I refuse to insert trigger warnings and will never use them

I write for people who won’t let themselves get bent out of shape. That said, you won’t find trigger warnings. So if you’re easily triggered, steer clear.

If the word ‘insane’ triggers you, you’re not emotionally intelligent enough to venture onto my author blog, Unapologetic Rants. There, that’s your litmus test. But I don’t stop there.

Whether I’m talking about suicide, cutting wrists, drug abuse, domestic abuse, trafficking, or anything I haven’t named, you’re not getting a disclaimer. If you get a panic attack over it, then you need to find a way to keep yourself from letting that happen.

I’m not here to babysit adults. Seriously, if you’re a grown man or woman and you’re either easily offended, triggered, or you go to pieces because someone said something that hurt your feelings, you got a problem.

What’s the problem? You can’t control your emotions.

The good news? You’re the only one who can fix that problem. Every human being in existence has something that triggers them, but the strongest minds don’t let it affect them. The strongest minds overcome it while weak minds let triggers consume them.

My strong female protagonists own strong-ass minds

Not only are most of them good-looking, I ain’t gonna lie, but they’ve been to the ninth gate of hell and back. So much, modern-day psychiatry would love to put them on anxiety meds while “assuring them” it’s okay to get all bent outta shape.

Hey, weak men and women create hard times. My girls know this, so Mina Hirai ain’t gonna stop and feel sorry for herself every time someone says something that brings up her past. One where she was chained to her own toilet in solitary confinement of a federal prison in her home world.

Liza Fury watched a relative murder her parents and kidnap her older sister before she reached age of majority. Tarja Titan? Physically abused to the point her stepmom threw her down a flight of steps to an unfinished basement floor.

Mali LaSalle went through a painful ritual. She got X-shaped scars carved and then burned into her hands when she was five. A ritual designed for societal outcasts in her world. And don’t get me started on Sabre Kjaergaard or Kaija Jokiharju.

What’s the common denominator with these women? None of them balked at their situation. They stayed resilient throughout the diabolical horrors they faced, before and after my stories’ events.

It’s time to ditch the trigger warnings in entertainment

If something offends you, change the channel, read another book, or listen to another song. Hell, I once saw a reader one-star a book I read because the author used the word ‘retard.’ Like for real? What’d you get from that? A twenty-second dopamine rush?

One reason I loved the Let’s Read Podcast was that I never came across a trigger warning. I’m not sure if its host uses them now, but some of the shit he dives head-first into, I’m like, “whoa.” Then I’d thank fate that he didn’t use a trigger warning.

We, as creators, need to follow his lead. And follow my lead: If I read something I don’t like or it pisses me off, I move on to the next book. That’s all you need to do. But we’ve been conditioned to think we deserve a cookie or something because we were “courageous enough” to speak up about our emotional shortcomings.

If you’re with me, I got good news. I write for people with an emotional backbone. If that’s you, check out my work at The Rebel Lore Vault. You’re getting genre-fusion fantasy and dystopian books that bite, and they don’t apologize when they offend someone.