Content Ratings
Is your story right for me? For my child?
Fantastic questions to ask, especially by parents.
The frank answer, though, is that "It depends", both upon your and your family's values, as well as the reader's age and interests.
Many of my works reside in the Science Fiction or Fantasy realm and will exhibit themes, human behaviors, language, and other characteristics common of stories in those genres. While I start most projects with a target audience in mind, I let the flow and best-fit needs of each story dictate the ultimate nature of its content, such as amount of swearing, degree of violence, and/or level of romantic/sexual content. That is not to imply all my works will include all, or even any, of these aspects, but most will likely have wording, character interactions, or behaviors and actions that some individuals may find offensive. As such, to help you gain a better understanding of my works and their degree of appropriateness, I have developed the following age-oriented rating system solely determined by the subject matter and theme of a given work.
A Note about Age Appropriateness
This being an age-oriented rating system, I would be remise to not briefly touch further on age. Some readers might have the ability to read books (far) above their age-based reading level (for example, a "mature" 14 or 15 year old); however, these readers may not be ready for more mature themes and content, while other readers of the same advanced reading skill may not object to such content. Conversely, the perspectives and sensitivities of near-adult or adult readers can vary widely, some of whom may enjoy "adult" novels while others are drawn to the less-explicit content typical of "young adult" stories. You know yourself or your child best, and I hope this system provides useful insight to guide you to a decision.
DO YOU BELIEVE I RATED ONE OF MY WORKS WRONGLY? I'd love to hear your feedback.
Near-adult to adult subjects, content, and/or language, possibly of limited graphic nature in terms of profanity, violence, and/or sexual content. May include elements of intense suspense or horror, profanity and/or descriptions or implications of crude behavior, nudity, traditional or non-traditional sexual acts, "fade-out" sensuality, drug or alcohol (mis)use, bullying or violence.
ADULT-ONLY subjects, content, and/or language, potentially of a (highly) graphic nature in terms of profanity, violence, and/or sexual content. May include graphic descriptions of crude or unnatural behavior, nudity, traditional or non-traditional sexual acts, murder, rape, extreme or extensive drug or alcohol (mis)use, or other depictions commonly considered excessively gruesome or deplorable.
Teenager subjects, content, and/or language (often referred to as "young adult" or "coming-of-age" stories), possibly including mild crude humor or limited or non-present profanity. May include mild or limited violence (bullying may be present), suspense or horror, flirtations or thoughts of sensuality, kissing or "making-out", brief/partial/innocent nudity.
Tweenager subjects, content, and/or language (often referred to as "middle grade" stories), possibly including limited, age-appropriate crude humor and very light, if any, profanity (e.g. "darn", "poop", etc.), suspense or horror. May include tween-level expressions of violence, flirtations or innocent kissing, or other "coming-of-age" morality topics.
Youth subjects, content, and/or language possibly including non-crude humor, comical profanity (i.e. no "real" swear words), age-appropriate suspense, innocent kissing (daddy pecks mommy on the cheek) or expressions of compassion (holding hands), very mild violence (crush a bug), etc. In some instances, may include topics around learning about the body and its processes (using the bathroom) that include direct or technical terms.