Never Kill The Dog

*Warning: This article is about trigger warnings vs spoiler prevention in literary works. It contains spoilers for my recently published novel.

The other day I was sipping some hot tea and doom-scrolling through posts on Facebook. I noticed a post about why there weren't more trigger warnings for books. In the comments, someone mentioned one of the writing rules was 'Never kill the dog'. Then someone said, "Don't people know they're never supposed to kill dogs or children?" Then someone mentioned that Stephen King kills dogs and children in his books all the time.

I blurted out an expletive to myself, my cats, and my dog. I choke-snorted my tea and thought for a moment I would pass out for lack of oxygen.

Before I continue, you should know the only book about writing I've read is Stephen King's On Writing.

I'm not a prolific writer. I discovered my love of writing later in life, so I'm playing catch up. I didn't study writing in college. I studied theatre. I've always been a storyteller. I've loved reading since childhood. When I set out to write my first book, I wanted to write one I would want to read. I am a fan of many genres. As a result, I wrote the kitchen sink of novels, and I broke one of the writing rules. I killed a dog.

I had just cough-snorted hot tea and was glad to be alive. I took a moment to think about the consequences of killing the dog.

Every decision has consequences. Sometimes there is a positive outcome. Sometimes the $#!% hits the fan. What we rarely think about is how we aren't always the ones who experience the consequences of our own actions. Often the $#!% hits somebody else in the face.

I spent an hour feeling like a highly repentant convicted killer. I had killed a fictional dog by stabbing it with a firey broadsword. Given, the dog was possessed by a psychotic serial killer who would have killed everybody else in the room, but I broke the rule. I killed the dog. Sort of. The book is a supernatural thriller. Supernatural creatures don't always die.

I didn't just kill the dog. I killed fictional children in my book, too.

Not too long ago, someone left a review on Amazon which ended with a spoiler, "Warning - an abused dog dies a sad death."

Terrible things occur to my characters and the dog's death is the least of them. I hadn't thought about my book needing a trigger warning. Honestly, I was more concerned with the serial killer and the children, than the dog.

Writers are the creators of their universes. Every character they create lives or dies based upon the rules of that universe. I wanted to tell a story about overcoming trauma. My characters had to be traumatized. There was no way around it.

I've experienced trauma. I've witnessed tragedy and death. I've lived with mania, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I've been hit in the face with a few triggers. Sometimes the world feels like I'm walking through an old battlefield. Triggers are like live landmines hidden in tall grass. You never know when you'll step on one. You do everything to avoid stepping on those landmines. Then, that one time you're not paying attention, you end up losing a metaphorical leg.

My traumas made me want to find a way to rid the world of everything that causes trauma. It is unlikely that I can stop hate in the real world, all by myself. But, as a writer, I know it is possible to do so in a world of my own creation.

I don't enjoy writing without purpose. I want to tell stories that matter, that impact, and that try to not just entertain, but make people think. I want to tell stories that make everyone feel every emotion, fully. I don't want anybody to lose a leg.

What is more important, preventing the spoiler, or giving the trigger warning? I don't want my readers to know the end of the book before they read the first page. I also don't want to mentally scar the readers I am writing for. I love being surprised by books. I don't want to know the secrets beforehand. I want to solve the mystery. But there have been times in my life that I would have liked to be warned about the content.

It pains me to say this, but my book about a woman overcoming trauma-based triggers so she can realize her superhuman powers needs a trigger warning.

The reader who warned of the dog's death wasn't leaving a spoiler. They were leaving a trigger warning. Potential triggers are more important than protecting readers from spoilers. Not everybody is susceptible to triggers, but I care about those that are.

A well-written book is like a perfect, brand-new dress. You take it off the hanger. You try it on. You take it out for a spin. A Cold wind hits you in the face. You try to warm yourself and make a discovery. You realize your perfect dress is even more perfect because it has pockets. The dress was so well constructed you had no idea until that cold wind came along, and you needed those pockets. I'm fully aware that most dresses don't have pockets.

We need more dresses with pockets.

And more well-written books.

Thinking upon it, those pockets are a good metaphor for triggers and spoilers. Some readers want to know that there are pockets. They want a sticker stuck on the tag that reads, "This Dress Has Pockets." They need that sticker.

Some readers want to be surprised by those pockets. They want to discover everything for themselves. They like unpredictability. They enjoy a mystery. They want to be shocked.

I guess everything boils down to where authors put that sticker. Maybe bookstores and websites need sections that contain trigger warnings, for those that need them, and sections that don't have them, for those who don't want to be spoiled.

On the day that I sat down to write the chapter where the dog died, I had been avoiding it for about a week. I love animals. I don't have children, so my three cats and dog are my world. I didn't want to write that chapter. I didn't want to kill the dog. But no matter how I tried to rearrange the scene in my mind or tried to find an alternate ending, I came to the same conclusion. The only way to get rid of the serial killer was to hurt the dog. Even the fictional dog knew it. The dog's name is Killer, by the way.

I wrote that chapter and cried the entire time. My real dog, Sherlock, was trying his best to comfort me, not understanding why I was crying. Even the cats were concerned.

I wish there could have been another way, but stories kind of write themselves. I create the world and make the rules of that world. When I start writing, my characters take over and say and do what they want. Every time I try to get in their way or rearrange the situation the result is a work lacking in truth. There were several times I had to walk away from my book while I was writing because I wasn't ready to feel the pain.

What I can say is that most of my characters are supernatural beings, or on their way to becoming so. I love them. I hate them. I want to hug them and tell them everything will be okay. My characters live in a world where immortality is real. That means they have to live through all the joy, heartbreak, and everything in between, forever.

No, I'm not a prolific writer. I'm just getting started. I have to remind myself to write every day. I have to remind myself not to feel guilty about spending so much time doing something I enjoy. I question every word on the page. I have to work at it. Sometimes I'll write for hours and erase everything, and start all over again. If the words don't come to life, there's no point. Words should be alive on the page. If some of those words have to die, so be it.

I'll end with the words of Stephen King.

Sometimes they come back.