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My first novel, The Boy in the Hoodie, officially launched into the world this past weekend. In fact, today is its release day. It is offic...
Tuesday 14 November 2017
On keeping YA novels real
I read a blog recently about writing YA books, and what the age group, are looking for in their books. I found it interesting, but I’m not convinced one aspect of it is correct. I’d love your input if you’re keen to express an opinion.
Jane, the blog’s author, gave a list of lessons she had learned from writing YA. The first was that YA readers what these kept real. This, I totally agree with. While writing The Boy in the Hoodie, one of the biggest compliments one of my teen beta writers gave me was how real the (caution: minor spoiler alert!) kissing scene was. The characters in the scene are a little awkward and it ends up being pretty confusing for them both, but especially for Kat who was caught unaware by the whole thing.
(Image borrowed from: http://www.freeimages.com/)
But what Jane argues, is the characters need to speak, and what she meant was swear, like teens do. I question this. I hang around teenagers a lot, both in my house, at work, at Youth Group on Friday nights, so it’s not as if I don’t know they speak like that. But do we have to have it in print?
Some very successful YA novels of late have had little to no swearing. The Hunger Games. Divergent. The Maze Runner had its own ‘language’ in terms of cussing and stuff, but nothing we recognise in today’s language. The Sky So Heavy was awesome until about 3/4 of the way into the book when the book became over-run by it. Personally, I don’t like it. I can choose to ignore swearing if I hear it around me (and admittedly, I’m sure the teens around me tone it down just for my sake) but it’s so much harder to ignore in novels. It’s like it forces my brain to think, to internally say, the word. And I’m not like that. And I don’t think all teens these days are like that either. Some may be, but I don’t think it’s required, and I don’t think teens expect it in their novels.
Am I wrong?
You can read the article at the link here
P.S. I'd love to know what your opinion is, cause seriously if I've got this wrong, I'd like to know. :)
Photo: my daughter and I being too cool for school at the beach in Hervey Bay. I swear she doesn't swear. Unless she's swearing on how cool her mother is. ;)
Inspiring quote of the day: The "heart of the matter" is a matter of the heart. Whatever you see and hear consistently over time (good or bad) will enter your heart and put your life on autopilot. --Pastor Sam Adeyemi, Nigeria
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Whilst I'm aware this is a little 2 years too late, however I believe this is a topic worth discussing...even if it is to the void that will likely be this comment section after this isn't seen. Anyway, for a little context, I'm a soon to be 21 year old university student studying creative writing focusing on script production as well as traditional writing. I tend to focus my works on surreal, coming-of-age stories tackling themes of the human condition and mental illness.
ReplyDeleteI've read several of your works, and I must say, I do believe they capture a realistic, relatable representation of teenage years, from the characters and their thought process, to the events that occur in their lives. In fact, I personally found this to be one of they reasons they were so effective; it felt incredibly sincere and as though written from an author that understands the difficulties experienced at that age. It didn't feel pandering, to say the least.
But on the topic of swearing, I believe it has its place in YA fiction. As you've mentioned, swearing is prominent among the age group, however you propose that it isn't required. Which is very true, it isn't required to make for a successful and effective YA novel.
DeleteHowever, I personally believe including it in a purposeful, not "over-the-top" manner can make the text more effective in being relatable. That stage in life sees many things change, many more responsibilities thrust upon those going through it that were once dictated for them. One of these includes the ability to swear without being punished, however also the responsibility that comes with it of knowing when it's appropriate.
And swearing has it's place within our lives. When used appropriately, it acts as an expression of great emotion and can give great levity to several situations that wouldn't be as effective if the thoughts and emotions of the characters swearing were explained instead. As everyone has no doubt heard, "Show, don't tell." Swearing is like that (ignoring the fact swearing is spoken), acting like an exertion of immense emotions whilst giving weight to what caused it as well as the swearers reaction. And for those going through teenage years and puberty, when they're no longer allowed to through tantrums and often preserve their thoughts and emotions instead of openly discussing them, swearing replaces that.
DeleteAnd at times when it isn't present where it usually would be, it can really dampen the effectiveness of the scene and make it feel artificial. For example, Netflix's recent release of "Neon Genesis Evangelion", a show involving the psychological turmoils and challenges of being a teenager, they censored the swearing where it was once present. It really weakened the immersion of the work and made the characters feel less sincere.
Now, your works still tackle real issues of the time, like underage drinking and doing negative things to fit in, so I'd argue your writing still does enough to be relatable. So no, it's not required. But should young adult readers expect it? Well, that depends. They shouldn't expect all non-children focused works to have swearing just because it's not catered to kids. However, I think it's right of them to expect for a work that wants to be as relatable as possible, to best resemble their lives to the point that it can be as completely effective and relatable as possible to contain swearing. Having swearing in works doesn't make it serious because swearing is bad. It makes it feel serious because it acknowledges reality, not shying away from the difficult aspects of it, and allows us to face the difficult themes its discussing with an added layer of importance. Using it appropriately, which includes being sparing with it, allows it to not feel pandering towards childish demographics, including the childishness of swearing too frequently. At least in my case growing up, I found the books I read to be more relatable when they would use cursing in this manner, and it allowed me to get more invested. Now, of course, there was more to it than just swearing. If you lack a well formed story that delves into the serious themes of adulthood from an unexperienced perspective that is common for the teenage period, then whether or not to swear is the least of your problems. Whether or not to include cursing is incredibly minimal in effect as opposed to those other factors. But, given how much power the small details hold in writing, it is worth discussing each of those details.
DeleteThis was just my opinion, at least.
Wow, Ash! Thanks so much for reading my blog post and commenting. Your thoughts are valuable and I agree with much of what you’ve said.
ReplyDeleteMy next novel, Memphis Grace, does have a small amount of swearing in it, so I’d be interested to know if I’ve done it well, should you like to read it one day.
Thanks heaps for dropping by!