Attempting to write my own book has presented me with many questions such as how my characters should behave, where the story should be set and, more recently, should they swear or not?
I did not intend to write a YA book but as the story has developed I can see how it would be marketed that way should it ever be published, which is absolutely fine with me. However, my characters have been voicing a few expletives along the way. I haven't written them in to cause controversy or to try and get away from the YA genre, I have only made my characters swear because I believe that is how they would naturally react in a certain situation. My concern is that most YA novels do not contain swearing and I will have to edit what my characters say. I don't have a problem with editing my work (you shouldn't really be a writer if you have a problem with editing, in my opinion) but I do want to be faithful to my characters and, sometimes, that means that they have to swear. I understand that parents don't want their children picking up bad words but, to me, the YA genre is for the ages 14-17 ish (a lot of adult readers read this genre, too, so it's difficult to pinpoint) and, personally, by the time I was 14 I knew A LOT of swear words. However, this didn't mean that I was using them in every other sentence; the wrath of my parents ensured that. So are we underestimating those who read YA? Is it possible for them to read a book with a few swear words and not become vicious hooligans? I think so, after all, there are millions of debates surrounding violence on television and in video games yet not every teenager who engages in these things ends up as a bloody murderer. So, for now, at least, I'm going to continue writing my book as I intended and if I'm ever lucky enough to have it printed we'll have to see what happens. Perhaps there is a new genre waiting to be discovered called 'Not Quite Adults But Almost' where swearing is acceptable? I think I might look in to that.
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