Will Readers Accept This?

Fame<Infamy · Jul 7, 2010

I guess my question hinges more on, "Will readers be too creeped out by this to pay attention to other things in the novel?"

Basically I have a character who is half human, half angel, she's around 16 or 17 when the reader meets her. Well she develops a relationship with a man who's estranged from a demon hunting order. The only thing is the man is 40. To make matters stranger, the girl is actually the daughter of his friend and she's traveled back in time. The her that exists in his time is six and he knows her well.

He doesn't know at first who she is, but would all of this be kind of jarring from the rest of the story?

Stormhawk · Jul 7, 2010

I don't think they'd have a problem accepting this. Seems rather straight forward to me.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 7, 2010

The age difference and the relation of the girl to the older man.

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 7, 2010

What type of relationship? Friend? Mentor? Or are we talking sexual?

Lyra Jean · Jul 7, 2010

He knows who she is but does she know who he is? I also second Ferret's question.

10trackers · Jul 7, 2010

Some will balk, some won't. I guess it depends on the general mood of your story (it'll stick out like a sore thumb if the general mood is happy-go-lucky and you throw in a relationship like that) and the way you handle it. If done well, it can add a layer to your story. If done badly, it can throw your story into a tailspin. You'll have to explore the man's conflicting feelings. It's important that you show that he has them.

Good luck!

(Also, with a user name like yours, I wouldn't think you'd mind if readers accepted your plot or not

)

Fame<Infamy · Jul 7, 2010

Shadow_Ferret said:
What type of relationship? Friend? Mentor? Or are we talking sexual?

It's a sexual relationship.

veinglory · Jul 7, 2010

If it is a sexual relationship, it does feel pedophillic for her real age and the age her knows her past self as. It would hit my 'ew' button for statutory rape.

Lyra Jean · Jul 7, 2010

If he was pursuing her definitely ick! If she was pursuing him it would depend.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 7, 2010

veinglory said:
If it is a sexual reltionship, it does feel pedophillic for her real age and the age her knows her past self as. It would hit my 'ew' button for statutory rape.

That's what I was wondering about mostly, though the one he's with is seventeen he's so much older than her. Some part of me kind of wondered if her being half angel and full of powers would override that.

Wolvel · Jul 7, 2010

Well just to make things legal with the reader if its going to be a sexual relationship make her age legal at 18. By her being under age it could turn a few readers off.

As to the age differance it should be no problem, just really depends on the person reading the story.

Kweei · Jul 7, 2010

I'll be honest that the concept/idea makes me a little uncomfortable, too. Even with her being half angel and having powers, it doesn't get past my squick button given he knew her as a six year old.

Lyxdeslic · Jul 7, 2010

Yeah, The Time Traveler's Wife personally turned me off for similar reasons. But obviously millions of others ate it up. So, as it always does, it boils down to "If it's done well..."

Lyx

Amadan · Jul 7, 2010

Some people will be squicked by it, but I don't think most will be bothered. It's certainly not out of bounds. How the relationship plays out will determine how much it bothers people, more than the age difference. As far as legality, age of consent varies by time and place, but the fact that their relationship might be illegal in some jurisdictions doesn't mean it necessarily has to be treated as immoral. (Though if it is illegal in the time and place where they hook up, then it should be something they at least think about.)

Let's not forget that Stephanie Meyer has a werewolf falling in love with a baby who's destined to be his future wife.

Lyra Jean · Jul 7, 2010

That was only part of the Twilight series that icked me out.

Amadan · Jul 7, 2010

Lyra Jean said:
That was only part of the Twilight series that icked me out.

The entire series oozes with all kinds of nastiness. But the werewolf imprinting on the baby was kind of the pedophile piece de resistance.

Chasing the Horizon · Jul 7, 2010

Of course it will make some people uncomfortable, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. The best fiction always has uncomfortable moments. The trick is to make your readers understand why the characters do what they do and make it believable. The reader doesn't have to like what's happening, but they do need to understand and believe it.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 7, 2010

Where does that happen in Twilight?

And see I didn't want her being too old, though she's never depicted as a child totally. Though as I said, he fell for her before she knew who she really was (she hid her identity for a while)

She will eventually be 18 (very shortly in the story, but she's been doing the Angel job since she was like 13-14.

Stormhawk · Jul 7, 2010

Jacob imprints on baby-with-dumb-name.

Something similar happens in Ashes to Ashes (tv show, not book, but whatever), whereby a woman time-travels back to the 80s (simplifying for time here), and encounters a man she knew while growing up, and is attracted to him (because she always thought he was handsome in the innocent way as a girl, but now she's grown up, and sees that he's really attractive).

The age-gap can be bothersome though - not because of him knowing her as a child, but the inherent issues people have with reading a relationship with a 20-year split, particularly when it's with someone under twenty, rather than say, a 30-year-old and a 50-year-old. It can be seen a severe power imbalance, or if you're not careful, as advantage being taken. If you're careful with that, then it should be fine.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 7, 2010

Stormhawk said:
Jacob imprints on baby-with-dumb-name.

Something similar happens in Ashes to Ashes (tv show, not book, but whatever), whereby a woman time-travels back to the 80s (simplifying for time here), and encounters a man she knew while growing up, and is attracted to him (because she always thought he was handsome in the innocent way as a girl, but now she's grown up, and sees that he's really attractive).

The age-gap can be bothersome though - not because of him knowing her as a child, but the inherent issues people have with reading a relationship with a 20-year split, particularly when it's with someone under twenty, rather than say, a 30-year-old and a 50-year-old. It can be seen a severe power imbalance, or if you're not careful, as advantage being taken. If you're careful with that, then it should be fine.

The thing is that she's kind of got the power advantage over him, she's not just half Angel but she's high ranking, half angel...like power over one twelfth of heaven. So even given her age gap, he can't really dominate her.

In regards to jacob, aren't there many tribes that pick wives at birth?

ChaosTitan · Jul 7, 2010

Curious: who's your target audience here? Is this for the adult market or is it YA?

Also curious: what on earth does a 40-year old man see in a 17-year old girl, angel or otherwise? Squick factor aside, creating a genuine relationship between two characters with such a widely diverse age is going to be difficult.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 7, 2010

ChaosTitan said:
Curious: who's your target audience here? Is this for the adult market or is it YA?

Also curious: what on earth does a 40-year old man see in a 17-year old girl, angel or otherwise? Squick factor aside, creating a genuine relationship between two characters with such a widely diverse age is going to be difficult.

Definitely, the adult market, though it could be picked up by someone younger as I don't plan for this to be all that explicit, though its aimed at an older crowd.

Also, she's not entirely upfront about her age, human side, or her real personality at times. And she was more of acting on some kind of crush on him than he was going after her, he just fell into it.

Chasing the Horizon · Jul 7, 2010

ChaosTitan said:
Also curious: what on earth does a 40-year old man see in a 17-year old girl, angel or otherwise?

lol, you're kidding, right?

Seriously, it's not a matter of age, it's a matter of life experience. A 17yo in an extraordinary situation could easily have as much or more life experience and maturity than a 40yo.

Fame<Infamy · Jul 7, 2010

Chasing the Horizon said:
lol, you're kidding, right?

Seriously, it's not a matter of age, it's a matter of life experience. A 17yo in an extraordinary situation could easily have as much or more life experience and maturity than a 40yo.

Well I plan for her to be a bit wild and out there, but yeah there's that to. She's a gorgeous seventeen year old girl, though many won't admit it a lot of older men would love that.

Liosse de Velishaf · Jul 7, 2010

Point one: Everywhere is not Hollywood. TVTrope it if you don't believe me. (I'll spare you the link.)

In the US, the age of consent is between 16 and 18 depending on the state, and Canada sets it at sixteen. Some countries have it at the onset of puberty. In Japan, the nationally mandated age of consent is 13, while many prefectures put it at 18.

Point two, 40 and 16 is a big gap? What about 18 and 100? Or 4 and 3,000? There have been crazy age gaps throughout the history of fantasy.

As far as the time-travelling six-year-old, Door into Summer, anyone? (Though that's Heinlein...

)

Also, does this mean the 6-year-old and the 16-year-old are both in contact with the 40-year-old at the same time? Because that would creep me out.

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