"Young Adult" is not a pejorative, but it does describe a particular kind of book targeted to a certain demographic. I do not write with that demographic in mind.
C.S. Lewis ran into a similar issue. Paraphrasing: "Yes, I write things with pagan mythological characters, themes, and motifs. Yes, I'm Christian. No, I will not succumb to your pearl-clutching, because HONESTLY! How do you expect there to be good Christian people in the world if they can't even be good pagans?"
This perspective is so refreshing because pearl-clutching was an accurate reflection of my childhood. I didn't realize you could still be a relatable human being with hobbies and a personality outside of "I love Jesus" while also being a devoted Christian
I noticed that traditional publishers and bookstores have trouble labeling fiction written by women. They either classify them as romance or young adult. Then they added "romantasy". But some of the books I've seen in the young adult or middle grade sections makes me worry for our youth. At the end of the day, parents need to parent.
I'm with you. I began junior high in 2000 and graduated high school in 2006, and HEAVEN AND HELL! The STUFF that somehow made it onto my junior high and high school library shelves! And my mom never thought about it, because I checked out the book at SCHOOL, haha! Unfortunately, I have to be grateful for this, because my mother was waaaaaay too puritanical and very driven by taboos, so this was the only way that I had to learn about anything resembling healthy sexual relationships... or even sex at all, beyond the clinical aspect.
Yup. You can make it about adult protagonists with adult problems and an intended adult audience, but unless you add sex it’ll be labeled YA because that and romance are The Genres Women Write. Brandon Sanderson’s books have no sex at all and yet no one’s labeling THOSE as YA.
@@langreeves6419I get what you say but checking what your child read doesn't automatically mean preventing them to have a brain. When I was 10/12 I read things I probably wasn't supposed to read. I think detailed description of violent deaths, rape and so on aren't child appropriate. When I was 14 many of my friends (girls) fantasized on Christian Grey and didn't see how problematic that was (as for me I couldn't quite put my finger on it but I knew there was something that made me inconfortable). I think it is just about balance !
Fun fact: The children's room of my public library had a copy of Balzac's *Droll Stories* (very lewd) with woodcuts on the Fairy Tales shelf. Because the endpapers had ladies and knights and pages in medieval garb strolling about, and of course that's fairy tales, right? My goodness, were my parents surprised when, after I read the whole thing (I was 9, the year was 1964) I came to them with so many questions! "Mom, what's a succubus?"
When I was a teen, I was taught to stay away from books with spice. I soon found "YA romance" included more adult themes than I cared for. Younger me appreciates this thoughtful PSA
Speaking of ADULT/spicy books, what do y'all think of Elyse Meyers' new 1-5 spice rating system? (In her May 2024 video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aQYlsx6uuuA.htmlsi=_Z6H2c47k72P2B-l )
I would never tell someone that Daindreth's Assassin is Young Adult or Christian fiction. I will never understand why some parents don't look into/read what their children read.
Thank you! And this is how a famous SUUUPPPPER adult book got into a local grade school. Because either a) they weren't being checked out by the adults, or b) the kids were just reading them behind the adult's back. Which is kind of silly. Because why would you send parade around the whole school flaunting the fact that you read it, meanwhile there's a bunch of teachers and other adults that can report back to your adult/s?
It could be that they're too tired from being slowly worked to death, along with not having a strong interest in reading for it's own sake, and thus they put it off until they forget about it, or it may be that it just doesn't occur to them that they need to check, because they assume that the library or bookstore wouldn't let their kids get anything they'd object to... or they just don't think it through at all.
Partially (at least I could see it in my case), we have absolutely voracious readers that we can’t keep up with. My daughter can read four books a day… there’s no way I’m asking her about each and every one of them. But most of her books come through our local library, specifically because of that. We have an amazing dedicated children and teens department who are great at screening the books before they hit the shelves. And because we’re regulars, they’ve caught series as she was checking them out that were above her maturity level. I keep a finger on the pulse, but I’m not reading everything I give her to screen it for content. But I also take responsibility if anything slips through the cracks. I read fiction too mature for my age when I was younger. It was a relatively small rebellion in an otherwise unremarkable teenagehood, lol.
Well, it's not anti-Christian--how can it be? In that world, there never was a Christ. Jesus was never born. I will point out, Daindreth and Amira don't consummate their love until they're married. But they're married by polytheistic practitioners of magic. It's a witch tapestry. ;)
I’m the oldest of seven siblings, and it was literally my job to pre-read books, and pre-watch TV shows/movies to make sure my siblings were mature enough to read or they were appropriate, for the age that was gonna read/watch them
Part of the problem is everyone associates fantasy with young adults, sadly. And yes, many of us get into it at young adults, but at the risk of paraphrasing ‘On Faërie’ - adults like it too. (& Yay for other Christian fantasy authors)
I started reading Fantasy (not Romance) novels, when I was 10 +/-, and EVERY book that I read, was one of Mum's, that she had already read. She decided what I was ready for, able to comprehend, based on my character, intelligence, and interests, AND reactions to the books she started me on. I was a voracious reader, and my parents _parented_ . At a certain point, 13(?) they let me read pretty much anything with a few exceptions, by 15, I was buying my own. It _always_ depends on the kid. BUT, I do know that I have been quite 'startled' by books labelled YA, that I read in my 20s and 30s, that _I_ would NEVER have labelled YA! I think bookshops/publishers/publicists are confused by books written by women, and that are Fantastical; if there's a relationship central to the story, it _must_ be Romance - even if it isn't. If it has young protagonists, it must be YA? Slightly OTT (industry inability to 'handle' women writers) - the whole YA category "formula" is broken. I remember reading the "His Dark Materials" series in my late 20s, around the same time as the Harry Potter books. Both classified as YA (at the time), but I couldn't help but class Philip Pullman's series as Fantasy _compared_ to Harry Potter, it was just at a whole 'nother level! Extraordinary work! Again, just because it revolves around young people, _doesn't_ make it YA.
My parents were the same way about movies. A good chunk of my family loves horror and I remember watching horror movies at a pretty young age, but it was always with a parent or my older brother who got the okay from a parent. I absolutely agree with you about the importance of parents vetting the media their kids consume. Unfortunately books don't have any sort of rating system outside of age brackets in the kids section, so it's up to parents to put in the extra effort to make up for that
@@earlknit5372 I completely agree ... and I did the same when I recommended or bought books for young people. Either I'd read it, or someone I trusted had. Then again, "Bridge to Terabithia" _is_ a children's/YA novel, and it broke my heart when I read it when I was 9. YA doesn't mean it can't be brilliant, heart rending, topical, etc. It just has to be appropriate _for_ Young Adults!
I suspect that the "young woman with sword on cover+female author" combo gets a book algorithmically shunted into either Romantasy (if spicy) or YA (if bell-pepper-y), and I hate it with the flames of a thousand red-giant-sized habaneros.
"Bell pepper-y" is an expression I didn't know I needed! Speaking of ADULT/spicy books, what do y'all think of Elyse Meyers' new 1-5 spice rating system? (In her May 2024 video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aQYlsx6uuuA.htmlsi=_Z6H2c47k72P2B-l )
As an alternative view point to the comment section- My dad would recommend books or put on audiobooks. As a result I ended up reading and listening to things that were wildly inappropriate. Some were genuine smut, a couple made me feel deeply ill. I also read manga, and it is standard for them to have an age rating on the back the same way movies do. It would have been nice to be able to know that for myself so _I_ could have avoided themes I wasn’t prepared for. On the flip side, my mom had primary custody. She was way too busy to have pre-read the books I wanted to read and supported my brother and myself. That is the case for a lot of parents. It’s part of why parents rely on age ratings. Having an age rating and trigger warnings would be a wonderful thing to standardize in books.
Here’s the thing; you’re not writing Christian fiction, but as a Christian reading your books I can see glimmers of your faith come through at small points throughout. I love when I come upon work like that.
Well sure, just like Tolkien was a very devout Catholic, but it's quite clear that in Middle Earth, Jesus never existed. C.S. Lewis was a devout Anglican Protestant (Tolkien was disappointed that when he had his spiritual awakening that's where he went with it), but in Narnia, Jesus is a literal lion. I love Jesus, have all my life, and all the more when I began to see him as a mortal man, not God Incarnate, which I don't think he ever claimed to be, and really, how could he be? I watch The Chosen devoutly, nitpicking the historical inaccuracies, then sometimes weeping when Roumie's Jesus does a miracle--or a kindness, which I think is the greatest miracle of all. However, I know my Irish ancestors were pagan polytheists, who after being exposed to Christian ideas by evangelists (none of whom expelled snakes that weren't there to start with), voluntarily blended their old gods with the new, and only later had a very strict and often bigoted version of Catholicism imposed on them from outside. I don't reject other religions, they all have things to teach. Pagan myths are part of our heritage as human beings, and also a valid way to see ourselves. Christianity in all its forms was a blending of pagan and Jewish ideas. Jews mainly didn't believe in Heaven and Hell, a non-bodily afterlife--pagans did. And in any event, we all like a good story, and a story should not be taken literally, no matter who wrote it. That is entirely missing the point of storytelling.
@@christopherlyons5900the whole reason the Jewish Religious authority wanted to kill Jesus was because of him claiming to be God and that meaning that he would have more authority then them. They have literally said in explaining why they would execute Jesus that “ You, a mere man, claim to be God” (verse 33). This was after him saying the father and him are one.
@@pippaschroeder9660 We can't assume all quotes in the gospels are accurate (many clearly can't be, since they conflict with others), or that Jesus' often ambiguous teachings were correctly understood. Jesus frequently complains his own disciples don't understand him, so please explain to me why Jewish religious leaders always read him right. Early Christians at a later time, like Irenaeus (a somewhat conservative figure, not a Gnostic), said that the goal of Christian faith was not just to worship God, but to someday become God themselves, in a certain sense. It was commonplace for people of that time to believe in divinization. Not that they could literally become supreme beings, but that the godhead could work through them. Jesus always refers to God as a separate being from himself. So in a literal sense--no--he was not saying he was Yahweh, God the Father. And it's very clear the earliest Christians thought of him as a Man CHOSEN by God, elevated. Mark's gospel is the first, there's no nativity story--Jesus is made God's son at his baptism. That's a fairly low Christology. It kept getting higher. Until 'Christ' became synonomous with God, but that took centuries. Don't jump ahead.
@@christopherlyons5900 if the Pharisees were wrong In saying Jesus is God, wouldn’t he correct them, especially if he was gonna be killed? Or take back any of miracles he performed that led to his crucifixion? And on Iraneus it was clearly wrong on the Jewish faith to say one is God of they are not. Is there any substantial writing on his claims as a reliable source? And you say Jesus was chosen by God, but chosen for what exactly? If you mean to say die for our sins that would not be possible for just a man to do, as the whole point of Jesus’s divinity is to be a sinless sacrifice.
@@pippaschroeder9660 Again. Do you really think the gospels are transcripts? In reality, nobody was there writing this down as they talked. And the gospel authors, basically all serious scholars agree, were not disciples of Jesus. They probably never even saw him. Stories were told, passed from one person to another, transmission error occurred, but also by the time the gospels were written, the idea Jesus was more than just a holy man, a teacher, was starting to take hold. Obviously you did not need to say you were God to fall afoul of the stricter religious authorities--or the Romans (who wouldn't think that was such a big deal, all their emperors became gods after they died). Jesus definitely thought he had a special connection to God. But what exactly he thought--we don't know. Can only guess.
I really wish more parents took the time to read (or at least skim) the books their kids are reading. My father read probably 80% or more of the books my siblings and I owned/borrowed, whether or not he enjoyed them, just to keep tabs on what content we were getting into. Some of the books we had were probably way more mature than he would have preferred, but he never said anything - just made it very obvious that he was also reading it. Honestly, very reassuring in retrospect.
YA in last few decades has more and more been defined by the age of the protagonists than anything else. If your protagonist is between 14-18 (I don't know if that's the case here, and a quick search doesn't turn up anything) then by genre definitions: it's YA. 19-22 being New Adult, anything above is adult. Also amazon has categorized your books as 'Reading Age:15-18' so that may not be helping either. Not sure if that's something you can clarify in the backend with Amazon. Those combination of factors may be why people have this perception.
Actually, having ony read that book of Elisabeth Wheatley's, I would say that the 'feel' of the book, to me, is YA. I felt the actions and thoughts of the characters were of 'young adult' people. Not mature. Having said that, classifying all of an author's books as YA because the earliest books of their production were is quite inane.
Oh god that makes me think of Sherrilyn Kenyon. When I first picked her up I got one of her young adult books… then I got ahold of her others on accident. Taught me to read descriptions VERY carefully
That happened to me with Kenyon as well! It was shocking at the time, but now it's a funny story about how I'm really bad at reading between the lines.
I need to finish chronicles of Nick. I binge read the first 4 books (I was already well into DH by that point though) way back when and then forgot about it. Now I see that I'm 4 books behind.
Thank you for your honesty, Elisabeth. So far, I’ve only recommended your books to adults and said that they should read or listen to them BEFORE letting their teens read them. I’m not a parent, but I have friends who are. Those friends sometimes ask me what I think of certain movies or TV shoes and ask would I let a child watch them. I take things such as violence, sexual content, language, and other things into account. Have a blessed week! I don’t know if you are still in the process of moving or if you are done, but I hope it all goes smoothly.
Very nice shout-out. And even if you were writing fade-to-black, (like I am) there are simply treatments of themes that are going to appeal to *adults*! Are there strong romantic threads in my books? Yes. Are there also lots of (made up) politics, (magic-based) racism and the themes of feeling hyper-flawed but moving forward, anyway? Absolutely. Plus, much of the romance in my books is slow-burn and nuanced. Not all teens will find that interesting. XD
I tend to agree with you, but this is 2024, "Adult" now carries connotations of flushed faces and swollen, throbbing members, etc. Amazon has books like "Tyrannosaurus Sext" for sale.
Along with what others have said about fiction written by women, it may be that you got pidgeonholed as a YA author because you started out that way, presumably using your own name. I've been told that bookstores et al can be a bit lazy and just go 'this author started in that genre, so that's where all this author's books go,' without doing any further research.
I hate it when romance books that are not young adult get labelled as such! For example, I love An Extraordinary Union. I had trouble finding it in the library because they put it under YA. While I'm not trying to say who should or shouldn't read it, I will say that this was very bewildering. The book is about two adult characters and features content that may not be suitable for all ages. The only reason I can think of that it would get categorized as YA is that it's a historical romance, and people stereotypically associate that with teenagers for some reason.
I've always taken YA as a marketing term that was more relevant to publishers rather than readers. The Outsiders is often classified as YA but I wouldn't put it next to Ramona Quimby, Age 8. Both very good by the way.
I really wish my parents kept more tabs on what I was reading when I was younger. I was reading adult romance in the 4th grade and books with very mature themes by 5th or 6th. I believe I read To Kill A Mocking Bird in the 5th grade and all the beauty in it was wasted on me. PSA for parents: just because it’s a book doesn’t mean it’s making your kids smarter or teaching them morals, a lot of books have some nasty stuff in them!!!
I personally don't think having them being rated as YA is that serious. You won't believe the side eyes I've gotten by strolling through the YA section looking for Percy Jackson. But yea, it's up to the parents at the end of the day.
Okay, the first romance novel I ever read was a historical romance called Shield of Three Lions by Pamela Kaufman. It was in the Young Adult section at a thrift store and I was twelve at the time. It is very much an adult book dealing with mature and traumatic subject matter such as rape, child grooming and abuse. I did a book report on it in high school, omitting the sexual themes mind you but still a book report. I only took an interest in because it was the medieval themed cover with a Scotsman and a younger person riding in the English countryside. The summary said it about an eleven year old daughter of a baron forced to flee her home, disguise herself as a boy and convince the King Henry II to restore her claim. What I got was a slow burn love triangle between a tween girl, a Scotsman who treated her like a little brother and didn’t know she was a she until 3/4 in the book, and King Richard the Lion Heart who thought she was a he.
This reminds me of the consternation that surrounded C.S. Lewis' *Til We Have Faces*. Very adult (for what its time thought of as adult), very not identifiably Christian, very not scifi or fantasy, barely historical. Yet, when I suggest to people that it might be actual, y'know, literature, they have trouble with the idea that the guy who wrote Narnia was a "writer".
In spite of the fact that Lewis was a PROFESSOR of literature . . . 😂 Till We Have Faces is my favourite Lewis and might well be my favourite book. I found the retelling of the myth to be deeply 'Christianized', but perhaps that was because I had read most of Lewis' other work by that time and could pick up on the cues.
@@iamejifyWhich you are saying only because he was a Christian. People don't produce lasting bestselling classics without being good authors. You just don't want that to be true in his case.
@@cmm5542so like, I’m not going to say anything about cs Lewis because it’s been decades since I read anything of his, but being a lasting bestseller absolutely doesn’t mean you’re a good writer. Just look at Rowling and how her books started to fall apart as they go on.
Thanks for providing that clarification❤ It takes courage to stand out and resist the stickiness of labels, especially mislabels. The author's own personal faith should not be the lens through which their body of work is interpreted or understood, but the themes and philosophical currents drawn from human nature itself 😊 If the author chooses to emphasize their personal faith, it certainly is their intentional choice.
Have you considered writing fantasy or science fiction novels with Christian/allegorical/applicable content that have lower levels of mature content? Or do you have any from you’re younger years? I ask because that’s what I myself like to read and write. I have read mature content yes but mostly by accident and I find myself too…interested…so I have to stay away from it. I say this because: I enjoyed your free sample of your series but im glad you mentioned in previous vids about the Mature Content so I can steer to other, less Mature books. Because they’re not content I need to read. That being said, I love your videos. You’re hilarious and clever and original! Also: I’m a writer too and when you write humans that human hard, because not everyone has been/will be Christian, and many treat people like you know what. I’m still trying to find the line of being clean and being honest. Most young adult books I’ve read don’t use r*p*, for example or graphic scenes. Bullying and, slavery, social oppression are just about the highest levels they get to.
One of the problems that our library system has is when an author writes/has written some YA and some Adult. It's almost like the automatic cataloging data that they get from somewhere doesn't know how to handle it. The only time there doesn't end up being mistakes is when an author slightly changes their publishing name between the YA and A books (for example, using their middle initial for one). Let's not even get started on the example of Sarah J Maas books! Yeahhhhh THAT was a kerfuffle to get ironed out 😂
Hey as a minor I want to ask, does your books what are the specifics of the adult topics, because daindreth’s sounds amazing but I hate reading spice, all the rest I don’t care. I just really want to read your books 🥲
She does have another video that talks about the spice level of her books. Iirc, she said the first 1 or 2 daindreth books were mild, but then got progressively more spicy, with the last having a good bit of detail. I'm an adult, but I don't want to read stuff with a lot of spice either, so even though that series sounds very interesting, I haven't read it, because of that. Hope that helps!
I saw something recently (I can't remember the source, sorry y'all!) that said the book industry infantilizes women in general. If a woman writes fiction, it's gotta be YA. If a man writes YA, he's breaking into a space dominated by women, good for him! I'm not saying men can't write YA-- John Green books exist for my comfort. I'm saying that women get shoved into this category purposefully and have a harder time getting into other genres because sexism. & darling, I'm sorry you're being pigeonholed because of your religion. Being female doesn't define you, nor does being a Christian. We're all greater than the sum of our parts
I just finished Daindreth's Assassin and loved it. I wanted to get the second ebook from your site like I did the first one and it says the site isn't availible in my region 😭
Question. Any good books based off of the sword and the stone? I like the premise and know that books based on it exist but do you know of any good ones?
This us exactly me as a Christian who is a fantasy writer. I have a normal book that is ok for teens then i have my vampire romance. They are newly published but im scared of the reaction i might get for my not so appropriate book. Love your channel 💗
I always thought young adult just means that the protagonists are young adults (late teens to early twenties). Not that it is for young adult readers. This category is just very confusing.
Thank you for the clear and concise PSA! As a Christian myself who both reads and writes a variety of books in a variety of genres, some of which are excellent reading material and some of which I would consider too rough for younger audiences, I wish there was a clearer classification for the "maturity level" of books. Like IMDb parent's guide but for literature. The fact that your books are being mis-shelved is likely just carelessness on the part of whoever glanced at the description and thought, "oh yes, all the young people are reading about their fantasy romances, this must be one of them."
I can’t remember the exact movie, (I want to say it was Stranger Than Fiction, but might have been Castle. They were trying to get an author to do less so they could sell their next book.) that described YA as a story with young characters with a little bit of suggestive romance that “gets the teenage blood flowing” and wham bam sells like hotcakes. I understand it’s a generalization, but I have been trying not to fall into that trap in my own writing and in describing other works. I definitely read some mature writing in my youth that maybe should have been labeled fantasy instead of YA. I liked the covers on the YA novels because I don’t have a mind’s eye. My imagination is wild and overcompensates because I don’t see images.
Just finished reading Daindreth's Assassin and ordered the next book (it was fantastic). Bc im a Australian fan shipping was $53, so for 1 book I spent basically $100.
I couldn't read harry potter until I was fifteen because of the magic but because Paolini was home schooled reading inheritance at 12 was fine. I think I handled it well, and I still love his books.
Yeah, clear clarifications 👍 I hope you don't have to do this too often 😆 People assume a lot more than they should, not all, but still too much. I liked your books (Daindreth's assassin series), re-reading them actually, but I would be hesitant to recommend them too lightly. More because of violence (mostly the demon stuff), a bit because of the gods and sex stuff. But I would like to recommend it to someone. But yes, for an adult. 🤔
I get what you mean, def. not Sunday school material. But if this were a literature debating club, I'd happily defend the proposition that the Amira series is "Narnia for Adults", even if C S Lewis used Christian themes and analogies more intentionally and "in your face" than you do. There is the law vs love dichotomy, the juxtaposition of two different meta-ethical systems (Vesha's rule-utilitarianism meets Kant's conception of duty vs Daindreth' virtue ethics), the central theme of the radical possibility of redemption, the cycle of "inherited" sin/guilt that can be broken, the hidden "costs" of Vesha's deals, that result in temporary pleasure but accumulate debts that one day will be called in, unless "forgiven" by a third party etc . OK, most of these tropes are common to Fantasy, but the way they are combined and given relative weight puts it for me firmly in that tradition, just with considerably more spice and gore than in Lewis.
I would love a standardized rating system…I can’t handle spice…I don’t watch anything above PG-13 in movies, though I still have to be VERY discerning, even for the lower ratings. TV is a little harder….because sometimes TV-MA is fine, and sometimes it’s not…and sometimes lower ratings should be MA. And then there’s the enforcement of ratings….not all movies or tv shows even have ratings.
Absolutely not. You want to *read* , take two minutes to read the book jacket or description. I am too cognizant of the biases of the MPAA to every accept their schema.
@@digitaljanusThe problem is that I’ve run into books that do not mention spice in the summary. Like “Uprooted” by Naomi Novik. I ran into an “almost” spice scene and skimmed ahead and ran into a full-on one. No word of that in the summary. Now, I should have investigated more so I’d have avoided it altogether. But that’s on me, I didnt.
For books, I look up titles and search "trigger" or "content" on Goodreads. Speaking of ADULT/spicy books, what do y'all think of Elyse Meyers' new 1-5 spice rating system? (In her May 2024 video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aQYlsx6uuuA.htmlsi=_Z6H2c47k72P2B-l )
Me too! I wonder if she would have recommendations for something similar world-building/character/theme- wise, but without the spice? Romance is fine, but I definitely prefer closed door/fade-to-black for "intimate" scenes
@@lynnica5219I think anyone else who is interested in Elisabeth's plot idea but wants to avoid spice would enjoy The Cruel Prince. Enemies to lovers, two fade-to-black scenes in three books, and a few sword duels. Some serious adult topics (like murder) but dealt with subtly. Except for the very first murder in the prologue - it's all uphill from there.
Me: *writes a YA queer romance & self-publishes* Categories: minimum & maximum age range? Me: uhh 14 - 18, I guess? Categories: is there s*xually explicit scenes? Me: nope, just kissing Categories: is there sexually explicit language? Me: uhm.... *thinks of the strong references to & discussion of oral, and healthy safe practices being ignored, and group parties being mentioned, and references to pearl necklaces, and the heavy swearing, and-* yeah, I guess? Categories: your book is 18+ Me: but it's YA. It's for teens. It isn't an adult romance. Categories: 18+ Me: ... OK.... Categories: also its queer, so must be branded as adult content in certain market places Me: ..... I wrote the 1st draft of this when I was 15, and the content age has not changed - if you want adult content, I can give you that in another book, but it sure ain't in this one Categories: it's an 18+ romance Me: *flips the table*
Speaking of ADULT/spicy books, what do y'all think of Elyse Meyers' new 1-5 spice rating system? (In her May 2024 video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aQYlsx6uuuA.htmlsi=_Z6H2c47k72P2B-l )
As a teacher, I find having an age recommendation on the book along with content warnings really helpful! This could be on the back cover, the copyright page, or inside the back cover. A few examples: - Manga has age ratings (almost like movies) and the publisher’s website lists what might be included in each category - Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (great book btw) has a quick note on the back cover saying “not suitable for younger readers” (it’s targeted at middle-high school): Ex. Your books might say “recommended for adult readers: this provides book stores and prospective readers with a very clear guide for age. You could then have a content warning on your website for prospective readers to look at if they’d like. - some authors have a brief content warning page: “this book contains instances of…” -some books with particularly difficult topics like r*** or self-harm have a fine print note below the general content warning with page numbers for anything graphic, if there is a scene showing that rather than just general discussion (then the reader can self-sensor) These are just a few examples I’ve found helpful as a reader and as a teacher choosing what to put in my classroom library!
My local bookshop has various spicy books labeled with "12 and up", English is not the native language here and these were in the English books section, where i would assume a 12 year old could probably not understand that level of English but I still think it's wild 😂
I can totally stand with you on this. I write fantasy. And I love Jesus. What is hard for most to realize, is that we encode our faith between the lines... I understand why you didn't write Christian fiction; it's a separate avenue and there's nothing to be ashamed about. Now, the fact of parents and others assuming 'oh, you're a Christian, your books will be save to read...' but in fact they are undoubtedly shocked that's not the case is really disappoint, honestly. 🙁 I'd blame it in the fact Christianity is fluffed and sold as a 'perfect little fantasy' when on this world, it is not. We Christians face challenge everyday just like everyone else... Only we have hope, and a life line out there in these dark times. If only other Christian writes would stop being afraid of sin, and instead of just running of it, and hiding away... Vanquishing that evil in the name of our God. Why is that so hard to comprehend? That's how powerful fear is. Simple as this: no one will be convinced by the corny 'telling' about salvation. I'm that light, it's totally a fantasy. They will only be convinced if we prove to them why we believe in what we cannot see. ❤️
The other day I read a “YA sci-fi” book written by a woman that should be on the adult fiction shelf (adult characters & themes), and an “adult sci-fi”book written by a guy with completely 14 y/o protagonist characters on a coming of age journey that should be on the YA shelf. I mean, I rely on the organization of the shelves to help me books that I actually want to read. The mixed up labeling is killing me 🙄
Nowadays? Often the gender of the author. Possibly the age of the protagonist. Which makes me wonder, if it came out today, would "Clan of the Cave Bear" been mis-shelved as YA? Quite a few of my fellow Gen-Xers credit that book with their sexual awakening...
@@katendress6142 thanks, I was just wondering if it’s subjective, or if there’s a concrete criteria, and if so, what specifically is that criteria. Otherwise, I don’t know why those two are separate categories, considering teen is also a category.
The issue I see with saying Adult fiction is that sounds like the book should in a section behind a beaded curtain or saloon door at the book store. I'm new here, and not familiar with these books so perhaps that is precisely what you meant, and why you don't want them marketed to a younger audience. Which makes more sense. I guess I'm asking do you write X-rated books?
Imagination is not the same as giving religious material or spiritual insight. If that was the case they should see the facts you weren't published under a company that releases that material. Sorry you are dealing with problems of the people who don't read enough to understand your creativity and emotions are gifts. please keep informing the masses
YA books tend to have more sex than most of the adult books (excluding the specific adult romance genre) so ngl the shelvings are just getting almost unhelpful, like can we find a better organization? ACOTAR is under YA in most libraries. How did me and my friends run across it at 11 years old? YA shelf.
The problem is with the word "adult" It has been so associated with prn that it's hard to label a book that's not meant for kiddies. Lord of the Rings was meant for adults so was MacBeth and Apocalypse Now and The Godfather
I would like to give your books a try, I usually stick to YA and I'm 25 😅. I like the standard you have so I'm guessing it's probably not quite like alot of the adult books where it seems like it's just to glorify sex? especially outside of marriage. Yea, Jesus is King. He reigns with perfection and it's amazing to walk with Him and have communion with our Heavenly Father through Him. Blessings to you Elizabeth ❤
'God knew what would happen if He created beings with free will and they used it the wrong way. Apparently He thought it worth the risk.' So do I. Suffering is preferable to being a puppet with no choices. Especially when God took ALL the suffering onto Himself. Everyone seems to forget that bit somehow: 'His main purpose in coming to earth was to suffer and be killed.'
@@cmm5542 What child "chooses" so wrong as to get cancer? What child "chooses" to be born to abusive parents? I know ... I know, "that isn't what I mean". Still, that's the relevant question: regardless of "free will", nature or the bad choices of others cause horrific suffering. Where is God, the maker and ruler of the universe who observes "every sparrows fall"? Humans physically can't stop much of this suffering any more than someone caught in a tidal wave can just join with well meaning people to "stack sandbags" to protect the helpless - it's futile. So someone needs a better explanation than "it's in the plan that we can't see". If the tour bus driver keeps losing kids, why would I encourage people to take the tour?
@@mrblakeboy1420 Believe it or not, I LOVE the fact that I was raised in a very religious, believing environment. I have decided, after 60+ years of life, that it doesn't make any difference whether I can completely understand or accept the contradictions I feel the texts have, I am better off behaving as if they are true, whether I have doubts or not. Maybe that's faith. Or as close as I can come to it.
People shouldn't make assumptions on the books by a Christian author from a country where most people are Christian. I'm willing to wager at least 80% of spicy fiction in English, Spanish, or any other languages of European origin is written by Christians
Elisabeth, I have suspected for some time that your complaints about Christianity, despite the fact that so much of what you write and believe is BASED on Christianity, is due to this matter of marketing. The situation is simple: if you don't put sex between non-married people in your books, they simply will not be put anywhere but in Young Adult. I know all about this: I just submitted my self-published novel to a contest but it won't win for the same reason nobody buys it - the vocabulary is too hard for middle grade, but the complete lack of sex means it probably won't be accepted as even YA. For crying out loud, I've heard people claim The Folk of the Air is 'too easy' for teens - the writing is actually much more complex than ANY other YA book I have read as a substitute English teacher, but the limited sexual description makes it 'unfit' for teenagers today! My sister writes historical crime novels set in the 1950s with EXTREMELY accurate cultural mores - you know what every agent tells her? They love her writing and 'sense of place' but can't she spice it up? Despite it being a mystery and not a romance! Never mind that 'the sense of place' will be totally lost if she puts modern values in a 1950s dress. Sex sells. It's not 1812 anymore Elisabeth. Or even 1960. People are not accepting of those who choose to wait until marriage. And you know this. That's why you're trying so hard to dissociate yourself from 'purity culture', but you're never going to be able to do it enough. Look, if God wants your books to succeed, they will. But it won't happen the world's way. Unless you sell out completely, you WILL be mocked and misrepresented. Christianity is, and always has been, a subversive, unpopular, and persecuted faith. And we are to REJOICE in this. Christ never said it would be easy. You want to be the 'aggressive princess who saves the prince,' Elisabeth? Then FIGHT. Stop begging the world to accept you on their terms. Set your own terms to a Higher Standard, and go in and WIN.
I REALLLLLLY wish fewer books had sex in them. I DON’T want or need to know about what happens in people’s bedrooms. I will refuse to buy books that have it in them (sadly, a few slip through, because they’re well in the middle of the story). I hate that EVERYTHING is sexualized nowadays. I will totally buy your friend’s book, if it gets published, if she doesn’t sell out.
Nothing more shameful than the most coddled and protected group of Christians in history self-flagellating and claiming martyrdom while they cry for oppression upon others. What loathsome vanity.
Every single president in the history of the US has been a Christian. 87% of the current Congress are Christians. That's actually more than the percentage of Americans who are Christians (still the majority, at 63%).
People can and do have multiple kinds of relationships in their lives. Some married people even continue to have relationships with their parents, their siblings, their friends and their own children!
