As an angst writer, here’s a (non-exhaustive) explanation of how I figure out tagging for triggers:
Like I mentioned in another ask, all of my fics feature the tags “Other Additional Tags to Be Added” and “Additional Warnings in Author’s Note”. I’m an intuitive writer and sometimes fics take sharp turns I didn’t see coming, so it gives me leeway to warn the readers if there’s a shift that could potentially affect the maturity rating/trigger people. Otherwise I usually go off of anything that touches these categories:
Death: animal death, main character death, side character death, themes of death, death of a parent, temporary character death, suicide (these might seem obvious, but they’re really not— sometimes a reader has just lost someone and might pick up the story without thinking, and it could be more triggering than usual, so these are tags I’m a stickler about. I will absolutely spoil whether the death is permanent in my author’s note if I think it’s necessary.)
Mental Health: Panic Attacks, Suicide Attempts, Dissociation, Depression, Anxiety, Specific Disorders like DID or BPD. Eating Disorders and Self-Harm also fall into this category, in my experience. Depending on the prevalence of the themes I’ll also tag for lack of self care, bad self-talk, and self-destructive behaviors like addiction, as they can become sub-themes. These are themes people with mental health issues will also go looking for sometimes but will also need to avoid at other times.
Sex and Sexuality: Kinks, Sex The Act, and potentially acts leading up to sex/generally agreed upon as foreplay like sexual jokes/teasing or a character touching another character in any way with the intent to initiate. (This comes out of my upbringing in a cult mixed with having friends who are sex-repulsed. They’re not necessarily triggering but deserve a fair warning)
Social/Familial Issues: Abuse (Mental/Physical/Sexual/Emotional/Etc.), Discrimination, Overt Themes of Oppression, Rape, Assault, Bullying, Harassment, etc. (As with Mental Health Issues, sometimes people are there for the catharsis of reading these things and others need to avoid them at all costs.)
I also write hurt/comfort, and when I do I usually tag for the levels and types of pain experienced, whether they be emotional, mental, physical, etc. Think scrapes versus broken bones, hurt feelings vs a depressive episode, or a story about school overwhelm versus psychological torture.
This is also where the ‘additional warnings in author’s note’ really comes in handy. Sometimes an issue appears for a single chapter or paragraph and never happens again. When that happens, putting it in the main tags could be misleading (I phrase that this way because some people look for fics on issues, because that kind of hurt-comfort can also be soothing and cathartic for them; if I were to tag something with a mental health issue that only plays a role in one chapter, that could lead to misunderstanding). In cases like that, I add the specific warning to the author’s note box so it appears before they read the chapter. To be extra clear, I mean the one right under the title box, not the smaller one you can choose to include or not include. It’s more visible that way, and I usually add to that by putting the warnings in all caps, if I’m worried about people reading without checking.
Which brings me to an interesting point: when you get more established, you start to get regular readers (you do! I’ve got a few I recognize by profile pic! And I’m ‘small’!), and you may notice patterns in their comments that indicate whether they’re the type to rush headlong into a chapter and all caps are needed. I’ve had regulars scare the crap out of me leaving comments like ‘whoops, didn’t see the warning ;p’ so when I spot them I’ll usually shift the way I type the warnings to make them more visible just in case. Usually all that takes is all-caps… but I’ve also been a huge dramatic in the note to make it longer and harder to accidentally skim. That’s up to you!
This method definitely isn’t a catch-all for triggers; usually you have to build up enough of a rapport with your readers that they’ll tell you if you’ve missed something, and that can be tricky. But I’ve found that usually as long as I cover the bases in these categories, readers know enough to make an informed decision about my writing, and the extra warnings have also helped some of them relax and enjoy the fic more. If tagging your entire fic in one go is overwhelming, try tagging it chapter by chapter through the notes and moving consistent tags to the main tags section as you go, in combo with those two tags I mentioned at the top! It might take some of the stress off because you don’t have to figure it all out at once or know everything that might happen.
Gah, long again! I hope something in this can be helpful for someone <3 I saw mod is starting a new job— good luck! I hope all goes well :3