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

[abbylee]

1. knowing in advance detracts from the overall fic experience
2. knowing in advance means I won't have a nervous breakdown when someone dies
3. Other, please explain in comments

I like knowing that there are dark parts to a fic, which may or may not include a character death (ie - 3). This means that I won't spend the entire story waiting for the death to happen (ie - 1), but also that I won't be annoyed when a seemingly shmoopy fic turns very sad (ie - 2).

As far as warnings, I think for me it depends on where I'm reading it. On LJs, I expect less detail given, as it is assumed that most readers know the author's style. On archives where I'm wading through a lot of other unknown variables, I'd prefer to be given more detail about the story that I'm choosing. In general, I'm happiest when readers can choose whether or not to see extended headers.