So, here's the situation:

[out_there]

It's a not-so-hypothetical hypothetical.

You sign up for a challenge and receive a choice of two requests to be written for a fan that you don't know at all. One of your requests is a pairing with a one-word idea to include in the story. There's no further details of that request, nothing saying that the person wants an angsty story or a happy one. Looking at it, you immediately get an idea for an interesting story that would feature the pairing having Desperate Sex and have them working for the Greater Good, but would also mean that Everybody Died (and by that, I mean *everybody*. Every member of the main cast).

[Poll #559314]

Comments

[snarkist.livejournal.com]

i think that if the fan never specified what type of story they wanted, then it's up to you as the writer to write whatever the hell you want... especially if it's an idea in which you find yourself interested. plus, i think it would be fun for the fan to see that type of story come from their one word prompt. just my opinion!

[out-there.livejournal.com]

plus, i think it would be fun for the fan to see that type of story come from their one word prompt.

See, I'd be thrilled to have something unexpected come from my prompt (mind you, I specifically said that I wouldn't put any restrictions on it because I was curious about whatever they could come up with for that insane pairing, so maybe that's different) and I'm fairly happy that most fans agree that I'm not being outright rude by writing it.

It's a yay.

[in-the-bottle.livejournal.com]

Was gonna put no, and yes, I still think that it isn't rude, but then, it probably would come as a shock to them, so I'm not sure... there *are* some people who don't read death fic and you wouldn't know if this person is one of them. *shrug*

[out-there.livejournal.com]

That was my thought, too.

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

It probably isn't what she wants. Do a bit of fluff for her, then write the other thing for yourself. Then come away from the Dark Side and back to us!

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Then come away from the Dark Side and back to us!

*snerk* Duly noted.

[thete1.livejournal.com]

Tough, tough call.

I would make a profound effort to *get* to know the requester's tastes, if at all possible. (Everyone should have recs pages/ljs!) The story is a gift, so you have a responsibility not to, you know, traumatize the person. However, the story is a *gift*, so the recipient has the responsibility to gracefully receive whatever you present with the assumption that it's offered in good faith.

If, after you study the sitch and are left with no more knowledge about the person's tastes than what you already have -- *and* no other ideas... write the story which came to mind.

And, well, write it anyway -- whatever else you do. We must all pay *homage* to those parts of ourselves which give us ideas.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Everyone should have recs pages/ljs!

Ooooh! That's brilliant. If they've recced/enjoyed some of the darker stories in fandom, it'll be a free-pass to explore my idea. If they're a big fan of the lighter stuff, I'm sure I can come up with 1000 words of fluff.

[callmesandy.livejournal.com]

I have friends who would *love* and adore an 'everybody dies!' story; I would not be able to finish it and would hate it. So you can't tell if it's rude or not. If the person has an lj that isn't flocked, I would skim through to get some idea of their tastes. Or if they've written in the fandom, see what sort of stories they've written. That's often a helpful indicator.

If you really can't figure it out, I'd err on the side of caution and not write the everybody dies story for the challenge. But, you know, clearly biased against that sort of idea. Which makes me less than helpful as some sort of arbitrator.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Or if they've written in the fandom, see what sort of stories they've written. That's often a helpful indicator.

Great idea! That's something I hadn't thought of.

[delurker.livejournal.com]

Well, the thing about death fic is that if they don't like it, there's a chance they Really Don't Like It.
(Although I admit to intense curiousity as to how everyone dies. Seriously. Do they take the supporting characters with them too?)

I'd try and see what the fan likes, and consider other ideas as well. But I prefer everyone to stay alive, so I'm biased.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

(Although I admit to intense curiousity as to how everyone dies. Seriously. Do they take the supporting characters with them too?)

Yes. Everyone. But it's a bit of an AU/time travel idea, so although *everyone* dies, it's all done so that in another timeline, the events can happen as they do in actual canon (ie. almost everyone lives).

It's one of those ideas that may work in fic, but is hard to explain.

[scrunchy.livejournal.com]

You know, I wrote an "every single one of them dies" story for someone dureing the FamilY Ficathon a while back, and this is the first time I even considered that it may have been rude. So my answer is "no" -- but taken with the knowledge that I may, in fact, be a galactically rude woman of the first order -- you know, make of it what you will :)

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, but I *adored* that story. It broke me seven different ways from Sunday, but it was gorgeous.

That's actually inspiration to write my idea.

[storydivagirl.livejournal.com]

Since the person didn't specify anything like "no character death" as something s/he didn't want to see, I say it's fair game.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

*nods* Fair point.