I know this sounds like a stupid question but what is a good way to measure the age rating of the fics you write?! I know obvious stuff like NFSW being explicit and all but some things really confuse me like swearing or references to substance abuse etc etc.
I think it mostly depends on each person’s judgement and that may vary from person to person. but personally, what I use to determine which rating fits best for a work is:
general audiences = no swearing, no sexual content, no blood, no gore, no references to anything that can be considered taboo (if you can safely read it out loud to a kid, it’s considered generally audiences)
teen and up audiences = swearing, some sexual content (nothing too explicit), some references to things that can be taboo (nothing too explicit), references to substance abuse is safe for teen and up audiences rating if it’s nothing too explicit, alcohol is safe for teen and up audiences rating if it’s not the main plot of the work, if it’s not character battling alcoholism or withdrawal in graphic details
mature = sexual content (that is not outright explicit porn), blood and gore, substance abuse, etc
explicit = porn, blood and gore that are described in heavily graphic details. substance abuse that is described in heavily graphic details, etc
so for me, if it’s just swearing and references to substance abuse (but nothing too graphic), I will rate it as teen and up audiences
















