What Crosses Your Line?

Yesterday I taught a group of 18 year-old boys a Sunday School lesson on section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants. If you are not familiar with it, this section talks about a lot of things, but in particular learning. It even mentions reading good books.

One of the quotes in the lesson manual was from President Ezra Taft Benson. “Today with the abundance of books available, it is the mark of a truly educated man to know what not to read . . . feed only on the best. As John Wesley’s mother counseled him, “Avoid what weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, . . . increases the authority of the body over the mind.”

As I read this section over, my first thought was that as LDS authors, shouldn’t we strive not only to read good books, but to write them as well? Then I came home and read a great column on Meridian Magazine written by Jason Wright—who in my opinion is a total stud for many, many reasons. Here is a quote from what Jason had to say.

“There is obviously a market for R-rated books and I have nothing against those who write them. But this writer hopes to make a living sticking with PG material. I trust my readers to use my words to build mental images that they find appropriate. I'm certainly not the only “clean” writer in the industry, but, if I were, that would be OK with me.”

I liked Jason’s quote because he committed to writing what he felt good about while also not judging others who write books he would not be comfortable with. I think that most authors want to write things they can feel good about. Where things get tricky is when your judgment of what is “good” is not the same as mine. When does a writer cross the “clean” line? Especially if they write books like thrillers, mysteries, fantasy, or even horror, that tend to have more violent action? Or romances that tend to be more sensual?

I remember being at the last Covenant mystery dinner we did. As I was signing books with a bunch of other authors, a woman came up to Claire Poulsen, and said something like, “I really want to use your last book in our ward book club, but my bishop is concerned that there are so many murders in it.” I waited for him to say something like, “Well, it is a murder mystery.” But he said something much more polite that I can’t recall.

But seriously, how many times have you recommended a book to someone, only to have them be offended by something in it? Or had someone recommend a book to you, that you finally put down because you felt it was inappropriate? So where is the line? How do we as authors decide what is appropriate or not appropriate? If we publish with an LDS publisher, it’s easier, because they will make the call—even if we don’t agree with them. But many of us are now publishing nationally—where those lines are easier to cross. Jason also had this to say in describing what he wouldn’t put in his books.

“Mark the date and save this text. I will never use foul, crude, disgusting language or create explicit images of sex or graphic violence.”

That sounds like a pretty clear statement. And again, he’s not saying other authors have to do likewise at all. He’s just stating his view. But even something that clear has its gray points. What is foul or crude language? I’ve seen two books—one by Covenant, one by DB with the phrase, “Go to Hell,” in them. The Covenant one was actually a kids’ series. Does that qualify? It certainly wouldn’t push a movie into R rated status. And what is graphic violence? Let’s say I have a bad guy chop another guy in the head with an axe. (Hypothetically speaking of course, cough, cough.) Does that automatically qualify as graphic violence? What if it happens off screen? Is it okay? What if it happens on-screen, but I don’t have gray matter splattering the walls? (Oops, did I break the graphic violence rule right now by saying that?)

How about explicit images of sex? Are we only talking the actual act of intercourse onscreen? I know an author who recently had to take out a scene where a man admires the figure of a woman in a swimsuit. I don’t consider that graphic, but the publisher did. I heard there were some complaints about a couple of the speculative fiction books that were Whitney finalists having too much graphic violence. As a judge that never crossed my mind with any of the books I read. When I think graphic violence, I think blood and guts. I think Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I have read books that were too violent for my tastes, but none of the Whitney finalists came close to crossing that line for me.

Generally, I would have no problem making a similar statement to Jason’s—and again, I admire the heck out of everything he has done, and continues to do. He is a great example of a successful author doing what he believes in, and backing it up in the national and LDS market. But I am sure that at some point, someone will read something I have written and think it does not meet the guidelines President Benson listed above. So here’s my question for readers and writers alike:

Without judging anyone else, how do you decide what you will read—and if an author, what you will write? Just to make it fun, we’ll turn it into a contest. Saturday night, I’ll pick a random entry and give them the option of getting to read in advance the new Shandra novel or the new Farworld novel. Both will be in manuscript form and both will be e-mailed, to you (think reading on-line or printing out several hundred pages.) Or if you are not into either or those, I will purchase and send you a copy of any of Jason’s published novels.

Post away!