How Mature is Mature?

liseeclaire 2021-05-09 00:55:57 UTC #1

Hello, all!

Hopefully I haven't missed a similar thread, but how mature should a story be to be mature? Other than the familiar identifiers (sex, gore, drug use, extreme trauma, etc) what are the elements that would make a story better set for mature than not?

I assume a noir detective with explicit scenes would be, but if the scenes in question are "blacked out" is it stull suggested that the story be mature?

Similar question for cyberpunk. Drug use is clearly a no, but is alcohol consumption or references of medication use? (i.e. Sherlock Holmes' habits which are frequently described in the books; or stim shots used enhance one's abilities in cyberpunk.)

Finally which sort of mental abilities are too far? Mind control, telepathy, mind reading, memory manipulation?

Thank you in advance

SleepingPoppy 2021-05-09 01:41:23 UTC #2

I may be misunderstanding you, but I want to clarify that individual episodes are marked as mature, but an entire story is not, in terms of site functionality. Apologies if you are speaking more philosophically!

In regards to the mental abilities you list, I think that's context dependent. We don't tend to consider them inherently mature, but they lend themselves towards themes of consent that could be really interesting to explore. If you've seen Netflix's Jessica Jones, I really liked how mind control was handled there.

FightTheSun 2021-05-09 02:09:06 UTC #3

I have been thinking about it in terms of "would whatever concept/imagery/message on this page be harmful to younger ppl if I don't check the mature button." It doesn't really harm your work to mark it "mature" and I personally would rather be cautious than not.

liseeclaire 2021-05-09 02:21:45 UTC #4

Ah, apologies

I saw there was a separate section marked mature, so I assumed it was for entire comics/stories that were of that nature. It's been a while since I saw Jessica Jones and I wasn't too impressed by it to be honest. Ghost in the shell (both the Laughing man series and the 2nd movie) both present a much scarier picture than JJ from what I remember.

Thanks for the response

liseeclaire 2021-05-09 02:26:45 UTC #5

nods Thanks

I'll try to keep on the light side when making new stories
I have some much darker stories elsewhere and was wondering if it would be a good fit to bring them here. (mostly psychological topics). I don't think they would cause harm, but always like to know what the limits are.

FightTheSun 2021-05-09 02:38:38 UTC #6

Oh the Mature Series section on Tapas is a premium-only section for seemingly only porn? For non-premium works u have to turn on the mature button individually for each page. I have seen other non-sexual mature content creators who just put (NSFW) and warnings in the description of series. Example: https://tapas.io/series/The-Anaether/info is rated for violence and dark themes and just mark every page mature. I don't think the site is unfriendly to dark works, just as long as u label it i think it's good.

liseeclaire 2021-05-09 02:48:57 UTC #7

Thanks!

And thanks for the comic link Looks great

SleepingPoppy 2021-05-09 03:34:57 UTC #8

Haha, fair enough! Ghost in the Shell is one of those shows I can tell is amazing, but never got into. It always struck me as very philosophical and thoughtful in good ways, though. I didn't necessarily relate to JJ for being "scariest" though, it just kinda hit me right, if that makes sense.

This site skews older, to my knowledge, so dark stories aren't necessarily a problem. You can always try something out and see how it plays. If you haven't, you should read the content guidelines for the site, they're vague, but intentionally so to give creators room to decide what makes sense for their story. The kind of mature nit allowed is more like porn or violence where that is the focus rather than an actual story. A story mature because it's deep/thoughtful with dark themes will probably be fine.

They're also WAY more lenient to novels over comics in these regards. =)

liseeclaire 2021-05-09 04:59:09 UTC #9

Thanks!

I've read the guidelines (and have an ongoing story :)) but wasn't clear on the lime to darker things so, thus my question Seems like I'll just start posting at some point (probably at the start of next month) And see how it goes

Kaydreamer 2021-05-09 05:55:08 UTC #10

I don't have any episodes in my series tagged as mature, and there are a number of scenes where whisky and cigarettes are present. I haven't had a problem, nor been asked to mark them, so I don't think alcohol/smoking really counts. Anything 'harder' than that in terms of substance abuse, I'd mark as mature.

liseeclaire 2021-05-09 11:47:19 UTC #11

Wow! Kay, I just started Blue Star Rebellion a few weeks ago

Got you on the alcohol. I generally age up my drinking characters due to US drinking laws. But yes, better safe than sorry Huge thanks

Kaydreamer 2021-05-10 01:10:31 UTC #12

No worries! (And I'm glad you're enjoying Blue Star! ) Tapas tends to be pretty lenient, especially when compared with WEBTOON, so I doubt you have much to worry about. Just go with your gut. Even the really dark stories you have will probably find a good home here.