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C-Gamsby
Apr '21

As I'm using this website to post a novel and am considering writing a web novel specifically for here, I've started looking more closely into the rules and processes and I realize the Mature content tag is very very loose. Taken very conservatively a slap to the face (violence) or a kiss to the cheek (sexuality) should be tagged as mature. Taken very liberally it doesn't need it unless someone gets horribly mangled in graphic detail or there is some kind of penetration. Obviously, the line is somewhere in the middle, but how do you decide that?

My book has a lot of cartoonish violence and some mild sexuality/nudity. For example, the heroine barely escapes being attacked by a monster and needs emergency medical attention. There is blood and bleeding, but no real description of the wound. Monsters that don't bleed are frequently destroyed. Even people are killed, but it isn't graphic.

I'd like to be on the right side of the content policy, but there are many disadvantages to marking something as mature. Not only do you get less exposure since you can't be posted on the app, but anybody that sees my novel and thinks it's edgy because it needs to be marked as mature will be sorely disappointed when they actually read it. Plus people that don't want graphic sex or violence may not give it a shot, even though that's not really a part of the story.

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    Apr '21

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    Apr '21
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KelheorRegular
Apr '21
1

The thing is - no one knows. Tapas won't check your every page to see if someone slapped someone :information_desk_person: I think if you don't have anything graphic, with precise depictions of how much naked nipples she had and how many liters of blood she lost from of her wound - leave it be, it doesn't need any tags. If you think that something is on the more problematic side (but not traumatizing), you can write a disclaimer to the chapter.

cortezlord96
Apr '21

Just do content warning in description at the bottom.

Content includes : Mild nudity, cartoon violence, blood, etc.

C-Gamsby
Apr '21

I added this line to the start of the Novel:

Content Warning: This series contains cartoonish violence, including the death of humanoid monsters and non-graphic death of people, and mild nudity and sexuality.

Kaydreamer
Apr '21

Write it the way you want to write it, and tone down the descriptions via edits if your work gets pinged for anything. That's what I plan to do with blood/violence in my comic.

SleepingPoppy
Apr '21

Nope! You don't automatically get booted off the app for marking something as mature. And the rules for what is mature for novels are WAY looser than for comics.

Generally I'd say mature filter for the more descriptive violence. If the characters are not getting hot and heavy to some degree you don't need a mature tag. XD

joannekwan(ง ˙o˙)ว here to help~
Apr '21

SleepingPoppy is correct. Series are not automatically hidden in the app for simply having mature-tagged episodes.
The only type of content that really has to have a mature tag are visual (so like comic content or images inserted into novels) depictions of full nudity (female nipples, genitalia), sex, and graphic realistic violence.
For novels, I'd say it's good to have a mature tag if whatever you're concerned with, like violence or sex, gets deeply descriptive. People can get squicked out with graphic descriptions.

Other than that, the mature tag is really there for the audience to warn them that what they're getting into might not be suitable to view in a public environment if someone's reading over their shoulder or that they may be uncomfortable with the following scene and to brace themselves or skip it. When you should employ that is up to you and how your audience is. If they seem to be adults and are open to more graphic things, you could skip the mature tag altogether for a novel.