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 |  This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario. An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. |
| Offending The Reader Last year, or maybe 2023, I received a pre-emptive rejection. A publisher sent me an email telling me not to send anything to her based on a story she heard from a fellow publisher about a book I was working on and had not (still has not) been finished, because it was too offensive to her sensibilities and she did not want to be associated with a writer who could write such things. I laughed it off. Two weeks ago, I received a rejection from a publisher for a short story because he found parts of the story offensive. He said he liked my writing, that I came recommended, and if I had something less offensive, he would be glad to read it. I had no idea which part of a horror story was so offensive, but I don’t think I’ll be submitting to him again. So, should we, as writers, be worried about offending people? Should any artist? If an audience is offended, then maybe they are not your audience. I mean, I offend all the time; I have mentioned in the past that I received a DEATH THREAT because of my writing. You can guess, I don’t think we need to worry about offending. For the same reason, I also don’t think we should include trigger warnings. Trigger warnings tell readers things: 1) there is something in the work to be offended by; 2) people should be prepared to be triggered; 3) all those people who want to be outraged so they can complain can be on the lookout for things; and 4) the writer is pandering to those who think every precious little snowflake needs to be protected from things they might possibly maybe not like. If I offend people with what I write, then I think it says more about them than about me. I see at least a dozen things every day on WdC, including in the Newsfeed, that I find grossly offensive. Until this blog post, I’ll bet most of you didn’t realise there was so much disgustingly offensive stuff here, right? Well, to me, there is. But I ignore it. I have some safe places to rant, but generally, I just ignore it. Offending people is something we all do, whether we know it or not. Should we be worried? In my opinion – nope. We are all different. What offends you, I consider normal; what offends me, you consider natural. Opinions, arseholes… we all have them. |
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. I think you are quite correct, especially in the last decade or so about the growing range of things that can be objectionalble to someone. In that regard, I think the gray area has grown enormous, about what might be objectionable.
