labels

[pensnest]

I love metafandom, but sometimes my meanderings along its byways leave me bewildered. All this fuss about labelling a story... So many people demanding 'warnings' for such things as background pairings and mpreg. Such delicate souls. Why, I have achieved squick by means of teddybear abuse and unexpected Kevin, not to mention lava lamps, but my friends do not, I think, desert me. However, it does seem to be a topic that arouses unexpected passions in the mildest fannish breast, so I wonder.

My personal habit is to post fics in my own LJ pretty much randomly. If I've written a story, you'll usually get a sentence indicating that it was written for such-and-such a reason. If you are wise in the ways of LiveJournal, you may notice that an occasional story is tagged 'wtf', and you will approach with caution (or glee). I don't in general announce the pairing (anyway, sometimes the pairing is a surprise, and the surprise is part of the story) or the rating. I write with the expectation that if you've friended me, you will have figured out that I perpetrate popslash, including Lampfic, and will treat any LJ-cut entries with appropriate caution.

I don't think the lack of a label on popslash has ever deterred me from at leat *opening* the story. Would you, personally, be *more* inclined to read if I went the whole labelling route, and headed up stories with appropriate categorisation? Do you do that yourself? Do you care, either way?

Incidentally, I run a double index on my website, with pairings and degree-of-sex announcements on the Alternative Index, for those who are looking for something specific and don't care to be startled by, say, Kevin. I'm contemplating revising this to present the stories by pairing, given the startling *quantity* of the things. How do you like stories to be presented, if you're reading on a website? Any advice would be welcome.

Comments

[turloughishere.livejournal.com]

I'm like the majority of commenters - the only thing I really want is pairing and a summary that indicates what kind of story it is. I do however also appreciate word count/indication of story length and a warning for death fic.

I'm a bit nonplussed about wanting warnings for incest - if pairing is given isn't that a bit unnecessary?

I think a lot of the furor about labeling could be avoided if people learned to put proper summaries on their stories. Okey, I know a lot of people say the suck at writing summaries, but why not ask your betas for help in that case? Also, all summaries don't have to look the same - I think different kinds of stories demands different kinds of summaries. Sometimes something synopsis-like is most appropriate, sometimes it's better to talk about the mood of the story.

[pensnest]

Word count is coming up often enough for me to think that'd be a good thing to add - indeed, I quite appreciate an indication of story length, myself, as if it is a Mighty Epic with thirty-four 10,000 word chapters I'll... probably pass. (With a few rare and sacred exceptions.)

Yes. Summaries are good. They are, or ought to be, far better indicators of whether or not I want to read this story than anything else, really. I was thinking of asking people to look over my summaries - but given the *quantity* of them, it's a bit much to ask! I shall apply Thought to them instead.