In a book mainly intended for YA (intended audience is boys aged 10-16, although I want to write the book so that anyone can read it and enjoy it), how much violence can you have in the book before it starts to become unacceptable?
So far, in my story, some main characters die, although it's sort of "offscreen" (for instance, one character is inside a space station when it explodes, but I don't explicitly say that "character A then died when the station exploded). There are also fights with monsters (think LOTR type stuff) and afterwards almost all battles are either in vehicles on the ground or in ships in space.
Do you think kids can cope with that? No swearing or anything sexual (but there are "tough" characters, who do give the hero a hard time from time to time), just lots of violence (mostly in mechanized war, not much ground fighting) from time to time, but it's because a war is going on in the story.
The violence level would probably be on par with some Star Wars stories, but nothing too graphic (other than the hero killing two bad guys with his sword, but I just say they fall after he swings his sword. I don't mention that he chops off limbs or blood starts to spurt from them after the hero cuts them both).
I would think that with the kinds of things kids are exposed to today (such as the war in Iraq, or reports of homicide on the news), as well as some rather violent video games, songs, and movies, my story probably wouldn't be too much for them to handle (heck, I handled violence pretty well growing up in the early 90's, when games like Mortal Kombat came out, but I was smart enough to realize that it's not real life). If anything, I want to try and help them cope with stuff like that, that it's not the end of the world because of violent things.
And to counter all that bloodlust, I do have peaceful characters too, who aren't just total wusses either (in fact, the hero's girlfriend doesn't fight, and keeps the hero from becoming a bloodthirsty killer). Also, I want to try and show that although the bad guys are rather brutal most of the time, not everyone of them is a warmonger either.
Do you think kids would be able to handle my story? Above all, I am trying to make it entertaining (because if it's boring, I committed probably the worst sin for writing hehe), but I also want to hint at morals and that fighting isn't always the best answer to every solution (I try not to explicitly say it, but I do want them to start wondering about things like that), and sometimes unfortunately, you may have no choice but to fight (again, keep in mind that a war is going on, and both sides increasingly hate each other as it goes on). Any tips/advice you can give would be nice.
And if it is too violent, I guess I can always just say it's intended for age 18+. But I would like to have kids read it and enjoy it too.
So far, in my story, some main characters die, although it's sort of "offscreen" (for instance, one character is inside a space station when it explodes, but I don't explicitly say that "character A then died when the station exploded). There are also fights with monsters (think LOTR type stuff) and afterwards almost all battles are either in vehicles on the ground or in ships in space.
Do you think kids can cope with that? No swearing or anything sexual (but there are "tough" characters, who do give the hero a hard time from time to time), just lots of violence (mostly in mechanized war, not much ground fighting) from time to time, but it's because a war is going on in the story.
The violence level would probably be on par with some Star Wars stories, but nothing too graphic (other than the hero killing two bad guys with his sword, but I just say they fall after he swings his sword. I don't mention that he chops off limbs or blood starts to spurt from them after the hero cuts them both).
I would think that with the kinds of things kids are exposed to today (such as the war in Iraq, or reports of homicide on the news), as well as some rather violent video games, songs, and movies, my story probably wouldn't be too much for them to handle (heck, I handled violence pretty well growing up in the early 90's, when games like Mortal Kombat came out, but I was smart enough to realize that it's not real life). If anything, I want to try and help them cope with stuff like that, that it's not the end of the world because of violent things.
And to counter all that bloodlust, I do have peaceful characters too, who aren't just total wusses either (in fact, the hero's girlfriend doesn't fight, and keeps the hero from becoming a bloodthirsty killer). Also, I want to try and show that although the bad guys are rather brutal most of the time, not everyone of them is a warmonger either.
Do you think kids would be able to handle my story? Above all, I am trying to make it entertaining (because if it's boring, I committed probably the worst sin for writing hehe), but I also want to hint at morals and that fighting isn't always the best answer to every solution (I try not to explicitly say it, but I do want them to start wondering about things like that), and sometimes unfortunately, you may have no choice but to fight (again, keep in mind that a war is going on, and both sides increasingly hate each other as it goes on). Any tips/advice you can give would be nice.
And if it is too violent, I guess I can always just say it's intended for age 18+. But I would like to have kids read it and enjoy it too.