poll! KFZ!

[aimeelicious]

So I've been giving a lot of thought to character death in fic, and the fic header warnings that often come with them, but sometimes don't. In the interest of fostering a dialogue on the topic, I've created a poll to gather some general information about reader preferences. This post/poll is UNLOCKED, in the hope that some of you will be willing to PIMP it in your journals and hopefully encourage others to fill it out, as I'd like as much input as possible. ETA: I do plan on doing a results post based on this poll, so please know that your responses will not just disappear into the ether.

Feel free to answer the poll anonymously if you wish, and take over my journal for discussion, just don't get nasty! This has been declared a kerfuffle-free zone (KFZ).

[Poll #450697]

ETA: Sorry for forgetting Smallville as a fandom...it's one of my faves and I left it off! Dang polls, can't edit them.

Comments

[starkittyn.livejournal.com]

Think about movies like The Sixth Sense, The Piano or The Crying Game

I get what you're saying about the element of surprise.

However, when the trailers came out for the movies above, I made a choice NOT to see any of them - based on the trailer and probably from reviews as well. I didn't need spoilers to know that I didn't want to go through the emotional roller coaster those movies were probably going to put me on.

Granted, I may have missed out on some great work.

On the plus side, I didn't spend that afternoon and maybe days afterwards feeling sad and upset.

The problem with fic is - how else is a reader going to know whether she/he wants to read or not if there's no header? I get aggravated when people don't put the pairing in there sometimes. Without some kind of header and warnings, the reader has no basis to decide whether to click that cut or not.

[felisblanco.livejournal.com]

Been trying different versions of answering that but I'm not sure how. I guess it all comes down to perspectives and personal preference.

I guess with my fics people know what to expect. I don't post outside LJ and if I write 'Dark' they know what to expect. So headers and disclaimers and even pairings have never been anything I worry that much about. I usually just say. 'This is pretty dark, folks.' or 'A bit of schmoop for you' not even saying the pairing because they know I just write Spangel (ok, there was that Spander and a little Spiles but I digress). If it's RPS or Human AU I'll tell them that too because a few of them would rather skip it and a lot of them would like to squeee. *g*

Having said that I don't see myself writing a 15-25 chapter story and killing off Spike in the last one. Mostly because I love the boys to much to do that to them.

Think I'm just rambling here.

Anyway, yes they might make me feel sad and upset for a few days but for me it is like a book or a movie. I don't want spoilers and if the whole point of the story is the big revelation at the end having a warning would totally ruin it. I'd rather take my chances. Or I might have missed out on reading or watching fics/books/movies that have had a great impact on my life.

Makes me wonder since I can see you are in the Harry Potter fandom, would you have wanted a warning on The Order of the Phoenix?

[starkittyn.livejournal.com]

I guess with my fics people know what to expect. I don't post outside LJ and if I write 'Dark' they know what to expect. So headers and disclaimers and even pairings have never been anything I worry that much about. I usually just say. 'This is pretty dark, folks.' or 'A bit of schmoop for you' not even saying the pairing because they know I just write Spangel (ok, there was that Spander and a little Spiles but I digress). If it's RPS or Human AU I'll tell them that too because a few of them would rather skip it and a lot of them would like to squeee. *g*

Well, I think that sounds wonderful but I think you're also assuming that you're going to have a sense of intimacy with your readers. I don't think that's going to always be the case. What if your work is recc'd on someone else's journal? In HP we have two major news outlets and several smaller rec lists that draw people to a person's work. I've been included on rec lists both on lj and on the web that I knew nothing about until a reader said that they were there from xyz list. I'm sure you have too. So, a potential reader is not going to know you or what your pairing and/or particular squick level may be.

I've contended that we as readers tend to find writers who write at our comfort level and when readers write *g* they also write at their comfort level as regards explicitness, phrasing, squick factors, headers and whatever else we might look for in reading/writing.

I think that another thing to consider though is that *everyone* may not have the same level of comfort as regards ... let's say disturbing themes. I know we can argue that if a person knows they tend to be sensitive to certain kinds of things in fic, then they ought to just not read it - say something labeled dark. And I'd agree with you. But we both know that people are going to click either out of curiousity or to challenge themselves or who knows why. I know I've seen people flamed for something in their fic that was warned for in their header which always begs the question, wtf were they doing reading something with a clear warning. We'll never know. But, if the warning is there, the reader has no one but themselves to blame. And speaking just for me, if I was reading something and it ended or contained an unexpected character death, I'm not going to go and flame the author.

What I may do is remember that the next time I see the person's name. I can think of a few people who write consistently disturbing fic, very well written too. More power to them. But I've learned not to click.

Another point is that not everyone responds the same way to something either profound or disturbing or intense, or whatever word we might use for content that puts the reader's emotions through the wringer. It may seem oversensitive, but I know even as an adult, I've been severely affected by something I've read or heard or watched, both positively and negatively. I don't think it's fair to say as some do, "it's only a story" as though that were an excuse for being inconsiderate of others.

In regards to your question of PoA, as a matter of fact, I knew about Sirius before I read it. I was slow to get into the HP fandom and the book had been out for a few months before I read it. I took into account the fact that the book is intended for children so that the death could not be that haunting before deciding to read it. So, I guess you could say, I preferred it with spoilers than without. I was happy to know about it ahead of time so I could be prepared. Plus, I sort of think Sirius is a selfish immature twit in the book.

I agree with you that I may be missing out on profound things that could impact me in a positive way, change my life as you said. But, I'm not participating in fandom or in entertainment as a whole in order to be changed. I'm participating in it for entertainment, relaxation, to spend time not thinking about my real life which is intense.

Thank you for your comments. I appreciate the chance to think about why I feel as I do.

[abbylee]

Makes me wonder since I can see you are in the Harry Potter fandom, would you have wanted a warning on The Order of the Phoenix?

Hope you don't mind someone else jumping in. Although I guess you're out of luck if you did :p

I was actually very annoyed at how much publicity the death got. I like knowing about the tone before I pick what I read/watch for the day, so I appreciate being told that this particular book might be considered darker than the others. And I certainly have experience with parents who don't want their child reading a book where *gasp* a character dies, so I understand that they were covering their bums. But I really did find that instead of enjoying the twists and turns of the book, I was instead just waiting for them to kill someone off (since I didn't know who) so that I could get on with the story.