But then, I would have to be careful. Writing the wrong thing could make it unacceptable for those audiences.

Basically, my idea is of a prince who is married to a princess. The princess will become Queen one day, while the prince, from another kingdom, will only be Crown Prince. Basically on their wedding day, the princess tells him, ‘Never touch me’. The next day, the princess goes away for a year, without the prince. She comes back with a baby, whom she claims to be her son, a future heir. The prince knows it’s not his son. The prince raises the son as his own, but there are repercussions later for the royal family when the real father, a commoner, reveals himself.

The repercussions could also be a dramatic tool to use when the time comes for the father to reveal himself.

Just my opinion.

-Monolith-

And I don't think the subject matter is too much for kids, especially teens/YA - not the way you've presented it. Many of them live with "nontraditional" family situations, and the ones who don't, know someone who does.

They know what's going on, and it doesn't take much for them to make the leap to what you're talking about.

Lisa

If you look at most books on the shelves there is NO designation of any sort within the book itself that tells you if a novel is YA. That decision, apparently, is made by the guy who stocks the shelves at the bookstore or the library.

And how is that decision made? Not by someone who actually reads the books. I really have my serious doubts that Barnes & Noble hires some guy to read all the books for appropriateness of content.

I picked a book up in our local library once that was clearly marked YA on the library label. The book was NOT YA. It was very much adult, with several explicit sex scenes, a great deal of violence. I was glad that I read it before my kids could get a hold of it.

So, just because a book is on the YA rack doesn't mean the writer intended for it to be there.

I find it commendable of Chris that he wants to write a YA book and is concerned about appropriate content. However, I agree with what's been said above, that I don't see that the story has to be geared toward YA by what you've said. It sounds like it could be just as appealing to an adult audience.

Also, what is his motive for staying in the marriage? It seems like you've arranged the relationships to make him relatively helpless, but why should he hang around at all? Well, you apparently have me hooked.

Unless...

Unless this is a case where the princess was in love with the commoner and just married the prince because of the rules. Then I think I would not be interested in the story. Too Charles and Camilla. Also, if the wife is off limits, does the prince remain celibate?

He knows he's bethrothed to the king's daughter, but he must spend a year in a boarding school to learn that kingdom's ways. While there he meets the two antagonists in the story, a bully and his girlfriend.

After a while at boarding school, he goes to be presented to the king and be wedded to his daughter. That's when he discovers that the princes is the bully's girlfriend, and she's just as shocked. By then, she's a few months pregnant by her boyfriend, not showing yet. She devises a scheme to fool her naive father and the kingdom.

There are some plot devices, such as Quim being forced to wash his head with juice from a strange type of berry to stain his hair red, and which later in life, stains his scalp for good, which wouldn't fly in an adult novel.
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Oh, I should add the opening has a presentational (addressing the audience from the time to time).

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Oh, I should add the opening has a presentational (addressing the audience from the time to time).

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That was my exact idea. Another point that makes it feel less realistic and thus suited for something YA, in which realistic is not so much of a concern.

Cause if you want to do that, this story goes in a whole 'nuther direction. Also, you can't plausibly set it in the modern world.

You might be well advised to change the prince's name.

I'd say a royalty/commoner mixed boarding school is almost as improbable as a co-ed boarding school. Also necessitating it being a story for youngsters.

I went to a co-ed boarding school! They are quite common.

But I object strongly to books (or movies, or video games) that toss those subjects out merely for entertainment's sake. We are far too complacent about violence in our entertainment. It is, in my opinion, a "cheap thrill" that often has no redeeming social value.

I'm not specifically addressing YOUR book, mind you. I've not read it and I don't know the context with which you addressed these issues. But I would sure ask a HECK of a lot more questions and insist in reading the text in its entirety before advising you as to whether it's appropriate for a YA audience or not.

(/rant)

However, it is important to remember that a lot of teens are reading adult books as well as ya and will therefore have expectations as to the subject matter and writing quality which might surprise a lot of people. Whether you like it or not, teens are out in the world, making up their own minds about issues. What is acceptable to one teen may be unacceptable to another, but the one to whom it is not acceptable probably won’t read it. There is a thin line between protecting kids and over-protecting them, always remembering that if difficult issues are ignored, kids will turn to adult books for information and answers which may not address such issues in as sensitive a manner as a teen book usually would.

When you make a comment like:

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If you actually read Chris’ post

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To set the record straight, I DID read Chris's post, and I DO realize he wasn't the one who suggested that those topics were all right for teens to read. (He was questioning the appropriateness of writing about an unwed pregnancy... see? I did read it!)

I was in fact responding more to your statement:

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As for what is acceptable for young adults, you just need to do some reseach into what they are reading now. If you look at ya books for older teens, you will find swearing, incest, rape and torture.

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quote:

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I picked a book up in our local library once that was clearly marked YA on the library label. The book was NOT YA. It was very much adult, with several explicit sex scenes, a great deal of violence.

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I wasn't implying that either of you think these topics are all right. In fact, I gathered the opposite is true. I was making a comment that, in my opinion, there is an ethical problem with foisting this sort of violence on kids.

You made a subtle implication that I am advocating censorship of teen reading material simply because "I don't like it." That isn't true, and that isn't the point I was trying to make.

Let me clarify the point I was trying to make. Adult authors and adult publishers who produce sexually explicit or violent reading material specifically targeted toward children and teens are engaging in a form of child abuse. It's a gray area because there are no laws around it. Books aren't rated like movies are. (Although if the trend keeps up, I can see a ratings system in our future.) But if an adult physically performed acts of sex or violence in front of a child, the law is quite clear. In my opinion the fact that these acts are "performed" via the written page instead of via another medium, like video tape, for instance, doesn't excuse our moral responsibility.

Laws about sexual abuse of children are in place for a reason - it does psychological damage to kids. If it's not appropriate in real life, it's not appropriate in entertainment either.

I'm not stupid - I understand that kids see bad things, they go through bad experiences, and literature is one way for them to connect and learn they aren't alone, and to hopefully seek help.

I'm talking about people who present sex and violence for the thrill of it, for the entertainment value only. There is an ethical line that is being crossed in today's society, and it is hurting our kids.

While I have religious views about this topic, I'm speaking more from my experience working in Violence Prevention. Social services are filled with kids who have been exposed to hurtful things in their lives.

We, as authors and as adults, have a moral responsibility to present reading material to children and teens that "does no harm". In my opinion, if a book is targeted at kids and is using sex and violence only as a cheap thrill, it makes the author AND the publisher into pornographers.

I don't have strong objections to pornography - FOR CONSENTING ADULTS. But I have a vehement objection to foisting smut off on kids who don't have the emotional maturity to handle it.

There. I'm done.

However, I think we make a serious mistake when we underestimate our young people today (not that you are, Elan. Just as a general statement). Sometimes it's important to address these subjects in our novels to teens--not in an explicit way, of course, but to create a dialogue. (Let me stress that I DO NOT believe in violence for violence's sake--or sexually explicit material designed to entertain our youth. Your point that this is child abuse is actually very sound.)

The book that inspired me to become a writer was a banned YA book. THE GIVER by Lois Lowry. This book has extremely sensitive material in it, but I felt then, and still feel, that she handled it in a profound and beautiful way. And that book changed a bit of the way I saw the world.

My novel is focused on a teen audience and has some very touchy material in it. In brief: One of the secondary characters (age 16) is violent and angry. He kills for the sake of killing. Throughout the story it is revealed that when he was ten the queensgaurd came and killed his father and tried to take his mother and little sister as slaves. Before they could be taken his mother convinces him to help her kill herself and then kill his little sister (“You must do this, son. Then you must run. She and I are gone even now; a worse horror than death awaits.” ) He has never forgiven himself for his weakness.

In the end he is able to come to a sort of peace with himself through a twist that I am unable to reveal here.

I have struggled many times, cutting out the thread and then putting it back in, cutting it out again and then putting it back. But I have finally come to the conclusion that God has someone He wants to touch, and by taking it out I would have cut down the impact of the book. It may be more difficult to publish the book now in the Christian vein as I had hoped to. But I chose to be a writer so that I could be a voice for those without one. And sometimes that means stepping out into the void.

[This message has been edited by pixydust (edited June 23, 2005).]