How do we keep young adults from reading adult material? Do we?
Meet Emi Gayle -- Aimee Laine's younger, skinnier, hotter alter-ego
Actually, when I first started writing, I already had an alter ego (yes, Aimee Laine is a pen name, not my real name). And when I started writing Young Adult novels I added another pen name to my repertoire. Under that name, I have written 2 full novels and a 3rd and 4th are in progress.
Well … in August, I rewrote a HUGE chunk of a story called After Dark and sent it off to a few folks to read for me. Now when I do this, I’m looking for distinct feedback … some very particular feedback.
And I got it.
Ok, I started yesterday and I just finished. I really liked it a lot. I’m desperate for the sequel.
This isn’t from my Mom. This isn’t from my sister. This isn’t from a writer buddy. This is from someone in ‘the general public’ who has a book blog and reads A LOT.
THIS is the kind of feedback writers need. And with that, the motivation to press forward with After Dark came.
But my poor Emi Gayle site has pretty much been sitting unused since April and needs an overhaul. She (I mean me) needs to start gathering some attention, just like the real me (the Aimee Laine me) is. Have I confused you yet?
Well … no worries. It’ll all work out soon.
The site will relaunch November 1, 2011 with what I hope to be a huge announcement. 🙂 See? More motivation! Granted that announcement might just be “Look at me!” but it might be more. 🙂
Now you might be wondering why I have a different name for these novels?
Let’s have a look-see …
<-- This one has bad words, mild violence and sex in it. Shhhhhh.... don't tell my Mom. And this one --->
It has bad words, and while *I* didn’t write the sexy scene, yep … it’s in there. (You’re dying to know who did, now aren’t you? Well … hang tight, it’s coming December 1st!)
So you see? A dilemma. If I don’t want my own kids reading the above two … and I have my Aimee Laine name on these other books that are geared more toward my kids, how can I separate them?
Easy peasy.
And you can find her (I mean me) on:
Tada!
(You knew I was smart, but how smart am I now??) 😉
So there you have it. Emi Gayle is going to start making her presence known and hopefully soon, you’ll even have a book to read by her … I mean me.
Therein lies my question:
How do we keep young adults from reading adult material? Do we?
In my case, I’m just going to separate who I am to make sure the people who need to know … know. If you catch my drift.
Share your thoughts in the comments!
Note: One awesome commenter this week will receive a custom-signed, digital copy of the Little White Lies cover!
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Coming December 1, 2011! |
I don’t think we can keep young adults from reading adult content. Honestly I am not sure if we want to either. I first started reading adult content as a tween. My mother had no idea, but I wouldn’t have ever asked her the questions I did if the books hadn’t made me curious. I also think that reading about the situations adults get into sometimes helps up and coming adults deal better with the situations they face and often times make better decisions.
iarvd@yahoo.com
I’m with you Amanda. I actually agree, but being a Mom and thinking about my kids reading my own books, I cringe. I’d love for them to read my YA stuff. 🙂 My son has in fact. 🙂 But you do make a great point. Thanks for commenting!! 🙂
I dunno, I think she looks a little on the skinny side, but that’s the look the teen toons are adopting these days. Kids!! Aimee’s cartoon “me” is just right! 😉 But on to your question. I very strongly believe in allowing YA’s to read adult books (within reason…there’s a few that I’d probably say, ‘nope, not until you’re 19’ but then again, I found and read a few of those as a teen). That’s part of the thrill of being a YA, finding those grown up books to read. The books that portray harrowing reality? Bring those on too if they WANT to read them. Teens are a lot more aware of the world than we were at that age.
I wanted to be that skinny in high school. Never was. However, she’s way younger than the ‘real’ me and still looks a little like the new cartoon Aimee. 🙂 So she wins the toss of keep or keep-looking. 🙂
I’ve considered a pen name for some time now. I guess I still think that the industry doesn’t like authors to shift genres unless they write YA and I don’t want to be limited to just one genre. I have a Sci-fi idea in the works as well as a Sports themed book. I also have two childrens books swirling around.
Have we as readers advanced enough that we can accept an author that likes to break the boundries?
I can see your point, though. Where a parent would say, “Oh, it’s by that author, then ok, read away” when the subject maybe vastly different.
Yes we should probably pre-read all our kids books if we want to keep them age appropriate. On the other hand, reading is also learning. Quite a dilemma. Not sure the answer that works for me, works for everyone and therin lies the rub.
Great topic for a lively discussion!
Have we as readers advanced enough that we can accept an author that likes to break the boundries?
I don’t think we have.
Hubs and I had this discussion. I likened it to Nora Robert and JD Robb. They are both her. But would a Nora Roberts fan WANT to read a JD Robb book (Well, yes, I did, but in general — before they knew). 😉 Never would I have offered a Nora Roberts book to my kids. But JD Robb? Maybe. Especially my son. Except … it’s way grittier than anything Nora writes. Would I have know that? Only if ‘Nora’ was on the cover (which it is now, but wasn’t originally).
I’m actually MORE concerned with using Aimee Laine for my YA stories than vice-versa. I’m more worried about a teen picking up Little White Lies thinking it’s YA because my name is on it.
Oh well. Not to worry. I’ll just use different names … but I foresee a time in the future when it says “Aimee Laine writing as Emi Gayle” so I can cross and catch my adult audience, too. 🙂
The problem with teens is, if they’re avid readers, there are only so many titles they can read before they run out. Yes, the market for YA novels is expanding at a rapid rate. However, not every parent is willing to spend money on a weekly basis for books to sustain a desire that often matches that of a readaholic adult–and unfortunately, the YA section in libraries for teens is … well … a load of rubbish. Which is possibly one of the reason they’re pushing their own boundaries. Plus, you’ll often find that if a teen is an avid reader, it’s because it’s a habit they’ve picked up from one/both of their parents, so it stands to reason they’d go hunting through a (no doubt already present) stash of potential reading material that’s sitting right under their noses. My friend’s teenage daughter is 15. She’s been pretty good about only reading YA up until this year when she practically ran out of material at the library and the local bookstores. This year, she read Darkness & Light. She reckons she skimmed over Chapter 24–whether or not she did, I guess I’ll never know, however, I’ve loaned YA titles from her to read and they have sex scenes in them anyway. So, to an extent, they don’t need adult books to learn ‘this stuff’, because it’s already in those aimed at their age group.
Ramble–much! 🙂
Uh, yeah, you rambler you. 😉 I’m with ya though. 🙂
My kids are still so you, so it’s very easy for me to say right now that I believe a YA should be allowed the choice to read whatever they want, no restrictions (no matter how they make me cringe). Though when they’re teenagers, we’ll see how I feel :), but I intend to stand by that statement. The other half of that is, of course, I will be aware of what they are reading, I will read it too, and we will talk about it if they have questions.
I remember reading Harlequin romance novels when I was in 5th grade. I got a box of books from my aunt (who was a teen when I was a tween) and they were in there. I agree with the previous poster–reading the scenes in those books lead me to ask my parents questions and have healthy discussions. Not sure I would have done it otherwise, and I’d have been left getting my sex education from the playground like a lot of other kids. Probably not appropriate reading for an 11-year-old, but it was what it was. (I’m also not sure if my parents were aware of what I was reading)
Anyway–I can’t wait for your big annoucement. Nice to “meet” you, Emi :).
::waves:: Hi Erin. 🙂
I read NONE of the books I write when I was a teen and I think that’s stuck with me. I didn’t touch a romance until I was married … but then I devoured them. I LOVE them. 🙂 So I’m kinda pushing my kids away from these stories and focusing on the YA side. We’ll see how long that lasts. The temptation to read Little White Lies is kinda eating at my son. 🙂 and he’s 14. 🙂