Pairing labels

[bluflamingo]

So, I'm sitting here, all ready to draw up a header for the fic I've just finished, and I've got a problem. My header for fic in my journal includes, amongst other things, the pairing, or the main character(s) in a gen piece, because I personally like to know who I'm going to be reading about in a story and so assume other people like to as well.

This is the problem, however: there's a very brief, non-explicit sex scene in this story. It's maybe a couple of hundred words out of a fic that's over 5 1/2 thousand, and while it's an important part of the story, the story isn't about the pairing, the relationship, or sex/romance in any way. Even the sex isn't about those things, it's about comfort between two friends. The story is about John's relationship with his father who's just died.

So, the answer is probably It's your journal, it's your story, label it however you damn well please (or a more polite version thereof) but I'm curious to know how you'd label this in terms of pairings. I want to label it John-centric gen, which it is, but I think if I saw that, I'd be kind of surprised to see a sex scene later on. That said, if I saw a story labelled with a pairing, I'd expect the other half of the pairing to be around more.

Help me - my brain is no longer up to these kinds of complex and vital decisions!

Comments

[thelana.livejournal.com]

I could label mine characterfic or something, but that wouldn't get across the idea that it's mostly all about John with one sex scene towards the end

If the sex scene is not essential enough you could throw it in the "warning section". Like

Genre: Character fic
Warnings: Some sexual content (or some m/m sexual content)

I don't think that something that doesn't fall neatly into gen/slash/het has to be labeled. Why not just leave the gen/slash/het label off to express precisely that it doesn't fall neatly into any of those categories? Especially since you have summaries on top of all of that. It doesn't really consitute gen, but you feel it doesn't constitute slash either, so just make it neither.

It's not like adventurefic can't be slash, het or gen. There can be gen adventurefic and slash adventurefic and het adventurefic. But if it has some slash that makes not not!gen to me, so labeling it gen would be mislabeling it.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

If the sex scene is not essential enough you could throw it in the "warning section".

Hmm, that's not a bad idea, I guess. Or at least into author's notes or the summary - I'm not sure I believe in warning for sexual content unless it's something like non-con or BDSM.

I don't think that something that doesn't fall neatly into gen/slash/het has to be labeled

True. I like things to be neatly ordered though - it's a thing :)

But if it has some slash that makes not not!gen to me, so labeling it gen would be mislabeling it.

And that's exactly my problem in the first place - it's not!gen because of the slashy bit, but it's also notreally!slash, because most of it is unrelated - there's nothing really about it until it happens. I mean, I know it can't be gen, but I still maintain that it's not slash by the definition I use, either.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

I'd warn for sexual content if it's in a story where one wouldn't expect it (and that would certainly be the case in a gen story or a characterfic story). But I personally would also quickly warn for violence because I'm a pussy in that regard :)

I admit I see warnings as something that I would use for anything unexpected. I mean, I wouldn't warn for "SciFi" in an SGA story, but I would warn for "SciFi" or "SciFi elements" if I was let's say writing Gilmore Girls or CSI.

I mean, I know it can't be gen, but I still maintain that it's not slash by the definition I use, either.

Not labelling it either way! Go for it! It's not that scary :)

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Not labelling it either way! Go for it! It's not that scary :)

Ironically, looking back over most of my posts, I don't seem to have ever bothered with the label, unless it was gen and I wanted to make the distinction, since my fic is usually slashy.

I admit I see warnings as something that I would use for anything unexpected.

That makes sense, actually. I suppose it's the same kind of thing as my tendency to note that something's an AU of whatever type in my summary, just under a different heading.