Help pls! Sneezing in fanfic for non-kink audience!

[Glowie]

I’ve just recently started writing fanfic (as the subject states, for general audiences, NOT for snz-kink peeps), and I am unable to be objective as to how much sneezing I can put in a sickfic without it being eyebrow-raising. 😬
 

Right now my outline has the fic opening with one single “hah-choo!” from character A, and character B commenting it’s the third time they’ve sneezed in ten minutes. After that, it’s just some sniffling and coughing, then a couple of scenes later, one more sneeze (non-spelled or described) followed by coughing. 
 

Character A then ends up getting really unwell with fever etc and passing out, and after that is the getting better bit. 
 

Then at the very end, the “punchline” of the fic involves character A “doubled over sneezing harshly two times” (again not spelled), and character B realising it’s just an allergy.

 

So to summarise:

- there’s one spelled sneeze opening the fic, followed by a mention of two earlier sneezes

- one more sneeze (non-spelled) a little later on, probably with a “bless you” from character B

- two big allergy sneezes (non-spelled) at the end

 

Is this too much? Am I going to “out” myself when I’ve only just dipped my toe into the world of fic writing?? 

HALP. 🤣🤣

Edited March 18 by Glowie

[RosyLights]

No, you should be fine. What you described wouldn't make anyone suspicious. It's normal for sickfics to have some sneezing. Including a few sneezes in your story that either aren't spelled out or are given generic spellings, and aren't given too much focus, won't out you as a fetishist. This fetish is pretty obscure, anyway; so even if it were given more of a focus, I don't think anyone reading it would suspect anything. You're good haha.

[Glowie]

6 hours ago, RosyLights said:

No, you should be fine. What you described wouldn't make anyone suspicious. It's normal for sickfics to have some sneezing. Including a few sneezes in your story that either aren't spelled out or are given generic spellings, and aren't given too much focus, won't out you as a fetishist. This fetish is pretty obscure, anyway; so even if it were given more of a focus, I don't think anyone reading it would suspect anything. You're good haha.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your reassurance! I’ve been wavering the last 2 days on this, I think because I’ve never seen any non-kink fics with sneezing in them in this particular fandom, so it already feels like I’m doing something a bit weird IYKWIM. 
 

I’ll go ahead and write it then, but I’m gonna be so freaking nervous posting it. 🤦‍♀️😆

[solitaire-au]

That's fairly minimal sneezing detail. It'll be fine.

While it's 6 months away, places like A3O run a Sicktember event in September every year and some people use it as a opportunity to publish sickfics with sneezing that won't look out of place when everyone else is posting sickfics, too.

[Glowie]

On 3/19/2024 at 10:55 PM, solitaire-au said:

That's fairly minimal sneezing detail. It'll be fine.

While it's 6 months away, places like A3O run a Sicktember event in September every year and some people use it as a opportunity to publish sickfics with sneezing that won't look out of place when everyone else is posting sickfics, too.

Oh yeah, that’s good to know! I’ve already posted this fic, but I’ll keep it in mind if I decide to revisit the idea in a few months. 😆

[SnzDreams]

I feel like I would only ever be “suspicious” if they were REALLY complex and clearly well thought out spellings or something LOL. But honestly that’s also me looking at fics through the fetish lens- I bet some vanillas wouldn’t second guess even those kinds of details! I think we all just feel especially self conscious of it because it’s how we’re wired, and I think it’s a good thing to keep in mind when it comes to this kind of paranoia- it def helps me! I figure if I didn’t have this fetish, I wouldn’t give any of it a second thought. And what you’ve described seems like it wouldn’t stick out either way- I’ve seen a few vanilla fics that were on par with those kinds of descriptions, or maybe even a step higher. I’m sure your fic would blend right in ahaha, happy writing! ☺️