Trigger Warnings Ruin Books, And This Is Why.
Trigger Warnings Don’t Work and They Ruin Books, And Here Is Why…
Jay Darkmoore
I’m browsing through the bookshelf. See a book I like the look of, flick through the first couple of pages and I am confronted with a page that says ‘Warning, this may contain content that is upsetting for some readers,’ followed by a long shopping list of things that may traumatise me.
I immediately put that book down, and I don’t touch it again. I don’t being pandered to. I wouldn’t say I like that the writer thinks that I am so unable to handle my own emotions that they must warn me before I take a step into their world.
Dear writer – Do not pander to me. I am not a fucking child. I can handle my own emotions.
But there are more reasons why trigger warnings ruin books than simply the writer feeling that they need to hold my hand and carefully guide me through the pages, just in case I get a little bit sad at the squiggly lines –
1 – The Word ‘Triggered’ Is NOT The Same As Being Upset.
The word triggered comes from psychology. It means to be triggered into a PTSD emotional flashback, to the point where something – an event, like combat and war – happened, and you are transported back to that situation and how you felt at the time. It means that your body reacts and your hormones spike. It means that you begin to shake, to run, to fight. You lose control of yourself because the stimulus has ‘triggered’ significant trauma. It hasn’t just upset or offended you. Being offended is a choice. Remember that. You CHOOSE to be offended and you CHOOSE to be angry.
You do not choose to be triggered. Stop saying being angry is the same as being triggered. They are worlds apart, and it’s very, very disrespectful to actual sufferers of PTSD and trauma to say you got triggered because you read about a bad thing happening that made you feel sad.
2 – Your Feelings Aren’t My Responsibility
When I write a book, I write the best thing for the story and the characters. Honestly? The reader comes second. The artwork comes first. I write stories that I want to read, and through that I attract likeminded readers. Readers who will then follow me and my work and become true lasting, loyal fans.
If someone reads my work and they do not like it, then fine. I’m not the writer for them. But I couldn’t possibly pander to every possible reader’s wants and needs. It would be impossible. Not to mention that I wouldn’t be being my authentic self. The self that has made my books be downloaded and purchased thousands and thousands of times.
I tell the story that best fits the narrative and the situation for the best book possible. If I started censoring myself, thinking how would this be viewed or perceived, then that wouldn’t be the best result for the book, would it? I would be cheating the art to appeal to a small minority of people, instead of writing the book I wanted to write and giving an authentic experience. If a reader needs a trigger warning, then they probably won’t enjoy my books anyway!
If you read something in a book that is upsetting, and then get angry at the writer for not warning you that such things were going to be in the book, then that sounds like your problem. If two people read the same text, and one gets upset by it, and the other doesn’t, isn’t it the reader that is to blame? Isn’t that the problem of the reader not being able to handle their emotions, rather than the writer for writing it? It’s like getting upset over a joke a comedian makes. We focus in on what upsets us, and then we blame the person that delivered it to us. As the saying goes ‘don’t shoot the messenger.’ Your feelings are no one else’s responsibility to manage other than your own. Get your shit together.
Read the best-selling crime novel ‘Left for Dead,’ by Jay Darkmoore
3 – You’re Confusing Writing About The Bad Thing As The Bad Thing.
If I write a scene about a bad thing happening, someone might think I am condoning it or that that writing about it is exactly the same thing as the bad thing happening. This, frankly, is just fucking ridiculous.
4 – Your Trauma. Your Problem.
If you have trauma, then join the club. Everyone has trauma. Everyone suffers from mental health issues from tome to time. Everyone has something bad that has happened to them in the past. You aren’t special. Your trauma doesn’t make you unique. It makes you just like everyone else.
Therefore, your trauma and your mental health is your responsibility to manage. Not anyone else’s. If you can’t handle reading something that upsets you, then you need to sort that shit out.
5 – Life Doesn’t Come With Trigger Warnings
No body is going to warn you before they insult you, attack you or hurt you. No one is going to warn you before a car pulls out in front of you on the motorway. The weather isn’t going to warn you a week before there is an earthquake that destroys your home. So why should a damn book? Its ink on a piece of paper. It isn’t that scary...
6 – You’re Waiting For The Bad Thing to Happen, And It Ruins The Flow and Authenticity Of The Book.
If I am writing a book and I want something a little shocking or uncomfortable to read to help a scene be more impactful, it kind of loses that when I have already warned you about it.
Imagine your partner is going to propose and they set all the flowers, the lights, the music and the most amazing ring, but they showed you the ring first before doing it, just so you weren’t caught off guard (which would be exactly the point in the scenario), then it wouldn’t feel as immersive, would it? If someone warns you about something that happens in the book, it takes away the strong emotion which the writer wants you to have when reading it. It’s basically a spoiler.
Not to mention, you then spend the whole time reading just waiting for the bad thing to happen, meaning that you can’t lose yourself in the book you’re reading.
7 – You Don’t Know How Severe The Trigger Is Going to Be.
If I write a book and I tell you that it involved animal cruelty, then you might think of me gutting an animal and being cruel to it. I may just mean a character pushes a dog down a hill. Both mean things to do. One much more severe.
With a trigger warning, your mind goes to the worst-case scenario, meaning that your guard is then up.
8 – If The Genre Is Known For Upsetting Topics, And You Get Upset, Then You Were Already Warned.
I write thrillers and horror novels. My covers are dark and macabre. From the titles, the covers, and the genre alone, you should know that there is going to be some topics a little close to the bone. If you get blindsided and upset by something you read, then my friend, that’s on you.
8 – THEY DON’T WORK
Research suggests that trigger warning make anxiety to worse due to waiting for the bad thing to happen. You’re waiting to be upset, so you can’t get lost in the story.
So, in conclusion, I think we need to step away from this whole thing of books needing to be censored or the need to have sensitivity readers going over old books so they don’t offend someone. Do you want a safe space, or do you want to be transported to a new world and discover things you never knew possible? Do you want to live in a safe box filled with teddy bears and cotton wool, or do you to actually feel something when you read a book?
And remember. If you read something upsetting, you can always just skip that part, or hell, put the book down and get on with your life.
It’s been a pleasure. If you enjoyed this blog, then why not drop me an email.
jaydarkmoore@gmail.com
- J
About the author -
Jay Darkmoore is a UK-based author with a background in crime and investigation. He is a huge fan of all things dark - exploring the macabre, demonic and darker aspects of the human psyche.
Jay likes putting his characters in terrible situations and then turning out all the lights. To date, he has self-published novels of horror, crime and dark fantasy dystopia. His inspirations are Stephen King, Keith C Blackmore and Nick Cutter.
When not at his desk, Jay spends his free time making YouTube videos to help writers in their craft, promoting other books he has enjoyed, as well as hitting the gym and taking wild cold plunges with ducks.
He is a single parent to his son Joe who is his biggest fan.
Why I Love Having Imposter Syndrome.
How Imposter Syndrome made me a best selling author
Image from Google
Imposter syndrome is characterised by feeling inadequate like you are an imposter in the field you are working in. In layman’s terms, you fear that everyone around you will suddenly find out you don’t have a clue what you’re doing. Join the club.
I have had (and still do) Imposter Syndrome since I published my first novel, and every subsequent novel thereafter. I get it whenever I do an interview, get a great message from a fan, or tell someone what I do for a living. Whenever someone highlights an issue with a story, I hastily rush to fix it. If I get a bad review. If I get trolled. At any moment, I fear will be exposed as a charlatan, and be cast outside into the rain and mud.
And yet, I embrace it. Here’s why –
Image from Google
Why do we have this feeling? Well, put simply, it comes down to two things –
1 – We care about what we’re doing.
One of the fundamental reasons that Imposter Syndrome can be so prevalent in our minds is that we are working on something we care about. We spend hours at the desk in solitude, crafting a world, characters, and storyline to share it with the world. It’s our passion that keeps us up late into the night, day after day, working away at our creation. If we didn’t give a shit, then we wouldn’t care if we succeeded or failed, and we would simply stop when it got hard.
2 – We lack confidence in our own abilities.
This is the biggie right here. We lack self-confidence in our abilities. We take every negative comment and every bad review to heart. It breaks the fragility of our confidence, and we find ourselves crying into our half-completed manuscript. But this is real life, guys. There are no safe spaces here. Suck it up and roll with it.
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How do we overcome imposter syndrome? This is very simple. Are you ready?
You outwork your self-doubt. Read that again.
You must outwork that feeling of thinking that you aren’t good enough. You must identify the reason why you feel the way you do. Is it because you don’t feel like you know enough about the subject you are in? Well, then learn more. Read books on the subject. Research your industry. Speak to others in the world you have found yourself in. Try new things. New ways of doing what you’re doing. You can never know too much.
If it’s monetary or scalability on your business, then go back to basics. What makes your product unique? Who is your target market? Identify who these people are, and then build connections with them. Start from the bottom again, and work through the fundamentals. You can move up a rung on the ladder when you have a strong foundation.
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Don’t stop creating.
Many writers have written tonnes of books that barely moved off the shelves, but they kept going at it. They kept working, building a fan base, and improving their craft.
Comparison is the Thief of Joy.
I love that saying, as cliché as it is, because it’s so true. If you compare yourself to JK Rowling or George R R Martin when you haven’t released your first book, then you will never write a single word. But here’s the secret – at one point, they were just like you - staring at a dog shit first draft and feeling sick at the sight of it. We only see people when they are successful. We don’t see the thousands of hours they invested into their craft with nothing happening.
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Use Your Current Successes as Evidence.
Remember when you got that awesome review? Released that new book? Got a message from someone you had never spoken to who told you that they loved your work? Those examples are all evidence that you are doing what you are meant to be doing, and that you are good at it. Use that knowledge, that back catalogue, as fuel to your fire when moving forward and upskilling. Acknowledge what you did in the past, identify any mistakes you have made, and then learn from them. Identify, refine, and replicate.
Imposter syndrome is the vulture on our shoulders. It’s that part of our brains that tells us that we aren’t cut out to be doing what we’re doing, regardless of all the evidence surrounding us that tells us the contrary. We can focus on the one thing that isn’t going right and lose sight of all the things around us that got us to our position in the first place. In other words, you can’t see the forest because you’re focusing on a single tree.
Imposter syndrome isn’t a bad thing. Welcome it into your life. Let that fear of failure, getting it wrong, and not being good enough propel you into work and learning. Only through hard work and dedication to what you’re doing, bit by bit, will you get where you need to be.
Stepping out of your comfort zone will always lead to self-doubt. You’re going against the curve, putting your head above the firing line. But if you work at it, maybe in a year, maybe ten, you will get where you want to be. The best time to plant a tree was yesterday. The second-best time is now.
Creating a business is like trying to paint a mountain one layer of paint at a time. It’s a huge task, but little by little, effort after effort, you will get there.
Jay Darkmoore
Jay Darkmoore is a UK best-selling author with a background in crime and investigation. He is a huge fan of all things dark - exploring the macabre, demonic and darker aspects of the human psyche.
Jay likes putting his characters in terrible situations and then turning out all the lights. To date, he has self-published novels of horror, crime and dark fantasy dystopia. His inspirations are Stephen King, Keith C Blackmore and Nick Cutter.
When not at his desk, Jay spends his free time making YouTube videos to help writers in their craft, promoting other books he has enjoyed, as well as hitting the gym and taking wild cold plunges with ducks.
He is a single parent to his son Joe who is his biggest fan.
Support the author by signing up for his newsletter at jaydarkmooreauthor.com for exclusive content.
10 Ways to Market as a Self-Published Author
10 Tips to market your self-published books
Hello everyone! Jay Darkmoore here - Self-published author of the dark fantasy series ‘Everlife Chronicles,’ and horror series’ such as The Space Between Heaven and Hell, and Tales from the Inferno.
Being an indie writer is tough, yet very rewarding. The progress is stagnant and slow, to begin with, and it can often be overwhelming when you have to think of all the work you have to put in be it from writing, building an audience, or content marketing to Vlogging, marketing, keywords, etc.
Your mind can easily become overwhelmed to the point where you sit there in a dark corner rocking away, wondering why you ever thought trying to do this task yourself would be a good thing. Luckily, I have compiled a list of tools and tips that can help you in your writing journey, putting them in a nice list that is easy to follow.
I have done a lot of research on this topic so that you don’t have to. If you wish to find more tips and tricks from me, then I ask you to sign up for my mailing list on this website. You can find it by clicking here.
1 – Write more books.
Have you ever wondered the reason why people follow you and read your books? It’s for that exact reason – You have written something that the reader had devoured and loved so much that they want more from you. Like after a great first date, you want to see them again. This is why writing more books and more material is so important.
10 Horror Tropes That Have Been Done to Death
At the time of writing, I have five books out of over three different series in two genres. My readers love that I write in a series, and through doing this I am able to give first-time readers a back catalogue to purchase and devour, as well as pointing existing readers to my mailing list and websites for the exclusive content I offer, while I am busy creating my next installment for them.
Writing more books allows you to expand on your skills as a writer and delve into different genres too. It allows you to hone your craft more easily, and listen to what your readers want next whilst still being true to yourself.
2 – Write in a series and bundle your books together.
When you have someone that has enjoyed your work and they are hungry for the next book in the series, it is great if you have a few more books for them to enjoy. Plus, if they liked the first one (maybe they got it at a reduced price or a free promotion), then they have already said YES to one of your products. If they then see another book in the series at a slighter higher price, then they are much more likely to say YES to that too. If they buy the next one and see the whole six or seven book collection for a much-reduced price than buying them individually, then you have a new and true fan that will read anything you put out because you have given them so much enjoyment. Write more books, write a series, and put them together.
3 – Paid advertising.
Advertising is going to be the backbone of your marketing. You can spend as little or as much as you like, with Amazon offering pay-per-click advertising, which varies depending on the niche and keywords. Genres like ‘Horror,’ would cost more per click, whereas niches like ‘Big Foot Monster Porn’ (Trust me, it’s a thing), would be much less. There are also Google and social media ads like Facebook and Instagram, as well as traditional media like newspapers and radio. However, the traditional media is more of the shotgun method of advertising and less about the targeted ads that will put your book in front of your target audience which social media and Amazon can offer.
Myths of Traditional and Indie Publishing
Also, market yourself through your content whenever you produce a Vlog or an email campaign. Do this sparingly, however. People don’t want to see you screaming at them ‘BUY MY BOOK!’. Instead, target the right audience and engage with them with your content, and maybe when they have learned about you a little, throw a book or a pitch in there. It’s a tightrope, and not always guaranteed to succeed just because you throw money at it, but it can yield great results if you play around with it a little.
Also, a bonus tip – Do keyword research and try to find your niche. It is better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond.
4 – Utilize different platforms.
I touched on this one above – Build an audience on different platforms. I currently use Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, YouTube, and TikTok. I use some more than others, but I post regularly on each one, utilizing hashtags and keywords that keep the algorithm happy.
Each comes with its benefits. Facebook for articles, links and videos, as well as to speak to your fans through the direct message and comment action. Instagram is brilliant for those that are visually-minded. YouTube and Spotify are great for people on the go, as they can let the audio play whilst doing other things like cooking or relaxing.
Media is there to be taken advantage of, and if people like what you’re putting out, then the platform will show more of it to more people. Throw in some advertising in there too, and whoa, you just went global.
5 – Build a brand email list –
This one is a tried and tested way to make some guaranteed sales, and fans and to shine a light on your reader’s day. You can build anticipation for an up-and-coming new book, and you can entice those on the platforms above to sign up to your email marketing list by promising them a free giveaway opportunity, or exclusive sneak peeks at new releases. This is your way of collecting your own group of fans and followers.
Be consistent with your email campaigns. I have tried sending daily emails and weekly emails. I found that every day was too spammy for my followers, and it made me become a little too much. But then when I dropped to weekly, I found the open rate massively increased. But the key is to be consistent. That way, your readers will look forward to getting that new email from you every week and hearing about your new video, new blog post, and new content. Throw an email address in there and connect, or maybe a social media page too. Your email list is your own private flock of readers that will follow you wherever you go.
6 – Free promotions.
Free promotions are a great way to attract new readers into your world and by putting links to your mailing list and website at the back of your free books, you’re likely to attract a lot of new people to your material.
I find that with Amazon KDP enrolment, I am able to cycle my books through a 3-month period of free download and every month my social media and mailing list grow. It’s good to have a ‘dead book,’ in which I mean this is the book you sacrifice in the series and make it free whenever you can, in order to draw those readers to your content in exchange for them signing up to your channels and offering them the next book in the series at a reduced rate to really get them hooked.
7 – Upsell new titles.
As mentioned above, when you have someone download and love the free instalment in the series, offer the next title in the series for a reduced rate. They have already invested their time in reading your story and have signed up to your emails, so the next book for a smaller price is much more tantalising. Follow that up with a bundle, and boom – You have a reader for life.
8 – Free copies and ARC copies.
To capitalize on your mailing list, offer your readers and followers free copies of your book for an honest review in an Advance Review Copy. Set your new book for pre-sale and order some books to send out to those on your mailing list for a review and a promotional post online, or send them an eBook copy for free through email. It will get your ratings right up there and will make it more likely new readers will download the story when it gets put for free (thus repeating the cycle above) or they are more likely to buy when they see it already has a tonne of good reviews.
9 – Collab with other writers and readers.
I really enjoy doing this because not only do I get to speak to other people that are crazy like me, but it also allows us to share audiences. We are not in competition with each other, dear writer. We should work together. This is because we cannot possibly fulfill the appetite of those voracious readers all by ourselves, so therefore we collab together and make the reading world a better place.
I enjoy doing this through Instagram Live each week. It’s great fun and a great way to hear what other people are doing and pass on your wisdom and knowledge and talk to each other about your projects that are coming up.
10 – Be consistent
This is the biggest one of all my friends. Be consistent with your work. Produce books regularly and engage with fans. Be consistent, as people love patterns and predictability. Make them look forward to Sunday, Wednesday, the first of the month when they know that you will be releasing something to them or posting something else online or sending out that email.
This is a long slog of a career, and they say it takes ten years to become an overnight success. We compare ourselves to those that we see have made it straight away, but we don’t see the hours and hours of content creation they did before making their first sale or book signing. Be consistent. Dreams don’t happen overnight.
If you would like some further reading, then please check out my other blogs, and look at my own books, and YouTube channel and podcast. The links are all here.
Books I have found useful on this topic –
Write, publish, repeat – Johnny B Truant
Self-Publishing – Joanna Penn
On Writing – Stephen King
Thanks for your time.
- J
5 Myths about Traditional Publishing VS Indie Publishing.
Five myths of traditional and indie publishing busted!
Being an indie writer is tough. I have found it to be slow, arduous and difficult for pretty much the entire time I have been doing it. I have often wondered if I should just try to get an agent and get my work published traditionally. I mean, that’s how real writers get their name out there, right?
Being an indie writer is essentially being a business person too. It’s finding the current trends, how the algorithm works on the platform you publish on, and also finding alternative places to put you work, and lets face it, people will always take things form you for free rather than spend their money.
Places like ‘Royal Road,’ or ‘Wattpad,’ are great for getting your work out there for nothing, but ultimately (and sadly) free doesn’t put food on the table or pay the bills. So I can see the appeal as to why this sort of business venture would put someone off who essentially just wants to ‘write the book and be done with it.’ However, I would like to share my thoughts below –
Reasons why being an indie is better than being a traditionally published author –
This is very subjective. We only hear about those that end up on the New York Times best sellers list, or those that make the front of Forbes. These are anomalies, and authors like JK Rowling and George RR Martin aren’t your everyday writers, and you also don’t see that they spent the last thirty years trying to get somewhere in their craft before they made it to the top of their game.
For most other writers, the literary world is a struggle. They don’t make much of a living, and they are tied to contract that can be very difficult to try and get out of.
Through traditional publishing, when you are signed you will earn an advance of maybe a few thousand, but then you earn nothing until that advance is paid back by way of book sales. Then when you eventually do earn that back, you are likely to get between 5 and 0% of the price the book is sold for.
Where as if you make it as an indie, that amount massively ramps up to 35 – 70% if you sell on Amazon or through other mediums. In a nutshell, you earn as much as you work, research and market yourself.
Wrong. In this day and age, as well as the publishing company owning their authors work, they still have to do a lot of self-promotion and marketing themselves. Granted, probably not as much as indie authors, but they still have to do a good chunk. So, traditional authors get their books published, earn a fraction of the list price AND still have to market their own work? Hmm.
Myth 3 –
Indie Authors don’t get into book stores.
Wrong. Sorry to break this to you guys, but book stores are sadly on their way out. Unless it’s a huge store like Barnes and Noble or Waterstones, then your local indie book stores are really struggling to survive with the introduction of Amazon and other online book retailers. That said, when you walk into a book store, you are met with thousands of books at your fingertips. Do you really think that every one of those books is traditionally published? Plenty of indie authors state that they have managed to get their books into brick-and-mortar stores.
Fifty Shades of Grey anyone? Exactly. One of the biggest books of the 21st century was an indie published book and it was everywhere. So, that my friends, is a myth completely busted.
Myth 4 –
The indie publishing market is saturated.
No, no, no!
I don’t believe this. I believe that the indie publishing world is filled with writers that think they will become an overnight success, or, they publish the book with the intention of being an indie, and don’t realise that it’s is mostly about the business of writing as much (or if not more so) the actual writing of the books.
With being an indie writer, you are not just an author. You are a business too. You are the owner of your craft, and you are trying to sell products to customers. It’s that simple. You create a product and you’re trying to sell it to customers. Now, is there a lot of competition? Fuck yes. But those people that want to write a book probably never do, and those that write one book will not write a second. So, if you manage to get a few titles under your belt and build a small following, then my friend, you are ahead of 95% of the rest of the kerb. So, you’ve gone from having 100% of the market against you, to only 5% in competition, and that’s not to mention the markets and the niches out there available. So, when you think about it, not much competition and saturation there if you keep working and keep producing. But that’s the thing with this game – You CANNOT expect to be an overnight success, and you must know that this takes a lot of hard work and graft before you see any kind of results. But, stick with it. You will get there, you just have to want it enough.
Myth 5 –
Traditional published authors have the freedom over their work
Wrong.
If you are a big name like Stephen King or Michelle Paver, then yes you can pretty much go wherever you like in the publishing world. For us first time authors though with little or no following, we must take what we are given. Essentially, you become a product to a company. Your book is now an asset to be sold and marketed. How many times have you had a publisher or an agent turn around to you and say something like ‘we loved the book, but its not the market right now.’ That’s because these agencies are companies are businesses. They are in to make money and to survive.
If you go against what the publisher says, you can be dropped and they will own your book. If you write something that they don’t want you to write, then they can drop you. If you don’t want to write crime or sci fi anymore but the publisher wants you too, then you better look for a new publisher.
You have much more freedom as an indie. You can literally write and sell whatever you like and however you like. You can dance around the living room on ticktock if you desire. You can go start a channel on YouTube, you can secrete your bookmarks and stickers in the backs of other books in bookstores if you wanted too. It’s down to you to establish what will benefit or harm your brand, and you have only yourself to answer too if it all goes wrong. Freeing, isn’t it?
So that’s it everyone. I hope that was useful to you and hopefully busted some of those myths that you have heard floating around the writing world.
If you want to check out some of my work, then head over to Amazon and search Jay Darkmoore. Alternately, click the link here.
https://linktr.ee/Jaydarkmoore
Get in touch!
Thank you for your time –
Jay Darkmoore.