I am afraid some scenes in my novel are too graphic for some people (Trigger warning: Sexual Assault)
Just to keep it short.
One of my characters is sexually assaulted by her father. While not being descriptive of the act itself, the situation itself is quite an sad scene.
This is relevant as the character later has problems in her relationships when it comes to sex.
How should I handle this?
Add a trigger warning and say 'skip to page X' and then give a summary? or just let it be.
The novel is for adults anyway.
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I don't think you HAVE to give a trigger warning, but if you want to give one, give it like we do on movies or television shows, up front, before the story even starts.
This fiction contains sexual scenes some people will find disturbing.
Personally, my response to the warnings about "nudity", "sexual situations" and "violence" is generally hooray!.
I think such warnings will only turn away people that truly did not want to read such a scene, and that should be regarded as a good thing. I wouldn't want to sell a book to somebody that will regret buying it. Anybody else that DOES find your scene disturbing -- Well, you warned them and they plowed ahead anyway. You need not feel responsible.
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Don't give a trigger warning in a book!
Unless you're writing an actual nonfiction guide for rape survivors, a warning like that would be not just unnecessary but apt to get you ridiculed. It's simply not done.
People who are themselves survivors, or who don't want to read about violence, or kids who are reading adult books, use reviews and word-of-mouth to find out the content of a book (or movie) before reading (seeing) it.
That being said, a violent act can be very difficult for a reader, even one who doesn't limit their reading choices. Or it might be something someone wouldn't want to read on the train on the way to work, for example. Instead of warning, just drop hints that something bad is coming.
It will give the scene more impact. You don't want the impact to be the shock value; you want it to be emotional. So a bit of foreshadowing works well here. This is true whether it's murder, being beaten at school, or a tornado wiping out the town. Sometimes the shock is necessary (like a kidnapping perhaps), but usually not.
For example, your book is about someone who has difficulty in romantic relationships and maybe the focus of the book is her as an adult navigating one or more of these relationships. Eventually she tells her story to a trusted partner or friend or therapist, or she has a full-on flashback, or she confronts her father or another family member who didn't stop things.
Whatever it is, you can lead up to it. Maybe you show bits of her nightmares, or have her tell her partner vague things about why she woke up screaming. She can talk about her views on sex, which are generally a bit off in survivors (in a way readers who are survivors will recognize). You can show her in a sexual encounter (which might be as simple as kissing) and then suddenly (she is triggered) and all her desire fades and she may even be fearful.
None of these needs full descriptions. Let the reader figure it out over time. Then you can include her story. By then the reader should have an emotional connection with the character (hopefully) and will have empathy for her story, even if it is difficult to hear.
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In Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, chapter 7, the MC is seven years old, and his father attempts to drown him.
'I'll apologise,' I told him. 'I'll say sorry. I didn't mean what I said. She's not a monster. She's...she's pretty.'
He didn't say anything in response. The bath was full, and he turned the cold tap off.
Then, swiftly, he picked me up. He put his huge hands under my armpits, swung me up with ease, so I felt like I weighed nothing at all.
I looked at him, at the intent expression on his face. He had taken off his jacket before he came upstairs. He was wearing a light blue shirt and a maroon paisley tie. He pulled off his watch on its expandable strap, dropped it on to the window ledge.
The I realised what he was going to do, and I kicked out, and I flailed at him, neither of which action had any effect of any kind as he plunged me down into the cold water.
I was horrified, but it was initially the horror of something happening against the established order of things. I was fully dressed. That was wrong. I had my sandals on. That was wrong. The bath water was cold, so cold and so wrong. That was what I thought, initially, as he pushed me into the water, and then he pushed further, pushing my head and shoulders beneath the chilly water, and the horror changed its nature. I thought, I'm going to die.
There is no trigger warning. In fact, the book is marketed as YA. The scene is extremely honest, it is very much in the moment, with the child's POV, and thus it is very disturbing. It turns your stomach.
Which is how I believe such scenes should be handled. You show sensitivity by treating the scene with integrity. You present it as it is: troubling, shocking, painful. People who read about sexual assault should be shaken.
In the introduction to his short stories collection Trigger Warning, Neil Gaiman discusses his opinion of the whole concept:
What we read as adults should be read, I think, with no warnings or alerts beyond, perhaps: enter at your own risk. [...] I wonder, Are fictions safe places? And then I ask myself, Should they be safe places? [...] There are still things that profoundly upset me when I encounter them, whether it's on the Web or the word or in the world. They never get easier, never stop my heart from trip-trapping, never let me escape, this time, unscathed. But they teach me things, and they open my eyes, and if they hurt, they hurt in ways that make me think and grow and change.
I strongly agree with this. Fiction should not necessarily be a safe place. Fiction should go to places that make us think, even if those places are scary. I do not respect fiction that pulls its punches.
That means, no trigger warnings. Write it the way it is.
Just make sure it is marketed appropriately: for mature audiences.
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