Thursday, 26 April 2012

GUEST BLOG POST BY GEORGIA CATES






To be or not to be...Dirty, that is.
I have struggled quite a bit with finding my niche in writing. When I began this journey, I knew I wanted to write novels in the young adult genre, but I wasn’t incredibly keen on writing from a teen’s point of view because I thought teens had to behave silly. I thought the only teen I would enjoy reading about was one that behaved like an adult, so why not write about an adult? I was wrong. Going Under was a hoot to write and when I complete The Vampire Agápe Series, I will be returning to the teen scene again because I absolutely loved it. I am convinced it is my niche.
My first book, Blood of Anteros, was written in the style of the young adult genre, but my characters were in their twenties. It received a little criticism by a few reviewers for being too “clean” and I don’t have a problem with that. My latest novel, Going Under, is a young adult novel written from the point of view of two teens. Again, it has received a little criticism from a couple of reviewers for being tame. Again, I don’t have a problem with that. What I’m finding difficult to swallow is that it isn’t teens complaining about the lack of sexual gratification. It’s the “grown-ups” reading the young adult novels that are leaving the feedback about the need for more dirty language and sex.
Going Under didn’t start out incredibly clean. Ultimately, it is about an 18 year-old guy and half of the book is told from his point of view. Some of the things originally in the book were quite realistic to what one could expect from the mind of a teen boy as he looks at a hot girl or gets pissed off at his nemesis. I have to say that it was good stuff, but after I thought about the young girls that would read Going Under, my conscience spoke to me and I couldn’t pollute a great read for an impressionable young girl. Isn’t the world already polluted enough without adding to it?
Going Under is packed with lots of sensuality, so the reader gets plenty of heat without the “bow chicka wow wow” factor. If you need to read the description of hard core sex to consider a book worthy of a 4 or 5 star rating, then buy erotica you dirty ole’ people. Don’t give a great book a poor rating because some unmarried teenagers showed a little restraint.
And with that being said...I have received wonderful reviews and feedback about Going Under (mostly) and I want to thank each and every one of you for your compliments and supportive words. I’ve received many requests for Payton Archer to have her own book. I love Payton and I am considering it. I think she could use her own bad boy, too. I’ve put a poll about Payton’s book on my blog at georiacates.com and if I receive enough feedback to warrant Payton getting her own book, I will gladly write it.

Thanks so much and I hope your next read is a great one!


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1 comment:

  1. Thank you for having me back as a guest. I'm glad to do a giveaway if you'd like to post that. Just contact me at authorgeorgiacates@gmail.com when you have a winner and I'll email you with a smashwords coupon code.

    Thanks Again!

    ReplyDelete