Thoughts on a "warning" in a story foreword?

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

RETROFAN IN MAY 2019: Figures that Incest/Taboo readers who want to read stories about people who share lots of DNA having sex would not be bothered about scenes involving women using the toilet and having their periods, so starts off a comedy series with a story that contains scenes where the bitchy, bossy drama queen sister/daughter makes a huge scene about the toilet seat being left up and inadequate toilet paper when she has a bathroom emergency; and where the bad-tempered wife/mother sits on the toilet having a bad case of period shits and changes her sanitary napkin with no prior warning of this content.

...that's like thinking that people who are into feet wouldn't have a problem with detailed descriptions of the removal process for ingrown toenails. What the hell?

But on topic:

I do add warnings if needed. I kinda feel like it's warranted to manage expectations for readers since, if I write an actual dead-tree book, it'll have a little summary on the back, so readers know what to expect and can make an informed decision on whether or not they'll want to read it. On Lit, I get... all of sixty characters to "describe" the story. That's honestly a joke. That's less than a quarter of a tweet.

So, no, I wouldn't call it proof of being insecure. I feel it's partially even necessary.

 

[OffNSFW]

The only time I ever do this is if the story might evoke trauma in some readers. For example, the heroine of my novel M.U.F.F. is a fat girl who struggles with negative self-talk and body image.

I'm doing my best to craft emotionally honest characters and situations. Sometimes, that means dealing with themes that some readers would prefer to avoid for their own health and safety, so I give them a brief heads-up at the top.

 

[Duleigh]

I don't usually do a foreword, but I think that this story would benefit from one.

This is a story that fits into my series and it is more of a "moving the narrative along" kind of thing that oftentimes happens three quarters of the way through a series. Therefore, it contains much less sex and much more dialogue than my usual stories. If you're just looking for sex, please read ANY of my other stories.

If you've gotten this far in my series (thank you!) and please continue reading with my assurance that this story is essential to the series as a whole.

No, don't waste your electrons.
If your story is good and your followers like it, you don't need this. I've found that when you need to move the narrative forward, sex gets in the way and your readers will call you out on that, especially in multiple chapter stories.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

If you're worried your story is boring, have another go at making it not boring. If you think it's worth sharing, share it without apology.

It's not a question of being worried that a tale is boring. If I thought one of mine is boring, I won't hit Submit in the first place. Nor is it an apology.

I view such short notes more as being polite to my readers, in the sense that a restaurant menu provides warning of, say, especially spicy dishes. People who enjoy mild chili but are without warning chewing on ghost peppers aren't going to enjoy it, any more than a chili verde aficianado will be pleased if the dish is much blander than her normal.

Tags? Yup, there are tags - on the last page of the story. Now, maybe readers should all be required to pledge that they will faithfully read and contemplate the tags before they start a story, but that isn't the case. It's no good blaming a reader for being put off; the reality, I suspect, is that many readers rarely use tags.

This is an erotica site. People coming here, by and large, expect some hot, specific action and many are inevitably disappointed if it's either late arriving or not there at all. The fact however that there isn't pounding P-in-V action doesn't auotmatically mean there's anything to apologize for (I personally think that a good writer can make a tale sizzling without a blow-by-blow naration) but there is a tranche of readers who will feel they've wasted their time.

There are as well people who are sincerely triggered by some things or simply find them distasteful. Yes (to use an example from above), menstruation is normal, healthy and not shameful, but there are a lot of readers who I would suspect don't particularly wish to read a detailed account of feminine hygiene. I cannot imagine why one would need to include such in a Lit story, but if it were necessary for success, then a brief warning might be in order.

The key thing is that also plays well for writers. That mild chili fan I mentioned, the one who wound up choking and pouring a gallon of ice water over his head? What are his TripAdvisor reviews going to be like and what are the chances he will return?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Tags? Yup, there are tags - on the last page of the story.

I don't know about you but when I open a story the tags are listed on the top right of the first page. You just have to click the tag icon, but they're there. Not sure why they're not listed under the link in the first place but hey. (shrug)

 

[intim8]

sends the message that even the author isn't very confident with this one

This.

I'm not saying don't include a note, I see a lot of pretty successful series that have them, but don't make it apologetic.

Even before that, step back and think about the story. Is it really doing something vital for the plot? Is it engaging for the reader even without the sex? Is it necessary to put all those things in this one chapter, or can they be spread out through other chapters instead of dumped all at once?

If you're confident about those answers, then do it, but rework the note. Instead of apologizing, tell the reader why reading this one will be worth it.

I did an apology note on one entry in my series, and I could have used this advice. It's my lowest rated story, my objectively worst story, and my answers to the above questions would not have been encouraging if I'd asked them then.

 

[KeithD]

Warnings are unprofessional and usually defensively, pointing to where a reader might/should take exception to what is being written. I sometimes am reluctant to use keywords that are important but that take the surprise out of the story if the reader looks at them first.

 

[Paul_Chance]

Still, increasingly, I feel like the more you feel the need to explain or excuse your writing, the less confident you appear about the quality of your work to the people reading it.

Well said. This is generally where I sit on the question as well.

 

[boytoyjoy]

I generally read and appreciate the authors' notes on stories when they are present. In this case it's enough to just put in a short factual note. I've started looking at your stories and they are very hot!

 

[EmilyMiller]

Thoughts on a "warning" in a story foreword?​

Based on experience, I’m thinking about including a generic warning at the beginning of all my stories:

ADVISORY: May include content that could be offensive to those who get easily triggered by such content.

Emily

 

[FreyaGersemi]

This thread has suddenly gotten a bunch of responses and discussion, so I thought I would weigh back in.

I did write a short foreword (for this story A Day at the Beach) and it seems that it was the right decision. After six weeks, it has right about my average for all the stats. Maybe a little more views and a little lower rating, but it didn't seem to hurt anything. And I do realize that the category and the actual title and the description all have an effect on readership. But, like I said, the foreword didn't seem to hurt.

Thank you all for weighing in and offering your guidance!

 

[Djmac1031]

I meant to get to this earlier, and I'm sure you've gotten plenty of advice already.

But I wanted to point out that, early on in my Jenna series, I went through the same dilemma. Chapter 4 had some talk about sexual situations, but no actual sex.

And I did the same thing you're contemplating. I put a short forward explaining that and asking readers to hopefully understand this conversation was needed between the two main characters to move forward.

My readers were fine with it. But if I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't. Because I'm more confident now in both my writing and my readers.

 

[jehoram]

I don't know about you but when I open a story the tags are listed on the top right of the first page. You just have to click the tag icon, but they're there. Not sure why they're not listed under the link in the first place but hey. (shrug)

You're right. they should be.

For me, it's only common courtesy to let the readers know what they're getting into, especially if the story themes stray drastically from the category headings.

 

[SimonDoom]

My opinion is that have a preface doesn't do anything to change readers' expectations. If you put a warning saying the story has mm sex or that there is water sports, readers will still complain that there's mm sex or that there's water sports.

That being said, I'd rewrite the preface so it is more of a sharing of your future plans - "I have ideas for X more stories in this series, but, to line those stories up correctly, I need to have this story to have a lot more dialog than I've had in my prior stories. Hopefully, you'll enjoy this deeper dive into Freya and Alex's relationship."

I agree this is the best way to do it. I generally agree regarding the effectiveness of disclaimers: I'm not convinced they do much. And in this case, in a series, the problem is that you could lose readers because of the disclaimer, and then they won't come back to the following chapter when there's sex again. So providing further explanation and enticement for why the chapter is the way it is and how there will be payoff later is a good idea.