So, as I just noted on Facebook, when your nine year old, the one whose favorite movie when she was two was Sleeping Beauty because of the terrifying fire-breathing dragon, which she loved, tells you that your middle grade fantasy written with her in mind has a scene that is terrifying and gives her nightmares, it's time to rewrite. This is the kid who never has nightmares. Nerves of steel.
That's when I made the edits. Fortunately, in this case the scene didn't have to be completely rewritten. Instead of having the monsters who capture the main character begin to dismember the character in preparation to eat her as a child sacrifice, they just capture her and hold her fast and begin to summon the big bad guy. The good guys come to the rescue anyway, and it's early enough into the book--about a third of the way in--that it shouldn't be too scary.
This does tell me that the transition from epic fantasy writing to MG is just a bit more involved than I had thought. Oh, learning to write for the different age group is not too hard--I've been doing that for years as I switched from my master's program in medieval history to editing for 6th grade textbooks. And then again as I started working for the magazines for adults, others for teens, and yet others for younger audiences.
It is wonderful, though, that I get such awesome feedback right here in my own home. She is the audience!
2 comments:
Would this be the same one I read the first chapter for?
Actually, this is a new middle grade fantasy.
Regarding that other book, I've gone back to the longer, 4400 word chapter. I think it's had better feedback.
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