I do understand you point (I think). It *is* rather ridiculous to try to "slap a header together" for a story that has any kind of depth to it (unlike mine, which are pretty much all PWP, so...).
On the other hand, if you want to, you can probably find a summary for most traditionally published fiction somewhere, no matter how complicated. I'm probably dating myself (not that way) here, but, for example, something like a Cliff's Notes version of War and Peace is what I mean. (Or, much more frightening, Ulysses.) So, really, if you didn't want to invest all that time in reading a book you would hate, you could read the summary. There seems to be a similar idea at Shelfari, which I never visit anymore, but I'm always getting "should I read this book" emails from them. Of course, this is what friends used to be for, before we had the Internet.
So, yeah, the header is there to give people an idea of what they can expect to find and what they can expect to spend their time on. I think a lot of people do use them that way. If a writer doesn't abide by the norms of a community, he or she may be overlooked or even condemned.
And here's another question. Is it a good thing to limit oneself to only a specific pairing, or a particular kink, or whatever? Maybe, maybe not. For me, personally, it's probably not a good thing. The headers let me feed my sometimes overwhelming obsession with very little effort, which is great. Except when it's not. Which is like, right now, when I've been on LJ all fucking day, rather than doing research or cleaning my sand-filled house, or something. Nonetheless, like with many other things, I continue to over-indulge.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-14 09:28 am (UTC)I do understand you point (I think). It *is* rather ridiculous to try to "slap a header together" for a story that has any kind of depth to it (unlike mine, which are pretty much all PWP, so...).
On the other hand, if you want to, you can probably find a summary for most traditionally published fiction somewhere, no matter how complicated. I'm probably dating myself (not that way) here, but, for example, something like a Cliff's Notes version of War and Peace is what I mean. (Or, much more frightening, Ulysses.) So, really, if you didn't want to invest all that time in reading a book you would hate, you could read the summary. There seems to be a similar idea at Shelfari, which I never visit anymore, but I'm always getting "should I read this book" emails from them. Of course, this is what friends used to be for, before we had the Internet.
So, yeah, the header is there to give people an idea of what they can expect to find and what they can expect to spend their time on. I think a lot of people do use them that way. If a writer doesn't abide by the norms of a community, he or she may be overlooked or even condemned.
And here's another question. Is it a good thing to limit oneself to only a specific pairing, or a particular kink, or whatever? Maybe, maybe not. For me, personally, it's probably not a good thing. The headers let me feed my sometimes overwhelming obsession with very little effort, which is great. Except when it's not. Which is like, right now, when I've been on LJ all fucking day, rather than doing research or cleaning my sand-filled house, or something. Nonetheless, like with many other things, I continue to over-indulge.
And now my own OT apology.