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Arindown replied to the topic So…Is Anyone Else On Here? in the forum Writers of Children's/Middle Grade Books 5 years, 9 months ago
Hey Lily! Thanks so much for replying. You had some really good suggestions.
Okay, so first off, who is your main target audience?Hmmm…probably MG. My main character is about 8 or 9.
The answer is ‘yes’; it really depends on exactly how old these little kids are.Great! I’m thinking probably around 4 and up. I told the stories to my little siblings at bedtime (that was where I got the idea). The youngest kid was 3 and the oldest 11, and they all really loved it. There were some clunky parts, but I figure I can smooth those out in writing.
And as a side note, MG can be compelling, but less violent and no swear words (unless it’s older MG; in that case, it varies somewhat).How much is too violent? In the plan right now, I have one main figure dying at the end, but not too much else. As for swearing, I think that 99.9% of the time, it’s unneeded anyway, so I’m not going to even touch it…that is, unless a character has an exclamation of their own invention, but that’s not really counted as swearing.
And the protagonist can have adult help, but ultimately they find a way to overcome the story’s problem.Right. I need to keep that in mind as I write. The basic plot is similar to Lord of the Rings…it kinda centers around a young, “innocent” character that has a quest to complete, is surround by those older and wiser, but ultimately has to do it on their own. There’s also drawbacks, much like in LOTR, because the young character is being corrupted by the evil powers.
The way I said that made it sound just like Lord of the Rings, but it’s actually not, although there are similarities. But then, where would anyone be if we never got inspiration from people greater than us?😄
Thanks so much for the advice. I’ll try to keep those things in mind as I attempt this. Are there any books besides Chronicles of Narnia, the Hobbit, or Wizard of Oz that your sister recommends?
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