Supposedly, upon meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe -- Lincoln said about Uncle Tom's Cabin -- "So you're the woman who wrote that little book that started this great war."

A few months ago I read Uncle Tom's Cabin as part of my research to write a book about a transperson during the Civil War. I was shocked by the emotions elicited. It was frightening to think how the reader would have reacted in the 1800s.

Later in that century Mark Twain said that the Civil War happened because the South read too much Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott. Through Ivanhoe the South had developed romantic notions that overcame the logic that should have told them that they lacked the manufacturing, money, and railroads needed to win. Their decisions were based on chivalry and honor. Slavery benefited the less than 1% who owned large plantations -- yet over 600,000 deaths were sacrificed to preserve it.

Things have gotten a lot better for those with gender confusion. Yet, we're not remotely universally accepted. The guilt and shame felt for who we are is crushing.

As authors we strive to develop the ability to draw our readers into a state where they willingly abandon their disbeliefs. As we become better at our craft don't we also take on additional duties?

The readers of BC are not all emotionally mature adults. Many of us are clinging to societal threads. We've been rejected, at least in our minds, by everyone we hold most dear, simply for identifying as who we are.

Some readers are highly impressionable teens. Others are wallowing in lonely despair. Some are going through devastating life circumstances.

There are themes and genres that should be considered quite profoundly before publishing. We are asking the wounded, who our words make defenseless, to absorb what might be too much.

Think of Disney's Mulan. I cried buckets of tears at the end of that recent film. But, had the story ended in despair instead of triumph were would have it left me.

I clearly remember reading Exodus as a young adult and making bad choices based on how that book made me feel. I jumped to rash conclusions because Leon Uris had taught me to live as if there is no tomorrow.

Not every story has to be about rainbows and teddy bears. But when reaching for a dark topic remember who you will be impacting and what is at stake.

Jill