A year or two ago, I paid a sensitivity reader to check a chapter I was worried needed a trigger warning. Her feedback was that it was atrocious, like the chapter needed to burn unless there was some way to turn back time and unwrite it. It was the only problematic chapter in the entire novel, but it was pivotal for one of the protagonists. I couldn’t just delete it entirely. I was looking for constructive ways to improve the chapter, but the sensitivity reader was too offended to offer much.
I have a kabarkada, a close friend from my college days. He took creative writing before I studied it, and now he supports a family of 5 humans and several pets by writing e-books that his wife edits for him on a daily or weekly basis. He is on his seventh book now. When I told him about my quandary trying to rewrite the chapter that the sensitivity reader hated, he laughed. He didn’t see the issue. If she was outraged, then I did my job right, he said.
We weren’t taught about sensitivity reading in the University of the Philippines. At least, not during our time there. Heck, even novel-writing was a subject I had to fight for before I graduated. Everyone there was so focused on short stories. Publishing in anthologies, submitting the things to competitions… Everything revolved around short fiction. Many of my chapters were workshopped as short stories. But because of that, my transitions between chapters sucked at first and it took me years to fix.
I learned about sensitivity reading through the University of Youtube, where published authors give tips and advice for novice writers. Still… Is it really needed? Shouldn’t it help produce a better chapter or work instead of just criticizing the writer to death?
While some more modern writers say sensitivity reading is a must for anything controversial, the closest successfully published friend I have insists its a waste of time and money. Publish first, worry later, he more or less recommends.
Interesting thoughts to consider…
Translating Filipino:
Barkada: A gang of friends, a group of friends, a circle of friends
Kabarkada: A friend from your circle of friends