I write for adults, in that my characters are adults and I don't generally write "coming of age" or similarly YA-focused themes. But I don't write "adult" as in smut, gore, and foul language. Neither do I require exceptional levels of erudition of my audience 😉 because plain language can work just as well to tell a story.
No, there's nothing "inappropriate" in my writing – but it's still not for children. Children are perfectly welcome to read it, and some have, but I write for adults. For people with old scars, buried regrets, and long-held beliefs. There are many highly intelligent children in the world who will be able to understand the stories, and even the themes; but they will probably struggle to empathise with the characters just because they haven't been alive for long enough.
So, if I'm writing for adults, why don't my stories have explicit content? Well, to be blunt, it's because I'm writing for adults. Actual adults, not overage kids.
I think that most of us go through a phase where we revel in being old enough for "grown up" things, and seek out all the previously forbidden delights. At the same time, we develop a horror of anything that might been seen as "for kids". Cue sex, drugs, blood, and profanity, served up with a hefty helping of cynicism.
But eventually we grow to develop our own tastes, independent of what we're "supposed" to like or dislike. To quote C.S. Lewis, “To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence ... When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
Lesson Seven
What we read, watch, listen to – or choose to avoid, as the case may be – is a personal choice. I don't want to be judged on my personal choices, and have no business judging anyone else's. Stories don't have to be "gritty" to be mature, but the reverse is also true: grim and dark stories are not automatically immature.
I agree about writing for adults without the need to push the explicit sex and violence. I don't particularly enjoy the excessive stuff, but even more, I often feel like they're just there because the author wanted to be thought "gritty."
ReplyDeletehttps://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2023/04/good-golden-galloping-guide.html
I agree that I don't like to read (or write) explicit, graphic sex and violence, because it seems like they're usually just there as a cheap attention-grabbing trick instead of really being necessary to the story.
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