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Aug. 12th, 2010 08:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nofavesAdd one more thing to the list of Things I Just Don't Get: triggers.
Most people who know me know I write fanfic, and I have learned over the years that merely providing a summary of one's story is insufficient -- one should also warn the reader that there may be objectionable content within. Fine. Not everyone wants to read a story where two men get busy, or where one of those two men won't take no for an answer.
But this is where my understanding stops. I have recently read a string of rants complaining of authors who failed to warn to the reader's specifics, resulting in the tragedy known as the 'trigger.' The comments to these rants are generally of the back-patting sort: "There, there, dear. You're so right. When will they ever learn that squicks =/= triggers...?"
Which leads me to wonder if these poor victims actually read books. You know, the papery things one buys in a bookstore or borrows from a library or friend. I'm currently reading The Pillars of the Earth, and try as I might, cannot seem to find Ken Follett's warning that a brutal rape just sneaks up on you in the fifth chapter, or that the first six pages are a detailed description of an execution and a bloody animal sacrifice.
If the back-cover blurb were all that kf_of_wales had posted as the summary for his awesome fic, he'd get flamed for failing to warn of possible triggers. *shakes head*
Most people who know me know I write fanfic, and I have learned over the years that merely providing a summary of one's story is insufficient -- one should also warn the reader that there may be objectionable content within. Fine. Not everyone wants to read a story where two men get busy, or where one of those two men won't take no for an answer.
But this is where my understanding stops. I have recently read a string of rants complaining of authors who failed to warn to the reader's specifics, resulting in the tragedy known as the 'trigger.' The comments to these rants are generally of the back-patting sort: "There, there, dear. You're so right. When will they ever learn that squicks =/= triggers...?"
Which leads me to wonder if these poor victims actually read books. You know, the papery things one buys in a bookstore or borrows from a library or friend. I'm currently reading The Pillars of the Earth, and try as I might, cannot seem to find Ken Follett's warning that a brutal rape just sneaks up on you in the fifth chapter, or that the first six pages are a detailed description of an execution and a bloody animal sacrifice.
If the back-cover blurb were all that kf_of_wales had posted as the summary for his awesome fic, he'd get flamed for failing to warn of possible triggers. *shakes head*
