Le Sigh--"Triggered", one of the most useless words (DISCUSSION) · 9:46pm Aug 7th, 2016
Before I get into this blog, I'd like to say that you should not worry, this will not be a rant. Rather, I am posting this more as a blog to get some information out of all of you, since we do read on this site... right?
Anyway, the subject is the word "triggered" and how it is used on this site. It's totally misused and downright rude to be used as a way of "warning the reader of something". I remember doing this as a rookie mistake when I first started writing, thinking I had to let the reader know that a scene that was a bit gore-heavy was approaching.
Newsflash, if you rate the story Mature and add a gore tag, then you should expect gore in the story. The amount does not matter, because gore is part of your listing. Writing clop? Then you should add a mature and sex tag to that story. But you should not need to accommodate your readers because they are too afraid to click on a chapter. Why? Simple: stories are meant to be read. If I wrote in the description of, oh, let's say, Luna's Coffee, and put the "trigger warnings" of "warning: poetry, reflection, coffee, finding oneself", wouldn't that spoil the whole story?
Seriously, authors, stop accommodating readers. Let them discover that they don't like a certain fetish, or that they don't like how a story is told, or how certain events are ordered. That's all part of the reading process. Besides, the description should give me a good idea of what I should be looking at. If it doesn't and you have to add warning tags, then you have a very weak description.
[Now here is where I want to hear your feedback on this issue]
Do you agree or disagree with this point of view? Why or why not?
-Soaring
Don't be this person:
Explicit "triggered" is a response to ass-hats who, as you say in your post, read the story and then get pissed because despite all the telegraphed information ahead of the reading (titles, description, tags, categories, group postings, reviews and Celestia only knows what else) the story did not meet at the very least one of their expectations.
As pretty much every product marketing course on earth will tell you, "Expectation is 90% of happiness".
If you can't meet everyone's expectations (and you can't!) then you're bound to make at least some of the readers unhappy, no matter what you do to prepare them.
Now, it would be a downright shame to ruin everyone else's experience of the story just to try to reach that last bunch of folks, who won't be happier anyway.
So I agree which your point. Write your story. Use the meta-information to make it easier for people who might enjoy your story to find it. Then let them read it. The audience will sort itself out ( no matter what you do) anyway.
Hm, I've actually haven't come across this issue yet. Though you do make a valid opinion.
So, don't put in a warning in before a certain part of a story?
4137507
Essentially. It's most commonly found in the description of most mature rated fics.
I agree; I used to make triggers like that, more as a joke, sometimes not, but I've found myself with my recent stories hurtling towards more inviting descriptions. Two or three sentences should be able to start up a story in the reader's head, and lure them in to really find out.
Normally, I would agree whole-heartedly with your point of view here. People do tend to go overboard. However, in some cases (such as a scene of violence in a typically calm story), it can save the reader from any memories that may or may not be uncomfortable. A dear family friend is an ex-soldier, and she suffers from Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder that can often be "triggered" by flashing lights, loud sounds, and in rare occasions, accidentally reading something that reminds her of serving. She's not necessarily the rule, but I've taken to telling her any unsavoury parts of a story that may upset her prior to lending her any of my books.
I'm not saying trigger warnings are good any more than I'm saying they're bad. You're right that they can ruin pivotal moments in a good story. However, I tend to find it useful when the tone of a story drastically changes and something involving gratuitous violence, rape, trauma, etc, that comes about unexpectedly can be helpful for those few who need minding. It's not such a big deal on fimfiction where we have story tags, but on sites such as fanfiction.net or AO3, it's a nice precaution.
Feel free to argue or respond or anything - I'm honestly not trying to be offensive or hostile, but I don't know how my tone conveys emotion over text so if I am, tell me to shut up. Have a nice day everyone!
4138294
That is true too, but if that's the case, let's say someone posts a rape fic, all they would need to post is that it encompasses rape. Yes, I would know there's rape in the story, but I wouldn't know the specifics, therefore not spoiling the story. Disclaimers are fine, not definitive spoilers like trigger warnings.
Good point though. Thanks for the response!
4138092
Exactly. A good two to three sentences should do the trick. Heck, if the author wants to still imply certain fetishes, they could use a bit of "wording" to evoke those fetishes. Yes, it would require them to understand the implications, but if the author makes it blunt enough without stating it, it would be much better, since you're making the reader figure it out, hence not spoiling the story for everyone else.
By the way, as mentioned before, it doesn't just work for fetishes alone. Other concepts such as event ordering, characters, heck, even concepts like bullying or plagues can be put in this situation. Just easy to explain with fetishes, since that is the most common story track that gets this sort of treatment.
4137419
Yep. Advertising at its finest. Don't you love it?
But I digress, I really like this comment. The author believes that if they set certain trigger warnings, it would ward off "haters" and essentially make those who are into said "warnings" on their story. Problem is that it makes their stories targets of those who dislike said warnings, hence making that whole warning system worthless. Instead, they should use disclaimers, and word said disclaimers in a way that does not spoil the story.
Advertise what you may, but do not advertise to expect me to like everything.
4138345
Yes, that's a good way to solve it without spoiling. Thanks for responding! It's funny how, with these types of posts, people respond so coherently and uniquely and we see all the different viewpoints. It really allows for a good discussion without resorting to flinging petty insults and repeating old arguments. It makes me glad to see proper discussion without the youtube-like comments. I'll keep your suggestion in mind the next time I read Fanfiction.
4138347
Welcome back to the reformed Soaring blogs, It's been a while.
4137555 Ah. So I should remove that?