Storytelling Taboos
Should you tackle uncomfortable subjects in fiction?
Pushing characters to their limits comes with the territory for an author.
Character evolution occurs in situations where a character is challenged on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels by obstacles thrown in their path. The way a character responds to these situations drives how a story unfolds.
Authors challenge readers on a similar scale. Storytelling invites readers to step outside their comfort zone while joining characters on a narrative journey. A great author will convince their audience to examine their thoughts and feelings through a different prism as they turn the pages.
Reader Beware
Storytelling sometimes requires going into dark visceral places to tell a story. If you write in the horror genre, for example, one of your primary goals is to scare your reader. The best horror stories linger in your nightmares long after you close the book.
Fans of the horror genre have certain expectations. You will encounter frightening antagonists. You will be treated to gruesome imagery, creepy settings, and life-or-death stakes for the protagonist. That’s all part of the fun though, right? Horror books pack an intoxicating adrenalin punch.
A growing trend among indie authors gives me pause for concern. Many indie authors are facing increased pressure to include so-called trigger warnings with their stories. These warnings are designed to alert readers to potentially upsetting content. A trigger warning will caution against graphic violence, sexual content, coarse language, or other things potentially offensive to readers.
Putting a rating system in place for books matching movies, TV shows, and video games could be helpful as a guide on deciding what books are appropriate for younger readers. Including trigger warnings, on the other hand, feel like a form of self-censorship. Trigger warnings often carry a stigma and some authors subconsciously seek to avoid them — and end up fundamentally changing their stories in a bad way.
Embrace Uncomfortable Storytelling
When I finished my rough draft of Pandora Reborn a few years ago, I brought in a couple of beta readers to comb through the story and give me feedback on plot and character development. Beta reading is a key part of developing a novel because it gives the author a better idea of what works and what needs improvement in a story.
One of my Pandora Reborn beta readers criticized a scene early in the novel where my primary antagonist murders a teen’s parents before his eyes and eventually slays him as well. The reader claimed this specific scene would be too uncomfortable to teens and/or their parents who read the story and urged me to remove it. I quickly reminded my beta reader that I was writing a horror novel and explained it was my job as an author to scare my audience. They are supposed to feel uncomfortable. If they don’t, my horror story is missing the mark.
I left the early death scene in the final draft of Pandora Reborn because it underscored the real danger that the ancient witch posed to Ron Olson and his friends later in the story. Had I listened to my beta reader, I would have undercut a ton of dramatic tension in my story and minimalized the severity of the threat facing my protagonists. I didn’t let concerns over potentially upsetting a reader or two stand in the way of telling my story the way it needed to be told.
Authors should be sensitive about going over-the-top with sex, violence, and language. If it is gratuitous and doesn’t advance the story, then you shouldn’t include it in the narrative. But self-censoring to avoid potentially triggering a reader isn’t the right path to take either.
Being true to your story means imbuing your characters with a tangible sense of realism. Realistic characters will do things that are dark, visceral, and uncomfortable because real-life people act in the same manner. Removing uncomfortable elements out of a misguided fear of upsetting specific readers is a sure path to turning a promising novel into the literary equivalent of a Disney Channel Original Movie. Everyone in your sanitized story will be safe and happy in the end — and your story will also be boring as hell with no real stakes or threats faced by your characters.
I agree that it isn't the author's job to provide readers with trigger warnings, and it's a losing game. There is no way of knowing what things might potentially upset or offend different individuals. Genres are a fair guide, and beyond this, readers simply have to develop some coping skills. Books are make-believe, after all.
Beyond what it asks of authors, it's infantilizing to other readers and potentially spoils the experience for those who don't wish to be coddled. I definitely don't want to open a book with trigger warnings letting me know in advance what it contains. So much for surprises! Trigger warnings might as well just be called Spoilers.
Also, as in your example, if a reader knows he or she is susceptible to violent or frightening imagery, is horror really the genre for them? If adult themes are potentially upsetting, maybe it's best to stick to books for a younger audience. Or faith-based stuff. Etc.
I know my preferences and dislikes in terms of content, and I take the responsibility for that stuff on myself; I don't place it on the author. I also don't have an emotional meltdown if I do encounter something that makes me uncomfortable because discomfort is part of life, and the fictional world of books is the safest training ground for life's emotional ups and downs. Also, we have the power to stop reading any time. If readers don't like where the story is going, they can always put the book down.
I've got a detrans character in one of my upcoming stories. She's written in such a way that a reader might interpret her as going through all sorts of changes, but to me she's detrans. She's written that way so the reader can build a picture of her over time, get what they want to find out of it.
I was told by a handful of friends who are more left-leaning not to tackle this subject in a story, as I hadn't personally experienced it. I then pitched it to some others, who loved the idea and helped me find sources and stories.
What's interesting is that two of the people who told me not to write it, had previously told me I should tackle white-on-black racism in my stories, which I definitely have not experienced. I've not experienced either thing, but I was asked to look at one and not the other. My point is that people will decide what you can and cannot write about based on what their favourite youtuber tells them. But I've never listened to youtubers.
And I will write what interests me, when it interests me.
To any passing readers who are interested, the story includes robot demons.