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

[ponders-life.livejournal.com]

You make an excellent point; I understand why a writer wouldn't want to post a warning about a character death. As a reader, I still want to avoid getting my heart broken, so I guess I'll have to avoid dark fics entirely and just stick to h/c fics when I want a good cry.

[felisblanco.livejournal.com]

In general I probably would but there are these certain kind of stories which are meant to shock people or surprise them. And having a warning would ruin it. But yes, in general I would like a warning myself, I'm just saying there are incidents where it wouldn't fit.

I recently read a book which was a rather ordinary story about adultery. Until in the middle of the book it is suddenly revealed that the person telling the story is a woman not a man. And all the hot sex scenes you just read were lesbian. Now I guess in Bush's America that book would not have been sold without a warning. But in doing so it would have ruined the book completely.

Not the same but again the element of surprise.