"Character Death" warnings and why I don't like them

[emmagrant01]

maeglinyedi recently posted one of her pet peeves about what people warn for in fic, and it got me thinking about what mine are.

And hands down, no questions, the biggest one is people warning for character death.  There are several reasons I don't like this warning, listed in order of importance.

1. It is a SPOILER for the story!  If you tell me someone is going to die, then you've already given away the ending.  It descreases my enjoyment of the story significantly, because I spend the whole time reading wondering who it's going to be.  (This was true for me when I read OOTP too.)  In other cases, it ruins the story to the extent that there's no point in reading it.

To highlight the spoiler issue, let me use a film as an analogy: at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, we see an old man visiting a cemetary, which fades into a shot of Tom Hanks about to storm the beaches of Normandy.  So we're set up to believe that the old man we saw before was Tom Hanks, and we spend the movie wondering if he's going to find Private Ryan or not.  So when the Hanks character dies, it's a surprise, and it's one of the most powerful moments in the film.  It makes the ending, where Ryan is kneeling at a grave and praying that this sacrifice was worth it, work.  If you went into that film knowing that the Hanks character was going to die, it would be a different, less emotionally powerful experience.  Or worse, if you just knew that someone was going to die, it would be distracting; you wouldn't get the same enjoyment out of the film.

Authors put death in fics, films, and books because it's part of life.  Moreover, it generally sneaks up on people: they're happily going along, and then someone dies and their world is shaken.  There is often not a warning.  I don't want a warning.  I want to be just as surprised as the characters were.

2. I think that authors warn for such things because they have been or are afraid of being flamed if they don't.  Now think for a moment about what that means -- a small group of readers are demanding that a writer tell them in advance what they might not potentially like about her fic.  Does that make any sense at all?  First of all, why would anyone want to tell people they might not like their fic, in advance?  But second, doesn't that sound a bit too much like conservative groups demanding that networks and film studios more carefully censor material that may be considered offensive?

Readers need to take some personal responsibility.  If you read a well-written fic that contained some content that disturbed you, that's your problem, not the author's!  It's not the author's job to hold your hand and reassure you that the fic will turn out exactly the way you want it to.  If you want a different ending, write your own fic.

3.  There is no other form of media that is required to warn for character death in advance.  If I go to Book People and pick up a few novels, I'm not going to see a warning on the jacket for character death.  In fact, there would probably be a public uproar if there were such warnings, from authors and readers alike.  Film trailers don't contain warnings for character death, either, for exactly the same reason.  Why should they spoil the story for their viewers? 

I understand that some people don't like to read stories with unhappy endings, but it isn't my responsibility as a writer to list off every possible thing you might not like about my story.  I write the story I want to write, and I post it.  People  will read it or not, for a variety of reasons, and I have no control over that.  But in particular, I can't predict how a reader will react to my story.

So what do you think? 

ETA: Oh, and if you haven't seen Saving Private Ryan in the six years since it came out, I have indeed spoiled it for you. Just for future reference, how many years have to pass before it's okay to talk about how a movie ended?

PS: Oh, and Darth Vader is Luke's father! Damn, I did it again. Silly me. :-P

Comments

[phoenix-starr.livejournal.com]

Ummm... from what I understood from the posts you linked me to was that you didn't have to password protect anything NC-17, but it did say you had to rate it.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

This comment (http://www.livejournal.com/users/belleweather/213318.html?thread=952134#t952134) in particular notes that ratings are subjective and that there is no standard legal definition for obscene or "adult" material that would apply to fan fiction.

Bottom line: Legally, we aren't required to put a rating on our fanfic. We could certainly be harrassed in court by someone richer and more powerful that us, but hey -- that's the American way: sue! sue! But there is no legal precedent for it. People put ratings on fanfic because it's a convention. Back in the pre-interbet 'zine days, there were no ratings. Smut and gen fic were bound together with no differentiation, in the same 'zine. It changed when the internet made self-publication a possibility and fan fic was much more easily accessible, but it didn't change for legal reasons. It was simply the new convention.

[phoenix-starr.livejournal.com]

Ok, but it still seems like a good idea to me. The ounce of prevention for the pound of cure theory.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I have no problems with ratings! Rating fic is a convention, but one that gives a lot of information about a fic. Sometimes I want smut, and the NC-17 label gives me a hint that I might find what I'm looking for. There's an extent to which I think ratings should be either NC-17 or not-NC-17, because that seems to be the only distinction that counts for most readers. ;-)

My point was simply that we do it because it's a convention and a nicety, not because we are legally required to do so. We are in far much more danger for copyright violation tham we are for breaking obscenity laws! If we should worry about being sued for anything, it would be that -- it isn't clear whether any fan fiction falls under "fair use" or not, legally.

[phoenix-starr.livejournal.com]

True, but I was under the impression that JKR gave her blessing to HP fan fics, just not the NC-17 ones (Irony here).

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I have heard stories of people who got C&D letters, but I can't remember if there were any from JKR, Scholastic, or WB. In other fandoms, it's a bigger issue. Star Wars writers have been harrassed by Lucasfilm in the past, and the poor Vampire Chronicles folks have to deal with Anne Rice's lawyers all the time. She apparently doesn't want any fan fiction to be written based on her material, at all. We are lucky that JKR is more open-minded!

[phoenix-starr.livejournal.com]

Rather smart marketing on her part too. It keep the fans from being rabid for the next book and increases the size of the fan base, and keeps the items/story to the fore-front of their minds, thus more inclined to purchase merchandise pertaining to the story. Also, the constant discussion of it in the fan base builds up the anticipation and hype for it. Too bad the others don't get that.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! I think George Lucas finally saw the light, fortunately.

[phoenix-starr.livejournal.com]

Ah well, some catch on quick and others don't. ;-)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Oh, and have you seen this (http://www.livejournal.com/users/heidi8/445523.html)? Apparently the MPAA claims to have some sort of copyright on the NC-17 label. Oh, let's just throw a wrnech into the entire ratings system, why don't we?

[phoenix-starr.livejournal.com]

Of all the silliness...