I always worry that my twelve plus rating for my YA series,
Gemini Rising, will offend some parents. Although I do not have graphic sex, I do have a forty-year-old spirit fall in love with a soon to be seventeen-year-old girl and I have "implied" make out scenes that border on, dare I say, erotic? Erotic only because Onyx's idea of great sex is spiritual possession of the body and soul leading to (in most cases) death. If you've read some of my
fan reviews on Goodreads you'll notice that some of my reviewers have expressed discomfort with the age difference and others have suggested my book as a 16 plus YA or "mature" YA. I just figured that if Edward (Age 113 June 20th this year!) can fall in love with Bella, at 17 then this may push the envelope a bit, but I've always been a rebel!
So how can I get my book professionally rated? Recently I ran across a rating service on Clean Teen Publishing
Order a rating for your book! and I just had to share it. I may order one for my series just to ease my anxiety over who should or should not be reading my content. The last thing I was to do is anger a bunch or parents over my rather unconventional and risque content.
They also have great services for Indie authors like ebook formatting and cover design. So check them out!
http://www.cleanteenpublishing.com/
I think yours is at the right age... 12 is junior high and they know all about the sex and love stuff. I always think of YA as junior high and high school age appropriate.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support Amber! My daughter was twelve when I wrote it and my book started out as an adult novel. But when she complained about not being able to read it, I went back through and edited everything for her!
Delete12 years old isn't junior high level normally. You're still in 6th grade at around that age which means middle-school or elementary. Very rarely these days do schools have Jr. high systems that start with 6th grade. Middle School standard is 6th and 7th grade with Jr. high starting in 8th and going to 9th. Jr. High usually consists of 8th and 9th grade.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate 12 year olds may know about the existence of kissing and sex but that doesn't mean that they have the mental capacity to process it properly and make informed and responsible decisions regarding it. So introducing things like that in a sort of blase way may be a bit risky. Mentally speaking the frontal lobes of a human brain don't fully connect until the early 20's which means children and teens don't make very good decision makers. This might account for a large number of parents who are wary about what their children read regarding sex and relationships.
Children and young teens generally aren't prepared for dealing with their sexuality which is why I agree that there should definitely be a rating system. Since your book deals with a relationship between a not-yet legal woman and a mature-40 year old spirit there may be some parental concern. A very young teen reading it might not necessarily believe it's okay just because it was written in a fiction book but they may logic it out that since that sort of thing is OKAY to be in a book directed towards them then it must not be a big deal. It doesn't add or take away from the quality of the work but at least a proper rating gives any parents (or readers) interested an idea of what to expect.
I didn't know a service actually existed! Regarding your book, I think books are meant to atleast offend in some way. Books aren't meant to broaden a person's mind.
ReplyDeleteKatelynn
www.literarychameleon.blogspot.com
Katelynn- I didn't know this service was available either! It's good to know though. I take comfort in knowing the genre is popular enough to warrant such input. You are right, books are meant to expand the mind and I'm pretty sure my series will do just that! I guess it's hard to write 300 pages of something without offending someone- good point!
DeleteHi Auggie- Thanks for all your awesome thoughts and feedback. I do agree young teens are not prepared to deal with their sexuality and many other of life's "experiences." But they get exposed anyway, don't they? I tried so hard to put my daughter in a bubble. She didn't have a cell phone until she was 12 and even then it was a pull out keyboard phone with no media access. She got a smart phone at 14 but didn't even have an email account til 13. I didn't let her watch cable, no Facebook, no internet surfing- I was such a cruel mom! (According to her of course.) She will be in high school next year and will turn 15 this December. Even after all my precautions, music, commercials, print media, her friends at school, all of those outside influences have still taught her more than she should know. Sometimes I war with myself about what content to include in my novels and how to carefully word things. I eventually end up asking myself a very silly question- "How would Stephanie Meyer write this?" Don't laugh at me!
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