dragonlady7

earlier, but it's good specific advice too!, about writing

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bittylildragon https://bittylildragon.tumblr.com/post/666044728670896128/my-fandom-best-practices-posting-trans-fic-to-ao3 :

So, opening disclaimer here, I’m just one trans person, I don’t speak for all of us, we aren’t a monolith. But, with that said, here are some practices I use when writing and posting my work to AO3 that most people seem to find helpful. This post includes discussion of adult fanfics, and as such includes some explicit language and concepts.

The general idea, though? Giving our readers the ability to give informed consent to the content of our fanfics is a key element to creating a safe fandom experience, and that very much applies to writing stories about trans characters.

TAGGING

So, when you’re tagging your fics, you as the author are speaking directly to your audience about what you believe this fic contains and how you choose to label certain bodies and acts. So, when you’re writing about trans characters and bodies, you run a lower risk of implicitly misgendering your trans audience members if you use gender-neutral language in the tags. For example, if you’re writing a fic about a trans man getting head, I’d advise tagging with a more general, ungendered term like “oral sex” rather than something like “c*nnil*ngus.” Calling it “c*nnil*ngus” in the tags implies that you as the author label trans men’s genitals/sex acts in a very particular way. As a result, if you’re using gendered language in the tags, there may be trans readers who would be happy to read your actual fic but not to have their bodies and sex acts labeled that way by you as the author.

If you’re worried that a generic tag like “oral sex” or “penetrative sex” doesn’t properly warn/advertise for who’s doing what to whom, just add in a freeform tag like “X trans character gets head” and that’s instant clarification.

While some people may view clinical language like “p*n*s” and “v*g*na” as less gendered than slang like “d*ck” and “p*ssy,” some of your potential readers will not agree. Sticking to generalized language in your tags avoids the whole issue.

LANGUAGE WARNINGS IN AUTHOR’S NOTES

There’s a difference between the language that you as the author use and what the characters use for themselves or among each other. Your characters may make language choices that don’t reflect you as an author. To allow your audience to give full informed consent to your work, it’s helpful to let readers know what language gets used during the fic itself. I often use a brief warning in my author’s notes, like this: “Language used for a nonbinary character’s body: clt, t*ts, d*ck, p*ssy.”* Having this up-front means that readers who don’t like seeing those terms, or don’t like having them applied to trans bodies specifically, can just stop reading right there at your author’s notes rather than diving into the fic and getting upset at that point.

CONTENT WARNINGS

In the same way you’d warn/advertise for any other content, it’s important to let your readers know what trans-specific content they’re signing up to read. Some trans-specific content you might want to tag or warn for includes (but isn’t limited to): Cis POV About a Trans Character, Transphobia, Cissexism, Misgendering, Intrusive Curiosity, Gendered Harassment/Abuse, Gender-Related Surgery, Dysphoria, Coming Out, Unwanted Outing, Genderplay, Gender Euphoria, Gender Experimentation, Closeted Character, Self-Loathing Trans Character, Gendered Tropes, and so on. Those are all types of content that might make a reader either seek out or avoid your work.

To give an example of a fic that I perceived as poorly tagged/warned for, I once read a fic where a trans character outed himself to a potential cis lover, and the cis character then asked him a bunch of what I considered very offensive personal questions. Since offensive/upsetting personal questions are a problem that many trans people face IRL, I found this unpleasant to read, and I wished that the author had given me warning.

Another more complex example is a fic by a cis woman author about a trans man character being taught how to orgasm by his cis male partner. The author hadn’t thought about the fact that she was applying a romance novel trope that is nearly always applied to cis women characters to a trans male character, so it created this sort of implicit gendering to the narrative that I found uncomfortable to read unwarned-for. This is a tougher situation to account for, since personal preference varies so widely, and how are we supposed to warn for things we’re not conscious of? But when tagging/warning, it may be useful to ask yourself: is what I’m writing gendered or stereotyped in a particular way? In what gender context have I seen these tropes or ideas generally applied? You can’t account for everything, but it can help to do some reflection of this type before posting.

DON’T GENERALIZE ABOUT TRANS READERS

What delights one trans reader will disgust or enrage another and that’s true no matter who the author is. I’ve read works by cis authors that were sensitive and complex, and I’ve read fics by trans authors that offended and upset me. So just because you’re trans, or you know a few trans people, do not assume that you or they are representative of the whole community. It’s depressing to be upset by a fic, ask for more tags/warnings, and be answered with “Well I’m trans and I don’t find that upsetting” or “Well I wrote this for the trans person I know and they found it fun.” One trans person’s opinion, or even the opinions of several trans people of similar tastes, don’t represent the community, and you’re trying to allow informed consent for everybody who might read your work.

You’re not obligated to use tags like “Trans Author” or “Own Voices” or anything similar, however. You can if you want to, but it’s not required - firstly because you shouldn’t be required to out yourself if you don’t want to, but secondly because outing yourself doesn’t actually tell your readers anything about what your fic contains. Describing yourself is not a substitute for describing the contents of your fic.

In conclusion: allowing your readers to give informed consent to the content you’re offering is key to creating a safe, welcoming fandom experience in general, and definitely applies to sharing trans stories. These practices are what has worked for me in creating a fandom experience I enjoy, but they may not be universally applicable. Use your best judgement, and be willing to change the tags/warnings if necessary! (Your picture was not posted)