Trigger warnings started as a courtesy in specific spaces. Academic discussions. Trauma-informed therapy settings. Places where the goal was processing, not storytelling. Somewhere along the line, they wandered into fiction.
Content warnings create a problem for thrillers, horror, and dark fiction. Giving the reader a heads-up of what’s coming sabotages the entire point. Suspense relies on uncertainty. Tension relies on risk. Fear relies on not being cushioned in advance. If I tell people, “By the way, something upsetting happens on page 143,” I’ve just defanged my book.
Thrillers aren’t spa days. They’re controlled danger. Readers pick them because they want to feel unsettled, stressed, shocked, or cross moral lines (sort of 😏). That’s the contract. Nobody wanders into a shark movie and then complains there’s water involved.
If this makes you cranky as a reader, remember, you have agency. You can choose your genre. You can pick your authors. And you can stop reading, close the book, or skip scenes. You can also ask other readers about topics that are sensitive to you. That’s taking responsibility and being an adult.
The expectation that every creator must pre-manage every possible emotional reaction is unsustainable and a tad self-centered. Humans are triggered by different things. If a writer tried to cover all of it, we’d end up with a warning longer than the book and still miss something.
If you haven’t established coping mechanisms to deal with things that trigger you, find a therapist who can help. Don’t ruin a creative’s storytelling to ease your anxiety. Take personal responsibility. Or look at it this way: exposure to “difficult material”, especially in fiction, can help people build resilience. Stories let us rehearse fear in a safe container. Strip that away and you don’t get kindness. You get fragility wrapped in moral superiority.
Choosing not to use trigger warnings is not the same as being careless or gratuitous. Thoughtful handling of dark material matters. Purpose matters. Context matters.
Bottom Line
I write mystery thrillers. My stories are not instruction manuals. My books aren’t therapy workbooks. I don’t do shock-for-sport nonsense. The Marnie Reilly Mysteries series features dastardly antagonists, crime scenes, cadavers, curse words, twisty plots that make readers squirm, and paranormal aspects. One would expect that, considering the genre.
My job is to tell the story. The reader’s job is to decide whether to step inside my world, remembering my tagline is “Welcome to Creekwood. Where the holidays are murder!” My books are not cozy.
If you need trigger warnings to read a mystery thriller because blood, death, and suspense cause you discomfort, don’t read my books.
I’m not being mean or ignoring your feelings. I’m preserving the genre.
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Hi Shari. Wow! I could not have said this better. I could go line by line and comment, but I’ll highlight your words: “Thrillers aren’t spa days. They’re controlled danger. Readers pick them because they want to feel unsettled, stressed, shocked, or cross moral lines (sort of 😏).”
Yes! This is why human beings choose to watch a sad movie, or a horror/scary movie, or a dark love story, etc. This is why we read fantastical stories—many of which we might not EVER watch to experience in real life. Books, movies, plays, music—ART—allows us to “live” and pretend to experience a myriad of lives.
If an author chooses to list trigger warnings, that is absolutely their prerogative. However, if an author chooses not to, they should not feel obligated to do so.
Thanks for posting such a thoughtful exploration of the concept of trigger warnings and helping us learn where they originally were formed (academia, therapy). Perspectives like this definitely add MUCH value to the discussion on presenting our books to readers and how they are received. 🙂
Thanks so much for your feedback, Tracy. Sounds like we’re on the same page. 📖😏
That should have said: “…many of which we might not EVER want to experience in real life.”
😉 Sorry!