Love in Dark Settings

But it seems to me that the amount of energy that some writers spend in saying, "It's against my rights as an author to create warnings!" could be better put to use in creating a one-paragraph, spoiler-free, boilerplate warning . . . or simply saying, "No warnings given," which will alert the reader to the fact that the author doesn't give warnings.

I think you seriously underestimate the amount of time it would take to attach such a one-paragraph template / link to every single one of my stories, each chapter, each drabble.

I read a bunch of arguments, coming from people saying that there were some things generally understood that "everyone" should warn about, and a lot of very angry, demanding posts from people saying "you've GOT to do this".

And I thought, and I still think: Actually, no, I don't. I actively want to harrow up a reader's emotions. I want to take a reader by surprise.

And I quite see that means someone who is feeling at the point of stress where something could be too much on the instant, shouldn't be reading my stories. But then... shouldn't they already know that? If I'm feeling at that point of stress, ready to dissolve in tears, then by preference I go check out something I've already read where I'm not going to be taken by surprise, or go looking for fanfic via a rec-list.

Trying to enforce a general code of "Everyone should use warnings" is pointless: some people will not warn. Better to inculcate a culture in which people are prepared to think first before they leap if they know that leaping could do something appalling to them. Someone said they were looking for tools that a fan with trauma/PTSD could use to read with safety: well, her best tool is her brain, and she should use it.