Warn for character death. There. I said it.
Well, I said earlier I didn't have anything to add to the recent warnings debate. Turns out I do (primarily because I finally got around to reading it in-depth and...this iteration is going off in a different direction than previous ones).
I've discussed my issues with depression before. It is chronic and clinical, and I'm pretty upfront about it. The topic of mental health and warnings has been buzzing around fandom (see metafandom posts for background). So here's my two pennies...just cause I have them handy.
Triggers...
I have no triggers. Not in the strictest definition. Not in the way triggers are being discussed now. There are things which may send me into a depressive episode, which is...something quite different, I think. I don't want to conflate my experiences with triggers, because I think they're substantially distinct and incomparable. Being triggered is above and beyond anything I could imagine, and I would like to do anything I can to help keep people from being triggered.
Going into a depressive episode isn't flashing back to any past trauma. It doesn't involve any symptoms of anxiety. It's...just what it says on the tin. It puts me into a place where I am back in that deep, unclimbable hole and can't get out. It is, basically, a very negative experience that I try to avoid. As I mentioned, it's not an acute episode, like what impertinence describes in her LJ (Warning: Very explicit discussion of sexual assault and the nature, anatomy, cause & effect of triggers. Is itself triggery).
Character death, suicide, self-injury, non-con have all, in the past, caused some problems with depressive episodes for me. I don't feel comfortable coming from the viewpoint of triggers because...I have none. But I will talk from the viewpoint of a depression sufferer who is vulnerable to depressive episodes.
If I run across unexpected character death or something along those lines, yes, I may very well go to a bad place (my generic term to clue my friends in that I'm having some issues). This is not "me feeling down" or being a bit sad for a night. And if you want to trivialize depression in that way, don't talk to me. It likely will not lead to self-harm (which I have done in the past, but no longer do). It likely will last a day or two and then I'll move past it. It's just something that happens when you deal with depression. Yes, even when on medication. As a person with chronic depression, you learn to live with it.
But I will resent the hell out of an author for it.
This is me coming from an entirely emotional place. Trying to argue with me about it will get you snarked at. I know that, while SI and non-con are typically seen as reasonable to warn for, character death is often regarded as "too spoilery". Newsflash: Me, reader, do not care. Hell, I tend to avoid sad movies. Why would I want to unexpectedly run across a sad fanfic during my relaxation time? This isn't like me reading an original novel where the characters belong wholly to the author. This is me reading fanfic about characters that are much-beloved and shared among fandom. I participate out of love for these characters. I celebrate that love by writing and reading about them. No, I do not expect them to be killed. Because I hold these characters close to me. They have, literally, helped me get through some shitty times. For a time when I went off my meds, they were my happy pills. And, again, I am being entirely literal. Please do be noting my absolute love and empathy for what Buffy went through in S6.
So, yes, I will glare at you if you try to "surprise" me with one of their deaths. I will likely not read you again. And I will be especially resentful if this comes at the end of a multi-chaptered epic where I have invested a whole hell of a lot of time in it.
/ranty-rant off
Going back to my rational place, I understand that warning for character death can be spoilery. I can understand other readers not wanting to be spoiled. That's fine.
Please, though. Please, give me one good reason why an author cannot make a highlightable warning label so that the spoiler-allergic can avoid the warning and I can avoid the fic. Because I'm really having a damn hard time thinking of one so I can give non-warning authors the benefit of the doubt.
In all honesty, I don't have much problem with this in BtVS fandom. I've run into a few cases of no warnings when I wish there had been. But I think we tend to do pretty good.
In short: My bad place is very unpleasant. I don't like to go there. Please give me the tools I need to keep myself from going there by avoiding fics that might cause it.
I'm not asking for...
I'm not asking authors to read my mind or warn for every little thing. Because, honestly? There are other things in fanfic that could send me into a depressive episode. Hell, general, mind-numbing angst could send me into a depressive episode. I have school issues, so something involving school could be a problem for me.
Guess what? I don't expect you to know that. I don't expect you to warn for that. Because I know that's impossible for you to know.
However, the big things...the things listed above...those aren't as seemingly arbitrary. They can affect a large number of people and...well...they're a little obvious.
So you ask what to warn for? Warn for the biggies. Warn for rape. Warn for self-injury. Warn for incest (in BtVS fandom, I think this is necessary given that, unless you're writing a Dawn/Buffy pairing, the reader has no way of knowing it's gonna be in there until they get to it). Warn for character death (including and especially suicide, which is especially distressing to me. Yes, even the "Spike walks into the sun after Buffy dies" fics upset me).
If you write about Buffy having problems in school, and I get all relate-y and introspective and that sets me off to my bad place...I'm not gonna blame you for it. I won't resent you for it. Because I know that school problems is a pretty damn innocuous thing, and there's no way of knowing that it would affect someone.
If you write about Buffy dying, complete with whopping angst and tears...I will likely stop reading you at all. Because character death is not an innocuous thing. It's inherently distressing. And there's no reason you shouldn't put up a warning for it.
Nobody's gonna get mad at you if you make an attempt. If you overlook or forget something, it's easily corrected. This isn't that hard, guys.
My policy...
My policy as a writer remains fairly consistent: If there are no warnings on a fic, that means there's nothing in there that, to my knowledge, needs to be warned for. If I overlook something, please let me know and I'll add a warning.
I'm liberal with my warnings, because I also see them as a way to attract people by advertising what's in your fic. And I'm not prone to graying them out, either, but I've never run into a case where adding a warning would spoil my fic.
Also, this post by shopfront is pretty damn nifty. Check it out.
*Edit* Also also, I'm kinda loving this post by sarka. Both this post and the one by shopfont discuss mental health issues in-depth. If this is potentially harmful for you, please read with care or pass them by.
I've discussed my issues with depression before. It is chronic and clinical, and I'm pretty upfront about it. The topic of mental health and warnings has been buzzing around fandom (see metafandom posts for background). So here's my two pennies...just cause I have them handy.
Triggers...
I have no triggers. Not in the strictest definition. Not in the way triggers are being discussed now. There are things which may send me into a depressive episode, which is...something quite different, I think. I don't want to conflate my experiences with triggers, because I think they're substantially distinct and incomparable. Being triggered is above and beyond anything I could imagine, and I would like to do anything I can to help keep people from being triggered.
Going into a depressive episode isn't flashing back to any past trauma. It doesn't involve any symptoms of anxiety. It's...just what it says on the tin. It puts me into a place where I am back in that deep, unclimbable hole and can't get out. It is, basically, a very negative experience that I try to avoid. As I mentioned, it's not an acute episode, like what impertinence describes in her LJ (Warning: Very explicit discussion of sexual assault and the nature, anatomy, cause & effect of triggers. Is itself triggery).
Character death, suicide, self-injury, non-con have all, in the past, caused some problems with depressive episodes for me. I don't feel comfortable coming from the viewpoint of triggers because...I have none. But I will talk from the viewpoint of a depression sufferer who is vulnerable to depressive episodes.
If I run across unexpected character death or something along those lines, yes, I may very well go to a bad place (my generic term to clue my friends in that I'm having some issues). This is not "me feeling down" or being a bit sad for a night. And if you want to trivialize depression in that way, don't talk to me. It likely will not lead to self-harm (which I have done in the past, but no longer do). It likely will last a day or two and then I'll move past it. It's just something that happens when you deal with depression. Yes, even when on medication. As a person with chronic depression, you learn to live with it.
But I will resent the hell out of an author for it.
This is me coming from an entirely emotional place. Trying to argue with me about it will get you snarked at. I know that, while SI and non-con are typically seen as reasonable to warn for, character death is often regarded as "too spoilery". Newsflash: Me, reader, do not care. Hell, I tend to avoid sad movies. Why would I want to unexpectedly run across a sad fanfic during my relaxation time? This isn't like me reading an original novel where the characters belong wholly to the author. This is me reading fanfic about characters that are much-beloved and shared among fandom. I participate out of love for these characters. I celebrate that love by writing and reading about them. No, I do not expect them to be killed. Because I hold these characters close to me. They have, literally, helped me get through some shitty times. For a time when I went off my meds, they were my happy pills. And, again, I am being entirely literal. Please do be noting my absolute love and empathy for what Buffy went through in S6.
So, yes, I will glare at you if you try to "surprise" me with one of their deaths. I will likely not read you again. And I will be especially resentful if this comes at the end of a multi-chaptered epic where I have invested a whole hell of a lot of time in it.
/ranty-rant off
Going back to my rational place, I understand that warning for character death can be spoilery. I can understand other readers not wanting to be spoiled. That's fine.
Please, though. Please, give me one good reason why an author cannot make a highlightable warning label so that the spoiler-allergic can avoid the warning and I can avoid the fic. Because I'm really having a damn hard time thinking of one so I can give non-warning authors the benefit of the doubt.
In all honesty, I don't have much problem with this in BtVS fandom. I've run into a few cases of no warnings when I wish there had been. But I think we tend to do pretty good.
In short: My bad place is very unpleasant. I don't like to go there. Please give me the tools I need to keep myself from going there by avoiding fics that might cause it.
I'm not asking for...
I'm not asking authors to read my mind or warn for every little thing. Because, honestly? There are other things in fanfic that could send me into a depressive episode. Hell, general, mind-numbing angst could send me into a depressive episode. I have school issues, so something involving school could be a problem for me.
Guess what? I don't expect you to know that. I don't expect you to warn for that. Because I know that's impossible for you to know.
However, the big things...the things listed above...those aren't as seemingly arbitrary. They can affect a large number of people and...well...they're a little obvious.
So you ask what to warn for? Warn for the biggies. Warn for rape. Warn for self-injury. Warn for incest (in BtVS fandom, I think this is necessary given that, unless you're writing a Dawn/Buffy pairing, the reader has no way of knowing it's gonna be in there until they get to it). Warn for character death (including and especially suicide, which is especially distressing to me. Yes, even the "Spike walks into the sun after Buffy dies" fics upset me).
If you write about Buffy having problems in school, and I get all relate-y and introspective and that sets me off to my bad place...I'm not gonna blame you for it. I won't resent you for it. Because I know that school problems is a pretty damn innocuous thing, and there's no way of knowing that it would affect someone.
If you write about Buffy dying, complete with whopping angst and tears...I will likely stop reading you at all. Because character death is not an innocuous thing. It's inherently distressing. And there's no reason you shouldn't put up a warning for it.
Nobody's gonna get mad at you if you make an attempt. If you overlook or forget something, it's easily corrected. This isn't that hard, guys.
My policy...
My policy as a writer remains fairly consistent: If there are no warnings on a fic, that means there's nothing in there that, to my knowledge, needs to be warned for. If I overlook something, please let me know and I'll add a warning.
I'm liberal with my warnings, because I also see them as a way to attract people by advertising what's in your fic. And I'm not prone to graying them out, either, but I've never run into a case where adding a warning would spoil my fic.
Also, this post by shopfront is pretty damn nifty. Check it out.
*Edit* Also also, I'm kinda loving this post by sarka. Both this post and the one by shopfont discuss mental health issues in-depth. If this is potentially harmful for you, please read with care or pass them by.