Hello there I am new to absolute write but have been lurking on these forums for a couple of months now. I have a few questions that have been nagging me.
First off, I will say that I am currently in revision mode for a 51K magical realism piece revolving around the theatre and its magic. I am working on it getting betaed and it's been through three major revisions thus far. The hope is to start querying this December, and start to write up the queries this summer.
One of the first questions I have regards age of the characters. I know this question pops up quite a bit, I am starting to doubt if I aged my characters too young. The main character who is female is 11, but there is a male character who is 13, and another female who is 15. They all attend a performing arts school together. The female who is 15 is a secondary character, and will say is the main antagonist. For a middle grade novel, or even on the upper middle grade side is this too young or just right?
I also have a question regarding one of my major characters, without giving too much away all I can say is that he is a "dual role" character. Where in the beginning he is seen as one character, but through the story find out he is another. Is this concept a little too much, or does it depend on how it is written? I haven't seen it around in children's literature, at least from what I can see, so I'm not sure if I committed a children's fiction crime by implementing it or not.
Another question I have is POV changes. The beta-reader who read it said she didn't have a problem with it (older reader), but I have read that POV changes in middle grade is normally a no-no. Yet, in YA you do see it happen. I'm not sure seeing as I framed the story the best possible way to be told. I am wondering if this can work? Or is it a not possible?
Thanks for your time
First off, I will say that I am currently in revision mode for a 51K magical realism piece revolving around the theatre and its magic. I am working on it getting betaed and it's been through three major revisions thus far. The hope is to start querying this December, and start to write up the queries this summer.
One of the first questions I have regards age of the characters. I know this question pops up quite a bit, I am starting to doubt if I aged my characters too young. The main character who is female is 11, but there is a male character who is 13, and another female who is 15. They all attend a performing arts school together. The female who is 15 is a secondary character, and will say is the main antagonist. For a middle grade novel, or even on the upper middle grade side is this too young or just right?
I also have a question regarding one of my major characters, without giving too much away all I can say is that he is a "dual role" character. Where in the beginning he is seen as one character, but through the story find out he is another. Is this concept a little too much, or does it depend on how it is written? I haven't seen it around in children's literature, at least from what I can see, so I'm not sure if I committed a children's fiction crime by implementing it or not.
Another question I have is POV changes. The beta-reader who read it said she didn't have a problem with it (older reader), but I have read that POV changes in middle grade is normally a no-no. Yet, in YA you do see it happen. I'm not sure seeing as I framed the story the best possible way to be told. I am wondering if this can work? Or is it a not possible?
Thanks for your time