What is the MG voice?

A.P.M.

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I have an upper MG book written, and I'm concerned about the voice. Beta readers for the first chapter have mentioned the voice isn't MG. An agent who read the first page says I'm missing the MG voice. I recently got a reject on the partial that mentioned that she didn't connect to the voice.

I've read plenty of MG, and I don't see one style or voice within the books I've read (mostly fantasy and animal fantasy: Harry Potter, Wings of Fire series, Warriors, etc). I know its not because the book is too adult content-wise since I don't have anything remotely adult in the book--no romance, no intense violence. I think it's a matter of word choice and writing style. But other than that, I have no clue what I'm missing. Am I using words that are too difficult for an MG audience? Is the pacing too slow for more impatient young readers? I simply don't know what I'm doing wrong since I have no clue what anyone means by the MG voice.

Basically, I am at a complete loss. What is the MG voice?
 

Latina Bunny

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Just curious: Is this first person or third person?

I wonder if maybe the narrator sounds more like an (older) teen? Maybe the narrator voice sound too introspective for their age?

Maybe it would help to put an excerpt of the chapter on SYW?
 

cornflake

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It's like porn - you know it when you see it. :)

As above, I think you'll get the best responses from posting an excerpt in SYW. There are things I've read tagged YA or even adult that I've thought sounded nothing but MG and vice versa. It's hard to pinpoint without specific text to refer to.
 

Toothpaste

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Yes I think you really need to post a section in SYW because you are asking us something that has a million possible answers to it.

If you do do that, please come here and post a link and I'll happily pop over to have a look! :)
 
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