CURSING
Teens curse. Heck, even my 8 year old daughter sometimes lets out a "damn" or "ass." She gets in trouble for it, but she still does it. And the older kids get, the more they curse and the more inventive they get with it. There are also adult characters in YA (parents, teachers, bad guys, etc.) and adults are also known to curse. So if I want to write a realistic novel with realistic characters, do I have to put cursing in?
Some writers I know say to use substitute words, and if you have a character that is deeply religious or just chooses not to curse (like Zoey in the House of Night series) that works. But to have ordinary teens saying rats and golly just seems ridiculous to me. I'm not saying that the characters should cuss up a storm. I think a lot of it depends upon the age range of the readers a writer is aiming for. A book for tweens (10-13 years old) should have extremely sparse cursing in my opinion and no really bad words. For the 14-18 year old range, I think it should be realistic. Curses should be sprinkled in where they are appropriate. Or it can be handled the way J.K. Rowling did it in the Harry Potter series. She often wrote that Ron "said a word that would have made Mrs. Weasly blush and start yelling." (Not sure if that is an exact quote but words to that effect.)
Since the books I write are aimed for the 13-18 years old range, I've come to believe that having some cursing in my books is acceptable. Though it was a difficult decision to make. Mainly because I feel that by putting it in there I am subtly condoning it. Nothing could be further from the truth. I don't think teens should curse.
And there I am caught in the Catch-22 again. Argh!!
SEXI have the same problem with sex in my books. In my YA #1, the female main character is attacked by a pedophile and is saved by the male main character. Some of the sexual contact must be shown in a situation like that, but how much is too much? In my YA #3 that I am writing the rough draft of right now, the main character (a ghost) inhabits the body of a 15 year old boy who is experimenting with sex to find out if he really is gay or not. How much of his experimenting do I show? How much is it going to offend the general readership to have gay sex in the book? And once again, does putting sex in the book show a tacit approval of teens having sexual relationships?
So many questions I don't have the answer to. Every expert I've heard from says to do what feels right in these situations. But I'm one of those people capable of seeing, understanding, and to a point agreeing with all sides of an issue. I can see the plus side of putting sex in and I can see the down side.
I is all confuzzled on this topic.
8 comments:
Hey Josi! I really don't think you should put sex in teen novels. Being just out of my teens, I feel that it could maybe show teens that sex at a young age is okay. And sex when you're young leads to all kinds of relationship problems because many are not mature enough to handle that responsibility. There's a guy on trivia that I talk to daily who is 15, and he talks about having sex. He has a 13 year old friend who is pregnant and doesn't know who the father is. I didn't lose my virginity til I was 18, and even then I felt that I was too young. Losing your virginity at a young age, or having sex at a young age causes problems, I feel. Just my opinion dear.
As for the cursing, I don't think that the teens should swear like a sailor, but it's true--teens do cuss. I've tried to cut back on my cussing, but that's really hard when you have a boyfriend who cusses all the time. Often times, cursing is shown to prove a point.. An odd way to prove a point, but nevertheless. Some people see cursing in books a taboo thing to do, but I don't really. It adds....flair? Maybe. I guess the same could go for sexual relations in books, like trashy romance novels... But not really for teens lol :)
Good luck!
Teresa, with the sex that's exactly what I'm worried about - that people will think I believe it's okay for kids to be having sex. I don't at all. In fact I was even later than you when I lost my virginity (23 :P) and later regretted that I'd done it so soon. But when I say sex in YA books, I don't just mean intercourse, but sexual contact. Pretty much everything that goes farther than kissing makes me hesitate in YA. I definitely wouldn't describe the actual intercourse the way it is frequently done in adult novels, but I worry over things like petting, some clothes being removed, etc.
With the story I'm working on now, the boy has grown up in a strict religious household that believes homosexuality is a sin and that it can be "cured." He is struggling to come to terms with what he wants and what he has been raised to believe. For most gay men that I know and have asked about it, they say a lot of that coming to terms has to do with having sex. It may be oral or may be actual intercourse. I wouldn't put intercourse in a YA, but oral? I'm not so sure about that.
With the character that was attacked by a pedophile, what was shown was kissing and he ripped off her shirt and very roughly fondled her breasts. It's heavy, but it's also not shown as sex in a good light, so I think it's slightly more acceptable. It wouldn't be seen as encouragement, you know?
As for the cursing, yeah, I agree. Having every other dialogue filled with cursing goes beyond, but here and there as realism and emphasis I think it works.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read and respond so thoroughly :)
Yea I definitely think that showing a scene with a pedophile is offsetting to teens.
As for putting oral sex in novels, I feel that, that too can lead to teens thinking it's okay to go about doing it all the time. I know girls who go around giving head like it's nothing. it does show intimacy, however, which could be a good thing in a book.
Once again you have a point. But the boy isn't looking for intimacy (not to say he won't find it - this is a YA paranormal romance) but he's just searching and struggling. I have thought of making him older so that the sex part of it won't be so offensive to me, but I'm just not sure.
BUT back and forth like this helps me clarify it in my mind so I really owe you :)
Okay, so knowing what I now know about the story, lol, I can better talk about it!
I feel that if you put in an intimate scene, such as oral sex, or even intercourse (just not describing it as vividly as in trashy romance), or maybe just describing a scene where him and another guy are "together", if you know what I'm saying, like taking clothes off, cuddling, etc. I feel that this would maybe show people dealing with the same thing that it's okay to search and struggle, if you know what I mean. I don't know where your views are on homosexuality though.
That's what I'm thinking.
As to my views on homosexuality, I firmly believe (and have impressed it upon my children one of whom I believe is gay) that I see nothing wrong with homosexuality, biseuality or transsexuality. It's as natural as heterosexuality in my mind. Love is too precious a commodity to do without just because some people think it's wrong. That's part of why I want the main character of this book to be a homoseual boy.
That's really good. I believe that you love who you love, regardless of their race, gender, etc. I think that if homosexuals, bisexuals, etc, want to be together, have a family, adopt, then let them.
Agreed 100%
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