(no subject)

[soc_puppet]

So I kinda want to make non-smutty versions of my smuttier fics available to folks who don't like to read the sexy parts. (Who just want to get thirsty but don't want to take a drink, if you will.) And here are some options I've considered:

1. Flat out make two different versions on AO3, allow people to click whichever one they prefer.
2. Make two different versions on AO3, but collect the non-smutty versions in a single chaptered fic to reduce my listings.
3. Post only the smutty versions to AO3, link to a Google Doc with the non-smutty versions that links back to the fic end notes at the bottom
4. Dreamwidth only: Post the smut scenes under a nested cut. Problem: Requires people to use Dreamwidth and also use the "expand" arrow for the first cut in order for the nested cut to work.
5. Post only the non-smutty version to AO3, link to a Google Doc (or the Dreamwidth version, come to think of it) with the smut scene that links back to the AO3 end notes at the end for easier Kudos-ing
6. Figure out the AO3 choose-your-own-adventure method
7. Some other method I haven't thought of

If I decide to do any of these, I'm pretty sure it'll be "5 and link to Dreamwidth for the smut", at least for Miraculous Ladybug, but I still have a lot to think about. Hmm.

Edit: Side note, I have Thoughts about how the current trend of referring to smut fics as "sin" plays into Fandom Purity Culture and the reluctance of people to read and/or kudos Explicit-rated fics in my current fandom.

Edit 2: Did some talking on Discord, and Option 1 is probably what I'm going with. I'm still grumpy about it, but desire for kudos trumps grumpiness, apparently.

Comments

[krait]

If it's primarily one person, it might be worth separating it into an extra chapter of its own. Depending on how large the whole fic is, and how conveniently the sex scene placement is, anyway. I guess it'd be awkward if it were three paragraphs in the centre of a very short fic.

Oh! It just occurred to me: can you code the text white, so people can just highlight if they want to read it? (Maybe with the sex scene at the end of the chapter, if it's a multichapter fic, so those who don't highlight can just scroll and hit 'next chapter' to continue?) Obviously won't work if people are using fancy AO3 skins, but I don't know how common that is.

[soc_puppet]

Having already separated it out into its own fic, the sex was apparently a good half the total words, give or take. Without making it into a fade-to-black version, it was a single scene. And again, if it were just one or the other, I might not bother; I copy-pasted the no-sex part into a Google Doc for this person so they wouldn't miss out. But because there's both people missing out (I am willing to believe that there are aces out there who might want to read the stripping part but not the sex part, among others) as well as fewer kudos due at least partly to Purity Culture BS, though, I'm willing to jump through a hoop or two.

Hmm; food for thought for the future! I could also manually enter specific text and background colors, which might even work for site skins. That said, I've already up and made the second version of the fic, so I'm probably not going to reverse it for this particular story 😜

[krait]

That's handy, then! A sizable chunk, and just one scene, seems like it'd be easier to separate than five sex scenes scattered all through a longfic, or one scene centrally placed in a shortfic that would need a new transition written to replace it.

I'm not savvy enough in AO3 or coding to know for sure, but maybe there's a way to code it as 'make this the background colour' rather than 'make it white, which I hope is the background colour'?

Glad you figured out a way to let your friend in on the fun. :D

[soc_puppet]

Yup! I usually write only oneshots, so I anticipate that following through for my next few planned smut fics.

Sounds like it's a job for Work Skins, actually! Though now that I've been thoroughly convinced of the benefits of my current method, I'm much less likely to put in the work to figuring that out 😜 And I wouldn't be surprised if AO3, like Dreamwidth, uses a just-off-white background rather than pure white, for accessibility reasons.

[alexseanchai]

"make it white" won't work even if white is the background color for most site skins, bc there's site skins that change the background color. most prominently, Reversi, which is effectively putting AO3 in dark mode.