Does age matter in writing adult-like stuff

[AlexM]

Hey guys,

I was just curious about whether or not it would seem weird reading a book written by a 14yr that may have a few... "Adult moments". Its really only a one off in the series i'm writing (they stay at a town which is full of drunks and prostitutes) and generally the clothes the women wear are a bit revealing and the main character kinda doesn't mean to get caught up in it but unknowingly does.

So what I'm trying to ask here is does an writer's age give you a limit on what type of stuff you can write?

Cheers,

Alex

 

[Ghost of Harrenhal]

Not at all. I've been writing stuff that would probably have been given an adult rating since before I was your age. So long as you know how to write it effectively then there really shouldn't be a problem.

 

[chopper]

i'll agree with that. age is less an issue than the writer's ability or experience (not that i'm expecting a 14 year old kid to be cruising the red light districts, y'see, but i'd recommend you search out books or tv shows that have similar seamy scenes and then see how yer writing compares).

 

[The Pelagic Argosy]

So what I'm trying to ask here is does an writer's age give you a limit on what type of stuff you can write?

Good question. I think "write what you know" applies here as anywhere else. If your main character is also a young person who has stumbled into a world that's foreign to him, no problem. I agree with chopper; your "experience" here will be familiarizing yourself with what other writers have done on the topics/genres that interest you. (Although, I believe a lot of what you'll see in movies and tv that deals with "drunks and prostitutes" is likely to be sensationalized rather than realistic. So, do some "drier" research also. Memoirs, etc.)

However, if you're trying to write from the point of view of a chain-smoking, 50-year-old divorcee, I think you're going to have problems.

I have a couple of major projects I'm kicking around. One is set in a medieval fantasy world. The other is set in the 1920s. Obviously, I'm being very anal about researching, so that I can write about both of these settings convincingly. However, both are about young women who are suffering from identity confusion. This, I believe, is where I'm writing from the heart. You can fake a lot of things, but the spark of your story has to be "genuine." I don't have any idea how to define that, except to say that if your writing isn't genuine, you probably won't stick with it very long.

The best compliment I ever got on my writing was when I was 17 or 18. One of my friends said, "Wow, this sounds like a real book." Seventeen or so more years have gone by since then. (Who's counting?) So, now I'm shooting for "real good book."

 

[AlexM]

Nah set in the perspective of a 16yr old (but he'll be like 22ish by the time I finish the series, I feel as if I'm growing up with him)

And thanks for the replies, I see what I need to know now.

Good question. I think "write what you know" applies here as anywhere else.

- I totally agree, but do you mean write as you know as in you know about it or do you mean know as in it has happened before?

 

[chrispenycate]

However, if you're trying to write from the point of view of a chain-smoking, 50-year-old divorcee, I think you're going to have problems.

Yet you would presumably have no difficulty if I chose this perspective, despite the fact that, though may remember being fifty I have never smoked and am a hardened bachelor. Putting yourself into the skin of a character requires observation and deduction rather than having experienced the situation in its entirity, and these are not confined by age.

I'm writing a lot from the points of view of several dragons, recently; and I've never been one. I still hope to convince readers that this is how a little girl dragon brought up largely in human society would view things, even if I've not observed many.(any, actually)

Certainly, I intend to avoid steamy sex scenes, as: a. I've not been involved in many, b. my potential readers might have been and c. I don't think they'd be appropriate to the story anyway; but if c were not the case, I'd waive a and b.

 

[The Pelagic Argosy]

I totally agree, but do you mean write as you know as in you know about it or do you mean know as in it has happened before?

I mean, the scenes you're concerned about aren't so much about drunks and prostitutes. They are about your main character's experience with drunks and prostitutes. This will be filtered through your imagination, so your own experiences will necessarily be your inspiration. You've never hung out with drunks and prostitutes, but you probably have hung out with people you don't really like, or you have been in situations where you feel like an outsider, etc. These are experiences you can draw on. Most of your work as a writer will be figuring out what's going on in your main character's head.

However, research is also important. You'll stumble across a lot of information that you wouldn't have thought of otherwise. My own experience with this is that I like to have a whole lot of details at my fingertips - far more than I actually need to write - and then I can decide which details are the most important to my characters.

And, as I am certainly not advising you to sneak into bars , tv, movies, and books will be fine research sources.

I'm writing a lot from the points of view of several dragons, recently; and I've never been one. I still hope to convince readers that this is how a little girl dragon brought up largely in human society would view things, even if I've not observed many.(any, actually)

This goes back to what I meant about writing genuinely. I think there's probably a whole lot of your own personality in these dragons.

 

[Urlik]

Yet you would presumably have no difficulty if I chose this perspective, despite the fact that, though may remember being fifty I have never smoked and am a hardened bachelor. Putting yourself into the skin of a character requires observation and deduction rather than having experienced the situation in its entirity, and these are not confined by age.

but you would have the general experiences of living 50 plus years and had some similar experiences to the aforementioned character as well as know people who chainsmoke and are divorced/going through a divorces, so it would be easier for you to put yourself in that character than it would be for a much younger person to imagine everything that is the background setting that all of the character's thoughts and actions spring from.

 

[JDP]

I don't know the ages of any of the authors I read, so I guess it doesn't matter to me! As has been said, the writing's either good or it aint. Perhaps have a couple of beta readers look over it and give you feedback?


--Edit--

Woohoo, 400 posts!