Swearing is bad, but killing is AOK!

I have trouble predicting which things will be deemed acceptable in my books and which won’t. For instance, in The Lab, I was allowed to portray Agent Six, my teenage superhero protagonist, shooting someone in the head. (Although he felt really bad about it afterwards.) But when a character used the word “bitch”, I was asked to remove the line. My readers, apparently, are too young to hear swear-words.

“I am shocked and appalled, Mr Heath. Shocked and appalled.”

In Remote Control, I was allowed to show Nai mowing down a horde of troops with sniper fire. But when Vanish injected Six with a cocktail of drugs that included MDMA (the active ingredient in ecstasy), I was asked to remove that too. Apparently, drug-use (even perpetrated by the villains) is going too far.

Likewise, I was allowed to have Kyntak attempt to dislocate the bones in his hand so as he could escape a wrist-clamp. But I wasn’t allowed to show King pretending to smoke a cigarette. That’s right. Pretending.

Studies show that 91% of teenagers who are exposed to pretend smoking eventually turn into this guy.

There was once a scene where Kyntak remarked that Nai was pretty. I was asked to remove that too, because while the characters weren’t biologically related, he had raised her as a sister and his remark seemed too incestuous.

For the record, I’m happy the world works this way. I’d much rather write about violence (read: “action”) than drug use, coarse language, or sex. So it’s great that the censors care less about the things I want to write about. But isn’t it weird? In real-life, most drugs are acceptable when they’re prescribed. Sex is fine too, as long as it’s consensual. And coarse-language is legal, widespread and less of a taboo each day. Whereas breaking arms, shooting kneecaps and threatening execution is generally frowned on in polite society.

I don’t have a point. I just think it’s weird, is all.



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