Okay so I joined this site literally moments ago and I have no idea if anyone else on here writes this stuff but I’m writing a middle grade/younger young adult fantasy. The main character is 13/ later on turns 14. And it’s basically giving me a lot of problems because first of all, it doesn’t fit into a typical fantasy subgenre. At all. And second of all, it went into far deeper and darker places than I ever expected. For starters, in a flashback, the MC remembers his older sister (who is considered “mentally crazy” and unstable by a lot of people) going through a time when she raked her fingernails down her arm as a “habit” (Basically self-harm). It only lasted a little while and the MC was so young at the time, he was just confused by it and didn’t understand what she was doing. That’s as far as I venture into it. It's literally like two sentences of the book. The sister also has a scar on her face and the boy, looking back on it at a slightly older age, wonders if she gave herself that scar, too. I never answer the scar question. I have my own answer to that, but I left it open to the reader’s interpretation. This all does serve a plot purpose to show readers what’s going on with this character who is so unstable. But I’m wondering if it’s too much for a 10-12 year old audience. I’m wondering if it will affect a publisher’s decision. Secondly, the story involves three main races. The northern part of the country has people with pale skin and light hair, and the people there are wealthier because they were explorers and dominated the shipping and trading routes long ago. The southern portion is described as a “darker” race (think native Americans—the ancient culture of these people very obviously mirrors Native Americans.) Across the ocean is another country of dark-skinned people. In the trade age, there was an issue with both the northern and southern people taking this third race as slaves. Slavery was outlawed as a result of a war several hundred years ago, slavery is now considered despicable and people try to forget that portion of history, but intense bitterness still exists. The other country (now with a more powerful military) frequently provokes and attacks this country as revenge. POV MC is from a mixed-race family so he deals with both sides of this issue. I just am opening this to any suggestions on how to handle this subject especially with the things going on in current events. I don’t want to accidentally come out like I’m saying the wrong thing. Also this story has action but I’d classify it as more of a “road trip” story so to speak, because they go around this fantasy country and their preconceived notions of certain people and places start to change, and I still want it to be a fun adventure, and the heart of the story is supposed to be the complex relationship between siblings. And basically it’s a nightmarish mess right now but I’m focusing on the two issues above for now.
I'd need a little more information about the story to have an opinion one way or another about how child friendly it is. From what you've written in this post: just noting the self harm stuff, you may be shooting a little young with the 10-12 age range. It seems like it would be better set as a "coming of age" type of story directed towards younger to middle teenagers. It really depends on how you handle the subject in text, and whether or not you expect your target audience to understand that what she is doing is self harm. I don't see anything wrong with the races. Even young children understand that sometimes people don't like each other or get along for petty differences. Even Dr. Seuss had a story based on a similar concept with The Sneetches.
It's more about the execution than the content. Consider Finding Nemo, which basically started with the violent death of Nemo's mother. My advice to you would be to write the story how you want, then decide what kind of an audience you're going for and edit to that audience. My current short story involves a cannibalistic sadist, but it's a story meant for young adults (in my mind). So, I'm writing it however it comes out, and later I can cut it down to an appropriate level.
People often underestimate how incredibly dark the minds of young children can be. They often deal with nightmarish stuff as a matter of course in a world they do not have the tools to even begin to understand or control. Which isn't to say anyone should set out to traumatize them. Don Bluth is the absolute master of challenging children with pit black darkness and material that makes even adults feel gross (The Secret of Nihm being the best example of that). He used to say that children can endure absolutely anything, as long as you give them a happy ending. He's tested that theory a lot, and from what I hear most people would agree. A fiction author who does this very well is Michael Ende. In the US he's mostly known because they made a movie of his book The Never-Ending Story, but I'd say the Momo is his masterpiece. Incredibly dark and upsetting, and treats its audience with the utmost respect. That being said, your story seems to be aimed at pre-teens more than children. Same rule applies though. People don't understand how much ugliness and darkness kids see. I saw two girls waste away with anorexia, one boy die of a brain tumor and another boy kill himself before I was fifteen. There were kids cutting themselves in the bathroom at recess. Anecdata, I know, but I've worked in education and these kids aren't stupid. They see each other suffer and they constantly try and find ways to cope. I used to give talks to teenagers about dealing with mental illness. You wouldn't believe the stories I heard. They can deal. They've seen worse before coffee. Are you from a minority group yourself? If not, but even if yes, read primary sources. It's mandatory. Not to appease some sort of ephemeral writing god or to grovel at the alter of Hack Cough Politiblarf Correctibutt, but in the name of Getting Shit Right. It's simple tradecraft. You absolutely can get it right, you must get it right, and to do that you need to read blogs and novels and stories by people who have first-hand experience. Read about the experiences of mixed-race families in different areas of the world, read about how historical injustice can and does affect descendants of the victimized, read period work by and about oppressed groups. The exact history and context will obviously differ, but the pain of injustice is sadly recognizable no matter what genre you write in. You can totally do this, but you gotta come correct.
Yeah I'm still working on age range. I think I need to rewrite it first and then decide who I wrote it for...it might turn into YA. I love the Sneetches...and the Butter Battle lol
I totally agree with that. I need to rewrite it first (work out the issues) and then figure out what target group I wrote it for and then cut it appropriately.
Actually I've rethought the races thing (I copied and pasted from an old forum of mine and accidentally posted before editing, and now it refuses to let me edit, go figure) so that part is not totally valid anymore. I was mostly focusing on the first part of my question for now. All three of you guys were helpful and I was surprised by all this feedback...thank you so much.
I wouldn't really say it's dark, it also depends on the individual that would read it. Not every 11-12 year old is the same. I read a lot of different stuff at that age that a lot of people would have thought inappropriate.
