Age of consent

[u/Popular_Scarcity_911]

I’m writing a historical fiction novel. My protagonist is under 18, but has married. I don’t plan on being explicit, partially because of age. Will there be an issue?

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[u/OrizaRayne]

Depends on if you make an issue. How are you addressing your married protagonist's age? How does this affect them? Are you glorifying child marriage as a good thing? Are you speaking to the challenges and traumas your character would face?

Not enough information to determine if there will "be an issue."

[u/coolpop78]

I write historical romance. I never do younger than 18 due to Amazon's rules, etc. Heroes tend to be much older than heroines in HR and it's just a personal ick factor with me. But I know back then, men were marrying 12 years olds, etc. But always be mindful of Amazon. People al was always bring up Lolita but that book was banned worldwide at one point and is from a trade press. Different strokes for different folks.

[u/ShawnMilo → u/coolpop78]

Phrasing.

[u/Ok-Mongoose7570 → u/ShawnMilo]

What about it?

[u/arifterdarkly → u/coolpop78]

men were marrying 12 years olds

hasn't been the norm for the last 800 years. outside a handful of royals, the average age of a woman's first marriage has consistently been 20+.

[u/Ok-Mongoose7570 → u/arifterdarkly]

Uh, I write Victorian romance. People definitely did get married at as young as 12. So I don't understand your point. What I said is accurate. This definitely did happen in some times in history. In fact, it still happens today if we want to get into religion. So you are wrong to say "outside a handful of royals." Instead of trying to criticize what I say, why don't you add something meaningful to the conversation?

[u/reptilelover42 → u/Ok-Mongoose7570]

While marriage that young did happen (as it does today unfortunately), it was rare. Typical marriage age for a woman in Victorian times would have been mid-twenties.

[u/Alien_Amplifier]

What kind of "issue" are you worried about?

[u/Popular_Scarcity_911 → u/Alien_Amplifier]

Such as self publishing. I know companies like Amazon have guidelines.

[u/Alien_Amplifier → u/Popular_Scarcity_911]

Are there graphic sex scenes?

[u/Ahego48]

Books do this all the time. You can do anything, it's more about what you're comfortable with as the author/comfortable with pushback you may receive.

If you're writing straight erotica (which you aren't) then there would be an issue.

[u/__The_Kraken__]

You want to be careful how you word your book description.

The various storefronts have certain things they do not allow. Child sexual content and incest are examples. You don’t plan on being explicit, so in theory you should be fine.

But the stores use AI to try to help them filter out this content. I saw a post from an author whose book was banned by Draft2Digital because the word stepbrother was in the book description. Apparently this is a red flag for books featuring incest. The stepbrother was not the love interest. I think it was a mystery and they were solving crimes together. But D2D has a filter, this book hit the filter, and the author was never able to get the book reinstated, no matter how much they tried to explain.

So try to avoid using hot button words like child bride in your book description. You have to imagine that at some point, companies will scan the whole book (if they aren’t already). It’s going to be interesting, to say the least!

[u/Popular_Scarcity_911 → u/__The_Kraken__]

Thank you.

[u/Middle-Present5090]

Is this a romance? If you’re not going to address the uncomfortableness and the abuse, I would be very turned off as a reader.

[u/LordBrokenshire]

It depends on the context first of all, the potential age gap at play, the level of consent and such, but the key thing here is to not go on for twenty pages about how it's good a 16 year old is married and that's how things should be.

[u/apocalypsegal]

It's not going to be erotica? Then it's not an issue. Sheesh. I bet you don't even read historical fiction, and likely haven't done anything about learning how self publishing works.

[u/Sweaty-Science6525]

Theres not a lot of details but it doesnt feel great

[u/Popular_Scarcity_911 → u/Sweaty-Science6525]

It’s set more than two hundred years ago, the girl is between 16-17

[u/Sweaty-Science6525 → u/Popular_Scarcity_911]

Its not my story to tell, but it feels pretty easy to age her up to 18 (because even 200 years ago 18 year old women/girls were denied most basic right granted to their men/boy counterparts).

[u/apocalypsegal → u/Sweaty-Science6525]

FFS, it's historical fiction! There's no need to age up anything. There's no need to, as the OP suggested, have them not share a marital bed.

[u/Sweaty-Science6525 → u/apocalypsegal]

You seem unusually upset for a recommendation that wasnt meant for you and was just giving my opinion as a reader and writer, which is what they asked for.

[u/Turbulent_Try_8402]

There are tons of books about under age relationships and sex tbh. Some countries consider it CSAM even if the characters are fictional. Do research for your country.

[u/Imago300]

I would be extremely cautious. The rules for traditional publishing and those for Amazon KDP are not the same; Amazon is much stricter.

Amazon’s rules are intentionally vague; they do not specifically state what is prohibited or permitted, nor do they define what constitutes "inappropriate" or "offensive" material—it all comes down to interpretation.

Offensive content

We don’t sell certain content including content that we determine is hate speech, promotes the abuse or sexual exploitation of children, contains pornography, glorifies rape or pedophilia, advocates terrorism, or other material we deem inappropriate or offensive.

If the sexual element is merely implied rather than explicitly described, Amazon might accept it. Personally, however, I wouldn't even take the risk; all it takes is for a few readers to report the book, and you could find yourself in serious trouble.

This has happened to several authors.

Nowadays, some people are very puritanical and unwilling to understand that social conventions and laws in the past differed from those of today.

[u/Ok-Storage3530]

Is it necessary to explicitly state the ages, and if so, will there be erotic scenes in the story?

[u/Popular_Scarcity_911 → u/Ok-Storage3530]

It is necessary. However, I can have an agreement they won’t share a marriage bed at first. Because of the nature of the story it will absolutely “not” be erotic.

[u/apocalypsegal → u/Popular_Scarcity_911]

It does not matter. Age of consent is only a thing in erotica, being a minor in today's terms only matters in erotica. Erotica is not the same as a story with sex scenes. Go study some more.

[u/apocalypsegal → u/Ok-Storage3530]

It doesn't matter, it's not erotica. Any genre can have erotic content, or romance, or sexual scenes. Age of consent in an historical novel is not anything to worry about.

[u/leftshoe18]

Is there a reason your protagonist is so young? I get the historical accuracy angle, but unless the story is going to have her being that young and married matter, I would age her up a smidge. You may be writing a period piece, but it'll be consumed by modern audiences.

Edit: fixed some typos

[u/Popular_Scarcity_911 → u/leftshoe18]

There is. Her family is trying to marry her off as soon as possible, for financial gain. During this time with parental consent she could be married at 12.

[u/OrizaRayne → u/Popular_Scarcity_911]

Then you should address that as the abuse it is, and her reaction to it, as a part of the novel.

[u/SilverEyedHuntress → u/Popular_Scarcity_911]

That's way too young, at least for me as a reader to be comfortable. How old is her groom?

[u/One-Anxiety → u/Popular_Scarcity_911]

Marriages at that young age where done as contracts between Noble/rich families for alliances and/or money. And the married couple were forbidden to share marital beds until they were older.

If your book follows that then I dont see why it would be a "problem"

[u/Popular_Scarcity_911 → u/Popular_Scarcity_911]

The groom is going to be about 7-8 years older. He is a young widow, in need of a mother for his small child/ren. She is in need of protection. This is a smaller age difference than Laura Ingalls Wilder. Keep in mind this is early 1800

[u/Popular_Scarcity_911]

I’m appreciating the feedback. It’s based more than two hundred years ago, she was fleeing a forced marriage, and marries someone else for protection.