vamphile   and I were on the phone last night until 3 AM and we were talking about some of the fic written for the various bj_action challenges. By which I mean of course we were endlessly obsessing over our own fic.

But while we were talking, we both noticed how much raw fic is being written lately by a lot of writers including, you know... us.

When I write Brian and Justin having unprotected sex, it's always in a story set in my "Only Time" series, and it's in the context of them having made the decision to do this, become monogamous, gotten tested, waited, etc. And most of you who write raw fic -- and honestly, as far as I know, ALL of you -- have also created similar worlds with similar contexts for that decision.

But when you just read these stories by themselves, that's not always absolutely clear. And from the point of view of a good story, it doesn't have to be, because I hate exposition like woah and wouldn't like to constantly be re-stating the reason why the fact that they're doing it raw is in character and as safe as any such decision can ever be -- which is to say, not 100 percent safe, but what is?

But I wonder about the effect of this body of fiction on people just casually reading in our fandom, or on new writers, or on younger fans in general, who might not remember the dawn of AIDS and just why this is so important.

And so I did a post about this at qaf_coffeeclub, and was hoping you'd come by and join in. It's here:

I want you safe....