Jaycee Woods

Recently between authors there was a discussion online about trigger warnings for books. While I disagree with the idea, I do have some sympathy for those impacted by troubling situations in fiction.

Many years ago, I was in a class on post-war Japanese history. The professor included movie viewings as demonstration of cultural themes during that period. In one, the movie’s theme focused on a longing for a return to pastoral village life after decades of urbanization and modernization. However, the plot had the main character murder his family and then kill himself. The aftermath images of the murdered family were disturbing.

I was unusually affected because as a child I knew someone who murdered her children then killed herself.  Was it incumbent upon the professor to warn me about something he could not have anticipated? No. Was it my own responsibility to deal with my own emotions? Yes, but I get how such a surprise can be painful.

In my draft Boudica and The Butcher, it is intended to be an anti-war horror. One of my goals is to push the envelope to disturb and discomfort the reader.

My responsibility to my readers as an author is to make these horrors meaningful within the scope of the story, so not gore porn for its own sake. Do I owe my readers a trigger warning detailing all my efforts to discomfort and shock them about the horror of war? No and they wouldn’t want me to. However, I do owe them foreshadowing and escalation in case they need to get off of the ride.

For those who are legitimately hurt by things that get trigger warnings, life is hard and not accommodating. They either need to make themselves stronger despite the pain and effort, or get better at avoiding inputs that hurt them. The world will not adjust itself to everyone’s potential triggers and neither will nor should other people. The infantilization of adults needs to stop as it doesn’t benefit their long-term well-being by avoiding temporary distress.