Reader Beware: The Meaning of Trigger Warnings

 Q: Your thoughts on authors asked to write Content/Trigger Warnings for their novels?

from Susan

I don’t know what to say about this. I write – and read – crime fiction. I expect there to be crimes, murders, scary moments, bad behavior, evil people. To that end, I try to read enough about the story to know if I will definitely avoid it or not. I try to skip books where a child is murdered, but recently read a really good story where that happens because I know the author and her work, and I was confident she would handle the necessary plot points with care. I definitely skip novels where torture is likely going to play a role, which means most stories featuring Nazis at work get a pass from me. But the massive hit All the Light We Cannot See, while scary and, yes, replete with despicable Nazis, was worth it to me – skipped over a few pages here and there – because of the luminous portrait of the young girl and her protector. Sadism is an absolute no for me, but if I stumble upon it in a book, I just close the book and throw it in the trash (don’t want to pass the poison on, thank you!). 

 

What exactly is a trigger, anyway? Does it mean the reader has an immediate and serious psychological response based on their own or a loved one’s experience that may cause them pain and suffering? And if someone understands the damage coming across something that causes this may happen, does he or she take special care to learn about the story before opening the book? I do believe and have great sympathy for people whose experiences have hurt them this badly. So, I can’t object to trigger warnings.

 

What I wonder is how to present them so they don’t scare away readers? I also wonder if warnings can cover all real causes of fright and pain? If every crime fiction story has, in addition to its cover teaser prose, has to say something like “Be warned, the material in this work of fiction includes references to and descriptions of strangulation, gun violence, beatings, disappearance of a child, attempted rape, corrupt police personnel, attacks on senior citizens, and house invasion” will anyone choose to read that book? Will it sound over the top grim? Will libraries refuse to purchase it? My point is people have such varying, honest, emotional triggers based on terrible experiences that publishers may in future feel trigger warnings must be included on every work of crime fiction to avoid litigation, that great American tradition.

 

Tricky, thorny, sad, even tinged with politics these days. So, as I say, I’m not sure what I believe in answer to this question and will just have to wait until someone decides it for me.

Beware: guns are fired, a drowning occurs, a kidnapping happens

Alert: a senior citizen is attacked, a dog is kidnapped