Writing Sex in YA Fiction
Does sex have a place in YA literature? Do you feel like if you had been exposed to better writing about sex as a young adult, you would feel differently about the topic now? It’s a tough one to navigate and can be quite a contentious issue – but, at Jericho Writers, answering difficult questions is the name of the game.
Award-winning YA author Simon James Green is kindly taking over our newsletter today to give you a sneak preview of his Summer Festival event on this very topic – below, he’ll offer some great insight into the importance of writing sensitive, nuanced sex into books for young adults.
Writing Sex in YA Fiction | Simon James Green Takeover
Hello! I’m the author of ten books for children and teens, including six YA novels. Writing for young people is an enormous privilege – at such a formative stage of their lives, your stories can have real impact, bringing reassurance and comfort, as well as the joy of escapism and entertainment. There’s also a responsibility, of course – to reflect their world accurately and authentically, to create work that hopefully nurtures their love of reading, and to help young people navigate a world that is frequently complicated and confusing.
All of these points feed into why you might want to tackle writing sexual content in your YA book. Not all teenagers have sex, but many do think about it, have questions, or will encounter sexual situations as they get older. Not all books need to include this type of content, but it’s important some books do reflect this element of teen life. If they don’t, young adult readers might feel books simply don’t mirror their reality, and look for that type of content elsewhere.
But including sexual content can be fraught with difficulty. People challenging or trying to ban books will almost always focus on what they consider to be ‘obscene’ passages in the work. Occasionally, agents and publishers can be nervous of it. Meanwhile, some parents are blissfully unaware of the sexual content their children are accessing online, but weirdly furious about content that is far less explicit appearing in written form. When you also factor in religious and cultural sensibilities, it’s a minefield.
Yet young people today are trying to find their way through a world that is so different even to the one their parents and teachers grew up in. The internet and social media have changed the landscape immeasurably. And for many teens, their world isn’t an easy one – some don’t have understanding parents they can talk to. When the online world is awash with misinformation, and you haven’t the courage to ask a teacher, where do you turn for help? While fiction isn’t a ‘how to’ manual, it certainly has the capacity to help. I know from the many young people I meet on school visits that reading about a character who is feeling like they are, and finding themselves in situations they can relate to, can be lifesaving.
We owe it to those young people to get it right, but being able to do that means writing content that gets past various gatekeepers, and then stays on the shelves. In my online event for Jericho Writers I’ll be exploring this issue in more depth, looking at all the potential pitfalls, and giving you some tools for how to avoid them. After considering the many things young people today are dealing with, I’ll give you guidance on how to try to get the balance right between content they find relevant, and content that’s a step too far – hopefully resulting in a book that’s irresistible to YA readers and supported by teachers, librarians and parents.
Open and honest conversations about sex and sexuality never hurt anyone. It’s not talking that does the damage. I hope you’ll join me at the event, because the world needs more people prepared to stand up and make a difference to young people’s lives by writing fearlessly about the issues that are pertinent to them.
Simon James Green
Simon James Green is the award-winning author of LGBTQ+ YA novels including Noah Can’t Even, Alex in Wonderland, Heartbreak Boys, and Gay Club! He is published in the UK by Scholastic.
His ‘Writing Sex in Young Adult Books’ live online event will take place on 27 July as part of the Summer Festival of Writing.
Buy Gay Club! here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/gay-club/simon-james-green/9780702313677
Twitter & Instagram: @simonjamesgreen
This piece was featured in our newsletter on 28/06/22. Join our mailing list for more free writing advice from industry experts – straight to your inbox, every week.
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