[Mod-Post] Question: What about bad endings?

[smirkingcat.livejournal.com]

As I try to create this playground for all of us, I am in need of your input.

You have time to vote here until the 10. January 2016

[Poll #2024771]

Thanks for the Input- I shall announce the results in late January!

Comments

[smallbrownfrog.livejournal.com]

A highlight to see spoilers kind of solution might be a middle ground that would satisfy everyone. That way nobody would be forced to see spoilers that they don't want to see, and anybody who wanted to see the warnings could see them.

Of course that would still leave the question of what is a good/bad ending. Is everything that isn't a purely 100% happy ending automatically a bad/sad ending? Would that include mixed or open endings? Bittersweet endings? Endings in which one character was sad and another character happy? If it breaks the ship is it automatically a bad/sad ending?

I've written a number of things that I have no idea what I'd say if I was asked if the ending was happy or sad. Is "both" an acceptable answer? "Neither"?

[tryslora]

Echoing frog on the spoiler code solution; the code is available on various comms. Folks could highlight if they want to know, and authors could also potentially say "choose not to say" in plain text rather than use the spoiler code if they don't want to spoil it, which puts it in the reader's hands to decide whether to take the chance.

I'd keep the options for types of ending as fairly large brackets. Happy Ending is obvious, as is Sad Ending. To cover the other options where it's not one or the other, just go with Ambiguous Ending perhaps because that's something where it's really up to the reader to take away what they please from it (and it kind of covers, IMO, the scenarios frog proposed which don't really fit Happy or Sad).

One thing you might want is to have folks tag with the big tags on AO3, because in an angst fic, those are the ones which might be things folks still trip on, like Major Character Death (which often implies one of the characters in the primary ship).

[digthewriter]

I think there needs to be some sort of thing - either a tag: "unhappy ending." "vague ending." and stuff like that or in the comment/content/spoiler in the header. for sure. *nods*

[torino10154]

Mostly echoing smallbrownfrog and tryslora: something along the lines of highlight to read, even the option to not say but have that explicitly stated. I am not a fan of surprises myself and like to know what I am getting into ahead of time but putting that in a highlight to read for those who do want it seems better than a tag.

I'd actually be a bit wary about labeling/tagging the fics because even obvious things like "happy" endings often have a bit of wiggle room for interpretation. One example I can think of is a fic where the two characters are either mentally ill or just plain old batshit. They think they are happy but no sane person would really think so. So if you're going to have wide open ambiguous or up for interpretation type endings, it seems like you're actually taking away from the reader. I've read ambiguous endings that I found hopeful/positive while others might have seen it a bit more critically and vice versa.