Saw yet another “darkfic means you’re secretly dangerous” take, so here’s the longer version of what I wanted to say.
COVID-era fandom discourse did real damage to people’s ability to separate discomfort from danger.
The landscape of online spaces underwent a major psychological shift around 2020. Hyper-isolation, heightened anxiety, and constant digital proximity accelerated a harmful trend: treating psychological discomfort as though it were the same thing as physical danger.
In digital spaces, we have largely forgotten how to coexist with things that upset us. Instead of navigating public spaces with personal boundaries, modern fandom increasingly operates like an ideological panopticon, where consuming or creating “dark” content is treated as a moral confession.
01. The Purpose of the Sign: Informed Consent vs. Normalization
The core of this modern moral panic lies in what a content warning actually represents.
The door sign analogy: A warning label on transgressive fiction, or darkfic, is a door sign. It clearly states what is on the other side. It is one of the clearest tools we have for reader autonomy.
The normalization fallacy: Critics argue that tagging and publishing dark content “normalizes” harmful real-world behavior. This is a basic failure of media literacy. Depiction is not endorsement. A warning label does not say, “This behavior is acceptable in society.” It says, “This fictional narrative contains heavy themes; proceed at your own discretion.”
The “Dead Dove” contract: The whole joke of the “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” tag is that you found exactly what was written on the bag. It is a contract of absolute transparency. To look at a sign that says “Keep Out,” walk inside anyway, and then demand that the building be demolished is not activism. It is entitlement.
02. Curation vs. Policing: The Loss of Digital Sovereignty
Healthy internet use requires personal sovereignty. You are the absolute ruler of your own dashboard, feed, inbox, blocklist, and filtered tags.
Healthy curation: Using tools like blocklists, muted words, and tag filters is a mature way to manage your own experience. It honors the statement, “This makes me uncomfortable, so I will step away.”
Authoritarian policing: Changing that statement to “You make me uncomfortable, so you should be put on a list” transforms a personal boundary into a social punishment. It replaces individual responsibility with censorship and public suspicion, echoing the anti-comic-book crusades of the 1950s and the Satanic Panic of the 1980s.
03. Fictional Sandboxes and Psychological Safety
Fictional harm has a body count of zero.
Writing or reading about dark themes can create a controlled space for exploring fear, grief, powerlessness, anger, trauma, taboo, and survival without causing real-world harm.
When fandom polices these fictional sandboxes, it can ironically harm the very people it claims to protect. Many survivors use dark fiction as a private, controlled environment for processing complicated feelings. Forcing those narratives underground does not protect anyone. It strips creators and readers of agency, nuance, and context.
04. Reclaiming the Right to Walk Away
Fandom does not need to be a monolith of pure, unproblematic comfort. It needs to be a space that respects adult autonomy.
We need to reclaim the distinction between a threat and a trigger.
If you see a door with a warning sign, you have every right to turn around and walk away. What you do not have is the right to lock everyone else outside with you.
A warning label is not normalization.
It is a door sign telling you what is inside.
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— synopsis . :: you return to a prison visiting room one year after everything fell apart, visiting the boy who ruined everything and still has a hold on you somehow. what starts as a quiet visit quickly turns into a tense, unsettling reminder that some feelings are harder to let go of than others.
ⓘ warnings . || toxic relationship , abuse (emotional - psychological) manipulation , gaslighting , mass murder - violence (referenced) , death of a friend , grief and trauma unhealthy attachment - trauma bonding , controlling behavior , morally disturbing themes and other content that may disturb some readers. be warned!
— english is in fact not my first language , hope you enjoy tho!
2012, ONE YEAR.
one year. 365 days exactly, 12 months ago today, of the massacre committed by your so-called boyfriend, even though you wouldn’t call whatever this is a relationship.
visitor. that's what it said on the sticker on your jacket. that's how it was in prison, wasn't it? everyone was labeled with a number or a simple word. It didn't matter what crime your family member or acquaintance had committed, from a simple robbery to a mass murder like Kevin, they still didn't care about your pain.
your eyes wandered around the ceiling of the room, following a couple of flies, you were bored, and that at least, relaxed you in a way, because after all, you hadn't seen that boy for a long time, the one who had manipulated you, who you thought you loved and thought you were loved by him. it was confusing that you were there. but, you felt you had to be there.
you sit down almost nervously in the chair settled across from him, a small table keeping you apart and at a reasonable distance from each other. you weren’t sure why you were here in the first place but you felt like this place was pulling you in, him calling out your name, for you to come visit him even though you know it was just complete bullshit as Kevin doesn’t beg, he never in his life has he begged for anything, the only thing he needed to do to get what he wants was to simply take it against any odds and morals.
your hands sat in your lap on your shaky thighs, fingers fidgeting with each other while you lied back in the chair, glancing up at him from your hands to meet his eyes, them already staring back at you, already analyzing your facial expressions and every single twitch of your face and body
“well.. how are you holdin up in here?”
kevin watched your nervous behavior with a predator’s quiet amusement. he leaned back in his chair, the metal creaking under his shifting weight, his eyes tracing the movement of your fingers intertwining and untangling in your lap. He knew you were uncomfortable, he could practically smell the anxiety radiating off you, and he found it intoxicating. you were here, despite everything. fuck, you came to visit him before his mother could have even thought about it.
he let the silence stretch between you for a long moment, as if he was savoring it. when his lips finally curled into that familiar, mocking smile, his voice came out low and deliberate.
"How am I holding up?" he repeated your question, tilting his head slightly.
“It’s a standard question, just answer it damn it” you softly snap back at him, annoyance flashing behind the slight anxiety inside of your eyes, crossing your arms over your chest to suppress your fidgetyness, you would be lying if you said you didn’t have any feelings left for him, even after all of the horrible stuff he has done to you and how he put your best friend in the hospital, then her dying inside said hospital shortly after, your mourning still remaining inside your heart.
you couldn’t forgive him so easily, you don’t even think it’s possible for you to forgive him, he isn’t the right person for you in any way, and he might never be. but the fact the relationship between you feels forbidden and completely messed up, it seems to keep pulling you back into a self destructive cycle you can’t quite stop from looping.
kevin chuckled darkly, the sound scraping against the quiet air of the visiting room. He enjoyed your annoyance far more than your nervousness, annoyance meant passion, meant you weren't indifferent. his eyes dropped to your crossed arms, noting the defensive posture before locking back onto yours with that terrifyingly calm intensity.
"Standard questions get standard answers, darling,"
"I'm holding up just fine." he said, his voice empty of any emotional reflection to your own. He could have been discussing the weather or commenting on the food in the prison cafeteria. He wasn't going to give you anything real, not just yet.
“well, I’m glad the prison isn’t a hellhole to you..” you start, regaining some of your lost confidence and hatred you tried to tell yourself you felt, gaslighting your brain to believe it, but your feelings towards him were stronger, easily overpowering and taking down the negative feelings, yet this time you managed to gather a few words before it dying down. “but i also hope you rot in there and don’t come out. ever.”
kevin laughed, a soft and chilling sound that lacked any genuine humor but held a terrifying amount of affection. he leaned forward over the small metal table, invading your personal space just enough to make your heart race, his eyes darkening with that twisted satisfaction he always felt when you showed bite.
"You hope I rot?"
your body immediately tenses at his sudden approach, the hairs at the back of your neck standing up as you straighten your posture, crossing your arms over your chest as you nervously gulped, the saliva going deliberately slow down your throat and finally down into your stomach thats started to cramp from all of the anxiety knotting the nerves inside together.
quickly composing yourself and regaining your guard, you put on an emotionless face yet the hints in your eyes and body language still remained, unable to disappear no matter how much you tried to mask them. “matter of fact, yeah i do”
kevin's smile widened, his teeth flashing in the fluorescent light of the room. He sat back slowly while maintaining eye contact, his gaze piercing through your carefully constructed mask. The way you tensed, the nervous swallow, the crossed arms, he saw it all. He knew he still affected you, even if you pretended to hate him.
you hated how your body betrayed you anytime you were around him, the feeling of his presence nearby alone can gauge a reaction out of you, you constantly degraded yourself for bending at his will, for still having feelings even if they are small and completely wrong, god do you wish you could just throw the entire chapter out of your life and forget about him, but the thought of never seeing him again also makes you feel sad and remorseful towards him.
it wasnt his choice to have such a tough upbringing, and live with the constant struggle of his mental health never being properly treated and always remaining misunderstood by the people around him, but it still doesn’t and cant excuse his actions in anyway, no matter how you bend the story the outcome still is the same—with his actions not justified by any one nor anything.
his gaze seemed to strip you bare, reading every thought that flashed across your eyes. kevin saw the conflict—the hatred battling with those remains of twisted affection, the way your morals fought with your trauma response. he knew exactly what you were thinking. you were trying to rationalize him, trying to separate the monster from the broken boy.
he leaned forward again, resting his elbows on the table, voice lowering so only you could hear. “you know what I love about you?"
His tone was almost gentle, a polar opposite to his usual menace. "even after everything, you still try to find excuses for my behavior."
your posture shot up straight, being surprised by his sudden words while your eyes widened at him, why would he possibly think that? you never did it verbally nor did you defend him in court while he was on trial for the murders he committed, nor when the people around him were against him, as well as his own mother—what actions could have triggered him to assume you would do that for him after everything?
during the whole visitation, your thoughts seem to be at constant war with each other, with no visible end. this train of thoughts should prove to you that you two aren’t made for each other, that he brings out the worse mental state in you, right? but still, some of your thoughts hold onto the good things about him, even if there aren’t many of them and the bad stuff overpowers them by a mile.
“what— no, i don’t and wouldn’t do that. why on earth would you assume that?”
his words got you thinking—maybe you do actually justify everyone of his actions because of your stubborn feelings left for him? as if engraved into your skin permanently. “I didnt defend you during your trial, in court, against your mother or others. What you did is inexcusable, even if someone wanted to excuse it, they couldn’t possibly”
kevin listened to your defensive rambling with an air of amusement, his head cocked slightly to the side as if studying a fascinating specimen. he watched the way your eyes flashed, the way your posture stiffened in response. he saw the conflict roiling beneath your surface—the desperate need to distance yourself from his crimes with the lingering attachment that refused to die.
"you didn't defend me with words," he countered smoothly, his voice dropping to a murmur that passed by your ears and went straight to your chest. "but you defend me in your head. you're doing it right now." attention dropped to your hands, noting the way your fingers dug into your arms, the way your body practically vibrated with tension.
his gaze flickered back up to your face, zeroing in on the tiny muscles twitching around your eyes, the slight parting of your lips as you sucked in quick, sharp breaths. kevin knew he was getting to you, pushing those hidden buttons that only he seemed to possess the code for.
“considering you aren’t inside of my head, you don’t know anything thats going on in it and quite frankly, it isnt your business what i’m thinking of” you shot him back a slight glare, well atleast you tried to glare at him as hard as you could but there was no possible venom behind it, even if you wanted to be mad at him, yell and scream about your best friend alongside all the other victims and how much you hate him and want him to never come out of prison, you can’t bring yourself to do so.
your brain cant convince your body to do not feel such things you desperately feel you need to, it seems like a never ending cycle, almost like a ferris wheel that you can’t grasp the control over, no matter how much people scream to stop the ride, you still can’t bring your hands to press the emergency stop button on the console
kevin's smirk deepened, tasting your weak glare like a victory. he didn't need to be inside your head—your body was an open book to him. every twitch, every swallowed breath, the way your jaw tightened just slightly when he leaned back with that infuriating knowing look.
"I don't need to be in your head." his eyes dropped pointedly to your chest, tracking the rapid rhythm of your heartbeat that was visibly thumping against your clothing "your body tells me everything I need to know."
he leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand, his voice dropping to a seductive, dangerous murmur. "you're angry, yes. you hate what I did."
he paused, his gaze flicking up to your face, watching the way your eyes darted away, the slight tremble of your lips. "but you don't hate me." his voice was soft, confident, a deadly combination that seemed to suck the air out of the room.
kevin titled his head, studying you with that predatory look that made you feel like a hunted prey. "you're sitting in the visiting room of a maximum security prison, not a courthouse. not a victim support group. not the cemetery."
his eyes held yours, unblinking. "you came here, didn't you."
“but it doesn’t mean i forgive you, Kev, in anyway—” the words came out your throat like poison, as if they were callousing the inside of your mouth while the taste was bitter. “if you think about it, we shouldn’t have ever been together, we were just.. toxic and never meant for each other, we need to move on from each other”
his expression darkened, a storm brewing behind his eyes. the nickname "Kev" on your lips felt like a physical blow, a reminder of the past he couldn't escape and the future he couldn't have with you.
“move on?" He repeated, voice low and dangerous.
"you think I don't know that?" his voice cracked slightly, the first sign of genuine emotion breaking through his cold exterior. "i know we were toxic. i know we were never meant to be." he leaned forward, hands clenched into fists on the table.
"but we were meant to be. that's the fucking tragedy of it all." his voice this time came out raw and stripped of its usual venom, revealing something broken underneath. "i killed people. i destroyed lives. and you..." he gestured at you with a small, almost unnoticeable movement. "you still fucking show up." the words weren't an accusation anymore, but a confession.
his jaw tightened and for a moment, you saw the boy beneath the monster—the same one who had cried on your shoulder after another therapy session that failed, the same one who had whispered promises he knew he couldn't keep.
"so tell me," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "why do you still come?"
“because..” you can’t seem to get any words past your lips, you can’t possibly tell him that the reason you keep visiting him is because your brain won’t let you stop thinking about him, because you still feel the spark between you even though you don’t want to, because you can’t wait for him to get released so that you could continue your lives together outside of the prison separating you from each other.
just as you have brought up enough courage to speak and actually confess to the truth, the guards have suddenly announced that visitation hours have ended and all remaining visitors are needed to exit the prison.
“Forget it.. I really need to go now, our time is over for today.”
he watched you scramble to gather your things, his eyes tracking your movements with an intensity that made the air feel thick. the guard's announcement of "Time's up" echoed through the room, but kevin didn't move. Instead, he reached out suddenly, grabbing your wrist before you could stand.
his grip was surprisingly gentle, considering the strength he'd used to overpower guards and other inmates. his thumb traced patterns on your pulse point, a habit he'd developed during more peaceful times between you two. "not so fast,"
his fingers tightened slightly, pulling you back down into your seat as if he had every right to keep you there. the guard cleared his throat loudly, reminding you both that visitors needed to leave immediately. but kevin ignored him, his eyes locked onto yours with an intensity that bordered with madness.
you glanced at the guard, then back at kevin who was still holding your wrist tightly, and you couldn’t to quite get yourself free, no matter the amount of protest coming from your gaze alongside the guards strict rules and policy.
“Kev, I seriously have to go, I don’t want to get you into more trouble by you trying to keep me here—“
his fingers loosened just enough, sliding down to lace through yours, now holding your hand captive rather than your wrist. he knew you wouldn't fight him—you never did.
“your so called ‘trouble’ is the last thing on my mind right now," he whispered, ignoring the approaching footsteps of the guard. "you said we weren't meant for each other—that we need to move on."
his voice lowered even further, becoming a dark murmur that seemed to vibrate through your entire body and existence. “so why do you keep coming back?" his thumb pressed into the center of your palm, a silent demand for an answer. the guard reached the table, his hand hovering over kevin's shoulder.
kevin didn't flinch or pull away, his gaze never leaving yours as the guard hesitated, clearly uncomfortable with the intimate scene unfolding before him. the guard cleared his throat loudly, trying to regain some semblance of authority. "sir, the visitor needs to leave now. you know the rules."
kevin’s jaw tightened, his eyes flashing with a warning that promised the guard would regret interrupting this moment. but he didn't fight. instead, he slowly released your hand, his fingers lingering against your skin for a second longer than necessary.
"I'll see you next week." he said it with absolute certainty, leaning back, his smirk returning with a dark edge.
“you know we can’t keep seeing each other, Kev. I won’t be back next time..”
his smile didn't falter—in fact, it widened into something sharp and knowing, a terrifying display of confidence that ignored your reality completely.
"yes, you will." he leaned back, lacing his fingers behind his head, watching the guard urge you toward the exit.
"you'll be back next week. and the week after. you always do."
he watched you walk away, his eyes tracking every step you took toward the exit until you disappeared through the heavy metal doors. he didn't look panicked at your final words. he didn't even look defeated. he leaned his head back against the cold wall, a slow, satisfied smirk curling his lips.
because he knew the truth...
✎ᝰ. vera’s notepad ! :: ik the layout is basic but i gotta prepare for a theme change and i just didn’t know what to do lol, i’ve been obsessed with this movie for a week straight now i needed to write somethin for kev cuz i love me a psychopath and lmk if yall want more of him ! . . .
— side note . :: It is so nice to slowly come back to this whole community and writing, sorry if this is kinda different style from how i used to write, i don’t even remember how i used to write lowkey . . .
December prompt from the "Little Stars Writing Club" Discord: (y/n finds mer DCA stuck in a net on the beach)
As you can guess I will be inserting my beloved Waterspark Axolotl Sun for this prompt so enjoy!
Content Warnings: hurt/comfort, blood and injury, mentions of death, one-off, non-canon
————————————————————————
A drop of coolness hits your forehead and runs along your brow.
You hadn’t anticipate your evening walk along the beach to be a rainy one but you harbor no complaints as you find enjoyment having the shore all to yourself.
Of course the grey skies and foggy atmosphere don’t make for the best companion on this rather chilly evening but you welcome its company regardless, playing “I spy” with objects nearing In the distance you try to make out their being before making 20 steps of their location.
And you aren’t too shabby at this little game so far.
Crumbling sandcastle, 23 steps.
Lifeguard tower, 70 steps.
Plastic pail and two shovels, 25 steps.
Beach chair with umbrella, 48 steps.
??????, 50 steps.
Nearing in the distance you’re not sure what your eyes are trying (and failing) to make out.
The mass is faint, a large rock maybe? The fog conceals any distinguishable clues, fuzzying the whole picture into a dark grey blob.
You continue your path. Squinting at the figure does little to reveal any results.
Then it moves.
You stop dead in your tracks.
As the form shifts and breaths the silhouette begins to come together in your mind.
At first you think it resembles a lion but as you cautiously peer closer to what you think to be sleeping wild cat, the smoothness and lack of fur becomes apparent.
And the blood.
There's a lot of blood.
Has it been skinned!?
You curse under your breath, seeing now a net entangling and constricting the animals body. Blood trickles from its wounds, traveling down into a thin river receding towards the rising tide.
Your mutters must have been heard, the creature sits up with alarming speed that you wouldn’t have thought its injuries could allow for.
When it lifts its head the horror that must have been dawned on your face as you meet eyes with a wild Mer.
It holds eye contact with you. Stunned, you stare back at something you never thought you would see with your own eyes. A mermaid (or merman from what you can tell). One of an aquatic salamander species to be precise.
Your gaze travels over his face, The Axolotle Mer is ringed with starred feathery gills that resemble pointed rays, or something similar to a seven limbed starfish. Maybe there used to be eight? There’s an empty gap on his lower left side where another gill could have filled the space.
One line of the net cuts deep into the center of his forehead, but even with the blood seeping into its eyes he doesn’t break the frozen stare with you.
The red glare sends a shiver down your spine.
He had twisted his shoulders to be able to face you. You both study one another. Following down his built physique it’s undeniable the strength in this being, he has muscular arms likely used to support his large and plump axolotle lower body when necessary.
You almost think better to call for help, marine rescue, the cops, anyone for assistance because something fierce buried in your gut is telling you not to go near this wild animal.
But your sympathetic heart carries a heavy weight that anchors and threatens to sink you if you don’t help him as soon as possible. And you’ve been much fooler a person for less dire a situation.
A life is on the line.
And you won’t risk the tide sweeping this one away into its unforgiving depths.
You have to think on your feet. You need to find something sharp.
Searching In the beach litter you miraculously find a decent sized shard of a broken bottle, a careless and unfortunate reflection on human kind and their lack of respect for planet Earth but just what you need in this moment.
Returning to your previous place the creature, still craning itself, never takes its eyes off of you.
You take a deep encouraging breath and cautiously begin to step closer.
His lower half seems depleted, covered in cuts and bruising. You bite your cheek seeing just how bad the extent of damage one discarded net can do.
Under the blood and bruising you can barely make out the cream and turquoise coloring, even more faint you see orange and red patterns decorating its limbs and eel-like tail.
You figure that the back end would be the safest to begin working on.
As you strategize what you should slice you don’t dare to glance up to see if he is still glaring at you for fear that it might rip away what little courage you have left.
Finally you settle your nerves and kneel down right beside his right back leg, setting the makeshift knife down before grabbing a handful of netting to untangle where you need to make your first cuts.
Setting your only line of defense down would be your first, and likely now last mistake you will ever make.
A large hand swiftly hooks under your knee and tears you closer. Your cheek harshly plants on the rough sand hard and solid from the cold rain. You don’t even have a second to gather yourself on what’s happening before your body begins to be dragged towards the ocean.
The burning in your cheek is nothing compared to the panic taking over at the realization of what a being is capable of for desperate self preservation.
He’s going to risk drowning you both.
You kick and fight to pull yourself back, fruitless fingers digging into the loosening wet sand as shells rake and cut under your nails and fingertips.
The badly injured Mer is slow in his executionary drag, a cruel fate only 10 steps away.
Even in your dread you can’t find it in yourself to blame his fear. You fully believe that in his mind he’s choosing the lesser of two demises, letting the sea take him over the land stranger with a barbaric littered weapon.
Wait, the shard!
You twist to see the piece sitting right where you left it. It may be both yours and his only hope.
Since you’re kicking and pulling has now proven futile you turn to your last resort.
You bite.
You bite down and sink your teeth hard into the flesh of the Mer, fresh blood pours from his skin and coats the inside of your mouth with a sickly iron taste.
The Mer stifles a hiss and gives you just enough slack to kick his hand from under your knee so you can crawl back to snag the glass.
The jagged edges prickle and almost stick to your palm.
In an instant the Mer is upon you, grabbing under both your knees and hugging them tightly to his chest as he turns and makes another drag for the water.
All you see is the underbelly of the creature and the netting that falls on either side of you, now trapping you both. And to make matters worse somehow, having a new spark of energy, the Mer is even faster in his haul to the creeping waves. You know you have very little time.
You begin cutting.
The cuts are frenzied and desperate but your exact as to not accidentally lacerate the Mer as you slice open the bondage that thankfully begins to give way.
It’s already difficult seeing through the darkness and your own fearful tears obstructing your vision but you keep cutting. Cutting with such forceful, careful precision that blood is seeping from your hand where you grasp the glass.
You cry out In unbridled terror when you feel water rush under your back.
With a final slice through a wad of netting you drop the shard and quickly grasp and yank the rope into your arms. The mesh falls from the smooth body with ease and you gather the bundle tightly to your chest.
Then you freeze. Figuratively crossing your fingers as you shut your eyes and choke back another sob so to be as still and non threatening as possible.
Instantaneously the Mer stops, having felt the weight gone.
There’s a moment of stillness where neither of you dare to move a muscle.
Then your legs are released.
And you look up to see a very bloodied. And very tired, Mer.
He looks to you with broken and scared eyes. Fresh flowing tears wash away all prior redness from his gaze.
Your tears and fear match his own and you allow yourself to sob.
No souls will be lost to the ocean today.
He collapses beside you, the little energy from his fight or flight exhausted.
You both just lay there in the sand allowing your wimper and sobs to fill the salty air until the rainy sky dims into the night.
You don’t know at what moment you passed out but when you wake up to open skies and shimmering stars overhead, you don’t miss how a silky body cradles and warms you in the darkness.
I do enjoy reading the tags in my notifications about the content warning poll, angry at it being a "leading question" And it' is's like, you mean because I listed out the two usual mentalities that go with those answers??
"the fanficification of books (derogatory)" I think was the funniest one, as if giving your readers heads up that your book deals with topics that might trigger somebody's PTSD or anxiety is somehow this horrible thing that is ~ ruining literature ~ and "the implications that media containing sensitive topics is unsafe" because yes...it *is* unsafe for people who would need that content warning in the first place??
Just because *you* do not have violent flashbacks to an extremely traumatic event when you read about it in fiction unexpectedly, doesn't mean everybody else is the fucking pinnacle of mental health as well??
And we need to care about everybody?
It's not hard!
Hell, having content warnings at the beginning of your book, if that stops somebody from reading it because they find that content triggering, guess what? You're also saving yourself from possibly getting a bad review from somebody that if they *didn't* have that content warning, would have read the book unaware of what it contained, and then had the whole experience ruined by whichever topic they can't handle!
"it will spoil the story"
1) you don't need to go into exact detail or blow by blow about what exactly happens with the topics, just list out what is applicable.
2) if your story can be "ruined" by a reader knowing in advance that a character is sexually assaulted, or experiences child abuse, or experiences a pregnancy, or experiences a miscarriage, or has family member die.... That sounds like you're using these heavy topics *purely for shock value*, and if knowing of their *mere existence ahead of time* will somehow "ruin" your story--
-- if your story doesn't "work" without that shock value....
....It sounds like you really need to go back to the editing stage and make your story actually stand on its own weight, and not merely prop it up with shock and horror.
All good writers should understand:
if your plot twist only works when it comes *entirely out of left field with no way to know it's coming*, it's not actually a good plot twist, because that also means you didn't actually foreshadow or set it up properly.
If your entire book can be quote "ruined" by you merely listing off that it contains "death of a family member"....
...Sorry, but that also heavily implies that your story is *only good on the first read*, because saying that knowing what happens will ruin it, also implies that any actual meaning is lost the second time through, when the reader *already know what happens and in far more intimate detail*, than they would have from a simple, two-word content warning.
And if you don't want to read the content warnings yourself... it's extremely easy to skip fast by simply turning the page just like everybody else does to skip past the acknowledgments or authors note at the beginning of most books?
No one is forcing you, personally, to read the content warnings of a book if you don't want to.
It's just like the list of ingredients on the back of food packaging: *most people* don't even glance at the ingredients and would just as soon shrug if the list vanished, but to others, knowing what is in the food, no matter how small of an amount it is, can be *literally life saving*, either from allergies or other medical reasons.
There's a reason I listened the "no" option as " I don't believe in content warnings for books":
Is because that is the 100% most common reason I see given by people who don't want to book content warnings in books, and like, that's me putting it as nicely as possible, because most of these people in these writing groups who hate content warnings *also actively disparage* people with PTSD or trauma for being "weak" or "not ready for the real world"--
--- as though their fiction book is exactly the real world, and not a *product* that they're actively selling to people for *profit*.
If you wouldn't argue that TV shows and films shouldn't have *any* kind of rating or content warning system at all, and that people should just watch movies without knowing the rating or why that rating exist, you *should* be supporting content warnings in books!
Because at the end of the day books are *a paid product that is sold for entertainment*, and the same people who wouldn't read your book because of a content warning, are the same people who would have read your book unknowing, and suffered horrible anxiety or panic attacks as a consequence.
Hell, content warnings don't even necessarily mean that people who need those warnings aren't going to reada book-- it just means that they can make a fucking informed choice, and prepare themselves for encountering that topic!
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Which of the following fics would you be interested in reading/likely to check out, if the premise was enticing? Please select from top down, ONLY choosing an option below another IF you would probably pass on/filter out the option(s) above it:
"creator chose not to use archive warnings" + "rape/noncon elements" in tags
same as above + more details/triggers discussed in author's note
"rape/non-con" major archive warning used + appropriate tags
same as above but with added author's note elaborating on potential triggers
"no major warnings" + tagged dub/noncon + A/N elaborates on potential triggers
(i wouldn't read anything that might contain dub/noncon)
Voting ended onApr 11
Note that all listed options could potentially be applied to the same fic, which contains elements that could technically be construed as "rape," but which might not be a deal-breaker for some readers who would otherwise want to avoid more straightforward "rape" scenes. I'm concerned that *some* people specifically filtering the "rape/non-con" warning might either miss something they would actually like/wouldn't necessarily consider triggering/a squick (if they're trying to avoid something more specific), OR that people searching *for* "rape/non-con" might be disappointed that the fic isn't what they were hoping for in that regard, if that warning was applied. (i'm probably overthinking it but i'm still really curious to see how people respond to the poll)
Your comment about that content warning poll is exactly how I felt but was too scared to say it openly on here. I really hate the way it's phrased like -
"Option 1: I'm a total cunt who wants everyone to suffer"
or
"Option 2: I'm doing the objectively correct thing and choosing the other option makes you a bad person"
There are plenty of reasons to add content warnings, but also plenty of reasons not to, and you can believe in content warnings but still feel they aren't appropriate for your work.
How far into the minutiae do you go, too? I might consider my work to have violent or sexual content that needs noting, but someone else will feel that I was wrong for not highlighting domestic violence specifically, even though there is nuance and unreliable narrators, etc? I might not feel it's necessary to warn for unreality, but someone may find it an uncomfortable read because it came across that way to them personally. Also, warning for ableism or homophobia might put off some readers who would otherwise feel empowered by the context and/or response to the ableism/homophobia, for example.
Anyway, I thought it was leading and honestly in bad faith, and I actively support you not wanting to use content warnings.
Sorry it took me a little while to answer this....and sorry again in advance because this reply ended up being very long! I kind of used this as an excuse to elaborate more on my own reasoning, and ended up typing this fairly poorly-written rambling essay-length response (and a lot of it is basically just me repeating/elaborating on your own arguments here). I hope you don't mind.
First of all, thank you for this, I'm glad someone else agreed about the phrasing of the poll. I didn't really think it was worth starting a big argument over, hence why I just said I disagreed with the phrasing and left it at that. Of course, I don't know if that person made the options deliberately leading or just phrased them that way without really thinking too hard about the implications, but really there's no reason the answers to that poll couldn't have just been 'yes' and 'no'.
Usually I'd just avoid polls with leading options like that altogether out of principle, but this particular subject I have strong but also kind of complicated feelings about (more complicated than 'I don't believe in warnings', I'd say) and it's something I'm usually really eager to see other people's thoughts on too.
Like you said, I don't have a problem with the concept of content warnings as a whole. In fact, I usually do use them here on tumblr if I'm posting random snippets of my writing that I think people might be upset by. The reason for this is that most of the time I share snippets through tag games, and I sometimes get worried that I'll inadvertently tag someone directly in something that they would be upset by. Although, often I'll just avoid sharing snippets like that altogether, because I'm not really sure how to best tag them....which relates to why I don't feel like content warnings would be appropriate for my stories as a whole.
My main reasoning is pretty similar to the one you gave here. I'm just not confident that I'd be able to adequately warn for every single thing that could upset someone, especially considering that my writing is usually on the darker side: I mainly write horror and even my stories that aren't horror tend to involve a lot of sensitive subjects that are upsetting in general, even to people who might not necessarily be triggered by them. Some things might only be slightly touched upon, while others are so heavily focused on that they end up essentially becoming one of the main themes of the story—at what point do the topics that are only slightly relevant become relevant enough to warn for? Some people might find the answer to that question obvious, but I personally don't.
Related to that, I also don't want to use them because I feel that it's hard to know how to appropriately use them in a story that might depict a subject in a deliberately vague/complicated/ambiguous way. This is a bit hard to properly explain and will likely get very long-winded but it's probably the main reason I don't personally want to put detailed content warnings on my work. I'll use the subject of rape as an example here, since while it's not the only subject that can be written about in the way I'm about to elaborate on, it's probably the clearest example of this, while also being a subject that a lot of people will say always needs to be warned for. Apologies if that's something you'd rather not read someone talking about (I'm not describing any scenes in depth or anything, but just talking about them generally), feel free to skip the rest of my answer if that's the case.
Now, across the stories I'm currently working on, I do have quite a few characters that could be considered to have been victims of rape and/or some other form of sexual assault. I use that 'could be considered' phrasing because in reality these tend to fall into one of the following categories:
A very straightforward depiction of rape; that is, it's explicitly called that and/or it's very clearly shown to be that through a scene of the event, in a way that leaves no doubt whatsoever as to what happened.
A scene of assault that does include some sexual element, but might not necessarily be rape or something that is easy to accurately categorise in a way that you could give a proper warning for (besides a general term like 'sexual assault', but the problem with that is that the term sexual assault encompasses a lot of different things and might not be an adequately descriptive warning for some people).
A character is implied to have experienced a traumatic event, the effects of which are shown but the actual event itself only alluded to, which could be interpreted as rape but is left intentionally vague, this could be because the character who experienced it might not personally consider it rape, or it could be that they're deliberately vague about it because they don't want to talk about it directly....it could be left ambiguous for any number of reasons, really.
A character experiences some sort of mistreatment which is definitionally not rape, however, it's treated narratively as being analogous to rape in some way, whether because the character in question makes the comparison themselves, or because more subtle comparisons are made through symbolism/imagery/etc.
So my problem here is that I'm not sure at which point it would be appropriate to include a content warning for rape, specifically. It seems obvious that the warning would apply to the first category at least, but after that is where it gets a bit murky. In the case of the second category, you could use a warning specific to the form of assault if a specific term for it exists, but what if it's a little harder to define? With the third category, the ambiguity is purposeful, so actually giving a concrete answer through a content warning would defeat the purpose of writing it in such a way to begin with. The more metaphorical events counted under the fourth category aren't rape or 'literal' sexual assault at all, so perhaps they don't require a warning of that nature, but even still the way in which these events are written about could still be distressing to someone who is upset by reading scenes of rape because they evoke similar feelings. I suppose you could just tag all of these as 'sexual assault' just to be safe, but this isn't very specific (and again, in the case of the third category, feels like 'telling' the audience how to interpret what's written rather than letting them come to their own conclusions). Again, this is just one example of something that could become difficult to accurately warn about depending on how it's presented.
I did see in the notes of the poll, and it's also a common sentiment I've seen elsewhere, that some people think that it's better to make an honest attempt of providing warnings for everything and not wholly succeed rather than not try at all. In a way, I understand this argument....but I also disagree, somewhat. In my position, I would actually feel that it would be more responsible for me to go, 'look, personally I don't feel that I can satisfactorily warn for every sensitive subject explored in this story, so proceed at your own discretion' and leave things there. (This is what I meant when I said that not providing specific warnings is kind of its own form of warning). At least in this scenario I don't have to worry about accidentally lulling people into a false sense of security by providing warnings about some subjects, therefore leading them to believe that surely I would put a warning if I had included a specific subject that might be upsetting to them, when in actuality I may have included that specific subject and simply not warned about it because it didn't occur to me to do so for whatever reason.
I like your point about a warning potentially deterring someone from a story that might actually end up being empowering or otherwise helpful to them. I'll come back to that in a bit. Bigotry is actually another good example of a subject which can be a bit complicated/difficult to write accurate warnings for. For example, you might have a story wherein a character experiences some sort of racist mistreatment from another character, but said racist character ends up facing some sort of comeuppance for this later and it ultimately ends up being an empowering moment for the character who was victimised in the first place. You could have another story wherein a character is the victim of a race-based hate crime and the perpetrator never ends up being brought to justice. It would be accurate to say both stories contain racism, but one would probably be considered significantly more upsetting, and there isn't really a satisfactory way to distinguish the two in the context of providing a content warning.
Similarly, it can be hard to know at what point you would provide a warning. I have one story wherein a male character calls another man a 'bitch' and uses some similar misogynistic terms in order to demean him, but the story doesn't contain any scenes wherein any of the female characters experience misogynistic abuse, would a warning for misogyny apply here? If a story features a character who is a straight man, but this character is subject to homophobic and/or transphobic taunts from another character because he happens to be effeminate/girly in some way, would I warn for homophobia/transphobia even if it isn't otherwise depicted/the character in question isn't LGBT? (And could this also be argued to be something that should be tagged for sexism/misogyny?)
And bigotry is also something that can be depicted in a deliberately ambiguous way. Say you have a story wherein a woman is constantly underestimated and belittled by her male peers, or a story where a disabled character is constantly infantilised or coddled against their will, but it isn't outwardly stated that these characters are being treated this way because of misogyny or ableism, the audience is supposed to infer that themselves. Much like the above example of implied sexual assault, outwardly stating what's going on here through a content warning could be seen as detracting from the deliberate subtlety of the story.
Some people might read all of my above rambling about what actually 'counts' as requiring a warning and argue that all of the above examples should be tagged 'just in case'. I don't personally agree, because—at the risk of being accused of having some sort of toxic macho attitude or something like that—I think encountering topics that you personally find upsetting/confronting can actually be a lot more helpful than avoiding absolutely anything related to it, even the vaguest mentions of it. I'm not saying people should deliberately try and make themselves to have panic attacks by forcing themselves to read things that are immensely distressing to them, just that if you go out of your comfort zone you may find it actually helps you more than hurts you. Like the example you gave, wherein someone who has faced bigotry might actually find it helpful to read stories about it.
I'll admit I could be a little biased here. I have OCD (which could certainly explain my over-thinking in regards to this whole subject but never mind) and at one point in my life I did have a very weird/specific topic which you could say triggered me, it reminded me of a very stressful period of my life, which would then send me into a bit of a spiral and would exacerbate my obsessions/compulsions in a way that would often basically ruin my whole day. I say 'had' because it no longer has this effect on me (usually, if I come across it unexpectedly now it's, at most, mildly discomforting).
Now, this particular thing is something that I basically never came across any warnings for. To be clear, I'm not upset or angry that no one ever warned for it—most people would probably not think of this thing as being 'traumatic' to experience or distressing to read about. In most cases, I'd say it would be considered a mildly uncomfortable/unpleasant subject. The fact that my brain became so fixated on and distressed by it is entirely the result of my own strange brain and no one is really to blame for it. My reaction was entirely illogical and to be blunt, pretty stupid. Unfortunately with OCD (and I imagine people with different mental illnesses can probably relate to this too), understanding that something is a stupid thing to be distressed by isn't really enough to lessen the amount that it distresses you.
In my case, what ended up sort of 're-wiring' my brain in this instance was writing about it. I didn't actually write about the specific thing that triggered me because that was a little much at the time (also it's....a little hard to actually write an interesting story revolving around this specific topic. Nowadays I'm open to the idea that I could include it in some story if it could reasonably become relevant but I don't know if it could really be the focus of a story, lol. Maybe I need to think outside the box....?), but instead I focused on all of the negative ways that that thing made me feel and wrote about situations that elicited similar reactions from my characters. I found that actually exploring and trying to understand my own distress rather than trying to stop myself from ever experiencing it made it easier for me to respond more productively when I actually did come across this subject without warning.
Obviously, depending on what the actual trigger in question is, you would use a slightly different approach. In my case most of the time that I came across this subject in fiction it wasn't really explored in depth (because it's really not very interesting lmao) so it was more helpful to approach it in a more 'abstract' way. That said, I did have other subjects that triggered my OCD that would be considered a lot more 'obvious' (that is, they're subjects that are often warned for) and I ended up writing/reading a lot of stories that included these elements and found that helped me a lot as well. These subjects are still not exactly pleasant to come across because by nature they're upsetting subjects, but I can think about them now without it ruining my entire day. My point is, I think some people underestimate how helpful it can be to explore negative emotions or upsetting topics in a safe environment (in this case, through a fictional story) and that avoiding all mentions of a subject in any context could end up doing more harm than good. (Once again, this can depend on how severely someone is distressed by a subject.)
A bit of a less convoluted reason as to why I don't want to use content warnings is that in the case of most of my stories, I feel the genre/setting alone will probably convey enough of a warning about what the story might entail. I mean, if I pick up a horror novel or play a horror game, I tend to go in with the expectation that I should be prepared for basically any horrifying subject to come up, because that's the nature of the genre: to be horrifying. (I do understand that there are some sub-genres of horror wherein you might not necessarily expect to come across anything too extreme, but usually you can tell whether something is going to be a 'milder' or more 'extreme' horror story based on the description. I guess it depends though.). If I'm engaging with a work of crime fiction, a similar concept applies.
That said, I do have one particular story to which this doesn't apply. It does include some pretty sensitive subjects that might not be considered a 'given' for the genre it's in, and I'll admit I'm not entirely sure what the best approach is here....that said, this story won't be ready to be actually published for ages so I've got plenty of time to think it over.
None of the stories that I'm currently working on will end up being shared for quite some time (they're all still pretty far from completion), so basically this is a theoretical conversation as far as I'm concerned for now, but these are the reasons why I don't plan on using warnings when I eventually do share my stories, and why I think other people shouldn't necessarily be expected to use warnings if they don't feel it's appropriate for their work. That said, some people might have much less convoluted reasoning for not wanting to include warnings, and I think that's fine too. I really don't have an issue with other people wanting warnings or putting warnings on their own work, my problem is when people talk about it as though it's something that you absolutely must do unless you're some sort of callous arsehole who doesn't care about the wellbeing of others. I think it's a much more complicated subject than that and it's a shame that the discussion often ends up being 'if you include/want to see content warnings you're a sensitive snowflake' vs. 'if you don't include/don't want to see content warnings you hate the mentally ill'.