Trigger Warnings VS Spoilers
Along with a love for reading novels, I love reading book reviews. I must read ten to twenty reviews a week, and not just books I’m interested in, but all kinds of books. I do this because I like to see how today’s reviewers have adapted over time, how they navigate within an ever-changing publishing world, and their different styles of review writing.
In pre-social media days, the only reviewers one could find were in magazines and major newspapers, and on Public Radio. They were usually older, with a degree in journalism or communication. Today, anyone can call him or herself a reviewer. For an author like myself, having so many people reviewing books is both a positive and negative aspect of the industry, but I will go down that twisted tunnel in a future blog post.
A short while back, I stumbled onto a review site I’d never seen before. This particular reviewer—let’s call her “Sally”—is in her early twenties and has been reviewing books for two years. This does not mean that Sally is a well-rounded reader, for most of what she reviews are Young Adult and New Adult mystery/romance. But she has found a niche within the genre and consistently reviews one book a week. Sally is a careful and relatively solid writer. She enjoys receiving free books in exchange for honest reviews, a common trait among young reviewers today. She is not one of those pretenders who slams down ten books at a time while tossing them all the same amount of stars, and writes reviews riddled with typos. Sadly, this is one of the negative sides of open forum reviewing.
Okay. So back to Sally.
A short time ago, one of her reviews jumped out at me because she did something that pissed me off: Sally gave away the storyline while offering trigger warnings.
Up until a few years ago, publishers did not offer trigger warnings on book covers, nor did they detail them in their reviews. As a young person, I read everything I could get my hands on from Stephen King to Jack London. If the author frightened me or made me cry, then he did what was intended: he affected me. When I began writing full-time in the late 1990’s, the phrase “trigger warning” wasn’t even in the industry’s vocabulary. Writers could write about monsters, aliens, pedophiles, rapists, war, arsonists, abusive parents, robbers, etc., and no books offered a trigger warning beforehand. Perhaps this is what made reading exciting.
Unfortunately, when Sally reviewed this particular book, she shared specific scenes within the story that could be deemed shocking to someone…or no one. One of her trigger warnings cautioned that the book has a scene where a girl cuts her finger and has to go to the emergency room for stitches. Her other warnings included abusive parents and a mean dog.
As a published author, I make sure my readers know what the book is about by the back matter. If the word “murder” or “demon” or “arson” or “creep” is on the back cover, doesn’t it stand to reason that an anxiety-ridden person may choose not to read the book? Is it really necessary for writers and publishers and reviewers to worry about every single reader who may or may not have a fear of something? Of anything?
I recently read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. To begin with, there’s the title. What else do I need to know about this book? It’s obviously about a murder. Then I read the back matter. Yup. Horrific true story of a murder of an entire family. I read the book for the literary quality, even though I knew it would be upsetting. I’m not going to call the publisher and tell them to put a trigger warning on the cover. If you don’t want a book to upset you, then don’t read it. Not sure by the back matter if the book may trigger some anxiety? Then ask around. Read some accredited reviews, and not just those from speed readers. There’s almost no excuse today NOT to know what a book is about before reading it. It should not be up to the author or the publisher to add trigger warnings to every book about every single situation that may or may not upset a reader.
Sally screwed up as a reviewer. By offering so many trigger warnings, she, in effect, gave away much of the story, and that is never a good thing, certainly not for the author who will lose possible sales. I plan not to read the book because too much was given away.
Look, I am sympathetic. I work with young adults for a living and have held them in my arms during a global pandemic. I know people with mental illness; friends who suffer from anxiety. And I sympathize with all of them. I really do.
But when it comes to reviewing books, please remember that less is best. I only want to know how you feel about the plot and the characters and their personal journeys. I don’t want to know the details of every single scene because you think that warning me ahead of time will help in some way. Trust me. I don’t need you doing me any favors. I can figure out what to read on my own. When a trigger becomes a spoiler, dear reviewer, you’ve gone too far.
In pre-social media days, the only reviewers one could find were in magazines and major newspapers, and on Public Radio. They were usually older, with a degree in journalism or communication. Today, anyone can call him or herself a reviewer. For an author like myself, having so many people reviewing books is both a positive and negative aspect of the industry, but I will go down that twisted tunnel in a future blog post.
A short while back, I stumbled onto a review site I’d never seen before. This particular reviewer—let’s call her “Sally”—is in her early twenties and has been reviewing books for two years. This does not mean that Sally is a well-rounded reader, for most of what she reviews are Young Adult and New Adult mystery/romance. But she has found a niche within the genre and consistently reviews one book a week. Sally is a careful and relatively solid writer. She enjoys receiving free books in exchange for honest reviews, a common trait among young reviewers today. She is not one of those pretenders who slams down ten books at a time while tossing them all the same amount of stars, and writes reviews riddled with typos. Sadly, this is one of the negative sides of open forum reviewing.
Okay. So back to Sally.
A short time ago, one of her reviews jumped out at me because she did something that pissed me off: Sally gave away the storyline while offering trigger warnings.
Up until a few years ago, publishers did not offer trigger warnings on book covers, nor did they detail them in their reviews. As a young person, I read everything I could get my hands on from Stephen King to Jack London. If the author frightened me or made me cry, then he did what was intended: he affected me. When I began writing full-time in the late 1990’s, the phrase “trigger warning” wasn’t even in the industry’s vocabulary. Writers could write about monsters, aliens, pedophiles, rapists, war, arsonists, abusive parents, robbers, etc., and no books offered a trigger warning beforehand. Perhaps this is what made reading exciting.
Unfortunately, when Sally reviewed this particular book, she shared specific scenes within the story that could be deemed shocking to someone…or no one. One of her trigger warnings cautioned that the book has a scene where a girl cuts her finger and has to go to the emergency room for stitches. Her other warnings included abusive parents and a mean dog.
As a published author, I make sure my readers know what the book is about by the back matter. If the word “murder” or “demon” or “arson” or “creep” is on the back cover, doesn’t it stand to reason that an anxiety-ridden person may choose not to read the book? Is it really necessary for writers and publishers and reviewers to worry about every single reader who may or may not have a fear of something? Of anything?
I recently read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. To begin with, there’s the title. What else do I need to know about this book? It’s obviously about a murder. Then I read the back matter. Yup. Horrific true story of a murder of an entire family. I read the book for the literary quality, even though I knew it would be upsetting. I’m not going to call the publisher and tell them to put a trigger warning on the cover. If you don’t want a book to upset you, then don’t read it. Not sure by the back matter if the book may trigger some anxiety? Then ask around. Read some accredited reviews, and not just those from speed readers. There’s almost no excuse today NOT to know what a book is about before reading it. It should not be up to the author or the publisher to add trigger warnings to every book about every single situation that may or may not upset a reader.
Sally screwed up as a reviewer. By offering so many trigger warnings, she, in effect, gave away much of the story, and that is never a good thing, certainly not for the author who will lose possible sales. I plan not to read the book because too much was given away.
Look, I am sympathetic. I work with young adults for a living and have held them in my arms during a global pandemic. I know people with mental illness; friends who suffer from anxiety. And I sympathize with all of them. I really do.
But when it comes to reviewing books, please remember that less is best. I only want to know how you feel about the plot and the characters and their personal journeys. I don’t want to know the details of every single scene because you think that warning me ahead of time will help in some way. Trust me. I don’t need you doing me any favors. I can figure out what to read on my own. When a trigger becomes a spoiler, dear reviewer, you’ve gone too far.
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Thank you for your support, Douglas! I have been a book lover for 57 years (Yeah, that long!) and I grew up without trigger warnings. As a matter of fact, if I heard from a friend through the grapevine that a novel had some graphic scenes, I'd do what I could to get my hands on the book! Most teens love drama, and I was definitely in that group. As an aside, I do take mental illness seriously, and I do empathize, for sure. But my books are mild compared to so many today. Think Hunger Games or the later Harry Potter books. I cannot imagine placing a trigger warning on those books. To me, it's almost the same as editing them to take out the dramatic details or banning them altogether. But don't get me started all over again. LOL As an aside, my husband and I just finished watching Netflix's Black Summer (zombie series extraordinaire) and some scenes were so graphic, I covered my eyes. I am mature enough to censor myself. I think most of us are.
Indeed, I get the need to place a warning on films and so forth but I disagree completely with any sort of book censorship. Equally and sadly there will always be mental illness and yet to use the few who cant deal with the use of the word ---- or a particular act described in detail. Then I would say these people need a carer that monitors them 24 hours a day just in case an odd-shaped leaf lands on their hands and causes a breakdown.
Historically, women used to faint at the sight of blood. This was merely a sign of the times I suspect rather than a condition. They were expected to therefore a certain percentage did.
Equally, I see that same pattern now with the insane level of censorship and the fact with our feeding this madness we are increasing the examples of it. If we just said enough is enough then people would laugh or merely walk away when they encountered such a scene.
Historically, women used to faint at the sight of blood. This was merely a sign of the times I suspect rather than a condition. They were expected to therefore a certain percentage did.
Equally, I see that same pattern now with the insane level of censorship and the fact with our feeding this madness we are increasing the examples of it. If we just said enough is enough then people would laugh or merely walk away when they encountered such a scene.
Agree with everything you said! Thanks for all the input. It's nice to be heard. : )
Read your words with interest, I have always felt that trigger warnings are a major piece of idiocy.
As adults do we need someone to tell me there is a scene involving ----- in it. No? I would rather just read it and deal with it.
If you are incapable of reading a particular type of scene just put the book down, step away from it and call the bomb disposal squad. The first two anyway :)
Thank you for bringing this into the light.
Regards