- Joined
- Jul 3, 2009
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Hey,
So I started a historical novel a couple of weeks ago that is about two young women who go into service at an old castle. I never plan my novels, but rather take an idea and go with it to see where I end up.
This one was intended to be an adult novel but I'm beginning to wonder if it would suit a slightly younger audience. My MCs were going to be aged 20 but now I'm thinking of taking their ages down to 17 because they still have a lot to learn about the world and have acted very naively in various situations so far. They both have a 'learning curve' to experience throughout the novel. Plus the general tone of my novel is lighter and my style is less verbose than previous novels I have written.
I will be exploring various adult themes. For example, the novel opens up with Prudence nearly being seduced by the local 'player' and feeling very ashamed because of it. The novel will be set during the build up for the English civil war and I want to include some of the politics that surrounded that (all very exciting stuff, but perhaps a little too much like a history lesson?) and there will be some violence and sex to come.
It's also very much intended for a female audience: it's about relationships of different kinds, and living in the 'domestic sphere' as a young woman, at a time when the average woman did not expect to marry before the age of 25. In many ways it would appeal to the young Austen lovers out there, but I do worry that such a target audience is too narrow.
Any advice would be gratefully lapped up. Cheers!
Lau
So I started a historical novel a couple of weeks ago that is about two young women who go into service at an old castle. I never plan my novels, but rather take an idea and go with it to see where I end up.
This one was intended to be an adult novel but I'm beginning to wonder if it would suit a slightly younger audience. My MCs were going to be aged 20 but now I'm thinking of taking their ages down to 17 because they still have a lot to learn about the world and have acted very naively in various situations so far. They both have a 'learning curve' to experience throughout the novel. Plus the general tone of my novel is lighter and my style is less verbose than previous novels I have written.
I will be exploring various adult themes. For example, the novel opens up with Prudence nearly being seduced by the local 'player' and feeling very ashamed because of it. The novel will be set during the build up for the English civil war and I want to include some of the politics that surrounded that (all very exciting stuff, but perhaps a little too much like a history lesson?) and there will be some violence and sex to come.
It's also very much intended for a female audience: it's about relationships of different kinds, and living in the 'domestic sphere' as a young woman, at a time when the average woman did not expect to marry before the age of 25. In many ways it would appeal to the young Austen lovers out there, but I do worry that such a target audience is too narrow.
Any advice would be gratefully lapped up. Cheers!
Lau
