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➡️ Content warnings on fiction are a courtesy.
➡️ Not every medium of fiction and storytelling has or is expected to have content warnings or extensive tagging.
➡️ Print novels do not traditionally warn for content in any way.
➡️ Until AO3 came along, fanfiction did not traditionally warn for content in any significant way.
➡️ An author is only obligated to warn for content to the degree mandated by the format they publish their fiction on.
➡️ Content warnings beyond the minimum are a courtesy, not an obligation.
➡️ ‘Creator chose not to warn’ is a valid tag that authors are allowed to use on AO3. It means there could be anything in there and you have accepted the risk. ‘May contain peanuts!’
➡️ Writers are allowed to use ‘Creator chose not to warn’ for any reason, including to maintain surprise and avoid spoilers.
➡️ ‘Creator chose not to warn’ is not the same thing as ‘no archive warnings apply’.
➡️ It is your responsibility to protect yourself and close a book, or hit the back button if you find something in fiction that you’re reading that upsets you.
➡️ You are responsible for protecting yourself from fiction that causes you discomfort.
I do, however, want to point out that I am 10x more likely to skip a fic that has Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings. You get burned enough times, everyone pays. And I promise, if you don’t use a warning (and I mean the big ones–major character death, rape, etc.) when you should have, I will never read another fic you write. Never.
So remember that when you click that button. Just like me reading your fic is a choice I am responsible for, whether or not you properly warn is your choice, but that choice doesn’t happen in a vacuum and it has consequences.
100% you always, ALWAYS have the right to skip a fic that is tagged “chose not to warn.”
The tag is there to warn you that the author only wants readers in their audience who are consenting to be surprised.
Writers who tag “chose not to warn” are generally not looking to maximize the audience size of their story but rather to present their story in the most authentic way that feels right to them.
Most writers who tag “chose not to warn” will be glad that you skipped their story if you are not someone who wants to be surprised, and happy for you that you chose to take care of yourself.
Eh, I wouldn’t say that the “Choose Not To Warn” tag on AO3 is always a “consenting to be surprised” thing. I use “Choose Not To Warn” every time because I’m afraid of missing something that might fuck someone’s day up, even though I don’t really write a lot of hardcore things.
“Choose Not To Warn” just means that there may or may not be things in there you don’t want. They may or may not be a surprise. The author may or may not know. You still have the right to skip it and there’s no grudge or harm in that, but I feel like there’s a lot of meaning that gets applied to this content warning that fundamentally is not there. It’s not
My friend, please consider that “there may or may not be a surprise” is in fact, a surprise.
Knowing that there is definitely a surprise is less of a surprise than not knowing if there is or isn’t.
I have heard from a lot of authors who use “chose not to warn” on perfectly harmless fics because they don’t want their readers to “get comfortable” so to speak and assume there WON’T be a surprise.
If it’s tonally consistent with the summary & description, it’s not really a surprise… ? If I’m foreshadowing things and maintaining atmosphere and mood, then my expectation is that my audience will pick up on what they should expect from my story on an emotional level. Because if they can’t, I have failed my objective.
Also, if I’m writing a fanfic and I’m not doing a whole lot of plotting, I don’t know whether there will be character death or not. I don’t know what the shape of the story is going to look like until I get to it. But it will be consistent in tone & atmosphere to the core concept. I am not writing to surprise my readers.
Hearing a lot of authors say that they don’t want their readers to get comfortable doesn’t mean that all authors use the Choose Not To Warn label are using it for that reason, especially since you will never have access to every single author’s motives for using or not using any given tool in the author’s toolbox.
You’re not writing to surprise your readers, that’s true and fine and fair, and I’m not challenging you on that.
But when you select “chose not to warn” you are selecting for an audience who is consenting to be surprised.
People who do not consent to the possible surprise that one of the major triggers AO3 warns for could be in your fic will not (and SHOULD not) click on a fic that is marked “chose not to warn.”
Clicking a fic marked “chose not to warn” means that you, as the audience person clicking on the fic, have in fact consented to be surprised, whether or not that was the author’s intention.
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