Should Books Contain Trigger/Content Warnings?

Riddle me this, book lovers: should books contain trigger and/or content warnings?

This question has made its rounds in literary circles many times before. A few years ago, many editorials came out discussing the idea after university students began asking for trigger warnings on course material. You know, mostly to have a head's up in case a disturbing scene is just around the corner. I was amazed at the amount of anger such a consideration sparked. It was as if these students had asked for regular book burnings to take place on campus. Many of the objections boiled down to some simple themes:

1) You are ruining the Sanctity of Literature if you spoil plot points through trigger warnings.

2) These special snowflakes need to buck up and deal with it. Life doesn't come with trigger warnings.

3) Being able to "opt out" of uncomfortable situations or scenarios is unhealthy.

4) Trigger warnings will lead to banning books. 

So let's really get into this. Because I want to know what you think about all this.

For the purpose of this post, when I talk about trigger warnings, usually I'm referring to graphic depictions that could trigger someone who has a history of trauma. Things like suicide, war,
racism, rape, child murder, domestic violence, etc. When I talk about content warnings, it's usually in a broader sense and covers things that may not be triggering, but many still would like to be aware of, such as group or kink sex, swearing, drug use, etc.

Frankly, content warnings are something that should have been added to books years ago. Every other media has a rating system to let people know what kind of content they're about to walk into. From movies, to television, video games, comics-- all have their own system to let you know what kind of content it holds, from a G rating all the way through to NC-17. Even TV shows have general disclaimers to make audiences aware of swearing, nudity, and violence. These rating systems don't spoil content-- it allows us to be informed consumers.

Yet books are exempt from this? Why?

Probably because books pre-date any sort of rating system. We were dragging around dusty tomes before we decided what was offensive and what wasn't. But does that mean they should stay exempt? It's easy to excuse a novel from needing a rating system simply because you need to immerse yourself to actually get the full impact. A person strolling by a grotesque movie poster only has to glance at it to feel the triggering effects. A book, however, can look innocuous enough until you realize what those words are building towards. Of any type of media, books are most deserving of content warnings and a rating system because you often have no inkling of it coming before you're immersed in a very triggering scene. Movie trailers give you a much stronger picture than vague back covers, and yet there are still ratings and systems in place to make sure you go in informed.

Also, to add to the argument against "content warnings are spoilers" lets remember that according to the University of California, spoilers don't spoil. In fact, they often make the experience more enjoyable.

But what about real life? Nobody hands you a content warning when you walk out the door. And could it be harmful to self-censor yourself from upsetting content? Unfortunately, when we talk about people who have been "triggered" by content like this, it's not because they've lived sheltered lives. It's because that person has a mental illness that is being aggravated by this trigger. To be triggered often means panic attacks, extreme anxiety, hallucinations or flashbacks, and are absolutely debilitating. People who suffer through experiences like this, often stemming from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, cannot control their triggers and are often hit by them when they least expect it. A traumatized individual could be triggered and not even know what by, which can create a life paralyzed by fear of the next trigger. Because of that, people will often avoid things they KNOW will trigger them, as they will inevitably be triggered by something they can't control anyway. Might as well minimize the damage, right?

Imagine PTSD as an allergic reaction. Every time you come in contact with coconut you break out in hives, so the logical thing would be to avoid coconut, would it not? You would want ingredient lists on anything you eat so you can know if it has coconut. If a teacher handed you raw coconut water and said you had to drink it for a grade, would you? Or would you protest, because this could severely hurt you, if not kill you?

Do people avoid certain topics and content? Sure, because everyone has preferences. At the end of the day, why should people be forced to read something they don't want to? There is no "book everyone must read" no matter what people say. Most importantly, due to life experiences, everyone will take away something different from a story. You may have found something beautiful in a book about a soldiers' journey through war, whereas an ex-military personnel may walk away feeling disgusted and horrified. It makes me think back to how media personnel vs military personnel responded to Trump's speech which honoured a fallen Navy SEAL, William "Ryan" Owens.

Media Reaction (left) and the Veteran's Reaction (right). 

Finally, will trigger warnings lead to banning books? I suppose I can see where the thought comes from, though to me it makes about as much sense as saying that if we offer people free healthcare they'll start running into traffic. In fact, everything I've seen when trigger warnings are put in place leads me to believe the opposite. Content warnings get people more excited about what's available to read. It's used as a tool to track down what you want through an over saturated market. To me, these 'warnings' are no different than tagging a book as sci-fi, fantasy, romance-- it helps to narrow down where in the world of literature this piece fits.

Before I came into the publishing world, I wrote fanfiction and participated in a lot of communities. Content and trigger warnings were STANDARD. It was EXPECTED. Often there were warnings on a chapter by chapter basis for longer pieces, so you knew exactly when the troubling content was coming. And how did people feel about it? Great! In fact, those content and trigger warnings became like lifeblood. Often, instead of turning people away from a story, it would engage them to click on and read. Back in those days, when I wanted to read a sweet romantic story featuring two gay men, I knew to look for tags such as "fluff" and usually the coded tag for that relationship (dating myself here, but in Saiyuki fandom, numbers were used to represent characters 3, 5, 8, and 9, so looking for a certain relationship meant looking for those numbers 3/9, 5/8, etc.) It worked amazingly. Going back to spoilers don't spoil piece, if people knew a story was especially dark, or contained graphic sex, or torture, tagging it as such let allowed people who were looking for those stories to find them easier.

When I transitioned out of the fanfiction world and started reading YA, I was thrown off by how little you are able to find out about a book. I wanted to find gay characters, especially as a teenager, and while in fanfiction such things would be easily tagged as such, in the book buying world I was flying blind. Unless the whole book focused around an Issue, you had to read the thing to find out if it had the content you were looking for. And then, Issue Books are often so formulaic and focuses so much on the problem that it can be hard to just enjoy the stories. Not to mention (especially for marginalized people) it's unfair that the only representation offered painted those people as People with Problems and forgot that they're just human.

Even today, when you look at how readers refer books to one another, you can see readers are concerned about content, not just when it comes to picking what not to read, but what to read as well. So many people on Twitter shoot out questions like, "Any recs for books with lesbian MCs/Disability rep/losing virginity/etc?" Yet if books had a content warning or rating page, it might be easier for people (especially teens) to track down the content they actually want to read about.

Content warnings don't have to be scary.

A content/trigger warning page doesn't have to be the end of the world. It can work like in the picture above, or a page like the acknowledgements listing out any troubling material, which can be easily skipped if you're not concerned and prefer to fly in blind. And if fanfiction is any indication, content warnings could serve to drum up excitement about books and reading. Would trigger warnings lead to censorship? Doubt it. If so, then we wouldn't have television, movies, video games... Besides, trying to slip in potentially distressing scenes in the name of Literary Sanctity, or to "teach readers" some moral or another, or because you know it won't be received well (slipping gay characters into Christian fiction, for ex)-- just comes across as, what we call in bird culture, a Dick Move.

I'm not asking for censorship. I just want the chance to be informed.

Art and Truth

There are bars on the window of my hotel room.

The room sits on the sixth floor of an older building, and the brass framed windows open large enough to slide through, without a screen to feign the idea of security. Three white bars stretch across only the opening, bolted to stone and porcelain, with a bold-type logo stretched across the bottom reading ‘Guardian Angel.’

The bars make me want to jump more than the inviting cement waiting at the bottom of the six-storey drop.

Not that I want to die, mind you. I actually enjoy my life and am quite happy with the way things go, most of the time. But it’s difficult to fight that urge to leap from a rooftop, to play chicken with a transit train and lose, or to pull the steering wheel and send my car into a tree. I think it’s that adrenaline of oncoming death, that brief moment before tragedy hits where everything seems to hang still, that I’m really aching for. Something beyond the mundane, the trivial conflicts and strife that do more to drag you down rather than make you feel alive.

Of course, it’s not something that I talk to many about. Urges of destruction are rarely a socially acceptable topic to entertain at tea time, and yet these impulses are very real, and very there. It joins the many other dark little secrets of mine that are not tea-time worthy, and despite the fact that I know others face similar demons and entertain morbid thoughts, we all keep them tucked away, out of sight and out of mind.

But things don’t stay buried. Not in the mind and not in the world. And when wild dogs dig up our skeletons, we have no choice but to answer for them. I believe the more frightening option, however, is that these skeletons stay buried, that we harbour them in secret until the day we die, and those we leave behind have no idea what really took place within us.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I am not able to silence the demons for long, or keep these morbid thoughts from bleeding out. Most often these themes and ideas creep out into my art. Stories of war, racism, utter despair, and struggle are those that I’m drawn to write. I want to look into the abyss and see what looks back. I want to know what’s hiding beneath everyone’s tea-time demeanour. I don’t want those secrets to stay secrets.

And today, as I leaned against the bars of my hotel room, looking out over the gloomy downtown Seattle and imagining a moment of free falling, I realized: you can’t lie in art. It is pure truth, and the things you create are a reflection of all you are within, the nice things and the not so nice things. It is impossible to create art without truth. Whether that truth is a well-known and accepted one, like the love between a mother and child, or something not so talked about, like the daily struggle against depression, you cannot make art without a reflection of soul taking place.

And perhaps that’s where I’ve gone wrong for the last little while. It’s difficult as a writer to sometimes share your work with others, as that is a piece of raw, unprotected soul that you are offering to them. It can be crushing to have others dismiss or criticize it, and I believe as we grow older, it makes us more guarded and less willing to show those pieces of ourselves, whether in art or otherwise. Without realizing it, we quietly censor ourselves more and more as life goes on, until we are nothing more than our tea-time demeanour, our polite little masks. For me, it’s become more and more difficult to share and create my work, being so overwhelmed by the opinions and criticisms of others, not necessarily about me or my writing, but about what I’m actually trying to say.

Is my message too dark? Will people be offended if I talk about these subjects? How do I portray this in a way that doesn’t make people think that I’m a monster?

On a walk with my boyfriend the other night, we discussed art and what made something “real” art. He made the point that art wasn’t to be shared, that “real” art was something created by the artist, for the artist. And though I argued vehemently, (“Of course art should be shared! It can’t be locked up in a box and forgotten!”) I think there’s definitely some truth in there. When you become so overwhelmed by what everyone else wants, which is very common when getting into the business side of art, you can’t hear your own inner muse. You can’t find your truth, because it gets mixed up in everyone else’s truths. And when you lose your own truth, you either can’t produce anything, falling prey to the devil’s “writer’s block,” or you lose all love for the craft.

I like to think diversity in art isn’t just about the artists themselves, but what you’re really saying. I like to think that the stories and truths within need to be as individualized as the artists, and we should be mindful of looking over each other’s papers too much. When you have too many people trying to stick their thumbs in the pie, you only get a crust full of holes. Inspiration is great, but there’s always a balance to things, and too much outside influence dilutes your individual style.

So, at least for me, that’s what I need to do: write truthfully. Be honest about what I feel and experience as a human. There are always those out there who feel just the same, who need those stories or that art to make them feel connected to someone else. To make them feel not so alone.

At the end of the day, what keeps me from pulling the steering wheel, from taking a swan dive, from leaping to dark impulses, isn’t some stupid ‘guardian angel’, but the fact I know I’m not alone. I know there are others out there like me, because I’ve shared my art and they’ve shared theirs. I know the world is dark and morbid and so am I, but it’s also full of incredible people, whom I hope to understand and who can understand me.

So I’ll be honest, even when it’s not easy. I’ll try to remember the feeling of art as a child, when it felt like my skin was as thick as steel. Because, let’s face it: I will have zero control over my demise when the time comes. I could die tomorrow, and I couldn’t bear to leave anything left unsaid.

Book Review: Vanishing Girls

Book Review: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver 

Goodreads Description:  Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late.

My Review:  I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of Vanishing Girls and could not be more grateful for my chance to take a peak early. That said, my review is entirely my honest opinion.

Cracking open Vanishing Girls, I was enthralled from the start mostly due to the focus in on character and the mystery woven into the opening chapters. The story focuses on two sisters and how a car accident completely alters their relationship. Though the back cover tries to pitch the book as a darker and more plot-driven thriller, the story actually very much focuses on the relationship and development of the characters. Lauren Oliver really wanted you to know these girls, and they succeed in popping off the page and being real life people that I could see myself befriending. Dara, of course, is a vibrant character in the sense that she's a rebel without a cause and manages to be larger than life, even just in the way she takes control and does her own thing. Nick, on the other hand, can come off a bit of a plain, everyday kind of YA character, but through Dara's POV we see the cracks in her demeanor. Nick takes for granted that she's the older sister and often doesn't see how her actions or feelings can leave Dara feeling like the third wheel. It sets up a delightful shift where Dara tries to take control which causes more trouble between the two of them.

The characters were very real, and the rest of the story itself feels real in the way it doesn't shy away from things like sex offenders, underage girls lured into porn/prostitution/etc, drug use, drunk driving, etc. This book would definitely be qualified as 'edgy' and yet because of that feels more authentic. It doesn't shy away from the gritty or real, which can give a lot of kids something to relate to. After all, (and I'll repeat it until my face turns blue), there are teens going through these very struggles, and sometimes they need to see how others handle it and make it through. It's nice how it shows how teens can get dragged down the rabbit hole without setting out looking for Wonderland.

Though the tension and mystery is very nice in this book, it does take a bit before the story gets into the really juicy parts. Because it isn't plot driven, it can be hard to keep the tension high while building up everything else that is needed. There are bits of mystery to keep you interested, but the real delight was coming to the end and the twist. I had the twist figured out about mid-way through, and though it could be kind of obvious to some people, I found it satisfying. Not to mention the secondary part of the plot (What happened to Madeline Snow) keeps you in the dark enough that it doesn't feel like everything in this book is horribly obvious. There were definite parts where I wondered whether the two plot lines would actually come together (The accident + Madeline Snow), and though by the end I could find nothing to complain about, the Snow subplot only seemed to buff up the relationship plot and didn't do much to really wow me, aside from keep me guessing as to how it would turn out.

All in all, I really enjoyed the book for how it made me feel. There were a lot of poignant points in this book and a lot of truths hidden in the pages. By the end I was crying, because I really loved the characters. They were by no means, "These characters are so badass, they're my heroes," and more, "These characters are so wonderful because they're real, because I could find them in any of my friends."

TL;DR: 4/5 stars. Made me ball. Intense relationship thriller with very realistic characters. Don't miss if you're a contemporary lover.

Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: Why Edgy Gets Me Excited

So, currently I'm reading Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver, and boy, am I smitten. The characters, story, and tension are all wonderful, but what really gets me are the parts most people may consider "edgy." I love the language-- the swearing is few and far between, but it feels accurate. The mentions of sex and sexuality, as well as what goes along with it-- sexual assault and porn to start. Then there's the drug mentions. One main character may only do a little pot or smoke cigarettes, but the harder stuff exists on the fringes-- it's there, mentioned in passing, just another part of the atmosphere.

But why do I love that this book touches on all of that? It's by no means an edgy story-- not about drug addicts or the like-- it's a story of sisters and their relationship. Truthfully, I may be a bit of an angst bunny. I love it when things get a little dark, but really, these things make books more real (when done well) because they were a part of my teenage experience. As a teenager, these things weren't the forefront of my life. I wasn't a druggie or had a lot of sex. In fact, aside from a little underage drinking I was a fairly straight laced kid. But I knew these things existed. I knew kids in my grade who would experiment with drugs, who were caught having sex in school (and thus, suspended). The gritty realities of life were in my line of sight, even if I didn't participate in them.

Perhaps that's why I'm so attached to VG. Most of the plot does not involve those things, but they do have an effect on their lives of the characters. As teenagers, sex, drugs and the like are relatively new experiences, and they don't always know how to react or how to stay away from them. After all, it can be hard to look away from a car crash. Even if you consciously know it is bad, you don't always have the willpower needed to turn away from it.

Yes, a lot of parents and publishers would like to keep YA fiction clean, hence why most of these subjects are referred to as "edgy." They tone down real life in the hopes of keeping teenagers naive for just a little longer. It's something that I'd consider "edgywashing," an attempt to focus in on things that won't be offensive. I have nothing wrong with a G rated story, but it often feels unreal, like the author has stuck blinders up on readers to only focus on certain areas of life. Sure, there's a time and place for it, but much like Hollywood's whitewashing, it feels as something's missing. When we get whitewashing, we ignore the diversity in our world and suddenly, a whole bunch of people don't have anything to relate to. Often, that is how I feel in an edgywashed story. Sure, I can enjoy the ride, but it's hard for me to relate to a lot of these characters. They feel unreal, because my experience as a teenager wasn't nearly as sheltered as some others'.

I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. I work in a residential treatment facility for traumatized children, who have come from horrible backgrounds. Some have been abandoned by their parents, abused in innumerable ways, others have serious addiction problems, whatever. These kids are definitely the exception to the rule, but they often relay a similar issue as many POC-- they don't feel like they can relate to characters in most fiction. They don't know what it's like to live in a normal house with normally functioning parents, something that can be found in many YA novels. Because they have a hard time relating, they don't pick up a book as often. It doesn't feel "real" to them. They want to read about characters who have similar experiences as they do, and they want to learn from how the character deals with that situation.

I'm not saying every book should have sex and drugs and rock and roll. There's a time and place for it, and there's a right way to do it. Some books definitely don't need it. But, there's a plethora of conflict within those subjects, innumerable things to be done with it and kids out there who need those stories-- not because they want things that are "cool" and "edgy," but because that is their lives, and they're trying to figure out how to deal with those struggles. They need to know they're not the only ones dealing with those issues, and that there is a way out. Because like POC, like LGBT, like children with disabilities, they just want to see someone like themselves in fiction. They want to know they're not alone.

Meet Heather: Literacy and Child Services

Intro

I work in a social services facility. Our agency helps children and their families who have been affected by poverty, mental illnesses, behavioral problems, family conflict, abuse, assault, prostitution, drug abuse, ect, ect. We have many different programs for a variety of issues, some are residential, some are community-based. I work on campus, so most of the kids I see are residential.  I love my job, and hope soon to volunteer in some of the programs to get a better look at how the agency works.

The Library

On Monday, I had the opportunity to tour through the library on campus. It’s within our little school, where most of our residential children go. It was fascinating to sit down and talk to our librarian, Heather, who was kind enough to answer all my questions about literacy within our programs, as well as books and writing.

I wish I could’ve snapped a picture of the library for you guys. It’s beautiful, with art of creatures from Where the Wild Things Are (love that book!), as well as lots of comfy places for kids to sit down with a good book. My first impression was amazement. My high school library looked like crap compared to this one! And it made me really happy, too, because Heather is clearly a dedicated librarian, and is always searching for new ways to get the kids reading.

Literacy in the School

Many of the children who wind up in our school/programs come from homes where there are no books, where their parents do not read, and often times, they have not gone to enough school to properly learn to read. For many students, the library offers a one-to-one literacy program, in which the student sits down with one of the library staff to get some stress-free tutoring for reading. Many children in our programs (though not all!) have a below average reading level. Heather told me the main priority for these kids is to either a) get them up to their reading level, or, if this is not possible (many teenagers who have been out of school for so long simply can’t catch up) b) get them up to a passable reading level (grades 4-5.)

Every day, before lunch, the school has a 20 minute NATURE session. That stands for Need At least Twenty minutes of Uninterrupted Reading Every day. What I especially love about this, is ALL STAFF must be reading as well. It doesn’t matter if it’s a comic book, magazine, novel—so long as the adults are reading. It’s great for the kids, because it gives them a positive reading role model. As Heather put it, “If the kids see a staff they admire reading, they’re more likely to get excited about it.”

Every day after lunch, for 40 minutes, each class participates in a literacy block. This is where, like most classrooms, kids join together for different literacy exercises, depending on their ability level. Some classrooms read through smaller chapter books and answer questions in a booklet. More advanced classes (not necessarily older kids) do things such as novel studies.

For children who do well in NATURE and their literacy block, the school offers them a chance to purchase books for the library. Each year, one student from every class is chosen. They select five books, four of which will be placed in the library with a bookplate in the front cover, stating “so-and-so selected this book for the library.” As well, they are allowed to purchase one book for themselves. I absolutely adore this system. What better way to encourage kids than rewarding them with BOOKS?

Where does Heather find her books?

Most of the library’s funding comes from the Board of Education, but Heather also purchases books through Chapters/Indigo, Amazon, and United Library Services. Her library is filled with new books, which made me happy to see. I spotted the Mortal Instruments series, Divergent (which she mentioned she and the kids loved!) as well as things like Speak, Go Ask Alice, and the House of the Scorpion. Heather is a librarian that does her research. She knows exactly which books she’s ordering. She finds most of her books through reviews, suggestions from students and teachers, as well as what reflects the curriculum.

Hear that, reviewers? Your job is SO IMPORTANT for helping librarians like Heather find books for their students.

Big Hits

The books that struck big, according to Heather, are horror. (Hm, wonder why that is?) Darren Shan books are popular, as well as graphic novels, Amulet (Heather spoke highly of this one), Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Conspiracy 365, and the Simpsons comics. (She rolled her eyes when she told me this. Hee!)

For girls, issue books are a big hit. Anything by Ellen Thompson, books on cutting, books on runaways and the like. The girls (and boys) in our programs can really relate to these books, because at times, it feels like these issues are the only things in their lives that make sense. 

Issue Books and Triggering

Heather’s take on issue books really intrigued me. I’m a writer who loves to tackle the dirty and controversial subjects, and although Heather had a bit of hesitation about them, she is a full supporter of issue books. According to her, these books are very important for making the kids feel as though they’re not alone with the problems they face. (Abuse, poverty, cutting, suicide, ect.) For Heather, the issue books have never been a problem, because YA doesn’t glorify these subjects. Though sometimes they can get graphic, in the end, usually the characters have found a way to solve or deal with their problems, which shows these kids that there is an end to the darkness they face.

Issue books are a bit of a touchy subject with some of the clinicians and counselors, because they can trigger the kids. Books that deal with self-harm can act as triggers, and the last thing anyone wants to do is deal with an escalation. At first, Heather told me that the clinicians asked to have the books removed, but after persuading some of them to read a few, apparently they’ve seen the light. There are still some books that need to be approved through clinicians before the kids can sign them out, but most of the time, it’s not an issue. 

A Happy Ending

One of the last questions I asked Heather was if she’d ever had any issues with kids holding onto books longer than necessary. She laughed and said, “I have many stories like that.” She told me about one boy who was a voracious reader, and had been hoarding library books in his room at his program. They found a stack hidden under his bed. He’d ripped out all the sign-out cards, scratched out the agency’s name and wrote his own in the cover. After the books were returned, Heather sat down with him and talked about how they could arrange for him to get some books of his own. Needless to say, the kid was certainly excited about that idea.

So there you have it! My trip to the school library. I may snap some pictures of it sooner or later, because it is a beautiful library. Heather is the kind of librarian that makes me proud to be a children’s writer.

Would you like to donate a book?

If anyone would like to donate to the school’s library, or to Heather, PLEASE, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email at katiecarson at Hotmail dot com. When I mentioned I might be able to get some people to donate her books, Heather got really excited. Any old books kicking around that you don’t want? I know some kids would really love a chance to read them. 

Thanks for reading!

Peace,

-Katie