How Do You Rate?

Ratings can be a very difficult thing to determine when writing a story. While most people know the difference between something that is G rated and something that is R rated, where do you draw the line between PG-13 and R? Where do you draw the line between R and NC-17?

For the most part, it's subjective. That's right, there aren't any clear-cut lines here. But it's an issue that is very important in the consideration of a story or novel. This essay is here to help you figure out what the ratings mean, where you should rate your story, and how those ratings can be altered if you find your story has gone to far in the wrong direction. Why, you might ask? We aren't going to put the rating right on the book, are we? No, we aren't. But I find that if the author knows what will be accepted and won't be, then I will get fewer submissions that I cannot use or need to ask the author to alter.

First, let's talk about the ratings. I use the ratings that the American Picture Association uses: G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 to be specific. While they define them with different text than I use, the meanings are basically the same.

Rated G stories involves very little or no sexual situations or violence. As all the ratings are typically rating the amount of sex and violence in a story, a rating of G means that all people, or a general population, can read your story without becoming overly offended by the sex or violence. A G rating means that parents probably won't be writing in about their poor children who were exposed to a rating they weren't expecting, and it's likely that a parent would purchase a G rating book for their children.

A story with a rating of PG and PG-13 are very close, but not exactly the same. In both, there is sex and violence, or maybe adult subjects. But in a PG or PG-13 story, the adult content is subtle, with metaphors and elusions rather than a straightforward approach to the sex and violence. PG literally means parental guidance, and PG-13 means if there are children under the age of 13 reading the story, they shouldn't be without a parent's permission. PG-13 seems to me, at least, to be the most common rating in the movies, and so would likely be the most common rating of stories as well.

Rated R stories have sex and violence in abundance, but it is not gratuitous. Gratuitous just means that the violence isn't unreasonable in it's amount. The sexual situations are adult in nature, but they are not raunchy or insulting. Sex and violence are definitely happening, the writer isn't being very subtle, but the writer is also not throwing tons of sex and violence at you without any rhyme or reason and there are still a few elusions.

NC-17 comprises pornography, gratuitous violence, and extremely sensitive and probably insulting or offending adult content. While there is certainly a market for this kind of story telling, it isn't with ComStar. Another thing that can elevate a story to this rating is an unnecessary abundance of cursing. No one wants their unsuspecting child or young adult to be exposed to that kind of talking, and while we don't dispute that a child can hear it every day on the playground, ComStar has decided not to add to it.

So how does your story rate? There are a few questions that you need to ask yourself while you're writing or after you've written your story. Is there sex or sexual situations in the story? Is there violence in the story? Are there any adult subjects being discussed in the book? Are there any swear words in the story that are harsher than darn. If you answered no to all of these, your story is probably rated G.

If there are sexual situations in your book, is it a matter of kissing, romance, and feelings rather than actual sex? Is there physical abuse going on in the background of the story but no actual description of the abuse? (An example of this is mentioning a woman's black eye and questionable reason for getting it rather than showing the husband beating her.) Are there adult situations being hinted or eluded to, but not discussed in any meaningful way? (For example, there could be a man who mistreats children that a parent is warning her child away from rather than a full and complete explanation of the child abuser's acts.) Do you sparingly use damn, hell, or other minor expletives? If you answered yes to any of these, then you should consider a rating of PG to PG-13. Your story would likely be PG if you answered yes to one or two of these questions, while any more or all yeses would mean a PG-13 story.

Are there hot sexual scenes in your story? Does any of your characters have a short fuse and haul off and punch or deliver any abuse to another person, be it child or adult? Do you go into great detail about any violence or about the result of that violence such as blood, mutilations, or other terrible injuries? Is your story based around sex or violence and therefore has a little of each or either in most every chapter? Do your characters use harsh expletives that children should generally not be exposed to? Are there an abundance of tough controversial or difficult adult situations in your book or is there an in-depth description of one such controversial or difficult adult situation? If you answered yes to any of these, your story is likely R rated.

Do you describe in-depth the sexual organs of either sex? Is every other word a swear word? Do the characters in your story go around murdering, abusing, or causing violence wantonly and without real reason or without any support to the story? Are you glorifying rape, hate, or child abuse? These stories would all be rated NC-17 by ComStar, and would not be acceptable as is. Unless the publishing company deals in stories like these specifically, it is also doubtful that another company would find much interest in the story.

So now that you know what rating your story is, how do you change it? Many times writers just sit down and write and it isn't until after a good read through that they realize that they've perhaps gone over the edge one way or another. Either they didn't spice things up enough and the story is sitting around in G-land or they accidentally dumped a bottle of Tabasco® sauce in the mix and they want to tone it down a little. But either case is fixable so don't worry.

If your story is G rated and you'd like to spice it up a little bit, then the best thing you can do is evaluate whether your characters are realistically behaving the way they should be. Are your characters reacting to situations the way they should? Are they reflecting the personality quirks you carefully planted in them? These are questions you can use to start evaluating your story to add a little more oomph to it. But, keep your characters in mind. Are they children or elderly conservative people? Perhaps with the characters you have or the story line you have going currently, the story just is a G rated story. There's nothing wrong with that, certainly, but something to think about if you want to spice things up.

If you are looking to tone down your story, the best thing to do would be to look at the questions that you ended up answering yes to and change the story so that you can answer no to a few of them. For instance, if you answered yes to the question, "Do you describe in-depth the sexual organs of either sex?" then you know that is a problem that is elevating your story from R to NC-17. Go through and find some more subtle ways to refer to the sexual organs without coming out and plainly saying what you're trying to say. You're done when you can answer no to that question. If you answered yes to, "Is every other word a swear word?" then you know that's part of the problem. Swear words are unimaginative at best. There are many ways a person can swear without actually saying the harsher words that many publishers will shy away from. Sometimes sarcasm is a better tool than swearing. Try substituting your harsher swear words with sarcastic remarks to see if you can change your rating.

I hope this essay has been a little help to you in evaluating your story for ratings. Keep in mind that the questions asked here are not all encompassing. There might be other reasons besides swearing, sex, violence, or adult situations that might be considered a higher or lower rating. But this essay will hopefully point you in the right direction and help you to create the story you really wanted.

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