Why Your Book will be Banned

(Third Annual)

This thread was originally started in honor of ALA Banned Book Week. I've started this three years in a row. It's like a tradition like the Challenge the person below you which I borrowed from ASMR.

Disclaimers for this thread: ('cause I've done this for a few years)

1. We do not support the idea of banning books.


2. We are doing this for fun and it should not be taken seriously.


3. If you are seriously offended by the fact that we would write these scenes into books please consider the following:
a. It is out of context.
b. You probably unwittingly own a banned book without knowing it. Check the complete list before you go off and say, OMG, you guys are horrible. There will be at *least* one book that you roll your eyes and say, WTH is that?
c. We are not popular enough to get our books banned, and by hoping in a weird way that they will get banned, you are helping our egos. ^.~
d. If you are religious, the Qu'ran, the (I think Ramayana), the Torah, the Bible all have been challenged or Banned. (KJV of the Bible if you plan to be snooty, by even more ironically Jews once, and Atheists the second time). (the Art of War, I also believe was challenged/banned.) (And also, the Bible probably contains more than half of the issues that Christians ban other books for. Christians banned Moll Flanders. All the issues the banned Moll Flanders for is in the Old Testament. Particularly Genesis)


4. This is not a thread for hot debate on the moralities of book banning. It is for listing why you think your book will get banned. If you would like to do so--please start a separate thread. You don't have to stick to Nanowrimo for this thread either.

End disclaimers. And add to the irony... this thread was challenged and asked to be banned before. (Because people were offended by the contents.) The challenge failed, BTW, just in case you'd like to challenge it again.

Caveats: ('cause I like to point out the humor)

You probably have to write Young Adult and under to get banned *most* of the time.

If you wish not to get banned and are writing in this category, remember such great rules as "You can't have the word black in the title." And you can't have any mention of cannibalism. And it can't mention any body parts, you can't have characters eating worms, because that's unsanitary. And you can't *offend* anyone with your use of religion, ages, race, sexuality, sexual orientation, talking animals (Beatrice Potter), kids doing stunts, talk about anything sexual (Includes rape because it might be called "Soft porn"), class, the use of the word black, racial slurs, or may you ever swear. No damn. Oh, no magic, no mention of witches, and no fantasy (That promotes Satanism and teaches them to do evil satanic spells). No characters may ever die once. No cursing at parents. No disobeying parents. No dead parents. No dead siblings. No dying adults. You may not mention anyone dead or dying. And by all means it can't be "icky." You can't have the same name as anyone connected to "Socialism" or "Marxism." No talk or showing of nudity. And you can't use any words with "tit" in them. (Title will now be called tidle just not to offend anyone.) No talking about over eating, bad eating habits. It can't be a "Downer" (Anne Frank) Good luck getting it published.

So yes, this was started as satire. If you have any further questions about said history of said thread, you are welcome to PM me. Do not start it in the thread.

My book is about Jesus and vampires. 'Nuff said. :/

I think I've topped myself this year (no pun intended) with the following:

- Graphic depictions of post-rooftop jump bodies.
- Self-defenestration.
- Lots of swearing.
- Drug abuse.
- Writing from the perspective of a porn actress.
- Gang rape.
- Alcohol abuse.
- Dead parent.
- Implied pedophilia.
- Sex outside of wedlock.
- Adultery.
- Writing from the perspective of a drug dealer.
- Murder.
- Multiple counts of unlawful conduct.
- Homosexual characters.
- Writing from the perspective of people who think it's entertaining to film fake suicides/suicide attempts.
- Divorce.
- Multiple references to human nature.

This book, it has everything you'd want, no? xD ... or everything you'd want to ban. Actually, looking at that list, it seems like this novel will be all kinds of screwed up ... more so than I thought. o_o;

There are a lot of reasons why my book would be banned. The biggest being it may "encourage children to take up shooting schools, as well as commit crimes like robbery and murder."

YA author...YA person actually as well.

Reasons I'd be banned:
MC=Gay
Conversation about gay pillows (yeah, took that from the dare thread)
Cursing
Magical Creatures
Teenagers doing stupid stunts
Attempted murder
Probably Scarcasm, there's gotta be someone out there who's had an attempted ban for sarcasm
Supposed implied rape/adultry (really it's neither but I don't think that's going to be explained until the third book)

Uhm...I'll probably post more when I actually start writing

There's a major gay storyline that actually ends positively for both parties involved. Enough said.

I kidnap, beat-up, rape, and kill a girl within the first few chapters of the book. Her TEACHER becomes literally obsessed with her and her murder, so he digs through her personal life to find out more. It turns out she was selling naked pictures of herself and prostituting herself out to get money-mind you, she's only 16-and the main character, her teacher, uses another prostitute and digs through that side of the city to find who killed her. It's going to be gritty, nasty, and graphic. Not to mention that there's serial killers, pimps, smoking, heavy drinking, and main characters that are full-out crazy. And some spousal abuse.

Sounds happy, doesn't it?

There's lots of blood and gore, polytheism, and a tiny bit of incest.
Oh, and MAGIC OMG

Two words:

Gay sex. ^___^

Oooh! This sounds like fun!

1. "You encourage readers to revolt against governments in a violent manner." This is probably the only one that might have a slightly legitimate argument, because violence against oppressive governments is a major theme. But they're not like, totally unapologetic about blowing things up, murdering people, blackmailing people, and doing all sorts of other not-very-nice things. They're just kind of a "we will do what is necessary" kind of attitude. And violence in this case is necessary.

2. "You encourage readers to have premarital sex!" Ya got me there, my FMC and my MMC do have sex. And no, they are not married nor do they intend to get married. But hey, Mara is twenty-seven and Octavius is twenty-two, I think if they want to have sex, they have that right. They're adults, they can deal with the potential consequences. Please note that none of the teenage characters are having sex. Also note that the only ones mentioned having sex are those who understand the consequences and are ready to deal with what their actions bring them. Sure, they may not be married but... meh, there are a lot of married couples who probably shouldn't be having sex either.

3. "This is filled with racist themes." Why yes, my project is filled with racist things. It is a steampunk world inspired by the Victorian Era, and slavery and racism were a part of that. And yes, I will deal with it, and yes, some characters will say some very awful things. But pay attention to the main cast and realize that ya know, it's also a story of attempting to abolish slavery and working towards equality.

4. "This is filled with women who wield revolvers and wear pants and won't make me sammiches." Yup. I've got women who like to shoot things. I've got women who refuse to wear dresses. I've got a woman-pirate and she is the most merciless pirate to ever sail the seas and soar the skies. But ya know, that's the emperor's fault. If he would have realized that women have a place then Mara Queen of Rats would be an Imperial Knight and be legally terrorizing citizens. Rather than illegally terrorizing the imperial army.

5. "This is not a happy story, everyone's getting killed!" Well, yes. Plotting revolutions is dangerous work. People will die, good people, bad people, and everyone in between. Rebellion isn't a safe path.

6. "Copious abuse of drugs and alcohol, how dare you!" Opium and other drugs exist. And it has to be dealt with. And my characters drink a lot, they are no different than the twenty-somethings running around the world as is.

7. "The main character is missing an arm, that's just icky! And he has a mechanical prosthetic!" Well now you're just not being very nice. Have some respect for amputees, particularly veterans. It's not icky, it's not gross, it's just a fact of life. And aren't you impressed with his one-armed mechanical skills? I mean, he is routinely fixing his mechanical arm with one hand. Come on, it's kinda cool if you ask me. Oh, wait, you did.

8. "You're encouraging women to use their sexuality to manipulate people!" Oh please, this occurs every day. Or what, did you think that your girlfriend accidentally wore that shirt that reveals her cleavage a little too much on the day she asked you to come meet her parents? I'm doubtful. Men and women use their sexuality to manipulate people. My characters are not above that either. It works, and Gemma is doing it for the good of others. Get over it.

9. "There's MAGIC. And everyone knows that magic encourages kids to become satanists!" Okay then... this story really isn't intended for kids. In fact, it's intended for college students who, I think, can handle magic and tell the difference between magic and the devil. Because ya know, I'm pretty sure conjuring white roses is totally evil.

10. "Your main character is an atheist! You are supporting atheism in your work!" Yeah I guess you could say that. I'm an atheist as well, go figure why on earth would my MMC be one too? Yes. Octavius is an atheist, he refuses to believe in his world's traditional gods, he refuses to worship them, he also refuses to believe that his emperor has a divine right to rule.

hMMMMM...

Why my book will be banned:
-Vampires
-Werewolves
-Egyptian Gods/Goddesses
-Immortality
-Disobeying of parents
-A bunch of swearing
-A mention or two of cannibalism
-Almost-rape
-Athiest (for a while)
-Someone ends up dying
-Someone was tortured

...yeah and that's just the first book. Sigh. My books are so going to be banned. But I'll enjoy it!

reasons why mine would be;

Gay Sex
implied lesbian sex
Implied child abuse
Self harm
Implied rape
swearing
Alcohol abuse
usage of the daterape drug
Drugs in general...

sounds like a barrel of laughs to me

Well first there was the modern version of Romeo & Juliet where there were no straight romances to be found. And now the sequel contains an equal amount of gay and straight romances. Which shall lead to equal oppourtunity sex scenes >:3

Mine's a lesbian romance -- gasp! Even with nothing else (because in the past, my books have leaned toward the "clean" side, although I'm feeling a bit rebellious this year), that's enough to get it banned. That's all it took for Annie on My Mind!

Incest and Imperialism -- that could pretty much be the title of my novel.

An English girl develops an unnatural (unconsummated but tense nonetheless) relationship with her father, who has been in India serving in the army most of her childhood, after his return to England upon the death of her mother. They go to India, the girl becomes attracted to the culture, falls in love with an Indian man, becomes embroiled in a small, militant independence faction, and in the end winds up slitting her own father's throat and "going native."

Issues of class, sex, gender, race, religion, and cultural difference are controversial enough; throw in some social taboo, obsession, unhealthy yearning, manipulation, violent revolt, and murder, and you've got a winner!

Because LESBIANS.

(Specifically: because the main romantic plotline - which is the driving catalyst of a good half the book - revolves around a healthy lesbian relationship which is treated exactly the same as a straight relationship would be and nobody considers this at all problematic. AND WE CAN'T HAVE THAT.)

FMC considers abortion. That oughta do it. Also, there's cursing, sex, violence, drugs...

And dog poop. There will be dog poop.

Mine will be banned for atrocious writing.

This year? Um...

-Nazis (sort of)
-cannibalism
-encouraging violent revolt against the government
-encouraging treason/conspiratorial meetings and plans
-murder
-mentions of civilian and possibly child soldiers
-belief in something other than conventional religion (again, sort of - one of the main guys was raised with basic Christian beliefs but they were a little skewed (e.g. God always being very removed from the world, 'lesser gods', like Mars being the god of soldiers and things like that).)
-graphic violence
-language
-implied homosexuality/bisexuality
-uses of 'Republic Dog' as a cross-class/possibly cultural slur
-one main character was tortured and kept as a slave from the ages of 8 to 15, which means...
-implied pedophilia
-both main characters parents are dead
-a nationalist, imperialist, totalitarian kratocracy drawing heavily on ancient Rome and Nazi Germany
-set after a nuclear war

And that's probably not all. So yeah. Banned list, here I come! 8D

The book I'm currently writing (non-NaNo) would be banned for;

-MMC being an "abomination against God" (no, he's not a vampire)
-References to rape, murder, death
-Off-screen sex
-Some language
-A gay werewolf
-Alcohol
-Abusive parent
-Dead parent
-Reckless driving
-Character's lack of religious beliefs