Warriors Fanfics: Specialized Writing Guide

Sexually Explicit Content and Warriors Fanfics

November 9, 2021

This section covers any sexually explicit content that may appear in Warriors fanfics; That is, anything that's specifically written to be erotic in some way, shape, or form, or using it as a narrative tool. It will only cover explicit sex, not implied sex (surprise pregnancy with no known mate, chapter ends right before characters do it, etc), nor will it discuss the morality of explicit sex in animal fiction, nor is this a biology lesson on cat reproduction. I will also not give my opinion on whether or not scenes like this should be used in Warriors. I also will not speak on the maturity of the fandom or the average age of its members as reasons for or against such content.

Every single fandom ships characters. And, like shipping, every fandom pairs characters off in the bedroom for many number of reasons (or lack thereof). Warriors has its share of sexual content. Unlike other sections in this guide, there is no objectively justifiable reason to include explicit sex in Warriors fanfics because it isn't featured in canon. But fanfiction can be whatever we want, and for some that includes sex. I'll go over what could possibly come from this, good or bad. The only reason this type of content is different here than in other fandoms is the feral physiology of its characters.

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USE OF SEX IN CANON WARRIORS

There isn't much to say here: Warriors canon does not include sexually explicit scenes. In a series aimed at children, this wouldn't be a good idea. Doubly so in a series where all the characters are domestic cats and other animals (physically, at least). Sex is just implied as in many other works of fiction, from characters having kits, forbidden relationships, and taking mates. Stories spanning generations of characters, however, make it more interesting.

In political thrillers, space operas, and other works of fiction spanning vast distances and sporting long timelines, sex tends to be a common theme. Who sleeps with who, has a child or forbidden relationship with who, screws up the bloodline, all of this can be important to those types of stories,which Warriors can loosely associate with. While it features far less of these incidents than the average political thriller, these themes are still at play from time to time. Most of it is background dressing, but sex has gotten many main characters in or out of trouble. Sometimes it results in new characters, death, or major character development. While none of the scenes are explicit (most aren't even brought up), it means it's not out of the realm of possibility to use sex as a narrative tool in Warriors fanfics. In a series spanning multiple generations of characters, sex is going to happen. It's also going to be written into fanfics one way or another.

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EXPLICIT CONTENT IN WARRIORS FANFICS

While the canon includes no examples, there is no shortage of sexually explicit Warriors content out there. As a moderately sized fandom, it's bound to show up for especially popular characters or plot points.

Most explicit material in Warriors fanfics comes from lemon-fics and slash-fics. Most aren't as good as their equals from other fandoms for one reason: to write sexually explicit Warriors content, one must research how domestic cats, or other animals, have sex as opposed to humans. And domestic cats, like most animals, don't have sex for pleasure. This results in content that reads more like human sex transplanted onto your favorite Warriors characters. This is less a critique of lemons and Warriors and more of a fact that it can't be as interesting to readers as these same stories involving humans, unless the reader was specifically looking to read about cat sex or enjoys the series enough to overlook their physiology. If the reader and writer know this and just want a 'plot-what-plot screwfest' featuring their favorite characters, none of this matters. But, in short, there are no examples from real life to pull from. If, for a Harry Potter slash-fic, we wanted to read a story about Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy getting it on and there are no examples in canon to pull from (there aren't), the blanks can be filled with examples and narratives from real life or other works of fiction to make the work satisfying erotically and/or narratively. The same can't be done for explicit Warriors fics without a specific type of reader in mind. Cats biologically can't have sex like humans. So, in the end, all Warriors sexually explicit fics feature human sex implied through domestic cats.