Canaries and catastrophes

An important part of my job is to act as the writer’s ‘canary in the mine’. Isn’t that an awful phrase?

For anyone far too young to get the reference, it links back to coal mining. The canary was an early warning system, alerting miners to deadly gas building up in their surroundings. Any sign that the bird wasn’t doing well meant that it was time to return to the surface – quickly.

Use your superpowers: empathy and objectivity

When you’re writing a nonfiction piece that touches on real life events past or present, empathy and objectivity are your most valuable allies. Even if it wasn’t your intention to upset anyone, referencing potentially sensitive material can backfire, sometimes in unexpected ways.

Triggering – or sensitive – information can be damaging for people who have been negatively affected by the issues it raises.

Another risk is that you leave out certain affected people or groups while focusing on another part of the picture. That can leave you open to criticism from those whose stories were not represented – even if your written piece doesn’t naturally extend to covering their experiences.

To manage all these expectations, you need to be (or get) good at:

• jumping out of your own shoes and into someone else’s
• thinking objectively about your writing.

Helping you to view the text through different lenses

As a writing coach and developmental editor, it’s part of my job to flag this for you. When I work on your text, I’m filtering it through a range of reader viewpoints: gender identity, ethnicity, socio-economics, education, politics, interests, familiarity with the subject matter, etc.

And I’m also considering what’s especially flammable in the wider world at the time of writing. Information is processed contextually.

A discussion of the Vikings and their extremely dubious habit of ransacking entire villages is much easier now: history has erased the names of most of the people caught up in the massacres.

First World War? That’s getting closer. It feels more triggering for that reason alone. Children and grandchildren of those caught up in the war still carry painful memories.

Idi Amin’s Uganda? These tragic events are very recent in historical terms, and their impact will have been felt by thousands of people, many of whom are living now.

It’s context: comparable horrors, different timeframes.

Do you need to include the potentially sensitive passage(s)?

Can you avoid using it, while producing an authentic, accurate and complete text? If so, maybe it’s wise to give it a wide berth for now. You could write about it elsewhere, with more focus and context.

If you do need to include it, your work is to consider the event in the round. Look for under-represented people, as well as the better-known ones.

• Who were all of the affected groups, and how were they affected?
• Is the issue ongoing, or historical?
• Are any affected people and/or their loved ones alive today?
• Does the matter tie into any current political or sociological issues?

This doesn’t mean don’t do it!

None of this means that you should avoid talking about the thing. If you do talk about it, make it count. Be aware of the possible impacts, so that you can modify them where appropriate.

It’s important to make room to talk about troubling experiences. It’s a natural way to navigate the healing process. But we can’t safely assume that what is a simple fact for us is just that for others. Being aware of the potential to cause emotional harm is a crucial skill for nonfiction writers.

The phrase Too soon! is a comedic way to show that we’re not quite ready to find the humour in a challenging event right now, because the emotional processing hasn’t happened.

Then again, some things never really get easier to laugh at, even years later. And that’s where the sensitivity reading comes in.

So I’m never looking to criticise; I’m just your canary in the mine, acting as your early warning system, wherever I can.

What you do with what I flag is always up to you. But at least you’re aware of some of the potential feedback it might attract. And then you can decide how to proceed.

This article was first published on www.proofingbypage.com