout.
So why put 'Character Death' warnings? I understand and support squick type warnings because there are obviously readers who wish to avoid beastiality/anal/incest/BDSM all together in life, no problems. I do think that it's only fair.
But to warn the reader of events or plot points? I put it to you that this is, indeed, bullshit.
I can't remember reading a fic which warned me of character death (I surely have, but cannot remember). Mostly because I'm thinking 'What did you tell me that for?' and scrolling down. I have read plenty non-warned fics in which beloved characters died and I'm pleased to report that I am still standing.
The day authors start putting 'warning: Character Death' on the cover of their novels I'm gonna be really worried. I wonder if JKR would've sold less books if she explicitly told people in interviews before : "Look, I'm offing Ron, Hagrid, Flitwick, and Lucius. Just to warn you. Just in case. So if any of them are your favourite characters, you might just not want to bother with it. If you don't, I understand. Because at least I warned you first."
When I was but a sad Buffy obsessed teenager I wrote loads of very crap B/A fics instead of drinking and whoring on the streets like many of my classmates. I'm sure I killed each one of them off loads of times. Y'know, just for fun. And with no warning. No one ever bitch slapped me then for not telling them the ending up front (probably because they were awful, people just grimaced and passed by).
Is the death of a fictional character - which in the case of fanfiction wasn't even yours in the first place - such an offensive act that it must be censored via warning to those sensitive souls or those who couldn't bear the thought of their fictional hero/heroine dying? Fanfiction gives us licence (albeit slightly illegally) to do whatever the fuck we please. We can make Harry a dancing fairy with a coke problem, a rubber fetish and suffer an untimely death if you so wish. Although whether anyone would like to read it is another matter - but the point is *that* is what you want to write. Surely readers have the same right to look at this fic and think 'Harry the coked up, rubber clad fairy! Boy, that's right up my street' and thus read on to the finish where they discover Harry's death as part of an unfolding narrative, not because the author's too scared of offending those so easily offended. (*cough* By the non-canon death of a fictional character *cough* pussies *cough*)
M'Laud, the prosecution rests.
