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141 - Writing content warnings · Story Magic

• 2:27
  Emily: Hey, writers.
• 2:28
  Emily: Welcome back to Story Magic, the podcast that will help you write a book you're damn proud of.
• 2:31
  Rachel: I'm Rachel.
• 2:32
  Emily: And I'm Emily.
• 2:34
  Rachel: And today we're talking about content warnings.
• 2:38
  Rachel: Okay. So I was actually excited to talk about this one because I do feel like this is some.
• 2:43
  Rachel: These are in my books.
• 2:45
  Rachel: So I'll say that I do have content warnings in my books.
• 2:47
  Rachel: I do feel like it's an.
• 2:49
  Rachel: It's often a hot topic on the Internet about.
• 2:53
  Rachel: About them.
• 2:54
  Rachel: So I'm excited to talk about that.
• 2:56
  Rachel: But I. So let me just talk about what is a content warning at first, and then I had a question for you on what you said right before we started recording.
• 3:07
  Rachel: But so.
• 3:08
  Rachel: So content warnings, you'll.
• 3:09
  Rachel: You'll sometimes see them as trigger warnings.
• 3:12
  Rachel: Content warnings.
• 3:14
  Rachel: Cws, tws, if you're using an acronym.
• 3:19
  Rachel: But they're usually at the beginning of a book, so you open it up and you're flipping to the first page.
• 3:26
  Rachel: And it's.
• 3:27
  Rachel: Sometimes they're actually called content warnings.
• 3:30
  Rachel: Sometimes it's called, like, author's note.
• 3:32
  Emily: Yeah.
• 3:33
  Rachel: So. But the.
• 3:34
  Rachel: The whole purpose of it being there is to tell you in advance of any upsetting content that might be within this book.
• 3:42
  Rachel: So. And the purpose would be so that you as a reader can make an informed decision.
• 3:48
  Rachel: Is this a book that you want to read based on the content within it?
• 3:52
  Emily: Yeah.
• 3:53
  Rachel: Now, before I talk about what I did to write them, you know, that kind of fiddly bit stuff, you know, you said you didn't have to do this for your books, and that surprised me.
• 4:06
  Rachel: So you didn't have to give a list?
• 4:07
  Emily: I was not asked.
• 4:09
  Rachel: Did they do it or are there just none?
• 4:11
  Emily: Nope, they just are none.
• 4:14
  Emily: And I feel like that is a very common thing in trad.
• 4:19
  Emily: That they don't.
• 4:21
  Emily: They're not there oftentimes when I see them, which doesn't surp.
• 4:26
  Emily: I mean, who does that?
• 4:27
  Emily: Surprise.
• 4:29
  Rachel: Right.
• 4:31
  Emily: But I feel like when I do see them, it's because it's either that the author put them in there.
• 4:39
  Emily: Like, had the publisher put them in there.
• 4:40
  Emily: The author led it for it.
• 4:42
  Emily: Yeah, the.
• 4:45
  Emily: Or I will see them sometimes posted.
• 4:48
  Emily: Like, you know how the author can post something on Goodreads?
• 4:50
  Rachel: Yes.
• 4:51
  Emily: That's like.
• 4:52
  Emily: And so that it will be an author post.
• 4:53
  Emily: That's like, here are the trigger warnings for my book.
• 4:55
  Emily: I'll see that.
• 4:57
  Emily: Um, and then in social media content, I've seen some authors that I know who are publishing in Chad.
• 5:03
  Emily: They have published them on their, like, social medias and stuff so that people.
• 5:10
  Emily: People know.
• 5:10
  Emily: I think content warnings are fantastic.
• 5:13
  Emily: But yeah, I was not asked to do them.
• 5:15
  Emily: I mean, I only have my limited Amazon experience.
• 5:20
  Emily: Right.
• 5:21
  Emily: I cannot speak for all of trad, but it would not surprise me if that's something that Chad is just like, not that concerned about.
• 5:28
  Emily: And so they.
• 5:29
  Emily: It's just like one more thing for them to have to do.
• 5:31
  Emily: And so they just don't do it unless the author, like, makes them.
• 5:35
  Emily: But I would have to.
• 5:36
  Emily: Again, that's just like, my guess.
• 5:38
  Emily: I have not done any research on this.
• 5:40
  Emily: I have not, like, pulled any Chad authors.
• 5:43
  Emily: I could be totally wrong.
• 5:45
  Rachel: Yeah.
• 5:46
  Emily: But yeah,
• 5:49
  Rachel: I'm so.
• 5:49
  Rachel: Okay, pause in the recording.
• 5:51
  Rachel: You guys are going to hear me come back.
• 5:52
  Rachel: I'm going to go grab one of my TRAD books that I know the indie version has content warnings.
• 5:57
  Rachel: Oh, so then I can see.
• 5:59
  Rachel: Hang on.
• 5:59
  Emily: Okay.
• 6:00
  Rachel: And we're back.
• 6:02
  Rachel: Yes, they are in here.
• 6:04
  Emily: Okay.
• 6:05
  Rachel: But I also know this author would likely to be one that would insist.
• 6:10
  Emily: I don't think they would be like, take these out.
• 6:12
  Rachel: No, I don't think so either.
• 6:14
  Rachel: And in this case in particular, these are perhaps, I would say traditional.
• 6:24
  Rachel: Would be branching out by publishing these books.
• 6:27
  Rachel: Yeah. And so if I know, I'm not going to share their titles because I don't want to speak anything out into the world that these authors wouldn't want.
• 6:37
  Rachel: No, I'm holding up two books and they're by two different authors that I just know are my friends.
• 6:42
  Rachel: And that.
• 6:43
  Rachel: That they were indie published at first.
• 6:45
  Rachel: They were republished in a TRAD deal.
• 6:49
  Rachel: And I know that these authors, if it was an issue, likely would have advocated for them.
• 6:56
  Rachel: I also know that this genre is a new genre for TRAD to break into.
• 7:02
  Rachel: And these books are.
• 7:05
  Rachel: They're very cute.
• 7:06
  Rachel: But if you were to like, see them in Target, it would be important to know that these are very spicy.
• 7:13
  Rachel: Right.
• 7:13
  Rachel: Like, these are.
• 7:13
  Rachel: What is on the inside is not for everyone, perhaps.
• 7:19
  Rachel: So it makes sense to me that these are still in there.
• 7:23
  Rachel: And this might be a case where TRAD was like, no, put those in there, you know?
• 7:27
  Rachel: Yeah, people need to know they were
• 7:29
  Emily: already in there before.
• 7:31
  Emily: I mean, I think it's one of those things where they're just not going to go that extra mile to make sure that you do it.
• 7:35
  Emily: Because, like, it doesn't.
• 7:37
  Emily: You wouldn't in their minds, quote, unquote, benefit them.
• 7:41
  Emily: But if you asked or if you wanted to put them in there, they're never going to be like, don't do that.
• 7:48
  Emily: So yeah, that's.
• 7:49
  Emily: And again, I have not polled, I have not done any research, I have not looked at recent ones.
• 7:54
  Emily: Like maybe it's shifting, I don't know.
• 7:56
  Emily: But just given the state of tread right now, I highly doubt it.
• 7:59
  Rachel: Yeah, well, I mean I also feel like it's kind of more genre appropriate versus not.
• 8:03
  Rachel: But I don't know, I, I do feel like this is a trend we're heading towards.
• 8:10
  Rachel: It is, I would say incredibly popular in indie published books.
• 8:15
  Rachel: I don't, I don't know.
• 8:17
  Rachel: Off the top of my head, I can't remember last time I read a book without them that wasn't like a novella.
• 8:24
  Rachel: Right.
• 8:25
  Rachel: That also wasn't.
• 8:26
  Rachel: But I do think they're becoming more common.
• 8:30
  Rachel: But I also feel like this is the hot take is there are some authors and I've seen this in indie also like this, this is a take I've seen across both genres that content warnings are spoilers and essentially get over it.
• 8:48
  Rachel: That like, I don't want to reveal what happens in the book through a content warning which, you know, can convince me.
• 8:57
  Rachel: I think that's a valid take.
• 8:58
  Rachel: But then there's also the stance that is basically like, I don't care about your mental health and if you're such a snowf that this book is going to trigger you, then don't read anything.
• 9:07
  Rachel: You know, like the books in my day would have, would have made a small Victorian child vaporize.
• 9:14
  Rachel: You know, like.
• 9:19
  Rachel: There's like a, like a very hard stance on mental health.
• 9:23
  Rachel: It's basically I don't care about your mental health and so therefore I will not put content warnings in my book.
• 9:29
  Rachel: And like that.
• 9:30
  Rachel: I'm like, oh come on, is it really that hard to put them in there if you have something that's incredibly upsetting?
• 9:37
  Rachel: Yeah, for.
• 9:39
  Rachel: So, for example, like George R.R. martin's books don't have content warnings.
• 9:45
  Rachel: I don't know his stance.
• 9:46
  Rachel: I'm not saying that I know his stance, but there would be a reader that would be like, well, his books kind of have rape in them.
• 9:52
  Rachel: Right on page rape.
• 9:54
  Rachel: So yeah.
• 9:55
  Rachel: Is that something we should warn about?
• 9:57
  Rachel: Actually, you know what, I kind of brought this up a while ago.
• 10:01
  Rachel: There was a book that was recommended to me called Queen of the south and it was recommended to me because it's about like a maf.
• 10:09
  Rachel: Like a mafia esque woman.
• 10:10
  Rachel: She's a narco or anarcha.
• 10:13
  Rachel: I, I suppose she.
• 10:14
  Rachel: Anyway, it was recommended to me.
• 10:17
  Rachel: It was written in 2002.
• 10:19
  Rachel: There is on page rape in like the fourth chapter.
• 10:22
  Rachel: And that was upsetting to me.
• 10:23
  Rachel: I, I actually, I don't know, I've picked it back up.
• 10:27
  Rachel: I'm.
• 10:27
  Rachel: I will probably go back to read it eventually.
• 10:31
  Rachel: Like I'm very engaged in the story but there was an on page incident that I was not expecting and that was upsetting to me.
• 10:41
  Rachel: And so I don't want to, I did not at the time like want to continue.
• 10:48
  Rachel: And if I had been warned about that ahead of time, maybe it wouldn't have surprised me so much and then I would have been like mentally in a space where I was comfortable continuing.
• 10:59
  Rachel: Yeah, but that is a book.
• 11:02
  Rachel: I, I'm pretty sure it was released in the, I might have said 2002.
• 11:05
  Rachel: Early 2000.
• 11:06
  Rachel: It's like a very early book where like I don't think people were like content warnings weren't a thing.
• 11:11
  Rachel: Right. 25 years ago the way that they are now.
• 11:17
  Rachel: So anyway,
• 11:19
  Emily: this is so fascinating because I, I wonder if it's partially publisher.
• 11:25
  Emily: This is me doing like research while we talk partially like publishing path driven like that.
• 11:31
  Emily: The readers of indie are more like expect it more.
• 11:34
  Emily: Because I'm. And it's I. And I wonder if it's also a genre thing because I just looked at a couple thrillers.
• 11:40
  Emily: The opening pages, like the previews of a couple thrillers, they do not have content warnings.
• 11:45
  Emily: Right.
• 11:46
  Emily: But like you go into a thriller and content warnings could be spoilers.
• 11:50
  Rachel: Yeah.
• 11:51
  Emily: Right. And I feel like in trad and in that audience potentially there is an expectation like if you're gonna pick up a Karen Slaughter thriller or you're gonna pick up an Alice Feeney thriller that like you're expecting some dark shit to happen.
• 12:06
  Emily: And I'm not saying that that's good.
• 12:08
  Emily: I'm just wondering like if it's because you said it's been a long time since you've seen one that didn't have those.
• 12:13
  Emily: And I'm like, I can't remember the last one.
• 12:15
  Emily: I did have them but I read more trad stuff and I've been reading a lot of thrillers lately and like stuff in those kinds of, like those kinds of genres and spaces and I haven't seen those in that space.
• 12:32
  Rachel: So I do understand, I do understand the concern that they are spoilers.
• 12:38
  Rachel: As a reader, I don't really care
• 12:41
  Emily: if you're worried about that.
• 12:42
  Emily: Skip em.
• 12:43
  Emily: Like it's not.
• 12:44
  Rachel: Yeah, you can always skip as a reader.
• 12:46
  Rachel: Like.
• 12:46
  Emily: Yeah, I mean like as a reader, like the reader does not have to read your content Warnings?
• 12:51
  Rachel: No, you can just move on.
• 12:53
  Rachel: But like my content warnings do contain spoilers because the on page death of a parent is a spoiler, but that's something that is a, a common content warning.
• 13:06
  Rachel: Like to, to have an on page death of a parent is something that you would warn someone about.
• 13:12
  Rachel: And I, maybe we can like, I don't know, it would not be hard for you listener to google what are some common content warnings.
• 13:19
  Rachel: But like the ones that are in my book are like, you know, on page death of a parent, graphic violence, explicit sex scenes.
• 13:27
  Rachel: And I will outline like certain kinks that are in my book, like rope play, you know, things like that light bondage there.
• 13:38
  Rachel: In my third book there is like on page assault and, and off page assault.
• 13:48
  Rachel: So as a reader, I have read a couple books that have some pretty graphic on page scenes that I will never read again.
• 13:57
  Rachel: Right?
• 13:58
  Rachel: But for me as a reader, like, I understand sometimes that those moments are, I even hate to say this important to the story, but that maybe they could be best served off page.
• 14:11
  Rachel: So in my book some things happen off page where like it had to happen, but it's off page.
• 14:18
  Rachel: And I'm not, I'm not talking about the big R word for my books, everybody, but I am talking about like I did say in my content warnings that there are off page instances of assault which I did not want to write when I wrote them or when I wrote that, that moment.
• 14:35
  Rachel: But like technically, even me saying there are explicit sex scenes is a spoiler, right?
• 14:41
  Rachel: Yeah, like anything you're gonna put in a content warning is a spoiler.
• 14:45
  Emily: They're triggers.
• 14:46
  Emily: They're gonna be spoilers, right?
• 14:48
  Emily: Like they're conflict, they are triggers in the story.
• 14:51
  Emily: And so I, I mean I said that like to be very clear, like that was me sort of contemplating why a thriller might have like why they might have made that decision.
• 15:02
  Emily: Do I agree with it?
• 15:02
  Emily: Absolutely not.
• 15:04
  Emily: Because I think everybody should know.
• 15:06
  Emily: Like I was reading the there's one Karen Slaughter or I listened to a Karen Slaughter interview.
• 15:12
  Emily: I've never read anything by her, but I went to Goodreads to like and I think like sometimes you can find the triggers, right?
• 15:18
  Emily: And her, it was like just full of people being like, there's so much violence against women in this book.
• 15:23
  Emily: I was not expecting that.
• 15:25
  Emily: I didn't want that.
• 15:25
  Emily: Blah, blah, blah.
• 15:26
  Emily: Like a lot of the reviews and it's a relatively well reviewed book, so there were people who loved it, but a lot of the comments were people coming, being like, this is not what I Like, I picked up this book.
• 15:35
  Emily: I didn't know this is what I was getting.
• 15:37
  Emily: And, like, maybe you would have not gotten all those negative reviews if you had put.
• 15:41
  Emily: And she's so successful that I don't care about.
• 15:44
  Rachel: Yeah.
• 15:44
  Emily: Judging her right now.
• 15:45
  Emily: But I just feel like you can put, like, put the content warnings there for the people who want them, and the people who don't want them will just not.
• 15:53
  Emily: Like, you don't like to.
• 15:55
  Emily: To leave them out and potentially harm people by not having them is far more problematic, in my opinion, than leaving them out so that the people who don't want them don't have, like, spoilers.
• 16:10
  Emily: Like, that's such a dumb argument.
• 16:12
  Emily: I agree.
• 16:13
  Emily: In my brain.
• 16:14
  Rachel: No, I completely agree.
• 16:15
  Rachel: To me, it's like a cons and a respect thing.
• 16:18
  Rachel: I also know with, like, the genre that I write, you don't have to read it.
• 16:23
  Rachel: Right.
• 16:23
  Rachel: Don't read it.
• 16:25
  Rachel: But there are preferences, so.
• 16:28
  Rachel: Or like, I guess I'm trying to say is the genre that I write has a lot of different expectations, I guess, for what the pairings might look like within that genre.
• 16:40
  Rachel: So part of my content warnings are like, these are queer characters.
• 16:47
  Rachel: Right.
• 16:48
  Rachel: Do I think that should be triggering to anybody?
• 16:50
  Rachel: Fuck no. Get out of here.
• 16:52
  Rachel: That queer people trigger you?
• 16:53
  Rachel: No. But I do think that if you're not.
• 16:55
  Rachel: If you don't want to read queer characters, don't pick up my books.
• 16:59
  Rachel: You're not going to like them.
• 17:00
  Rachel: And then I. I certainly don't want to read reviews that are like, I hate that there's queer characters in here.
• 17:05
  Rachel: Like, that's going to piss me off.
• 17:07
  Rachel: So there's also something about content warnings that I don't feel like queer characters are a warning in the sense that, like, I'm trying to prepare you for a shock and awe.
• 17:19
  Rachel: But I do feel like it kind of helps you find your ideal reader set, which would be people that are gonna either not care or enjoy that content.
• 17:29
  Rachel: Right.
• 17:30
  Emily: It also pushes away anybody who might have.
• 17:33
  Rachel: Yeah. So if people are not gonna like my queer characters, don't read my books.
• 17:38
  Rachel: But then don't skip that in the content warning.
• 17:41
  Rachel: Read it and then complain that there are queer characters in it.
• 17:44
  Rachel: You know, I clearly told you there was going to be queer characters in here.
• 17:48
  Rachel: So.
• 17:49
  Rachel: Yeah, I also think, like, a respect and a consent thing.
• 17:53
  Rachel: I feel like if I can go out of my way to be kind to my readers, and also I apply the same value to my life, if I can go out of my way to be kind to someone there's never any harm in that.
• 18:05
  Rachel: I'm going to be kind to someone.
• 18:07
  Rachel: So why would I make it harder on my readers to be unkind to them?
• 18:11
  Rachel: To be like, you guys, I'm not going to put content warnings in there because you're snowflakes.
• 18:14
  Rachel: Like, I'm not gonna.
• 18:16
  Rachel: That's not my value system.
• 18:17
  Rachel: I'm not gonna do that.
• 18:19
  Emily: Yeah.
• 18:19
  Rachel: And then also, I want you, when you pick up my book, to consent to reading what's within it.
• 18:25
  Rachel: And if you don't do that, put it away and that's fine.
• 18:30
  Rachel: No harm, no foul.
• 18:32
  Rachel: We'll part ways and move on.
• 18:34
  Emily: Yeah.
• 18:36
  Rachel: Yeah. All right.
• 18:37
  Rachel: Well, I did.
• 18:38
  Rachel: I also went into, like, make it into.
• 18:39
  Rachel: Wait.
• 18:40
  Rachel: Well, logistics.
• 18:41
  Rachel: But also, one more note.
• 18:43
  Rachel: There is a subset of.
• 18:46
  Rachel: So in dark romance, there's like this running joke that content warnings are more like a menu.
• 18:54
  Rachel: Have you seen that before?
• 18:56
  Rachel: Like, no.
• 18:58
  Rachel: Like, people will specifically pick up books with lengthy content warning pages because they want the taboo.
• 19:06
  Rachel: They want the, you know, the trickier content.
• 19:10
  Rachel: Darker content. Yeah. So when I think depending on how you're where you're writing, what genre you're in, the expectations might be different.
• 19:20
  Rachel: And that goes back to what you were saying about thrillers.
• 19:22
  Rachel: Like, maybe in thrillers, we don't list them because it might take away from the thrill.
• 19:28
  Rachel: But then in dark romance, the thrill is the content warnings.
• 19:32
  Rachel: They want to know, like, Well, I think it.
• 19:34
  Emily: Thrillers, it is a little bit too.
• 19:36
  Rachel: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:37
  Rachel: But like, you'll see entire.
• 19:40
  Rachel: Like, like, that's part of the marketing is the content.
• 19:44
  Emily: I mean, totally different genres, but, like, different situation.
• 19:47
  Emily: It's like, yeah, in one, they're like, give, Tell me what's in it.
• 19:50
  Emily: I want to know all the dark things.
• 19:51
  Emily: The other one, they're like, I'm picking it up because I know it's dark.
• 19:54
  Emily: Don't tell me what it is.
• 19:55
  Rachel: Don't tell me what it is.
• 19:55
  Rachel: Exactly.
• 19:57
  Rachel: So I.
• 19:59
  Rachel: I also feel like sometimes, and this could just be.
• 20:01
  Rachel: Be me.
• 20:03
  Rachel: I also feel like sometimes in dark romance, the content warnings are glorified.
• 20:07
  Rachel: Do you know what I mean?
• 20:08
  Rachel: Like, because they are often used as a marketing tactic, like, look at how much dark stuff is in my book that I. I am never opposed to dark content.
• 20:21
  Rachel: Usually for me, like, I.
• 20:23
  Rachel: Depending on my mental state, I'm fine to read dark romance books.
• 20:28
  Rachel: I can quite enjoy them.
• 20:29
  Rachel: That's fine.
• 20:31
  Rachel: But I do feel like there's a blase.
• 20:35
  Rachel: There's like this blase tone sometimes that's around them where I. I don't they're not meant to be that way.
• 20:41
  Rachel: Like, that's what I'm saying is like,
• 20:42
  Emily: oh, trigger warnings are not meant to be that way.
• 20:44
  Rachel: Yes. Right.
• 20:45
  Rachel: Like, they're supposed to be.
• 20:49
  Rachel: I don't know.
• 20:50
  Rachel: I. I don't.
• 20:50
  Rachel: I'm not trying to put any type of critique or judgment on someone else's marketing tactics, but I am thinking that I. I do feel sometimes they're treated with a lack of care.
• 21:01
  Rachel: That's probably where.
• 21:02
  Rachel: Where I feel icky about it is that rather than treating that disclaimer with, I think the care that it deserves, the disclaimer is treated either by the author or the reader.
• 21:14
  Rachel: It can go either way as more of like a.
• 21:19
  Rachel: I don't know.
• 21:19
  Rachel: Do you know what I'm trying to say?
• 21:21
  Rachel: I feel like I'm.
• 21:21
  Rachel: I'm not articulating myself well, but I'm trying to say, like, this isn't important.
• 21:25
  Emily: When you write your trigger warnings, do it with care for the people who need them.
• 21:30
  Emily: And then beyond that, like, you know, if.
• 21:34
  Emily: If a genre wants to use them as a marketing tactic.
• 21:37
  Emily: And like, because that's part of the allure of the genre, whatever.
• 21:40
  Emily: As long as the trigger warnings are accurate and created with care for that subset of people that really need to know what they are.
• 21:48
  Emily: I feel like that's where you're coming from.
• 21:50
  Rachel: That's exactly where I'm coming from, yes.
• 21:52
  Rachel: They're like, start with the care and then you can move into, like, this is how I know my readers will appeal to this list or this list will appeal to my readers.
• 22:02
  Rachel: Cool.
• 22:03
  Rachel: Talk about it as much as you want.
• 22:04
  Rachel: Like, sell your books.
• 22:05
  Rachel: I love that.
• 22:06
  Rachel: But start with, like, the care.
• 22:07
  Rachel: And don't start with, like, the, the wow factor of, like, I'm gonna shock people with what's in this list.
• 22:14
  Rachel: It's like, actually, this list is for people who genuinely need to opt out of this kind of content.
• 22:21
  Rachel: Like, that.
• 22:21
  Rachel: I think that there's a. Like, have the care for the mental health.
• 22:25
  Rachel: Be respectful with it first, and then you can take it where you wanna take it.
• 22:30
  Rachel: Yeah.
• 22:31
  Emily: Okay, so how do we do that?
• 22:34
  Rachel: Okay, so this is hard.
• 22:35
  Rachel: I feel like this is one of my least favorite parts of, like, putting to putting a book together.
• 22:40
  Rachel: To be honest, it's tricky because I always feel this pressure of messing up of, like, if I don't give the correct warnings, it will negatively impact someone, you know, and that's because I feel like I need to treat it with care.
• 22:55
  Rachel: That's usually where, like, oh, I'm so scared.
• 22:58
  Rachel: Like, I don't, I don't want to miss something.
• 22:59
  Rachel: I don't want to upset somebody.
• 23:01
  Rachel: So the number one in my process, the way that I normally do it, is when I'm getting ready for beta readers, I don't make my list until I'm ready to share it with somebody for feedback.
• 23:11
  Rachel: And I, I have actually shared a list with alpha readers.
• 23:14
  Rachel: So, like, when I shared Cotton the Crossfire with alpha readers, I'm pretty sure I did this with you.
• 23:18
  Rachel: I was like, hey, this act one is pretty hard, so I understand if you don't want to read it.
• 23:24
  Rachel: And I think I put that at the top of the document that I was sharing with alpha readers.
• 23:30
  Rachel: I also will give, like, scene related content warnings to my writing group.
• 23:35
  Rachel: If I'm sharing a scene, I'll be like, hey, just so you know, this scene has graphic violence because we're torturing somebody.
• 23:43
  Rachel: Are you ready?
• 23:43
  Rachel: Like, then.
• 23:45
  Rachel: And then they'll be like.
• 23:46
  Rachel: And I'm like, okay, that's fine.
• 23:48
  Rachel: Don't read it.
• 23:48
  Rachel: If, if you don't want to read about torture, don't skip it.
• 23:51
  Rachel: Anyway, so I pro.
• 23:53
  Rachel: I don't usually collect, like, a full list until I'm about ready to send it to beta readers.
• 23:58
  Rachel: And I honestly will kind of like, skim briefly over my scenes in Scrivener to be like, did I miss anything?
• 24:06
  Rachel: Is there anything that is happening in here that I've completely blocked out of my head?
• 24:09
  Rachel: Because that's.
• 24:14
  Rachel: That is often for me, I forget I've written things and I'm like, oh, I forgot that scene was in here.
• 24:20
  Rachel: So then I make my list, and then when I, When I send my book to beta readers for feedback, I will always include that list not only as a warning to the beta readers, but also, is this accurate?
• 24:32
  Rachel: Did I miss anything?
• 24:33
  Rachel: Yeah. Did I miss anything?
• 24:33
  Rachel: Was there anything else you think I should add to it?
• 24:36
  Rachel: Should I change the wording at all?
• 24:40
  Rachel: And I will usually get like, a yes or a no.
• 24:44
  Rachel: Like, it's people that have found something to be triggering.
• 24:47
  Rachel: I ask that question in my beta forms and then I will adjust it as necessary.
• 24:53
  Rachel: And then when I get to like, a.
• 24:55
  Rachel: A version, I'm ready to put into, like, the final book.
• 24:58
  Rachel: I actually, since I read a lot of books with content warnings, I went and looked back at the books with contra warnings to see, like, how is this structured?
• 25:04
  Rachel: How did you say these things?
• 25:07
  Rachel: And then I, I send it to some other authors.
• 25:10
  Rachel: So I remember when I was writing, when I was writing only Fools Russian.
• 25:16
  Rachel: There's bi awakening in that book, but there's no like queer interaction, right?
• 25:23
  Rachel: So I, I actually had a really tricky time with like, how do I say, Say clearly there is bi awakening in this.
• 25:31
  Rachel: Because I'm trying to set you up that there will be queer relationships in this harem, but at the same time there are no queer relationships in this book.
• 25:38
  Rachel: So I'm trying to be accurate with my content warnings to be like, we're kind of getting into bi territory, but nothing happens.
• 25:44
  Rachel: There's no guys kissing yet.
• 25:46
  Rachel: So then, so I actually sent it to a friend and I, and I was like, what do I do?
• 25:52
  Rachel: Like, I. And she was, she basically was like, this is way too complicated.
• 25:57
  Rachel: Just say there's bi awakening and then say there's mm, M, F, M. Like, then say like the, the order of things that I have, which is common for Y2s.
• 26:07
  Rachel: And that makes it clear.
• 26:08
  Rachel: I. And I was like way overthinking it.
• 26:10
  Rachel: She was like, all you have to do is say by awakening and then what the pairings are.
• 26:15
  Rachel: I was like, okay.
• 26:15
  Rachel: And then that's what I did for my, for my third book where then I was like, I don't have to specify that there's by way thing, but I do need to specify that now we have different relationship dynamics.
• 26:24
  Rachel: So then I just clarified in the content warnings, like, what the relationship dynamics were.
• 26:29
  Rachel: So then I would write them.
• 26:31
  Rachel: I would write it.
• 26:32
  Rachel: I also feel like I at some point googled a list of content warnings to read through the list to be like, do I have that, that, that, that, that.
• 26:39
  Rachel: And that was where I had decided to include on page death of a parent in the first one, which probably for me wouldn't.
• 26:47
  Rachel: That's not a trigger of mine.
• 26:48
  Rachel: So I wouldn't have thought about that.
• 26:50
  Rachel: But I was doing research into content warnings and then being like, oh, that is one that I would have missed right at the get go.
• 27:01
  Rachel: And then it's normally like a paragraph, you know, depending on how long your warnings are, a paragraph maybe less, maybe more.
• 27:10
  Rachel: And I put it in the author's note.
• 27:14
  Rachel: I don't feel like they go in the back because you've already read the book, so why would they go in the back?
• 27:20
  Rachel: But I, I do feel like I've seen people ask that question, should it go in the back?
• 27:26
  Rachel: But the whole intention, again is the purpose of like making sure that before a reader consents to reading your book that they know what might be potentially upsetting to them in it.
• 27:37
  Rachel: So to me, I'm like, that wouldn't go in the back.
• 27:39
  Rachel: That would go at the beginning.
• 27:41
  Rachel: And then they, you know, can decide to.
• 27:45
  Rachel: To read or not.
• 27:46
  Rachel: But, yeah, I.
• 27:48
  Rachel: I again, don't feel like they need to be super long unless your list is very long.
• 27:57
  Rachel: And then I will always clarify for my books.
• 28:00
  Rachel: This is intended for age 18 and older.
• 28:03
  Emily: Yeah. Yeah.
• 28:04
  Rachel: So for me, I put that in there.
• 28:06
  Rachel: I was actually just having a conversation about this because a friend of mine was like, I'm gonna put your book in a free library.
• 28:13
  Rachel: Like those little free libraries.
• 28:14
  Rachel: Do you know what I'm talking about?
• 28:16
  Rachel: And I was like, please don't.
• 28:18
  Rachel: Actually, there's a reason I've never done that, and that's because I don't intend for anyone to pick up this book without knowing what it is.
• 28:26
  Rachel: And I would hate for, like, a little kid to take this out of a little free library.
• 28:32
  Rachel: And I can't expect a minor to understand that they need to read.
• 28:36
  Rachel: Content warnings, right?
• 28:38
  Emily: Yeah.
• 28:38
  Rachel: So I was like, don't.
• 28:40
  Rachel: Don't put it in there.
• 28:41
  Rachel: It's not for all ages.
• 28:44
  Rachel: So I don't know that books that are for, you know, for me, I was like, for my books, I don't think they belong in those little free libraries.
• 28:51
  Emily: Yeah.
• 28:52
  Rachel: And she was like, oh, well, they can, you know, they can decide if they want to read it or not.
• 28:56
  Rachel: You have the content warnings in there.
• 28:57
  Rachel: And I'm like, that's not the point.
• 28:59
  Rachel: The point is that, yeah, it is accessible to someone that I don't intend it to be accessible to, and I can't control that.
• 29:06
  Rachel: You know, like, that's.
• 29:07
  Rachel: It's just in there.
• 29:08
  Rachel: Anyone can take it out.
• 29:10
  Rachel: So anyway, yeah, I feel like as far as practically writing them, Google a list.
• 29:17
  Rachel: Write a list of what's in your book, ask people to review it, make sure that it's accurate, add anything that you potentially would have missed, and put it in the front of your book, and that's it.
• 29:29
  Emily: Yeah. And I think.
• 29:32
  Emily: Yeah, I think that applies for any.
• 29:34
  Emily: Any genre anywhere.
• 29:37
  Rachel: Any genre.
• 29:37
  Emily: And there's probably, like, if you're really, really concerned about it, you could have a page in the front that says trigger warnings in the back page, whatever.
• 29:45
  Emily: And then people could go flip to it, like, if that's something that super concerns you.
• 29:49
  Emily: But I do think it is a good idea always, no matter your publishing path.
• 29:53
  Emily: So even if you're not being asked to do it, I.
• 29:55
  Emily: I should have pushed to do it.
• 29:57
  Emily: It just wasn't something that was.
• 29:59
  Rachel: Well, I also.
• 30:00
  Emily: My life was a blur at that point in time.
• 30:02
  Emily: And I wasn't thinking about it.
• 30:03
  Emily: Nobody asked me for it.
• 30:04
  Rachel: So that's the thing.
• 30:05
  Rachel: That's the.
• 30:06
  Rachel: That's the other thing.
• 30:06
  Rachel: I feel like if no one asks you for it and you don't have the exposure in what you're reading, then you wouldn't know that that's a possibility to have in the book.
• 30:15
  Rachel: Right.
• 30:16
  Rachel: And.
• 30:16
  Rachel: And then also in the trad zone, if no one asks you for it, it's like, do you want them in there?
• 30:21
  Rachel: Do you not?
• 30:22
  Rachel: Then it's like weird, you know, like.
• 30:24
  Emily: Cause then.
• 30:25
  Rachel: So, I mean, that's not your fault.
• 30:28
  Rachel: I do think that books should have transparency in them.
• 30:31
  Rachel: So I think the trad industry, if that's not part of their process already, it should be part of the process to be like.
• 30:37
  Emily: Yeah. And I'm sure there's variation within the industry.
• 30:40
  Emily: Yeah.
• 30:41
  Emily: So feel free to tell us if your experience is different, but I think just all around it's a good idea to have if there's triggering stuff in your story and it's not that difficult to do so.
• 30:56
  Rachel: No, I don't think that it is.
• 30:57
  Rachel: I think it's effort that is valuable to your reader.
• 31:02
  Rachel: I mean, that's my view is like, is it quote, extra, unquote effort?
• 31:09
  Rachel: Maybe?
• 31:09
  Rachel: Is it like, required to publish a book?
• 31:12
  Rachel: No, but if it's effort that you can do to improve a reader's experience, that's worth it.
• 31:19
  Emily: Yeah. Totally agree.
• 31:24
  Emily: Okay. Alrighty.
• 31:26
  Emily: If you want to build a successful, fulfilling and sustainable writing life that works for you, you've got to get on our email list.
• 31:32
  Rachel: Sign up now to get our free email course, the Magic of Character Arcs.
• 31:35
  Rachel: After seven days of email magic, you'll have the power to keep your readers flipping pages all through the night.
• 31:40
  Emily: Link in the show notes.
• 31:41
  Emily: We'll see you there.
• 31:42
  Emily: Bye.