If you are posting a story whose main thrust (pun not intended) is incest, please label the story so. Even if the main character is using mind control to have sex with his family, if most posts are about incestuous relationships, make it an incest story. Just one example.
I've never written a story like that as I'm not particularly fond of mind-control or incest, but it can be difficult to draw the line when categorizing stories. I think if Mind-control is how all these relationships are coming about then it still fits better as the main tag because it's the focus and lets people who like that kind of thing find it more easily. The author can always add incest as a secondary tag.
What about a story where there is an option to have an incestuous relationship but you don't have to? Or an option where that's just one route among many? I agree if the main thrust of your story is incest it should go under incest, but what if it's an incest story about characters from a specific fandom? Would you label it incest or fanfiction? I guess what I'm saying is that the story category often can't be used for that warning. That said, it is courteous to either directly tag something as incest if a chapter choice will seeing things that way or at least make it very apparent when things are going that way. Then again, there is almost "chekhov's sister" in these. If you see the main protag has a sister, you can probably anticipate an incest scene coming. As for me, I've used the "almost-but-not-quite-incest" tag in two so far.
"Just one" that I disagree with. Even though Person U (AKA you) is/are the author, you have 0 clue what direction(s) the story may go (especially via other writers' work) in the future. Label it with the genre you are writing it in, and if it moves to others, then it does. Future readers (whether or not they are potential future collaborators) can stop reading at any time (or any number of times), &/or change their minds about collaboration with the creator never even knowing they'd considered it.
Heh... Love that whole thing of "Chekhov's Sister" with regards to porn. I'd add a corollary from hard earned experience. Never offhandedly mention a character in a porn story you don't want to see doing things that characters do in a porn story. I bring this up because I mentioned my main character's mom ran off at one point, and it's a big flaming bullseye that's just screaming "WRITE THIS... PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR LIKES"...
We should probably ask ourselves, what's the main purpose of tags? Is it to categorize stories as best as we can so that any interested reader can find those which suit better her/his taste? Is it to protect you from reading the depiction of sexual acts you don't find wholesome or arousing?
I'm talking about stories where in the introduction, the author gives the age, breast size, etc of the mother and sisters, and it's clear where the story is going.
In regards to your comment BrainDamage, I personally think the story category should be to put things in their proper place for people searching for types of stories, then the tags can function ideally both as a further refinement as well as kind of a quick and dirty "parse this for things you don't like." I myself often look at them to see if certain specific elements I don't want to read will show up and I appreciate the people who take the time to tag their stories that way. It's a great courtesy for writers to show towards their readers, I think. Of course, it's also a place that's often used to stick jokes and things, I'm guilty of that myself sometimes... I wouldn't expect somebody to throw their gay Full Metal Alchemist incest story into Gay or Incest category instead of Fan-Fiction, though I guess they could if they want. Then if it's gay or incestuous, there are all kinds of ways to flag that: put it in tags, make it part of the title, make it part of the subtitle, mention it in the story's description, throw a note at the front of the story, put it in parentheses next to the branch of the story that is that way, whatever works. Wicker, if your concern is stories where you just click into the first chapter and they start giving you details about the mom's boobs, then speaking from a practical standpoint, you definitely know what you're in for. Can't you just jump back out? You haven't done anything more than just click the first page of the story yet. It seems like if you're worried about running into incest when you don't want it, the more pressing issue would be investing time in a story and then running into the incest when you're a few chapters or more in. I'd just advise writers to try to be as courteous as they can with those flags. And readers, if you're having trouble running into stuff you don't want to read, I'd recommend perusing tags.
Yes, I can just jump out of it, but I think it's a tease. I see "mind control," and think "Awesome!" then I click on it, and I see "John's mom was 38 with huge DD breasts, and his sister was a younger version of his mom," and I'm like, "ugh! don't tease me!" ;-)
OK. I did. Now what?! 1] If/when someone gives that much information, I'm likely to exit, as it is either VERY long (with that done every time) or there is a ton of description and not as much story. 2] If it's clear where the story is going, it likely went to the other site, or I (& perhaps others) will exit/avoid due to it already having gone there. (For me, I am a frequent visitor, &/but utilize the Story Maps to return & skip to new things for me to read and continue from.)
Whore of the Dragon has warnings in the chapter title for fetishes that are coming up. That seems like it would work well for most stories.
here's what I say: if the main thrust of the story is a guy who wants to fuck his family, it's incest. It doesn't matter if he used mind control. Don't label an incest story mind control if your story is about a guy fucking his mom and sisters!
Agreed. HOLD UP! WAIT A MINUTE! First off, excuse me for not knowing what I'm quoting there (& unspoken thanks to anyone who can tell me). Secondly, excuse me while I kiss the sky (Hendrix), and also while I either build-on or contradict myself: If (as Wicker wrote) "the story is a guy who wants to fuck his family", do not label it mind-control. Do not label it incest. Do not even post it on either site. If (on the other hand), it's a guy fucking his family, it's "the journey, not the destination" that tells you the labeling. (Was thinking about this while traveling the site recently, and it appeared many threads perhaps had 0 tags, while some had many. I found myself selecting stories via their categories, only to find myself going through some I felt fit others better.)
Why? Of course you're under no obligation to explain yourself, but if you don't, nobody is going to do what you say.
Likely won't or can't, if not both. (Ironic I type this now, as I wasted the last few minutes on the Lit. sister-site perusing a story that was labeled "Celebrity" but fit yet didn't have the "Incest" category.)
These are still very specific cases. Wicker, if said story with mind control would, at some point, recives the contribution of another writer who would build up a whole new path where the MC, after some thugs shot his family, fucks his way out of a complex international plot to kill the president? And then another writer comes and writes a classical branch where the MC fucks celebrities? What would it be the correct categorization (mind you, I didn't say tag) for the story? Lately I've started writing a story, I have no idea I'll ever feel like publishing it, but I think It's a good example for the matter we are discussing. It's about the outbreak of a virus who turns people into sex crazed zombies, nothing new here. It's should be sci-fi? Probably, but wait... I plan to start three branches, each one telling of a different temporal plane. How it all started, set in a biological lab. The outbreak, set in a today scenario, with quarantine sotuations and people going crazy at random. Aftermath, set in a post-apocalictic wastland, Walking Dead style, if you'll indulge me. Each of this path a specific plot-kink correlation. The first a something of a cuck/cheating story, which many avoid like the plague. The second is hinged over incest and taboo relationships. The third about slavery, non-con, impregnation and ... well that's still quite a work in progress, I'm not really sure here, it's just to give you an idea. How would you categorize this story? Scifi? By kinks? If so, what kink takes priority? The most generally regarded as icky?
Well, you could also see it the other way around... If you don't want to read about incest because you find it disgusting... that's fine. For others, stories about rape are disgusting while consensual incest stories aren't. So they might say "Don't label it incest if it's about mind control!"
Makes me wonder why I've found some threads/stories with literally more tags than I cared to count, but (as I mentioned elsewhere on these boards) wrong categorization &/or only 1 &/or not what I'd agree is the proper primary categorization. Likely some would say simply to give a story a place to go.. But I would rhetorically ask how that's helping stories in categories untouched for months?
Foul! No Rhetoric! Those are the rules that I just made up! Besides... Do you have An Avatar? No Avatar, No Argument! Those are ALSO the Rules that I just made up. At a certain point, it's all arbitrary. Why do corporations smear their logo all over everything they can? So people will pay attention. If tagging doesn't get you what you want, don't use it! Clearly people believe that tagging works, so they use it. I don't, so I don't. Thanks to the wonderful world of confirmation bias, I see it not working, and they see it working! It's another tool. Demanding that one adhere to ONE way of thought is of course very Monotheistic, and if we're going to be doing that, I don't think anybody called a synod. If anybody DID call a Synod, I've got this golden apple of attention I'll Give to whoever makes the absolute BEST argument. And my traditional random music...
