Cigarette smoking in YA

I would do it. If the kid smokes, they smoke. You've established why he/she may be a smoker, right? Or, one day in the book you just had them light up?

I'd leave it in too. Smoking is tame compared to other stuff I've seen in YA lately, and if it's true to your character, then it belongs there.

Probably the reason for the ban (proposed? or already enacted?) is that somebody thinks that seeing likeable characters smoke will glorify smoking and attract droves of teens to cigarettes. I don't know if that's true or not, but I hope teens today are self-aware enough to make up their own minds and not be swayed solely by something they see or read.

If you need it, use it. But if you don't, don't. A big part of the YA market is not teenagers themselves but parents, librarians, teachers and others who may worry more about those messages than the readers themselves. You can go as hard and gritty as you need to, but a good rule of thumb is to keep stuff like smoking, swearing and sex to the minimum you require for your story. Not only does it help sell the book, but it also ensures that what you do use has impact.

moth said:

... I hope teens today are self-aware enough to make up their own minds and not be swayed solely by something they see or read.

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I would hope the same, but unfortunately reality is quite different. I suggest you take a closer look at teenagers.

Shady just had a book published, and her MC is a teen smoker. I don't think it's a problem at all.

The characters in the Gossip Girl novels smoke. And not just cigarettes.

The movie censorship is ridiculous. I'm a mother of <gasp!> a teenager and we watch movies regardless of the ratings. And I certainly wouldn't censor her books depending on whether the main character smoked or not, nor cuss words, and the like.

Actually, all censorship is ridiculous. I can censor myself if I want to.

'Probably the reason for the ban (proposed? or already enacted?) is that somebody thinks that seeing likeable characters smoke will glorify smoking and attract droves of teens to cigarettes. I don't know if that's true or not, but I hope teens today are self-aware enough to make up their own minds and not be swayed solely by something they see or read.' ~ i think you're right on that. but, teens today are no more 'self-aware' than we were, i think.

karo.ambrose said:

Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/business/media/01smoke.html

Here's what one of my betas wrote me:

Cigarette thing is kinda iffy. I suppose you already know that. If it's a character flaw that he is going to overcome, maybe. If he just likes to smoke, I dunno. My own research seems to show that smoking ranks just under drug usage in YA. Proceed with caution

Do y'all agree with this?

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Again, it depends on the character. Give them a reason to smoke and I think it's fine. If they're a good kid hanging with the wrong group. How is the smoking tied in with the rest of the book? You answer that and you'll know what you should do.

I met with an editor at one of the the big houses for children's and YA a couple of weeks ago. he said that ANYthing goes in YA these days. If it's right for the character, then go for it.

Kids smoke. Kids drink. Kids have sex.

Yeah. We're a pretty crazy bunch. I wouldn't worry about it.

Azraelsbane said:

Shady just had a book published, and her MC is a teen smoker. I don't think it's a problem at all.

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YOU ARE MY FREAKIN HERO.

I was just about to post this, basically.

I actually have smokers in tons of my books. In Sublime, like Az said, the MC smokes, in Carnival three of the five MC's smoke, In Singleton one of the two MCs does, in Christmastime, nobody...hmmm.

Lots of teens smoke. Seriously.

Almost as many who drink/smoke pot.

I would stay true to the character. Going "outside the box" could attract attention, good or bad so do what you have to do to tell your story. I'm a smoker myself but most of my characters don't smoke because it doesn't fit their personality. Of course, it doesn't fit mine either lol.

Laws are being made to get people to change their ways to become healthier people, maybe even against their own will. Smoking banns are going up everywhere which is hurting the government a lot because the taxes will lower if people stop smoking lol. Plus they are advertising heavily on staying fit, eating the right foods, and losing the weight. People are being told how to live and sometimes I don't agree with it. Yea, I think people should be healthy but its something each person should decide alone, not be told on every channel during commercials. Same with smoking. People are going to smoke. Its just getting harder to go anywhere.

Amber

i own a convenience store. i can tell you for a fact teens smoke. the trend around here (dayton) isn't kids buying packs of cigs as much as buying 'shells,' flavoured tobacco rolls, and cigarellos. sure, some kids buy packs, but not as often, at least in my store.

i may be a bit more in tune with these things simply because of my situation, so here's an observation. a kid (some adults, too) will buy a 'black and mild' (in this case, it's usually a black kid/guy... that's not racist, just an observation), and dump all the tobacco in the plastic sleeve. then they'll carefully take the cardboard inner lining out and tap the tobacco back into the mini-cigar.

flavoured 'wraps' i sell are made by 'royal blunts,' and come in a couple dozen flavours, 'purple haze' being my most popular. now, *what* people actually put in these, tobacco or what, i can't say, lol, but i sure do sell a lot of them to kids (of age, of course).

a big deal? no, not really. just something i've noticed about teen culture in my limited surveillance. is it an insight into being a teen? dunno. interesting to me, though. teens smoke, but it's what and how that's sometimes just a bit off compared to older people. (btw, i go through a lot of rolling papers, too. have no illusion, there's a huge pot smoking crowd out there. these include the usual suspects what are no surprise, but soccer moms and old geezers. it pretty much runs the gamut. note that kids, who are smoking pot just as they always have done, aren't using rolling papers, they're using flavoured wraps. again, just an interesting detail.)

there's a division of disney that's banned any of their onscreen characters from smoking. in their estimation, it's being responsible. to me, it's what you get when you're trying to sell product as opposed to having art reflect life.

maybe, though, they should also go so far as banning the consumption of mcdonald's, driving fast, and reading anything other than 'lizzie mcguire' books on film. egh, it's up to them, it's just amazingly hypocritical ~ these same companies with a 'social stance' are the same ones who won't bat an eye at product placement.

mark my words, it won't stop there. wal*mart will eventually ban smoking in all its books.

companies should not take a moral stance if it makes them hypocrites. i do my best to avoid businesses that go out of their way to make sure i know they practice 'diversity.' wow, how white of them to do so. thank gawd these companies have our backs. i feel like rolling back prices right now... i think i'll roll them in some french lights. i promise not to inhale, though ~ i wouldn't want such incidents threatening my chances at becoming president. er, wait.... well, at any rate, whatever i do will be sanitized when wal*mart releases the novelization of the disney movie based on my rise to infamy, 'preyer, a rockin' kinda guy' ('rockin'' replaces 'kick ass' here).

i smoke, too, and i advise against it. not that anyone cares or listens, still, it's my little PSA. most of my characters don't smoke. at the same time, i don't tend to go on murderous rampages like my characters.

i wait for the day when disney digitally alters its old movies to remove smoking and drinking.

I think that a film would be different than a book. Seeing an image of something has a different than reading about it, IMO.

And why are we so mental about cigarettes that we BAN them from art, when art is supposed to be a way to express life and the realities of life?

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Simple. People who give into bans on art and expression aren't actually producing art. They are reinforcing conformity. The two are quite opposite, I assure you.

Loads of teenagers smoke. To ignore this would be inaccurate. I wouldn't worry about it at all; I know this is constantly mentioned, but take a look at Gossip Girl. Seriously. Anything you're planning to do will look tame compared to that.