The Dark Proposal – 50% Off on Smashwords!

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abusive relationships, authors, book characters, book promotion, books, eBooks, explicit content, fiction, graphic content, NA, New Adult, New adult books, promotion, reading, Smashwords, urban fantasy, vampire books, vampires

Click here to purchase on Smashwords

I’m a little late in Smashwords’ summer promotion sales, but hey, better late than never!

My book, “The Dark Proposal” is 50% off the eBook site. This promotional sale will run until July 31st, before it goes back to its original price of $2.99.

If you’d like to purchase it on Smashwords, here is the promo code: SSW50

As you may know, “The Dark Proposal” is about a college graduate who thought she met perfect boyfriend, until he reveals to be a malicious vampire with a sinister proposal.

The book begins at the end of the summer, so this may be good timing!

Happy reading!

Mom, Dad – Please Don’t Read My Book!

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authors, books, explicit content, explicit sex scenes, graphic content, novels, writers

Even though I released my novel nearly 10 months ago, I never gave a copy to my parents. I don’t ever intend to, and I really hope they won’t read my book – even though I dedicated my book to my family.

This is mainly because of The Dark Proposal‘s content. I would be mortified if my parents – especially my dad – read the explicit sex scenes. I don’t think I could be in the same room with him if I knew he read that part, at least not for a while. My parents are very conservative when it comes to sex, so to have their baby girl write such a scene would be so awkward for us.

My two sisters read my book, and they were OK with it. They may have teased me a bit, but no awkward moments. That was a relief.

But I could never allow my parents to read my book, or anything I else I write if it has any swearing or graphic sex. It is also because I wouldn’t want my parents to know that side of me, the one that is more at ease with graphic content.

I’ve heard about some authors keeping their families in mind when they write. Some authors have said they wouldn’t want to write anything that would embarrass their parents or their children. “Who would want their parents to know they write gore/erotica?” they say.

Well, first off, there’s always a pen name to give you more creative freedom. And secondly, I think the question that all writers need to ask is, who are you writing for? Are your parents your audience or thousands of potential readers?

Now, I am not saying it is OK to blow off your parents and do what you want (depending on your relationship with them, which is a whole other story). I’m only saying that sometimes, artists need to be true to their vision. If you want to write a romance book that will include plenty of steamy sex, and you want to do this with all your heart, why not? And if your parents don’t understand, well, you’re an adult (I hope) and sometimes you’ve got to live life on your own terms.

Now, I don’t have any children, as of yet. I don’t think when I do become a mom that I will tone down the content of my books. I have a lot of ideas that will take many years to produce, so I don’t want to wait till my youngest is 18 years old so I could finally write that novel that may include explicit sex. I also don’t intend to write any children’s book as of now, so I’ll be writing books meant for older audiences for a while. Once I have kids, I’ll figure out how to explain to them what their mother writes and why. I’m sure having a writer mom will be a good start for my future kids being OK with my books contain.

The thing is, I’m an author. I’m an artist. I have ideas. I have questions to ask and ideas to explore. I think I will feel stifled if I didn’t do all these things. I’m fortunate that I have family members who are not judgmental of what I write. I feel sad for the authors who do, because it must really sting knowing your parents or siblings are dismayed by what you’ve written. All I can say is, you have to be true to yourself in life.

If you are an author – or aspiring to be one – how does your family deal with the content of your work? Are they also bothered by the genre or message? Oh, and if you have any funny stories to tell, please do!

Parental Guidance is Strongly Suggested

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explicit content, parental guidance, parents, sex scenes, sex scenes in books, teenagers

I once mentioned that I believe authors should put a content warning on their books because not everyone wants to read about sex, violence and/or profanity. I believe it is the author’s responsibility to give potential readers a heads up and let them know that what they would like to read may not be their cup of tea.

But is it also an author’s responsibility to make sure minors don’t read their books?

Some writers would say tone down the content of your novel so a 15 year old won’t read it and be exposed to anything inappropriate. Others say write what you want because it is not your fault if a young person reads what you wrote.

Honestly, I’m in the agreement of the latter. That does not mean I don’t care what teenagers are reading these days because I do in a way. It’s just there is no way for me to prevent an underage reader from downloading my book on Kindle. If there were some chip I could put in my eBook, that would only allow adults to read it, I would do it. But since that doesn’t exist, and kids would get around that chip anyway, there’s nothing I can do to stop an underage reader from getting my novel.

Not to say that my book, The Dark Proposal, is loaded with explicit content on every page. There are a few sex scenes plus disturbing scenes because my vampires are the evil kind. I wouldn’t rate my book NC-17, but certainly it is R rated.

Not that teens haven’t read or watched anything R rated before. When I was in junior high school, I was reading graphic sex scenes in romance novels while in the bookstore. I also watched racy movies while my parents were asleep (I hope they don’t read that part).

None of this corrupted me. It didn’t make me to run out and have sex with dozens of guys without thinking. This is because my parents actually talked to me about sex and how I shouldn’t carelessly do it. I knew early on that what is portrayed in books and movies is all Hollywood and not reality, which is more complicated and messed up.

Too bad a lot of young people are influenced by pop culture and the media, and don’t have anyone teaching them they shouldn’t. So that raises the question: do authors step in and be the role models teens need?

That depends. Doing so would mean you would have to censor your novels and not be able to write as freely as you’d want. If you are portraying the life of a college student, or in my case, a post-college young woman, you won’t be able to show what many do at that stage in life. Plus, some of your readers will be old enough to expect adult themes and would be baffled if none of it is there.

But then comes the issue if young people read that.

Honestly, I don’t believe I should censor myself because some parents aren’t doing their jobs. They are not giving their kids realistic advice on handling sex and that is not my fault. I admit I get a little uneasy when I find out a teen has read my book, but then again I was reading similar books at their age and the world didn’t come to an end. Besides, give young people credit – many are mature enough to handle graphic content.

But I do strongly suggest that parents keep an eye on what their kids are reading and watching. Yes, there’s a way for young people to get around that, but a good parent would monitor them, and keep communication open between them and their almost grown up children.