but the first thing (almost only thing) in the kerfuffle that I read was a very compelling essay by a woman who's a survivor of quite appalling abuse
That was...I have no words for it. What she went through was unthinkable, and that she was willing to post about it makes me think she's about the strongest person on the planet.
a vague books-don't-do-this-shit mindset
But, with books, someone with triggers can at least go to Amazon, and most of the time, the reviews will include vague allusions to (but also sometimes spoilery descriptions of) big ugly triggery stuff. So if that reader wanted info, they could get it. Fanfic doesn't have that equivalent.
I can see both sides of that kerfuffle (well, obviously not the extremely assy behaviors). I wouldn't want to give away plot points and screw up my foreshadowing (Is this the scary dramatic part? Is THIS the scary dramatic part?) but people shouldn't be risking nightmares and panic attacks over some light reading either.
Is there any talk of adopting a Not!Warning warning? Something along the lines of:
For creative purposes I do not give warnings on my stories. Please ask a friend who is aware of your concerns to read it first.
Is there any talk of adopting a Not!Warning warning? Something along the lines of: For creative purposes I do not give warnings on my stories. Please ask a friend who is aware of your concerns to read it first.
That's one suggestion people have floated.
Another is using whitefont (or some other color-on-color spoiler font, where a person would have to highlight it to read it) for warnings. (Except then there are authors who feel that even the presence of a whitefonted warning gives something away.)
Also, books are unusual in that regard - movies, TV shows and video games ALL come with "This Beautiful Unique Creative Snowflake has been rated Z for strong language, sexual situtions, and explicit use of the color orange" warnings on them.
I'm not sure where the line should be drawn re: fears of triggering. If you've got a scene of explicit nastiness, that's obvious, but if you're referring to nastiness in a character's past without anything explicit, is that something to be warned about? IE, if a character is being raped, put a warning. If a character has been raped before the story occurs, does that warrant a warning? Does it depend on how well the character is coping?
Yeah, with books, generally, one can glean the topics from either the back cover summary, or the blurbs from the folks recommending it.
Yeah, with books, generally, one can glean the topics from either the back cover summary, or the blurbs from the folks recommending it.
And you still wind up with authors acting like complete asshats (Alice Hoffman, I'm looking at you) because they take exception that a reviewer didn't like their book and "spoiled the plot."
"This Beautiful Unique Creative Snowflake has been rated Z for strong language, sexual situtions, and explicit use of the color orange"
Yeah, I've never noticed Quentin Tarantino crying "But, but, MAH ARTISTIC INTEGRITEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"
