redeyesblackpanda wrote:
1.If a story is very sad, but not graphic, will the age rating go up and by how much?
2. Is "damn" all ages or 13+ (or even higher?) Does the frequency matter, or is it just the inclusion?
What about other words? (Might want to spoiler tag them,
)
3. How much gore makes something rated high? Does even the slightest presence of blood make something at least 13+?
4. If something can be interpreted as perverse, but only to perverse people (as in little children would read it and see nothing strange at all ) does the story a higher age rating?
5. Violence. How much and what kind leads to what age rating?
6. If something is incredibly frightening, but not graphic an any way, does it get a higher age rating? How scary does it have to be to get what rating?
1. Ever heard of the Newbery Medals for children's books? They award "excellence" in writing novels for children. The winners of these awards seem to share a lot in common . . . .
"The dog always dies. Go to the library and pick out a book with an award sticker and a dog on the cover. Trust me, that dog is going down."
These books routinely kill cherished relatives, innocent childhood friends, pets, and several include sexual molestation. They are also all on the reading list for elementary students. I'd say as long as you don't off the main character, you can go as sad as you want and still be be in a young age category.
2. You can include cursing (some Disney films have fleetingly), but you need to consider why you would want to. Children normally don't curse, and most adults censor themselves around children. Some people will get very upset about any cursing in something meant for children, because there is a certain age bracket of child that loves to repeat any new words they hear like this.
Harry Potter had mild cursing, but VERY sparingly. Some "bloody hells", a few "bastards", and one "bitch" screamed in a moment of rage by one of the characters.
I'd say if you can do without cursing, do so. It loses any punch if a common fixture in the work, and doesn't add much realism. If you write well, most people won't even notice you've not included swears - after all, there are a lot of ways to indicate anger that don't involve profanity.
3. This is were you'll start running into cultural disparities. Some European countries are very against any blood or gore in a work meant for children, while in America most people aren't going to think much of it as long as it isn't excessive. Most people aren't going to mind a little blood where appropriate, but there shouldn't be any dismemberment or focus on the gore if the work is meant for children.
4. Used sparingly, this is a good way to sneak in entertainment for adults you know will be watching or participating in something with their children. You've got to be REALLY subtle with this, because children are clever little people that get smarter when you aren't looking. (Every parent has an embarrassing moment when they realize spelling words out to each other isn't keeping them from the children anymore!) Pixar is good to look to for this sort of thing - the implication that some of the toys thought Ken was gay in Toy Story 3 for example. Whatever you do, it shouldn't be too perverse, because a lot of parents will be offended by something actually raunchy in something meant for children, even if it is very subtle.
5. Depends. Cartoon violence? Real violence? Seen or read? As long as this isn't the focus of the work and you don't go into the gore category discussed above, most parents probably won't mind much, especially in America. Anything that glorifies real guns or something like that isn't going to fly for children though - there is a reason everyone in the cartoons seems to have laser guns.
6. Kids love being scared. As long as it isn't gory, go for it. Book series like Goosebumps, Fear Street, etc. were all massively popular with young children and focused on scary events and stories. Kids tell ghost stories at camp and at school on Halloween. When I was in elementary school a teacher even read a story (from a children's book of scary stories from the school library) to us about a murderer that ground people into sausage. Then she served us sausage biscuits after! No one complained, and we loved it. Even as kids we'd laugh and say stupid stuff like "Yum! People taste awesome!" (Age 9-10 years.)
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books are a great example of writing for different age levels. Rather brilliantly, the age appropriateness of each book is the same as Harry's age in each book, with the first death in the series corresponding close to the age of puberty (coming of age). By the last book (when Harry is 17-18) the reading level is nearly purely adult, with philosophies, deaths galore, sacrifice, and themes of hatred, lust, love, jealousy, etc. explored and analyzed.
Rowling is also a great example to look to because she never wrote down to children and made a work that simultaneously appeals to all ages.
