Dear authors who have written, are writing, and/or plan on writing about sexual abuse,
Please attach a warning to your book if you're going to go into any detail of it. It may sound like a small thing, but to some of us that is called a "trigger". It took me two weeks to get over reading something recently that I wasn't expecting in the book.
Imagine never wanting to leave your bed because of something that happened years ago. Still, you are made to function like everything is okay. It's hard. I'm a wife, mother of a three-year-old, and I work with kids for a living. I can't afford to have that dragging me down.
I have no issue with it being in books. It is incredibly helpful in many cases, when it is expected and I can prepare for it. Some of my favorite books have the subject - but they also made it clear what was in the bookso there wouldn't be surprises.
They do in movies and TV shows, and I have seen it on some books as well, so I'm not coming up with some weird idea. I'm not crazy! Well, not that much. *eye twitch*
I'm not asking for someone to put a big sign saying " SOMEONE GETS SEXUALLY MOLESTED IN THISBOOK!" because that's asking way too much. Just a small note at the top of the synopsis, if you're unable to work it into the synopsis itself. That would make a world of a difference.
I feel that it might reveal plot points that an author might not want to reveal. I've read books where rape was induced later in the book and to have that revealed early would have spoiled the storyline. Adult books will carry adult themes, either with rape, murder, torture, child abuse, war, and much more. The reader has the option to stop reading the book if they gets uncomfortable. Books are already classified between children, ya , and adult. Then from there sub-genres. It's kinda like the movies with their rating system. G,
Pg, pg-13 and rated r. Rated R is for adults and a lot can happen with rated r movies.
If a movie is rated R, it ALWAYS says why. (i.e. nudity, violence, profanity) why would that not be the case for books?
Like, Maribel said about the "warning 18+" for sexual mature books. To keep parents from freaking out. Except, in this case, it helps people who react poorly to certain scenes know to tread cautiously or avoid the book altogether.
In other words, J. Hooligan should skip that one :p
I get my opinion is not popular but I just don't see it working.
I feel like that middle grade, YA, NA, adult, and erotic label is the literary equivalent of G, PG, PG-13, R, and X.
What I do support is the words, "Trigger warning" somewhere in the synopsis.
I don't know how to explain this without sounding crazy, and I don't think it's fair to me for this... but I can honestly not read books with sexual abuse without being warned. It ends up disrupting my personal life. I have nightmares, I distance myself from people, and I become uncomfortable with people touching me... more so than usual.
I don't want to avoid books as a whole, I LOVE reading. And the words "Trigger Warning" doesn't spoil the plot. It just lets certain people know they should be careful before reading a certain book.
Matter of fact, that should be our next discussion topic.
That is exactly what I mean. It doesn't give any spoilers and I know to be careful about reading it.