Is it weird to put non-consent in a story that isn’t labeled non-con?

I’m thinking of writing this story involving college teens. I’m gonna put it under the teen category but I want to have at least one path for non-con for each of the girls I’m writing about. The story isn’t focused around non consent and it’s a change of tone in the story. If you pick non consent the story goes much darker. Should I remove the non con section or change the category?

 

Some would probably tell you that since non-con is something they care about more up front than teen, you should use the non-con category. Personally, I feel if you don't want non-con to be the focus, it would be just as alright to put it in the teen category, then, wherever you think is best-- chapter titles, as a headnote in a chapter, etc.-- warn people that there will be noncon content.

Another way would be to make a branch at the noncon content and give them the option either to skip it or to choose a branch that does not feature noncon (more writing, of course).

 

I don't think it's weird. I assume the category is just supposed to be the main theme of the story, so if it features a lot of teens then teens would make sense. It's like if have a sci-fi story and a bunch of dudes gangbang an alien, I wouldn't think the category would need to be switched to Group Sex.

I agree with @MidbossMan that a warning might be good, like 'chapter title (non-con)' or something simple like that.

 

Until there is a way to flag certain themes, I would second the suggestion of using the best-fitting category and putting a warning at the branching point.

 

I think it depends on the story. If it's largely not non-con, it doesn't belong in that category I'd think. I would consider labeling the chapter in some way to warn the reader though if it's something coming out of the blue. I mean if it is a gothic horror story, I don't think anything is warranted. A light, cheery tale that suddenly takes a turn to non-con without warning or heavy foreshadowing should probably have one. Non-con is one of those storylines readers can have a strong aversion or attraction to.

 

When I first wrote non-con scenes, I was so worried about it that I labeled every single chapter that i wrote with bit bright flashing warnings.
Then I realized that it just got more views, and I stopped doing that because I wanted people to enjoy the story, not jump to the scenes I'm warning them to avoid.
So... what I find from bitter experience is people tend to jump right to those "Trigger Warnings" when they're looking to pull their trigger, if you catch my drift.

So... these days I make it REALLY clear when it's coming, if folks are reading. And if they're skipping, there's a nice little label. Otherwise... I find people like the surprise of. "Oh, I can DO that. COOL!"
Just my 2p, of course. and YMMV

 

I agree. A common complaint about Japanese Otome games is that they often have one dark bad ending out of nowhere that seems out of line with the rest of the game's content. There is no downside to labeling such an extreme shift.

There are some story genres for which it might be more commonplace for there to be such content, such as BDSM, Fantasy, and Science Fiction, but I think for most categories NC content should be labeled.

There are also many different degrees of NC. Slight coercion or blackmail can be considered NC but are not quite in need of warnings.