This is a thread about suicidal ideation in MDZS fic. I'm unlocking my account temporarily so it can be shared and discussed.

Thread contains generalized discussion of guidelines for reporting on suicide as well as general mentions of trauma, abuse, and depression.

i've been reading and enjoying a really lovely and until now very thoughtful fic, but it just had a character decide that Mo Xuan Yu's death would have been "a kindness" and that's a level of indirect suicidal ideation that I need to speak up about.

The fic basically posits the idea that Mo Xuan Yu is so far beyond help due to his lifetime of abuse and maltreatment and mental health issues that maybe it was better to offer him a way out of his misery.

That take is very likely an actively harmful one for readers.

I know I just said the other day that fiction doesn't inevitably impact reality, but where suicidal ideation is concerned, that's tricky. We KNOW suicides increase after media coverage of suicide, and suicides *may* have increased after 13 Reasons Why. https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/5/3/18522559/13-reasons-why-netflix-youth-suicide-rate

I actually wrote the guidelines for ethically reporting on suicide at my previous media outlet, so this is something i am sensitive to and think about a lot. Reporting /= fiction, but in both cases, it's *very* easy for a writer to unwittingly fuel a reader's suicidal ideation.

The reason is that people who experience suicidal ideation are unusually vulnerable, extremely suggestible and subject to manipulation, because their mental defenses against this kind of thinking have been worn down. So in this situation, the words you write can have big impact.

The idea that there's a limit to the happiness and joy your existence on earth can hold if you're a survivor of abuse/trauma/mental illness — that's a very dangerous to write and leave unchallenged, because it's a *major* symptom of suicidal ideation. https://www.healthline.com/health/suicidal-ideation#symptoms

I haven't read that many treatments of Mo Xuan Yu's suicide, so i don't know if this particular framing is a common treatment in fic, but I have noticed a lot of fics come close to implying that Wei Wuxian makes a better use of MXY's body than MXY ever did. Don't do this.

We *will* have readers who are depressed and who are contemplating suicide, and those readers may be looking for "a sign," "an excuse." If a fic treats a character's suicide is treated as being the best thing for that character, that can and will make an impression.

I don't want to tell anyone how to interpret MDZS canon, but *any* time you write about a suicide, emphasize the life that person lived rather than whatever assumed peace their death might have brought. Emphasize the joy that character gave others & the life they should have had.

I'd advise everyone to read the journalistic
recommendations for reporting on suicide: https://reportingonsuicide.org/recommendations/

And then think about how you can incorporate the spirit of those guidelines when you write fiction. <333

Be safe and be well, everyone.