Okay if you don't know how to finish that sentence you need to brush up on your Salt n Peppa music. It goes "Let's talk about Sex, baby."
I'm going to start with how I came up with this topic. As i have been writing, editing, and proofreading Familiar for release. I always come to this question when I get to a particular scene.
Is sex in YA novels really taboo?
I've seen it done in a variety of ways. Ellen Hopkins is little more graphic, yet does it. She is not as descriptive as an Erotica book but it's there. Her topics are also much darker than mine. I think it adds to her books. Seriously, what is a book about teenage prostitution without sex? Filtered is my opinion.
Meg Cabot avoids it but has eluded to it in certain books. i.e. Book 5 in the 1-800 Series, Miss you.
Amanda Hocking touched on the topic in her Tryille Series at the end, Ascend book 3.
Hell, even Stephanie Meyer rambles on about it in the third and fourth installments in the Twilight series.
Back to me.
I'm not going to say i wrote a sex scene because I didn't. I eluded to something happening (I took the Meg Cabot approach), nothing's wrong with that, right?
In Puzzled, I also mentioned a few topics like, the birds and bees talk AND ways to talk about it in a relationship. I thought it was a necessary evil. Realistically in YA, I think sometimes sex comes up and i think the way you handle it is what makes the scene or scenes. Young Adults do read these books and it can be important to not cross the line. Where is that line?
The Rena Files is a mystery. Rena happens to have a steady, consistent boyfriend and these issues come up. When I wrote The Rena Files I never thought I'd even come near these topics. Describing gruesome murders was more what I expected but as the series has progressed I've learned. Relationships no matter the genre can't be stagnant, growth has to happen.
Back to my point, YA novels that elude to sex. Do you agree or should YA be sex free?
I'm going to start with how I came up with this topic. As i have been writing, editing, and proofreading Familiar for release. I always come to this question when I get to a particular scene.
Is sex in YA novels really taboo?
I've seen it done in a variety of ways. Ellen Hopkins is little more graphic, yet does it. She is not as descriptive as an Erotica book but it's there. Her topics are also much darker than mine. I think it adds to her books. Seriously, what is a book about teenage prostitution without sex? Filtered is my opinion.
Meg Cabot avoids it but has eluded to it in certain books. i.e. Book 5 in the 1-800 Series, Miss you.
Amanda Hocking touched on the topic in her Tryille Series at the end, Ascend book 3.
Hell, even Stephanie Meyer rambles on about it in the third and fourth installments in the Twilight series.
Back to me.
I'm not going to say i wrote a sex scene because I didn't. I eluded to something happening (I took the Meg Cabot approach), nothing's wrong with that, right?
In Puzzled, I also mentioned a few topics like, the birds and bees talk AND ways to talk about it in a relationship. I thought it was a necessary evil. Realistically in YA, I think sometimes sex comes up and i think the way you handle it is what makes the scene or scenes. Young Adults do read these books and it can be important to not cross the line. Where is that line?
The Rena Files is a mystery. Rena happens to have a steady, consistent boyfriend and these issues come up. When I wrote The Rena Files I never thought I'd even come near these topics. Describing gruesome murders was more what I expected but as the series has progressed I've learned. Relationships no matter the genre can't be stagnant, growth has to happen.
Back to my point, YA novels that elude to sex. Do you agree or should YA be sex free?