Thread: Is There a Taboo on “May-December� Romance Stories?

First, off: I’m a newbie here, and I apologize if this is the wrong Forum to raise this question, but I was wondering if there is some kind of taboo right now in the publishing industry against stories that involve affairs between adults and adolescents?

I finished a novel about a year ago in which the heroine is very slightly ‘under-age’ when she has a consensual affair with a much older man. (Specifically: The girl is 15 years and 11 months, in a State where the legal age of consent would be 16 years. In other words, she is just young enough to make the relationship technically against the law – which is an essential element of the plot.)

I have sent out about a gazillion query letters to Agents, and I haven’t been able to generate any interest, so I’m just wondering if I have stumbled into some kind of “forbidden territory” here or am I just a lousy writer? (I don’t claim to be the next Hemingway, but I thought I knew how to string together a coherent paragraph.)

Oh, and for what it’s worth, other than the age thing, the story is pretty tame. There are no explicit sex scenes, no violence, no nudity, and very little vulgar language. In comparison to, say, Nabokov’s “Lolita,” my story should be pretty much PG-rated -- or PG-13 at the most

Thanks in Advance.

Hi, Adam. I moved your thread to Writing Discussion. You'll get better feedback here. The Writers' Workshop is for posting excerpts of your work for critique.

Interesting question. Unfortunately I don't know the answer, but I'm sure someone here will.

In the publishing industry? Now that I know of. What genres have you been pitching the story as? Obviously not Romance, since by your description it wouldn't sell in most Romance imprints. General fiction?

Not really. There are classic novels by Nabokov and Burgess with nymphet sex. And some recent ones as well.

Older men, younger women. The other way around is fairly rare, though there is the film "Harold and Maude".

I don't think you have that much to worry about, though it could make it a little more "rejectable" than the next piece.

And no, I don't think Romance genre would be the best market. But my guess is, you knew that.

The film American Beauty flirted with this line, with critical success.

I wouldn't call this a "May-December" romance, though. It sounds more like a "March-July" or "April-August" romance, depending upon the age of the guy.

It is a risky endeavor, depending upon your treatment of the subject. Unless the artistic merit is simply stunning, publishers in our politicized society may be a bit reluctant to publish something which may be seen as glorifying or encouraging statutory rape.

And of course, the obvious question that came to my mind from your synopsis is: What is wrong with this guy that he didn't have the maturity and self-control to wait one month until she is legal? 16 is the legal age here in Montana, but to my mind, the established adult who wants to have an "affair" with a youth of that age, no matter how seemingly mature and emotionally advanced they are for their age, has to be struggling from his or her own mental health problems and/or is dangerously self-centered in allowing his/her sexual desire to fuel disregard for the teenager's best interest, including his/her emotional and social development. Of course, maybe these issues are a central theme of your novel, I don't know.

I read a YA/Adult novel a while back that had a relationship between a 15 year old student and her teacher - so I'm guessing no taboos as such, except maybe for personal morality issues of agents (do agents have morals?) which seems unlikely.

do agents have morals?

An agent has 15% of a moral

Hey Adam,

This piqued my interest since I'm in quite a similar literary boat to you.

Just completed - well, two months ago and have since edited many times - my novel and am at the writing to agents stage. It's tough. No, tough isn't a tough enough word.

My story may well be a little more shall we say controversial (for want of a better word) in that the two main characters (who are also a May/December couple, she being twenty years older) find out into their relationship that they're brother and sister. Before I set out I never thought this would be too much of an issue (many novels deal with such issues) but I've had two rejections where the agent used the words 'brave' for my subject matter, and I believe 'dangerous.'

Like you Adam I'm trying to target the right agent, reading up on individuals at great length, trying to perfect that all-important synopsis. I thought that having had maybe a dozen or so short stories publsihed in some pretty mainstream places would help me get read. But no. It's a tough industry to crack. I'm told (by a friend lucky enough to have had a book bought by Random House) that a lot is about who you know and networking and 'being in the right place.' That's hard when you're nowhere near London where a lot of this goes on.

Have I given any advice or just rambled? I think the latter. But I will say good luck, Adam. Ultimately it should be about the quality of the work and not just the subject, but sadly the subject (theme/plot/story) is what an agent reads first and then might not even give the actual chapters a chance.

Ah, May-December INCEST. I always admire a young woman with guts.

Loulou:

If you are getting replies that describe you as “brave” and “dangerous,” then you and I probably are in the same boat. I have, of course, gotten a thick stack of form-letter rejections, but every once in a blue moon I get one that says, basically: “This seems like a very good story, but it’s just not right for me…” In a way, these are even more frustrating that the form letters! And then I have also gotten a few that seem to be damning with faint praise; stuff like …“this is an ‘interesting’ premise …” or “…X and Y seem like ‘unusual’ characters …”

I will tell y’all what I’m going to do: Since my question seems to have generated some interest and some well-reasoned replies, I’m going to go out on a limb and (a) provide a little bit of personal information about myself so that y’all can see where I’m coming from, and (b) present a very brief outline of a hypothetical story that is vaguely similar to mine, but different enough to minimize any possible plagiarism issues.

(a.) I am in my 60’s, my wife is in her 30’s (we’ve been married for more than 10 years), and we just recently had a baby. So to me, obviously, “May-December” seems completely normal, and maybe I’m tone-deaf to other people’s moral sensitivities in this area. That’s why I’m looking for advice.

(b) Consider the following outline of a hypothetical story and tell me how likely it is to outrage the “Vice & Virtue Police” ……

15 year old Ann and 60 year old Bob are marooned on a deserted island – Robinson Crusoe style. (How they got there is irrelevant, but it wasn’t their fault). Fortunately, Bob is an ex-Special Forces guy who knows all about survival skills, and there is a cave on the island, so they are not in any immediate danger; they prepare materials for a signal fire and then settle into the cave to await a rescue plane. But weeks go by and the search plane never comes, so they gradually adapt themselves to a Paleolithic existence. They get to know each other very well, and in fact they come to like each other, and once in a while they even flirt a little bit, but the relationship never goes beyond holding hands. …. But one day, Bob comes down with a mysterious illness, characterized by delirium, fever, and chills; he seems to be freezing to death. In desperation, Ann leads him into the cave, wraps the two of them up in the goatskin blankets and does everything she can think of to warm him up (Use your own imagination!). … Bob recovers, but two weeks later, Ann misses her period, and then she starts getting sick in the mornings. At this point, they look at each other and say something along the lines of: “What the Heck! We are stranded here, maybe forever, and the damage is already done, so we might as well enjoy ourselves.” Then, to make up for lost time, they start ****ing each other like minks with a crack habit. …… A month later, a plane flies over and they are rescued. …. But as soon as they get back to ‘civilization’ Bob is thrown into jail on multiple counts of statutory rape, and Ann comes under intense pressure from her family to have an abortion. …. (You can write your own ending, which could be either a sad ending or a happy ending.)

Do you happen to recall the title and author of the novel? Maybe I could back-track and find out the name of the agent. THANX.

Originally Posted by Mike C

I read a YA/Adult novel a while back that had a relationship between a 15 year old student and her teacher - so I'm guessing no taboos as such, except maybe for personal morality issues of agents (do agents have morals?) which seems unlikely.

Okay, the fact that Bob is 60(!) might be a little bit off-putting. If he were 45, mimicking the age difference you have experience with, things might be different. I'd also point out that strenuous physical exercise in Bobs condition might not be the best way to go. Bob may be special forces, but I have a hard time buying that this is the first thing to pop into Ann's head. It's just a very odd sort of relationship to spring up between a 15-year-old and a 60-year-old. Depending on their brithdates, it could be more or less believable. There's also the issue of Bob not seeming to suffer any sort of regret/worry over this. "Oh hell, let's just do it!" is not exactly the attitude that most readers or industry professionals would take. There'd have to be a lot more agonizing, especially if they jump straight from holding hands to screwing "like minks with a crack habit". I'm not really critiquing your story here, but when they consider the underlying sentiments behind this story, the ones that your summation generates aren't going to be the most palatable. That's not to say that a May-December romance, or even May-December sex is too dangerous for the industry, but you do have to be careful in how you present the emotional/psychological/moral aspects of the story.

Originally Posted by Loulou

It's a tough industry to crack. I'm told (by a friend lucky enough to have had a book bought by Random House) that a lot is about who you know

I find myself amazed when I realise this is the first time in the nearly three years I’ve been coming here that this most evident factor in publishing has been raised.

It’s just like any other business, or in fact any relationship, business or otherwise, between two people. It ain’t what you know but who you know.

I’m just amazed that more hasn’t been made of this fact in discussions between writers, instead of all the constant agonising over the perfect query letter.

For what it's worth, here is a quick&dirty list of some famous May-December marriages that were (apparently) fairly successful for both partners, along with the ages:

Charlie Chaplin & Oona O'Neill ........... 17 and 54
Will & Ariel Durant ......................... 15 and 28
William O. Douglas & Cathleen Heffernan 22 and 67
Edgar Allen Poe & Virginia Clemm ........ 13 and 27
Tony Randall and Heather Harlan .......... 25 and 75
Antonio Machado and Leonor Izquierto ... 14 and 34
Grover Cleveland and Frances Folsom ... 21 and 49

And of course, singer Loretta Lynn got married at age 13 to a much older man, but apparently that marriage was pretty rocky.

The Chaplin / O'Neill marriage comes closest to what adam is suggesting. According to Wikipedia, the marriage lasted 34 years and produced 8 children.

Don't forget Anna Nicole Smith