61
votes
Should I add racism in my book's world or have my world have no racism?
There is more than one way racism can be present in a work.
For example, when Star Trek have on the bridge of the Enterprise an Asian pilot, a Russian navigator and a black Communications Officer, ...
40
votes
Accepted
How to write cleanly even if my character uses expletive language?
Each usage has its place.
#1 is most commonly used in such situations. Even if you're not writing for children, you don't necessarily want every bit of cursing. Sometimes telling that the character ...
35
votes
Accepted
A children's book that takes 25 minutes to read out loud - is it too long?
If anything, I'd say your book is too short for that age. 3rd grade is 8-years-olds, right? At that age, 25 minutes to read out loud is closer to one chapter of a book they'd be reading.
At 8 years ...
26
votes
Accepted
Showing mass murder in a kid's book
You have two problems here:
Lots of good people dying, "on stage" - in front of the children
Good people killing other good people
The first is dealt with very well in The Hobbit, for example.
...
16
votes
A children's book that takes 25 minutes to read out loud - is it too long?
The audiobook for Winnie the Pooh is 2 hrs and 46 minutes (although admittedly it is episodic in nature rather than a single story.)
I was first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone around the ...
- 11.2k
15
votes
Accepted
What language shall they sing in?
These are songs, and we learn songs differently from spoken language. Have you ever found yourself singing along to a favorite song in a language you don't even speak, but you've listened to the ...
- 21.4k
14
votes
Is it better to avoid names with a difficult pronunciation in Middle Grade fiction?
Short answer: definitely, absolutely, wholeheartedly 3.
Long answer: Sir Terry Pratchett wrote somewhere that since he was reading a lot as a child, when he was little there were many words he knew ...
13
votes
Should I add racism in my book's world or have my world have no racism?
So should I use racism as one of the parts of my worldbuilding? Or
write a story without racism as part of my worldbuilding?
Yes, you should add racism to your worldbuilding. Wait – hear me out.
...
- 26.2k
12
votes
Mortal danger in mid-grade literature
Double U mentioned fairy tales - some of the most violent tales out there. Earlier versions were very dark and had been altered to make them child appropriate. I think that was a mistake.
Bambi (the ...
- 12.4k
10
votes
Should I add racism in my book's world or have my world have no racism?
You as an author must be aware of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and other issues that exist in the real world. You as a person need to be aware.
How (or if) you depict these ...
- 32.3k
10
votes
Showing mass murder in a kid's book
This kind of killing is never done with a light heart. While you can easily jump over the act itself, you can show the turmoil and torment that goes through the mind of those that have to execute it. ...
- 10.6k
10
votes
Wanting to write a gay kiss... for young audiences
I feel like advice that was given to me about writing characters of the opposite gender also applies here. Just write it as if it were a regular kiss with individuals of separate genders. Of course ...
- 708
9
votes
Accepted
Early investment in a character who "learns better"
What positive character traits does your MC have? Surely he isn't all bad, a one-dimensional caricature of schmuckiness?
Consider: in The Three Musketeers, d'Artagnan beats his servant (and Athos ...
9
votes
Mortal danger in mid-grade literature
I had a similar experience with The Hobbit. But I don't think that's because of the target age of the audience. I think it is because of the style of story that it was. Plucky adventurer full of pluck ...
- 4,451
9
votes
Accepted
Are My Novels Middle-Grade or Young Adult? Having Trouble Figuring It Out
You haven't really provided enough details to make definitive calls for these, and to be honest you'd probably struggle to do that in the context of an SE question anyway. What I can do is give you ...
- 7,233
8
votes
Accepted
What are some clear differences in theme/story between children's, middle grade, and young adult fantasy?
There are no clear-cut distinctions. Children are different. One child might be reading at 6 what another wouldn't touch until 12. For example, King Matt the First is explicitly written for children (...
8
votes
Should I add racism in my book's world or have my world have no racism?
"Should I add racism?" No. That is, you shouldn't add racism just for the sake of adding racism.
I've seen a few questions on this forum to the effect of, "Should my story include this or that social ...
- 25.5k
8
votes
Incorporating research and background: How much is too much?
Include exactly as much detail as you need for the story to make sense. If the group complained about you changing your descriptions simply because they liked the rich description of the foods, they ...
- 399
8
votes
Naming things the POV character doesn't know
Describe the scene from a person's point of view.
You say this:
these characters travel back in time and across the world
If I were to travel back in time and across the world, then I would use ...
- 2,512
8
votes
Showing mass murder in a kid's book
I will tell you the horrible truth. Nobody actually cares if people get killed. Not even if it happens for no real reason and in a horrible and painful way. And your case is actually much better than ...
- 1,875
7
votes
Is it better to avoid names with a difficult pronunciation in Middle Grade fiction?
I'm also going to agree with the third suggestion. The idea of a pronunciation guide is a good one, and you could do as others have done and make it part of the dialogue (for example "My name's Shawn, ...
7
votes
Crossing the line from Middle-Grade to Young-Adult
Aged 10-12, my understanding of sex was "that's how you make children". It didn't sound like fun, so my understanding of why people would do it, other than to make children, was rather in the "adults ...
7
votes
Mortal danger in mid-grade literature
Link: https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/the-key-differences-between-middle-grade-vs-young-adult
What is Middle-Grade Literature?
Age of readers: 8–12.
Length: Generally 30,000–50,...
- 2,512
7
votes
Mortal danger in mid-grade literature
Certainly it's okay to have people (or animals) die in middle-grade fiction. I mean, Bambi (the movie) is rated G and young Bambi sees his mother murdered before his eyes. Ditto with dad in The Lion ...
- 32.3k
7
votes
Is there a market for all-ages novels?
The marketing environment for books has become immensely more complicated and crowded than it was in the past. Partly due to the ongoing information explosion (which lets you and discuss this at all), ...
- 98.3k
6
votes
Early investment in a character who "learns better"
Signal early on that he is an unreliable narrator, at the very least you will let the reader understand there is a difference between the POV and the author. That might keep some people interested.
...
- 26.2k
6
votes
Should I add racism in my book's world or have my world have no racism?
Whether you should or not boils down to what is true for your setting.
If you've built a world where there are multiple ethnic groups (and you definitely should do that, it would be unrealistic to ...
- 1,564
6
votes
Accepted
How to get my characters' emotions out of the way so I can get on with the plot?
It's your story, so you make the rules.
The actions of your characters can be based on whatever the group manages to 'agree on' or whatever they dare do on their own.
I'm not sure what kind of ...
- 2,571
6
votes
How to write cleanly even if my character uses expletive language?
Maybe you can use a spoonerism?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism
However, I am not sure if there's any unintended effect it may have (it could make the excerpt unintentionally funny).
For ...
- 14.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible