Man Can’t Handle How Grotesque And Horrifying GF’s Book Is, Calls The Police On Her
Trust is both fundamental to any relationship and also very hard to rebuild once it’s been torn down. For example, showing a creative passion project to a loved one for some feedback is an act of trust, and sometimes it doesn’t go well for either party.
A woman asked the internet for advice on what to do with her rather dramatic boyfriend, who called the cops on her over the contents of her novel. While she didn’t go into detail, apparently, the story was dark enough that he thought, for some reason, the police needed to be involved. We reached out to her via private message and will update the article when she gets back to us.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that sometimes fiction can get rather dark
Image credits: EkaterinaPereslavtseva (not the actual photo)
But one woman didn’t know how to move on when her BF called the cops over her novel
Image credits: YuriArcursPeopleimages (not the actual photo)
Image credits: throwRAmentalgymnist
It can be pretty hard to come back from a break of trust in a relationship
When this story hit the internet, commenters didn’t just side with the writer; they practically formed a chorus urging her to run. The boyfriend’s behavior was labeled controlling, manipulative, and at minimum a massive red flag. But what makes this scenario particularly fascinating isn’t just whether the boyfriend made an honest mistake; it’s what his actions reveal about the invisible calculations of trust that relationships require, and why his explanation fails so spectacularly under even gentle scrutiny.
Research on trust in romantic relationships identifies several key components: reliability, emotional safety, and the belief that your partner acts in your best interest. The boyfriend violated all three simultaneously. He proved unreliable by failing to communicate his concerns directly. He destroyed emotional safety by involving authorities in her creative work without warning. And most damningly, his explanation for why he did it doesn’t hold up under basic logical examination.
What makes this particularly insidious is how the boyfriend framed his betrayal. He positioned himself as the concerned party who made an understandable mistake, suggesting she should be grateful he cared enough to worry. This is a classic manipulation tactic where someone does something harmful and then reframes your reasonable anger as unreasonableness. Research on gaslighting indicates that one common pattern involves making someone doubt their legitimate feelings by suggesting their reaction is disproportionate to an “honest mistake.”
Image credits: drobotdean (not the actual photo)
The boyfriend’s explanation didn’t really make sense
But commenters saw through this immediately because the story doesn’t pass the smell test. The writer has been publishing dark fiction for years. The boyfriend has a degree in creative writing, meaning he’s presumably been exposed to disturbing fictional content in academic settings. He’s read her material before. This particular chapter wasn’t even her darkest work, allegedly. Yet suddenly, this one chapter was so realistic and disturbing that he needed to involve law enforcement, but not so disturbing that he couldn’t continue sleeping over and acting normally?
The more interesting question commenters grappled with was: what was he actually trying to accomplish? Some suggested he was testing how much control he could exert. Others wondered if he was trying to embarrass or intimidate her. Some speculated he wanted to see how she’d react to a betrayal of this magnitude, testing whether she’d accept his flimsy excuse. Research on power dynamics in relationships shows that sometimes partners engage in behaviors designed to destabilize the other person’s sense of reality or autonomy, and the boyfriend’s actions fit this pattern disturbingly well.
Image credits: cookie_studio (not the actual photo)
While there might be things missing from the story, it’s hard to just ignore the boyfriend’s actions
What’s particularly revealing is his response when confronted. He didn’t express genuine remorse or horror at what he’d put her through. He defended his actions, insisted she should understand, and wanted her to drop it. Studies on authentic apologies versus manipulative ones show that real remorse involves taking full responsibility without qualifications. His response was textbook deflection; he acknowledged the inconvenience while maintaining he was justified in creating it.
The writer’s question about whether this could be an “honest-to-god mistake” reveals something poignant about how people in relationships talk themselves into accepting unacceptable behavior. She’s searching for an explanation that allows her to stay, that preserves the relationship she thought she had. But commenters overwhelmingly pushed back because they recognized what she was struggling to see: even if we grant that calling the police was somehow a panic response rather than calculated manipulation, his refusal to fully own the severity of what he did is the real problem.
Image credits: dmytro_sidelnikov (not the actual photo)
She shared some more info in the comments
Readers were shocked at his decision to call the police
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I am, and know a lot of other, fiction writers and we all dread the day our laptops have to go in for a repair and we forget to wipe our search history first! We've laughed about what an outsider would think. Between us we've researched everything from how to commit the perfect murd*r, how to make Molotov cocktails from household ingredients, usage of every type of gun/knife/etc... But this guy's reaction is just stupid - just because you've got a good imagination and Googled eg t*rture methods for the character you're writing doesn't mean you've actually practiced on someone. If, on the other hand, he knew that then he's just doing it to cause trouble for her.
Right. I am a writer as well, never want anyone to see my Google search history, because yikes.
Load More Replies...Her boyfriend has serious issues. Did he think the police were going to do a fiction writing intervention? W*F. So she’s a horror writer. Big deal. He’s a loser. She shouldn’t waste time working through anything with him. Spend that time and energy on writing instead!
It really sounds like a symptom of a serious psychiatric icondition. Many people who are later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other conditions have these types of mini-episodes first: blending of thoughts and reality, accompanied by the sense that something is terribly wrong/compulsive thoughts only to realise once they are through it that it wasn't rational or in character. He needs to be evaluated not ridiculed. Best case it was brought on by medication or d**g use and not a degenerative illness.
Load More Replies...Writing dark messed up stuff happens to quite a lot of us. I have written some myself, and fairy tales are full of horrible (and often non-consensual) things happening, often to children. The guy made a choice to read something he knew was a bit messed up, which was a little side hustle (so people wanted to read it) and he made a choice to talk to the police about his concerns rather than to her directly...as if the police are in any position to do something about bad things happening to *fictional* characters. The best thing she can do is cut this guy loose immediately, and then write a story about this where a delusional man calls the cops on an author as a smokescreen for the fact that he's really the [insert your own favourite antagonist trope here].
Dude sounds like one of those insufferable people who only engages with "uNprObLemATiC" fiction and can't differentiate between depiction and glorification.
Boyfriend is jealous and was trying to scare OP into not finishing her book, or writing anything anymore. He is a FAILED WRITER and cannot stand the fact that his girlfriend is actually making money doing the exact thing he went to college to study but was obviously not good enough to make a career out of. Typical jealous response when your SO is more successful than you are—-especially when their success is in a field you feel you’re way more qualified for but have consistently failed at—-is to try to make them fail and maybe even stop trying. He thought if having the cops called on her for her writing, just because it was dark, even though it is FICTION, ffs, she would either change her genre to one less scary (and probably never publish again because this is obviously HER genre), or maybe even hesitate to write ever again. And all so that HE can feel like the big man again. What do I say to him? F**k you and your f****d up ego. You’re NEVER supposed to make someone else feel small just so you can feel big, especially someone you’re supposed to care about, console when they fail, and cheer on loudly and proudly when they’re successful, you sorry hypocritical sack of s**t. She is WAY out of your league and WAY better off without you and your stupid ego games. I hope she leaves your sorry a*s in the dust where you belong, you f*****g failure.
Each should be happy to end it. They’re just not suited to each other.
I'm pretty sure that once your partner call the cops on you that the relationship is over.
If he is honestly afraid that you are dangerous, or have hurt someone, why is he still seeing you? If he isn't, why did he call the cops? If you think someone is expressing a past trauma in their creative writing, wouldn't you talk to them, or ask them to talk to a therapist, rather than call the police on them? This guy sounds like an a*****e trying to wreck your confidence in your writing.
Love that commenter who thought the book was ABOUT how OP and John met and warned about John suing. I first misread it that way as well. XD So, let's say I believe that John thought OP was working through some awful abúse through their writing; how exactly could calling the police make more sense/be more helpful than TALKING to OP?
Who knows. I will say I know someone personally , when writing her PHD, instructing professor could tell there was very serious mental issues with what she was saying. And professor was 100% correct
Why the hell would you call the cops on someone because of their writing? I mean, I know OP explains why the boyfriend supposedly did, but only a dumbass would think something would come of that. Though saying she posts primarily on AO3 does give me some idea of what she writes about, lol. (Saying this as someone who used to post on AO3... back when I didn't have permanent writer's block... *sigh*)
Like w*f really , calling the cops, if it was illegal to write fiction that’s dark then books like the bible , n all horror stories would not exist !! .dear god he’s off his head 😂oh n i need to read this trilogy please , i love horror stories i find em highly hilarious ,i have very dark humour n im also very logical, so i like rip em to shreds n make it funny , this book is right up my steeet , as to your fella ,he wasted police time they never even asked to read the bits he was worried about ,so meh , not sure how you move on from this betrayal,tbh I don’t think you even do !, but please never give up writing lovely , n we need to read it xxNTA
The Bible has some very graphic violence. Right now there's an animated film called David, it's all about faith and mystery of David as a boy shepherd and then going to fight Goliath, but stops the story before he is an adult doing a lot of questionable things, and modelling bad behavior to his children so they later did some very nasty things. If somebody wrote David's story as a separate horror story, it would easily fit into the genre.
Load More Replies...As a former Wattpad and now regular AO3 reader, if I had to call the police any time I saw or read something a bit dark, I would never get off the phone.
this guy's eyes would bleed if he read any of the fics written by the average 13 year old Ao3 writer
Load More Replies...He could have just put the book in the freezer next to "The Shining" and "Little Women"
This sounds like an pre-diagnisis signal to evaluate for a major psychiatric disorder. The blending or reality and book and his own thoughts and the inability to shut it off, mixed with that feeling subsiding and realising that was a mistake. A lot of people have mini/cuspy episodes because bipolar, schizophrenia, and other illnesses are degenerative. This is a big red flag to get evaluated. It can also be a reaction to long term m*******a use, it's not common but worth checking because that's the easiest to recover from.
As soon as a partner called the cops on me (specifically if I had done nothing wrong, I should emphasize), then that relationship would be over. She needs to get out.
I have a fairly successful second career as a non-fiction writer. I live in a community known as the home of several well-known bit time writers. One is my former neighbor. He is a true BIG NAME and several of his books have been made into award wining movies. He is married with three children. He is a great father and a supportive husband. People who know him describe him as humble, kind and compassionate. I've read several of his books, but honestly they are a bit too disturbing for my taste. Nonetheless, I admire his ability to create such "awful" stories. We are NOT what we write. Reading this , I sense that this man has some serious emotional/mental disorders.
Imagine someone calling the police after reading a Stephen King novel.
I think Bored Panda publishes the most boring stuff ever. Blocking the Panda from my newsfeed. Bye!
He certainly seems to have seriously overreacted is what we all say. Until they find the bodies that she buried in the garden.
He called the cops cause "he was concerned that I was "processing something" thourhg my writing" I don't think OP needed to actually say he doesn't work as a writer, it's plain and simple to see why he doesn't.
What would cops do over a book? I don't know what this guy's plan was, but it wasn't very well conceived.
Was he on d r u g s when he called the cops? That's the only reason that would make sense.
I don't think anyone can give a good answer considering we don't know what she wrote about and what her life has been like. In my first creative writing class in college we had to read a rather disturbing story. I didn't think of calling the cops in the slightest. The story wasn't in my taste but I know others read stuff like that.
First off, why did she give the cops the time of day? This 'welfare check' stuff is b******t. Come back with a warrant.
There are some authors whose works are so dark and disturbing that I will no longer buy or read them. I fear that some people may be inspired to do loathsome and evil things to other people as a result of reading such content. As a matter of fact, ever since I saw the movie Dogma, where God comes to earth on vacation, I feel that if God exists he probably is entertained by watching our suffering and therefore does not prevent it.
This story doesn't make sense at all. Him calling the police is just ludicrous.
Jealousy, pure and simple, based on the above replies about him by OP.
Dude saw the news story about the guitar player from Cánnibal Córpse and started freaking out that if it's true for him, it might be true for his horror writer girlfriend too 😄
For those who don't know the story, they found lots of fire arms and a couple of skulls in his home, and people were joking that it wasn't really surprising, because the band has song titles like "My home is full of skulls" and "I have guns in my house, for múrder" 😄
Load More Replies...How desperate do you have to be, to not be alone, to not send this guy packing immediately? He's both stupid and untrustworthy. That should be enough for any reasonable intelligent person to tap out.
This is why you choose whomever pretends your work before publication very carefully.
I am, and know a lot of other, fiction writers and we all dread the day our laptops have to go in for a repair and we forget to wipe our search history first! We've laughed about what an outsider would think. Between us we've researched everything from how to commit the perfect murd*r, how to make Molotov cocktails from household ingredients, usage of every type of gun/knife/etc... But this guy's reaction is just stupid - just because you've got a good imagination and Googled eg t*rture methods for the character you're writing doesn't mean you've actually practiced on someone. If, on the other hand, he knew that then he's just doing it to cause trouble for her.
Right. I am a writer as well, never want anyone to see my Google search history, because yikes.
Load More Replies...Her boyfriend has serious issues. Did he think the police were going to do a fiction writing intervention? W*F. So she’s a horror writer. Big deal. He’s a loser. She shouldn’t waste time working through anything with him. Spend that time and energy on writing instead!
It really sounds like a symptom of a serious psychiatric icondition. Many people who are later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other conditions have these types of mini-episodes first: blending of thoughts and reality, accompanied by the sense that something is terribly wrong/compulsive thoughts only to realise once they are through it that it wasn't rational or in character. He needs to be evaluated not ridiculed. Best case it was brought on by medication or d**g use and not a degenerative illness.
Load More Replies...Writing dark messed up stuff happens to quite a lot of us. I have written some myself, and fairy tales are full of horrible (and often non-consensual) things happening, often to children. The guy made a choice to read something he knew was a bit messed up, which was a little side hustle (so people wanted to read it) and he made a choice to talk to the police about his concerns rather than to her directly...as if the police are in any position to do something about bad things happening to *fictional* characters. The best thing she can do is cut this guy loose immediately, and then write a story about this where a delusional man calls the cops on an author as a smokescreen for the fact that he's really the [insert your own favourite antagonist trope here].
Dude sounds like one of those insufferable people who only engages with "uNprObLemATiC" fiction and can't differentiate between depiction and glorification.
Boyfriend is jealous and was trying to scare OP into not finishing her book, or writing anything anymore. He is a FAILED WRITER and cannot stand the fact that his girlfriend is actually making money doing the exact thing he went to college to study but was obviously not good enough to make a career out of. Typical jealous response when your SO is more successful than you are—-especially when their success is in a field you feel you’re way more qualified for but have consistently failed at—-is to try to make them fail and maybe even stop trying. He thought if having the cops called on her for her writing, just because it was dark, even though it is FICTION, ffs, she would either change her genre to one less scary (and probably never publish again because this is obviously HER genre), or maybe even hesitate to write ever again. And all so that HE can feel like the big man again. What do I say to him? F**k you and your f****d up ego. You’re NEVER supposed to make someone else feel small just so you can feel big, especially someone you’re supposed to care about, console when they fail, and cheer on loudly and proudly when they’re successful, you sorry hypocritical sack of s**t. She is WAY out of your league and WAY better off without you and your stupid ego games. I hope she leaves your sorry a*s in the dust where you belong, you f*****g failure.
Each should be happy to end it. They’re just not suited to each other.
I'm pretty sure that once your partner call the cops on you that the relationship is over.
If he is honestly afraid that you are dangerous, or have hurt someone, why is he still seeing you? If he isn't, why did he call the cops? If you think someone is expressing a past trauma in their creative writing, wouldn't you talk to them, or ask them to talk to a therapist, rather than call the police on them? This guy sounds like an a*****e trying to wreck your confidence in your writing.
Love that commenter who thought the book was ABOUT how OP and John met and warned about John suing. I first misread it that way as well. XD So, let's say I believe that John thought OP was working through some awful abúse through their writing; how exactly could calling the police make more sense/be more helpful than TALKING to OP?
Who knows. I will say I know someone personally , when writing her PHD, instructing professor could tell there was very serious mental issues with what she was saying. And professor was 100% correct
Why the hell would you call the cops on someone because of their writing? I mean, I know OP explains why the boyfriend supposedly did, but only a dumbass would think something would come of that. Though saying she posts primarily on AO3 does give me some idea of what she writes about, lol. (Saying this as someone who used to post on AO3... back when I didn't have permanent writer's block... *sigh*)
Like w*f really , calling the cops, if it was illegal to write fiction that’s dark then books like the bible , n all horror stories would not exist !! .dear god he’s off his head 😂oh n i need to read this trilogy please , i love horror stories i find em highly hilarious ,i have very dark humour n im also very logical, so i like rip em to shreds n make it funny , this book is right up my steeet , as to your fella ,he wasted police time they never even asked to read the bits he was worried about ,so meh , not sure how you move on from this betrayal,tbh I don’t think you even do !, but please never give up writing lovely , n we need to read it xxNTA
The Bible has some very graphic violence. Right now there's an animated film called David, it's all about faith and mystery of David as a boy shepherd and then going to fight Goliath, but stops the story before he is an adult doing a lot of questionable things, and modelling bad behavior to his children so they later did some very nasty things. If somebody wrote David's story as a separate horror story, it would easily fit into the genre.
Load More Replies...As a former Wattpad and now regular AO3 reader, if I had to call the police any time I saw or read something a bit dark, I would never get off the phone.
this guy's eyes would bleed if he read any of the fics written by the average 13 year old Ao3 writer
Load More Replies...He could have just put the book in the freezer next to "The Shining" and "Little Women"
This sounds like an pre-diagnisis signal to evaluate for a major psychiatric disorder. The blending or reality and book and his own thoughts and the inability to shut it off, mixed with that feeling subsiding and realising that was a mistake. A lot of people have mini/cuspy episodes because bipolar, schizophrenia, and other illnesses are degenerative. This is a big red flag to get evaluated. It can also be a reaction to long term m*******a use, it's not common but worth checking because that's the easiest to recover from.
As soon as a partner called the cops on me (specifically if I had done nothing wrong, I should emphasize), then that relationship would be over. She needs to get out.
I have a fairly successful second career as a non-fiction writer. I live in a community known as the home of several well-known bit time writers. One is my former neighbor. He is a true BIG NAME and several of his books have been made into award wining movies. He is married with three children. He is a great father and a supportive husband. People who know him describe him as humble, kind and compassionate. I've read several of his books, but honestly they are a bit too disturbing for my taste. Nonetheless, I admire his ability to create such "awful" stories. We are NOT what we write. Reading this , I sense that this man has some serious emotional/mental disorders.
Imagine someone calling the police after reading a Stephen King novel.
I think Bored Panda publishes the most boring stuff ever. Blocking the Panda from my newsfeed. Bye!
He certainly seems to have seriously overreacted is what we all say. Until they find the bodies that she buried in the garden.
He called the cops cause "he was concerned that I was "processing something" thourhg my writing" I don't think OP needed to actually say he doesn't work as a writer, it's plain and simple to see why he doesn't.
What would cops do over a book? I don't know what this guy's plan was, but it wasn't very well conceived.
Was he on d r u g s when he called the cops? That's the only reason that would make sense.
I don't think anyone can give a good answer considering we don't know what she wrote about and what her life has been like. In my first creative writing class in college we had to read a rather disturbing story. I didn't think of calling the cops in the slightest. The story wasn't in my taste but I know others read stuff like that.
First off, why did she give the cops the time of day? This 'welfare check' stuff is b******t. Come back with a warrant.
There are some authors whose works are so dark and disturbing that I will no longer buy or read them. I fear that some people may be inspired to do loathsome and evil things to other people as a result of reading such content. As a matter of fact, ever since I saw the movie Dogma, where God comes to earth on vacation, I feel that if God exists he probably is entertained by watching our suffering and therefore does not prevent it.
This story doesn't make sense at all. Him calling the police is just ludicrous.
Jealousy, pure and simple, based on the above replies about him by OP.
Dude saw the news story about the guitar player from Cánnibal Córpse and started freaking out that if it's true for him, it might be true for his horror writer girlfriend too 😄
For those who don't know the story, they found lots of fire arms and a couple of skulls in his home, and people were joking that it wasn't really surprising, because the band has song titles like "My home is full of skulls" and "I have guns in my house, for múrder" 😄
Load More Replies...How desperate do you have to be, to not be alone, to not send this guy packing immediately? He's both stupid and untrustworthy. That should be enough for any reasonable intelligent person to tap out.
This is why you choose whomever pretends your work before publication very carefully.












































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