Would this subject be too shocking for a Young Adult book?

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

I am considering attempting a novel for teenagers which includes rape, as an important part of the plot. The character involved is 16, the rapist is a boy her own age.
Now, I don't think teenagers themselves would object to this, but the 'Help I Need A Publisher' blog talks about 'gatekeepers' who mustn't be put off (parents, teachers, librarians etc).

I've read a lot of Young Adult fiction and can't remember many with rape scenes (though plenty in adult fiction of the sort they make you read at school of course) so I'm wondering if it's taboo in a weird way.

does anyone know?

There's some books already that have this plot, have you googled? I can't think of them off the top of my head though. There's pregnancy, alcohol, drug abuse books for YA. You should have a look on Amazon.

I think covering date rape would be a valuable plot line for this age group, it wouldn't put me off letting a child read it.

As long as it is handled sensitively, I don't see why not. But I don't know if it is seen as Taboo or not either

thanks.
I know one or two exist Belle but in a way I'm amazed how rarely it comes up, specially compared to other edgy topics.

I would of course try to handle it sensitively MoaningMinnie

Hmm. My YA editor would immediately start making harrumphing noises about a rape storyline for precisely the 'gatekeepers' reason. Bear in mind that a novel about 16yos will have a readership of 12+ yos (16 yos will be reading chick lit for twentysomethings), and you can see that the gatekeepers might have a point.

Do you already have an agent? If so, it might be less of an issue.

no, I don't have an agent.

It's probably because it's not commercial I was in Waterstones today, there's a whole bloody row dedicated to vampire books as this is what's in and commercial at the moment. It's a fad and it will pass at some point. The agents are already getting sick of it, as are the book sellers. If it sells books and gets people reading though... Usually something with a shock factor sells so who knows. Very best of luck (I'm not an expert, this is just what I've picked up on/been told by those who are experts)

meh. I bet vampires are allowed to rape people only they never call it that.

Na, vampires knock up human girlfriends who need a special sort of c section

Steampunk is now the latest trend. Vampires - they can't really fade - are being put out in the sunlight to wither.

Yes, I think you might have a problem with such a contentious issue. But it depends on the writing, the way it was handled. People like Julie Birchill have pushed the boundaries - but she is established and has some level of clout/insider contacts.

But I commend your bravery. After all, an editor would tone it down if was too graphic. An agent would be only too aware that it would also get publicity - they might run on these lines, however ethical this is......

of course! I had noticed a lot of it about but didn't know that was what it was called.

so the WotWots spaceship on Milkshake is, like, steampunk for preschoolers.

Of course I want to write a novel I would have a hope of getting published but at the same time I am very much at the learning stage (I have one other unpublished YA book) so there may be a case for following my muse even at the cost of it making it unpublishable.

As I understand it you can break taboos if you are 1. established and 2. better than everyone else and I am neither of those, but otoh I am writing from the heart, not deliberately taboo-breaking for the sake of being shocking. My story is actually a ghost story where the rape is something that happens to the modern girl who is seeing the ghost, so it can be downplayed when I'm trying to find a publisher - I can pitch it as 'a ghost story' rather than 'a story about RAPE'.

I really wouldn't write a story for children about rape. If the girl in the story is 16, the eldest the reader will be is 14 - apparently the reader is normally two years younger than the character.

There are some incredibly experienced writers like Judy Blume and Jacqueline Wilson who may be able to do this, but you should note they haven't.

I know that terrible things happen to young girls (and boys of course.) It's not a subject, though, that even many adults would want to read about and most adults would be very wary of their child reading something like that, particularly if they worried that it might not be handled properly.

I think an agent would ask you why you wrote such a book, knowing that nothing like that exists on bookshops' shelves. The fact they're not there should tell you something, not indicate there's a gap in the market.

sethstarkaddersmackere - have you read any Anne Cassidy? She writes for young adults, on quite disturbing subjects but does it quite beautifully. Looking for JJ for example is about a young girl who when she was ten, accidentally killed one of her schoolfriends.

I think you can write about dark subjects - it all depends on how you handle the material. I mean The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson is about manic depression.

sethstarkaddersmackere - have you read any Anne Cassidy? She writes for young adults, on quite disturbing subjects but does it quite beautifully. Looking for JJ for example is about a young girl who when she was ten, accidentally killed one of her schoolfriends.

I think you can write about dark subjects - it all depends on how you handle the material. I mean The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson is about manic depression.

And Jacqueline Wilson has been writing for about fifty years and absolutely knows her audience. What's more, her publishers trust her and know she can write in a suitable way.

Rape is a completely different subject to anything else, though, isn't it? A lot of people read thrillers and feel excited at the threat and safe once we put the book down. Very, very few of these contain explicit rape scenes for the obvious reason that very few people want to read about that.

It's the most terrifying thing that most women can think of, bar losing a child. Given your readers won't generally have children, it will be the most terrifying thing. What is the purpose of making them scared like that?

According to the NSPCC a third of teenage girls between 13 and 17 had suffered physical violence at the hand of their boyfriend and one in six had been 'pressured into sex' so sexual exploitation is out there. Part of the 'job' of a good YA book is to help the reader deal with some of the really difficult and uncomfortable aspects of becoming a teenager and sex is part of it.

There have been some good books written about rape for the YA market - Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak (1999)and Inexcusable by Chris Lynch which tells the story from the attacker's point of view.

By the time a child reaches 12 or 13 they can start to buy their own books anyway, which is another consideration when you write one - it can't be too long (20 to 40 000 words is the usual length).

thank you all, this is incredibly helpful.
there are enough red flags here for me to think hard about whether I can rethink while still being true to the story I want to tell. At one level it does not have to go as far as rape because it is about not being believed, and being stigmatised for telling the truth, and these things happen with much lower level assaults.
I was not planning on an explicit and terrifying rape scene! It is something that happens to the narrator's best friend, not the narrator herself, and we would hear about it through her conversations with the best friend (and possibly statements to the police), which would distance it a bit.
I think it's an attempted rape in Z for Zachariah, isn't it? I was thinking of To Kill A Mockingbird and Tess of the Durbervilles (though some people read that one as seduction rather than rape) as classics with rape in that they make you read at school. There are probably more.... There was a fair bit of it in Latin too of course, but anything is allowed in Latin and Greek .

I will look out for the ones mentioned - have not read any Anne Cassidy, will look.

you know, I don't think rape is the most terrifying thing a teenager can think of - I think at that age most people haven't processed what it means (as indeed some people never do). It is enormously stigmatised though which is why I was conscious that even if it was handled sensitively some people would still consider it taboo. Maybe the issue is about how close to the action you can get without 'gatekeepers' (and agents and publishers) being frightened off? And if people are going to jump to the conclusion that you're doing it in a dodgy way, well, obviously that's a problem because as a new writer trying to get out of the slush pile then people are going to be judging the book without having even read it.
there's a lot to ponder here, thanks again.

There is a new book (YA) out at the moment with a rape issue in it, I think. It is written from the points of view of the brother of the girl who is sexually assaulted, and from the point of view of the boy who was the aggressor (at least I think it is). It's by a really well known YA writer, but can't recall who offhand.

Kevin Brooks' latest book "iBoy" includes the story of a girl who is gang-raped and its consequences. It is very well handled.

It's a difficult area to write about precisely because most YA books now are targeted at the 12-13 yrs range - which is stupid really. The nearest I've read to that near-the-bone YA writing (other than a lot of Melvin Burgess's output) is the "Snow White Rose Red" fantasy story Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan - which is on both YA and adult shelves and incorporates father-daughter rape/incest, suggestions of bestiality-sexuality (a girl being aroused by a bear - I think - fondling her breasts) gang-rape by boys, abortion, and gang-rape of boys as revenge. In my opinion this book is so borderline adult, that it shouldn't be on YA shelves.

The book I couldn't remember the title of that's just been released (in hardback) is

'You Against Me' by Jenny Downham (who wrote the rather brilliant 'Before I Die' a couple of years ago).

www.amazon.co.uk/You-Against-Me-Jenny-Downham/dp/1849920486/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1