some thoughts

fuck you: a psa about trigger warnings

yall im so tired. i came back on here to see if i could find a well written fic and they just don't really exist. this is why i use ao3 ngl. the first fic i find had no obvious trigger warning and just like went into a graphic description of self harm and now im hella anxious.

heres the psa:

if you are writing a story where one of the characters is depressed, add some damn trigger warnings. even if there isn't any harming in it, people need to be warned about the content that is in the book. saying "oh there might be some trigger warnings" and not specifying anything about what the trigger warnings are for, or where in the story they are, is a dick move.

honestly fuck you.

put it on the top of the chapter page. that way people will see it before they read the chapter. or do the thing that smut writers do, and put a row of asterisks before the triggering part.

describing all the self harm isnt essential to the plot. i can guarantee that. you dont need to explain exactly how something happened to get the message across.

besides that, most people who are depressed arent going to sit there and deadass just fucking explain what happened in graphic detail. thats some fucked shit man. theres no reason for it.

not only could a lack of a warning send someone into a spiral, or a panic, it might remind them of the times they hurt themselves or went through a really dark time. thats not good.

please, please, please be aware that people have gone through shit.

there are so many ways to avoid triggering people to the point that they might start feeling depressed again.

sorry im so mad, im just very passionate about the feelings of others. please try your best to make sure you are keeping people safe. i know not everyone wants to censor their writing, and you dont have to. i just know how important it is to warn others about content.

lack of a warning is NOT cool.

im done now.

just please take this to heart.

-meg