We all pretty much get what goes into movie ratings, but where do you draw the line in writing? Is there a set standard of how much you can "show" in a book before it's bumped up another notch?

I'm asking because I'm never sure how much you can write into an R-rated chapter before it has to go to NC-17. I don't do the obvious things of including the crude words and such into a sex scene......it's clear what's going on, but it's not overt, you know?

So, what nudges a chapter into NC-17?

Nope, I don't know the answer to this. I'm just commenting to tell you the rule I go by for this stuff - maybe it'll be helpful for others who don't understand your crazy american rating-system either. :lol:

Explicit sex-scenes, torture-scenes with lots of blood and guts and decriptions of how the victim screams -> NC-17

Complely tame stuff, no swearing, no sex, no blood, no nothing -> PG13 or G or whatever the lowest rating is.

Everything else -> R

This way I'm on the save side, and it is not like the kiddos take the ratings serious anyway. Some of them may stay away from NC-17 cos their parents told them to, or cos the sex is not yet interesting to them anyway, but I have yet to see a 15 year old who will hesitate to read something cos the rating says 16+.

As far as American ratings for movies go:

G - general audiences, PG - no swearing, but older than what you'd take the really little ones to, PG-13 - some swearing, though usually limited to one or a few occurrences in appropriate situations...like someone blurting something out because of a sudden scare...and partial nudity especially if it is completely non-sexual, R - swear as much as you want, show nudity, sex but not explicit sex...violence but not so heavy as to make some of the audience barf.

I'm not really worried about kids, since some places I put stuff are kind of obscure, and not everyone reads Spike/OC, anyway, which is where my higher rated scenes lie. I just want to give an accurate representation to the readers, since not everyone likes to read NC-17.....at least not the overt sexual terms.

Love to get lots of input on this, guys!

to me, if it's anything involving sex and violence as a *combination*, and it's described in detail as an actual scene in the story (as opposed to mentioning in passing that someone was raped, for example) i would automatically rate nc-17 to be on the safe side....also if it's explicitly described sex (he put his **** into her ****) or violence to the point of being disturbing (torture, etc.)

if there's bad language or sex scenes that are not so extreme or non-graphic violence...I would go with an R

I usually reserve pg-13 and g for fluffy sweet type fics..

which means i've never, *ever* used either of those ratings...*ahem*

lol

anyways, that's my opinion on the subject to add to the list :)

LOL My stuff is either rated NC17 or G...not much for in the middle LOL

Well...some stuff is kind of R-ish...but not always.