No. I don't see why I would have to censor myself in fan fiction. That's what ratings and summaries are for. If your story has sensitive content, you give it an appropriate rating and slap a warning on the header, so that people who might have a problem with it know to avoid reading it in the first place.

For me, writing fan fiction is a creative outlet where I can explore things that wander around in my brain. Having to censor them kinda defeats the purpose of writing. The only time I adjust my writing that way is when I want the character to say something that would be out of character for him/her.

No I don't, but I do remember to warn about the stuff in advance. The fic I'm currently writing is dark and very much controversial, and turning even darker and more controvertial as I write so I am ending up with more warnings that I ever thought I'd need. Also as belis said I think about the rating of the fic.

The only thing I think about is whether or not a character would speak or act the way they do in the given situation.

I was asking because i am currently working on a piece of original fiction that is way too dark. That was why I was asking the question. It's harder to know where the boundaries are because what I'm writing doesn't follow an established genre. It is my second attempt at a full length novel & it deals with a kind of dystopia thst I never imagined would come from my own mind.

saturnR wrote:

I was asking because i am currently working on a piece of original fiction that is way too dark. That was why I was asking the question. It's harder to know where the boundaries are because what I'm writing doesn't follow an established genre. It is my second attempt at a full length novel & it deals with a kind of dystopia thst I never imagined would come from my own mind.

 
I think that you need to decide whether you are writing for others to read, or writing because it fulfils a need and no one else will ever read it.

You don't specify how it is 'way too dark', so it's difficult to be more precise, but there are conventions for fiction which is intended to be published in some size, shape or form. There are no conventions if you are writing purely for yourself...

I don't think I do. I mean I live in a country were censoring is rare, so I don't think I've ever done it in my fics. I warn readers if something is particular angsty or violent. I've only once ever warned them that there will be swearing because it was a chapter that required a lot of it. 

I write for myself first and my readers second. Like I'll add authors notes and I'm touched if they respond or tell me how much they enjoy the story/chapter, but if they dont, it's still my story in the end I don't see why I have to moderate it for them.

I finished it I won't go into any greater detail about my "way too dark" comment except to say that the content has been explicit (I've never written anything like it before in my life). But I can see now (having finished the story in full) why it needed to be that way.

Ormond Sacker wrote:

saturnR wrote:

I finished it I won't go into any greater detail about my "way too dark" comment except to say that the content has been explicit (I've never written anything like it before in my life). But I can see now (having finished the story in full) why it needed to be that way.

Are you going to post it and if yes where? I'd love to read it.

^^^

Saturn since I haven't read it I can't really say whether it should be watered down or not, but please don't do it to make it more acceptabel or because you're afraid of how it will be received, some of the best fics I've read are sad, dark, disturbing or some combination thereof.
And I write those kinds of fics too so I may not be the most impartial of judges, but you're not crazy just for writing it.

I hope I don't overstep by saying this, but if you want a second opinion on it I'd be happy to take a look. I appologise if I come over as pushy, I don't mean to be but as you may be able to tell you have made me seriously curious .