Trigger Warnings

This year’s tragedies include the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the mudslide in Washington state, flooding in Bosnia, the recent shooting in Santa Barbara, California, and so much more. And the year's not half over. Life isn’t easy or pretty or fair.

As adults, we have to prepare the next generation to navigate a world that's both glorious and treacherous. That’s why we must say no to “trigger warnings" for college texts.

Students at several U.S. colleges and universities and the student government at the University of California-Santa Barbara have called for trigger warnings or alerts for classroom material that may upset them.

The works trigger-happy activists think should come with warning labels include Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice with its look at anti-Semitism and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, which addresses suicide. Read the New York Times article on the trigger-warning trend here.

Anti-Semitism was an issue in Shakespeare’s time and is one today. Slapping a warning label on books, plays, exhibits, and movies that depict it won’t make it go away. Confronting it, on the other hand, might change a few hearts and minds.

The suicide of World War I vet Septimus Smith in Mrs. Dalloway is relevant today as it was then. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a war wound that may not show on the outside but can cause more damage as a bullet. The number of male veterans under the age of 30 who commit suicide jumped by 44 percent between 2009 and 2011, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs. We honor our vets by educating people about PTSD and erasing the stigma of mental illness. We dishonor them by slapping warnings on books that touch on the effects of war on warriors.

Education, be it via college or the school of life, exposes us to triggers. We’re supposed to be shocked disgusted, and angry. We learn how we think when we’re challenged.

In The Guardian, Jill Filipovic writes: “But the space between comfort and freedom is not actually where universities should seek to situate college students. Students should be pushed to defend their ideas and to see the world from a variety of perspectives. Trigger warnings don't just warn students of potentially triggering material; they effectively shut down particular lines of discussion with 'that's triggering.'"

Kristen Lamb, who teaches writers social-media skills, says writers should be as concerned by the call for trigger warnings as college professors. Here’s Lamb on the issue: “My fiction isn’t about rainbows and unicorns and the world holding hands. I don’t write My Little Pony. I strive to write about regular (often innocent) people thrust into the bowels of darkness who through sheer force of their humanity confront evil, grow into heroes and WIN.”

As you can tell, the trigger-warning movement triggered my anger. I’d be less a person if I hadn’t read certain books. How about you?

  

Look for the Helpers

Forget about "business as usual." Between Monday's tragedy at the Boston Marathon and last night's explosion of a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, I'm incapable of writing about travel, food, gardening, even books. 

Like you, I've been watching and reading news reports, staying up past my bedtime, and thinking about the unpredictability of life and our need to make sense out of the senseless.

After the Boston Marathon bombings, social-media expert Kristen Lamb wrote a blog post about how a bystander's bravery restored her faith in humanity even as disasters reduce our tolerance for social-media gaffes.

Lamb's post also included this image of and quote from Fred Rogers:

Last night, I watched helpers run to the rescue of those trapped in a nursing home in West. Helpers also fought fire and lined up to transport people out of town. Seeing them in action comforted me in a way Bible verses couldn't because those helpers were prayer in action.

When I think of the people whose lives have been changed by disaster, I resolve to wring more out of every day I've been given. That doesn't mean I'll add an around-the-world adventure to my bucket list, although I may go zip-lining sooner than planned. My chief resolution is to pay better attention to the people around me. 

My Older Daughter's birthday's coming up. A few days ago, I asked her what flavor of cake she wanted. 

She hesitated. "I don't really like cake." 

For three decades, OD has eaten cake on her birthday. She gets points for politeness, but how I wish I'd known she'd have preferred lemon bars.

I'm going to pay attention. And, if called upon to act, I hope I've got what it takes to be a helper. 

Let's Work Together

If you watch Project Runway, a reality television show about clothing designers vying for funding to produce their own line, you know the contestants hate team challenges. They'd rather succeed or fail on their own merits.

The same is true in the Top Chef kitchen. The contestants competing for the title of America's Top Chef dread group challenges. They don't want to be teamed with someone they consider less competent or lacking the desire to win at all costs.

Think of group projects you've participated in at work or school. In almost every three-person team, there's a Bossypants and a Slacker. I'm guessing you're neither, which means you had to maintain the peace, keep Bossypants rooted in reality, and make sure the Slacker contributed something. You probably did seventy percent of the work for the worst of all rewards: both Bossypants and Slacker vowed to pick you for every team they captained until the end of time.

The memory of one group project I worked on years ago still floods me with anxiety. It should have made me a permanent member of the "I'll do it myself" tribe, but I've been too lucky in partnerships to want to go it alone all the time.

I'm lucky to team with Lark on this blog. There have been days when I had a post due and not a thought in my head. Rather than let Lark down, I forced myself to come up with something. If this blog were mine alone, it would have gone dark months ago.

Do we ever really know someone until we've worked with him or her on a tough project? (Long ago, Hubs and I decided the true test of a relationship was the ability to hang wallpaper together.) Co-workers who initially struck me as flighty proved uber-dependable, and those who inspired confidence from a distance turned into cardboard up close.

Writers work alone for hours at a time, but it's the rare writer who doesn't need feedback from peers. I've been so lucky with critique partners, I'm joining yet another critique group. The prospect is scary but exhilarating. It's scary because the other members and I might not be a good fit, but it's exhilarating because we might discover our combined strengths compensate for our individual weaknesses. Most important is the reminder I'm never alone at the keyboard. Someone will read my words, and I'll read theirs.

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of We Are Not Alone, a blogging class I took with social-media expert Kristen Lamb.  The class lasted two months, but the rewards will continue indefinitely. I've made online friends and learned from them and their blogs. I rouse myself to comment on others' blogs rather than nod in recognition, smile, and log off. When my energy nosedives and I neglect to promote a post, one of my WANA buddies will tweet the link. I've celebrated with indie-published WANAs and wait with others for offers from traditional publishers. Through triumphs and disappointments, we know someone has our back.

A sense of solidarity fuels the writer alone in the crowd at the coffee shop. As Lark wrote in a post last week, the tools and encouragement we get from fellow writers propels us forward—and prompts us to give back.

Teamwork that brings out our best is worth seeking out and holding onto.  

Here's Canned Heat: on the topic:

    

Title Help and More Write Stuff

Hey, writers, this post's for you, and you'll be pleased to know it links to other, better posts.

First up, get tongue-in-cheek help naming your novel from National Public Radio via Redlines and Deadlines, the blog of those witty editors at Ellora's Cave.

Uh oh, CARPOOLING FANNY appears to be the title of my WIP.

In a week when the Department of Justice filed suit against Apple and five publishers (three of which have agreed to a settlement), we need a feel-good story. Larry Brooks, author of psychological thrillers and the "story fixer," gave an advanced workshop to about 100 romance writers in Portland Oregon—his first time giving a workshop to a group of romance writers—and came away from it with respect for the genre. That's right; you won't hear him make a snide comment or a passive-aggressive aside. Indeed, he describes the Portland writers as "killer smart."

Sci-fi writer Lynette Burrows is back with another installment in her "Re-visioning Your Story" series. Here, she reminds us great beginnings hook the reader but emotionally satisfying endings compel them to buy an author's next book.

Still trying to define "voice" as it pertains to writers? Social-media expert Kristen Lamb's recent post (the third in a series) demystifies the term by using actors as examples. "Let’s say I have a role to cast. I want a male actor to play a cowboy. I have three different actors. I have Clint Eastwood, Jack Black, and Robert Deniro. Same story, different actors. Can you see how the choice of actor–the choice of the voice–becomes essential to how the story will play out? If I cast the wrong actor for the story I as a director want to tell, I can have a disaster, even though ALL THREE ACTORS are highly skilled and talented."

Hope these links are useful. Now it's back to CARPOOLING FANNY for me.

Links for Writers

Got linky-links? Why, yes, I do.

This set is targeted toward writers, and the links point to essays or sites that mostly interest or entertain, but one of them nudge us into dropping a bad habit or two. (All right, already! I'll drink more water.)

First up, romantic comedy/mystery writer Anne R. Allen points out the flaws in nine frequently repeated pieces of writing advice. Here's how she counters the chestnut that all protagonists must be admirable: "Saints are boring in fiction, unless they liberate France and get burned at the stake, and that’s been done." Read her full post here.

Chuck Wendig, whose debut novel, DOUBLE DEAD, comes out this month, shares the twenty-five qualities a book must have to keep him (and the rest of us) reading. The following is from trait #16: "A story that becomes something other than it seems — that pivots hard and shows you a whole new face — is a powerful thing, and compelling enough to drag me into its turbulent waters." Wendig's full post is here.

Jenny Hansen, the writer behind the More Cowbell blog, offers three rules for success in writing and in life.

Social-media expert Kristen Lamb reminds writers that health comes before wealth and is essential to maintaining page counts. Here, she offers tips for getting and staying in tip-top shape.

Blogger Coleen Patrick takes a look at some novels' memorable first lines. What's your favorite?

Having trouble maintaining your NaNo word count? This site is all kibble, no stick.

Finally, Kristan Hoffman offers writers two quizzes to test our understanding of what really matters to readers. Hint: it's not the number of our Twitter followers. Test yourself here.