how young is too young?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by cryssfox, Sep 2, 2010.

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  1. GrimStories

    GrimStories New Member

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    What is the purpose of this piece and why is that scene a focus?
     
  2. TerraIncognita

    TerraIncognita Aggressively Nice Person Contributor

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    It's inevitable there will be people who are put off by it. But I agree with Dante. Honestly though I think it's harder to write something brutally honest than something that glosses things over. It takes balls (or ovaries ;)) to put something out there people might hate because it doesn't give them warm fuzzies.
     
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  3. Peerie Pict

    Peerie Pict Contributor Contributor

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    @tobias. Maybe you feel like that because your profession enshrines sexual innocence, and so it should. It would depend on how this was handled of course, but I wouldn't, in theory, be alarmed by the sexual behaviour of an 11 year old because I was myself sexually curious at that age. The only thing that ever disturbs me about sexual behaviour is when it's exploitative or non-consensual. Even then, I don't think it would be off limits to write about it.
     
  4. BillyxRansom

    BillyxRansom Active Member

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    Murder is perfectly acceptable to read about, fictitiously, but seemingly harmless experimentation is a sin.....

    Just sayin'.

    Also, Stephen King wrote IT, and as I recall, in the story, there's an orgy scene that occurs between several young teenagers.
     
  5. BillyxRansom

    BillyxRansom Active Member

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    However, I agree with this completely:

     
  6. HorusEye

    HorusEye Contributor Contributor

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    There's a rising taboo and sensitivity around these things in fiction. Not entirely on subject, but just enough to not be off-topic, and with decent entertainment value: Recently, a Swedish translator of Manga comics was arrested and tried for owning comic books that portrayed characters -- visually estimated to be under the age of 18 -- having sex (never mind that all manga characters look under 18).
    While the age of concent is lower than that, 18 is the age limit for participation in pornography, and since the drawings showed nudity they were considered as such.

    Once I had stopped laughing hysterically, I got a little bit concerned about what the future would look like if fictional events fall under real-world laws. Every murder-mystery author will have to do jail time for killing off characters, too. People are becoming increasingly worse at seperating reality from fiction, so you should probably expect that some people will become furiously offended by your writing and sue you for encouraging obscene behavior in children.
     
  7. Islander

    Islander Contributor Contributor

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    I think it will be much more provocative if you portray the 11-year-olds sexual experience as positive or neutral. Conversely, if you portray the experience as abuse, or as a horrible mistake, it will be acceptable to more people. It will also give you an alibi against accusations of being a pervert.

    This is a parallel to how adult sex was treated in American movies in the 1950's. A rape scene was acceptable, but sex between consenting, un-married adults was taboo, since it could give people the wrong idea.

    But it's up to you how provocative you want to be.
     
  8. Islander

    Islander Contributor Contributor

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    There are similar things happening in other countries. An Australian man was convicted on child pornography charges for possessing a picture where the cartoon character Lisa Simpson gave a blow job to Bart Simpson.
     
  9. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

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    That's the London 2010 Olympic Logo isn't it? (Seriously -- people do see that in the logo).
     
  10. thewordsmith

    thewordsmith Contributor Contributor

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    The only real issue I see with this is that it is going to be a tough sell to most agents and, therefore, publishers. The options are pretty limited when you are looking for an agent to rep something of this nature. Most tend to shy from it.

    The market is there, though. And how you present it will determine, to a great degree, how large that market is.
     
  11. cryssfox

    cryssfox New Member

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    Wow, there's quite a discussion going on about this! Imagine the discussions after the book is published...
    I'm going for it because I think it's essential for the character's development. I'm not comfortable divulging why as that would reveal a little too much about my plot. =) He will indeed be 11, and just to answer since a bunch of you are asking, it's not exactly consensual but it's not exactly unwanted either. It's sudden, its a blow job and its given by a 13/14 year old girl.
    And fair enough if there are people who don't want to read it. I have no interest in reading about murder. I think sex is fine to explore in literature; kids are having sex and covering that up won't help us address it with compassion and a realistic expectation that kids will have sex. Because they will whether or not we want them to.
     
  12. HorusEye

    HorusEye Contributor Contributor

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    I think murder is far more offensive.
     
  13. Islander

    Islander Contributor Contributor

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    I think sex is more dangerous than murder (in fiction, that is). I think people are more likely to act out a sex fantasy in real life than a murder fantasy.
     
  14. zaphod

    zaphod Member

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    I file this stuff under the bad taste category if its not well thought out. That is there is a very large difference between a famous novel like Lolita and yet another gag inducing Lifetime Channel TV movie.

    You know, a really interesting story today would be about someone who gets framed as a pedophile to get rid of them.
     

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