Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Deathfic Debate- love 'em, loathe 'em, and everywhere in between...

Well, what we've tried to do on the boards, as you know, Carol, is to encourage a voluntary system of co-operation which, from what I can tell, most authors are happy to go along with. I think it would be unfair to require authors to post warnings which reveal part of their plot, but asking nicely seems to be working fairly well so far. Either in the story header, or by using the WHAM warning thread (where authors can be more specific without worrying about spoiling those readers who don't want to be spoiled), authors are, from what I can see, trying to be helpful to those readers who are genuinely upset by serious WHAMs.

Ann - and others - I used A Twist of Fates (admittedly, somewhat disingenuously) as an example because I wanted to make a general point, but it was easier to make in relation to myself. Yes, ATOF was not a deathfic in the strict sense, because Lois lives. But the point I wanted to make was that to suggest that anyone who does kill Lois in a story doesn't respect the character is unfair, to say the least, and could be considered offensive.

We all love the characters in our own way. It could be argued that, by giving Lois 24 hours to live and putting her through sheer torture, I want her to suffer and therefore can't have any respect for her as a character. I used my story as an example to make the point that it is not the case that anyone who kills a character in a story does not love the character, does not respect the character or sees the character as disposable. As with any other choice in fanfiction, it's all a matter of individual preference, and it's not fair to assign one person's interpretation onto another writer's choice.


Wendy