New Series with possible questionable content. What do?

Mane 2020-01-26 18:15:52 UTC #1

Hi,

So, I've been merrily typing away at the first few chapters of a story that's been stuck in my head for weeks. I have an active series already and I focus most of my attention on that, but I found it's easier to stay in the game when I can switch between projects when I get bored of one. Now, here's the problem : story is set in the 'bad part of town' of a fictional medieval city and one of the main characters is a young girl that works in a brothel. There will be no explicit scenes of any kind, but the story, at least in the beginning, will feature sex workers and how a society 'of that time' treated them. Language is occasionally a bit on the crude side.

My question is this: does the topic alone warrant a 'mature' rating. Will a warning suffice? Should I maybe not post it here at all?

I'm already thinking of hiring a proofreader and that costs money, so I'd rather know beforehand if the effort will be worth it.

Edit: oh, and I forgot to mention, there will be violent fight scenes.

kyeproxy 2020-01-26 18:30:34 UTC #2

Hm, I don't know! I think that if you do it with respect, and it isn't gratuitous, it should be fine.

Mane 2020-01-26 18:44:10 UTC #3

Yes, I intend to do that. I just feel like the topic is sensitive by default.

joannekwan 2020-01-26 18:48:32 UTC #4

Yo, that's nothing compared to the content I've seen on this site lol. Just put a general content warning before the first page of the story and you should be fine. (and mark appropriate episodes mature as they're uploaded of course)

Mane 2020-01-26 19:37:59 UTC #5

I see. Thank you! I'll do that. There will probably be very little mentions of sexual activity anyway, but I just wanted to be sure.

vothnthorvaldson 2020-01-26 19:51:38 UTC #6

I do have something very similar later in my comic (non sexual scenes in a brothel, fictional medieval/antiquity setting), and, to be honest, I'm hoping to not even use a mature filter.
I don't advise you to do that, though, as it may bring you problems.
But with a mature rating, there is no worry to have. I think the only issue would be, if you decide to have a scene of sexual nature, how much you can show or not. But if there is nothing explicitly sexual, no concerns needed.
About the violence, if it's in a fighting context, I assume it won't be gratuitous, so the concern may only be, possibly, if you're showing very detailed, graphic pictures.

Mane 2020-01-26 20:30:52 UTC #7

Yes, the problem with the mature filter is that it may give the reader the wrong impression about the content. I assume it's there for 18+ types of situations and I'm pretty certain it'll never come to that. Not to mention that some might actually expect something more racy and feel cheated when they don't find anything of that sort.

vothnthorvaldson 2020-01-26 21:50:55 UTC #8

Actually, from what I understood, much of +18 content is not allowed at all, and the mature filter is used for things as benign as non-sexual nudity, alcohol consumption and so on.
I'm not fine with that, so I don't intend to use the filter, but I don't necessarily encourage people to do that, because I don't want them to run into problems.

joannekwan 2020-01-26 21:56:48 UTC #9

I haven't seen Tapas crack down on depictions of alcohol/substance usage/abuse. I wouldn't mark such things as mature myself. But apparently Webtoons cares about that?

This is from the creator of Kitty Kitty Bang Bang. None of his episodes with smoking have been marked as mature on Tap and I don't think Tap cares about smoking to such an extent.

Close-up nudity is warranted though I think, since you want to warn people if they're reading in a public setting where lookie-loos are a risk.

CarltonIsaac 2020-01-27 04:50:02 UTC #10

I'd advise you hire a professional 'editor' instead of just a proofreader or beta reader. An editor can do more for your story than just highlight typos and punctuation.

As for the content and subject matter, I don't think it's questionable in the least since said subject matter is a fact of life throughout history. I'd still advise slapping on the Mature Warning filter to be on the safe side.

Mane 2020-01-27 05:45:36 UTC #11

I'd like an editor, but I think that'll rack up the price. For now, each chapter has a around 6-7K word count.

Do you mean to use the mature filter for every entry or just certain episodes that might contain more mature content.

CarltonIsaac 2020-01-27 06:04:15 UTC #12

@Mane

Use the Mature Filter for chapters/episodes that have 'sexual or violent' depictions. Even if it's just suggestive, keeping in mind the varying degrees of acceptability in the world today.

If you plan to publish your work in this extremely competitive market, an experienced editor would improve the quality of your efforts. Editors do charge by word count, some might charge hourly. The range varies from person to person, though there is an industry standard on pricing.

vothnthorvaldson 2020-01-27 07:10:43 UTC #13

Oh, that's what I see it commonly be used for, I don't think we are forced to, for the alcohol. What I see is that mature filters are overused, and there are still many comments complaining and asking MORE filters. As it's on comics I follow, and not on my comic, I don't follow what happen next (if it's reported, if Tapas does something etc), but yes, I'd be inclined to think Tapas is reasonnable.

For the non sexual nudity, I'm more worried. I've seen people getting crazy upset for images that were similar to most paintings you'll find in a classical museum. I have no idea if it's normal, i.e. if an average museum collection would be NSFW.

joannekwan 2020-01-27 07:44:27 UTC #14

Oh yeah. Like I had a request to put a mature mark on a couple of episodes of my most cartoony comic from a commenter. I didn't think it needed it. Like the situation in the context of the story is pretty obvious that it'll go south … and it's not like the blood came out of nowhere. And I don't zoom in on the wound or anything.
The main episode in question:

I agree it does get tricky with non-titillating nudity. Like even ArtStation, where most pieces that go on it are more highly developed than some random smut drawing had to suffer from their app's removal from app platforms.

vothnthorvaldson 2020-01-27 07:56:09 UTC #15

This is less blood than a good nosebleed!
The general situation looks violent and not adequate for small children, but they are not supposed to be on Tapas.
So, yeah, I personally don't see the problem (and I'm way less lax with violence than with nudity).
I wonder if people complaining about blood are not the few ones who are phobic (I have other phobias, so I can understand the panic), but I don't think avoidance is a good strategy for them in the long term, and I don't think it's our duty as artists to protect people from their fears.

Iris-Grimoire 2020-01-27 14:20:35 UTC #16

Maybe it's good to use the NSFW rule of discretion on the individual pages. A tiny bleeding injury like Joanne posted is nothing if you see it in public, but gory dismemberment, or full-page nonsexual or sexual nudity(which is allowed with certain restrictions) isn't the kind of thing you want to see in the bus with no warning.

Mane 2020-01-28 06:43:38 UTC #17

Oh, definitely. This work is written (with some images if the Tapas will allow it) but I get your point. I was once reading a book in the subway and out of nowhere a sex scene commences and I had to put the book because I was so embarrassed. Not even because I thought someone might be reading over my shoulder, but just because it struck me as...inappropriate.

The action scenes I get, I will be careful about that. As for the brothel part I am still on the fence about that. The most you will see there is mentions of where they are and the type of business they have, with no inappropriate descriptive scenes at all.

joannekwan 2020-01-28 07:28:46 UTC #18

I think that's totally fine then. I wouldn't even put a content warning for that.