- Joined
- Jul 18, 2006
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- Toronto, Canada
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- www.adriennekress.com
Hey gang! Sorry I've been MIA, was in New York for the weekend (got to hang out with maddythemad!)!
I am as always thrilled to read all your opinions on my book, as ever thank you so much for the support! Now to answer questions:
Dolores - did you get any requests from your agent or editor to tone it down a bit? Or, as you were writing it, did you second guess yourself about the danger level?
I actually didn't. I had to cut the number of words (I am very long winded), but no one seemed to comment on the violence or darkness at all. And I didn't really think too much about it as I was writing it either. The thing is, most MG books are very dark. You read Peter Pan and there is this random description of Hook killing someone by slicing them open with his hook. A Series of Unfortunate Events is based upon the idea that horrible things happen to these kids. And I'm sorry but there is no way in heck any school on the planet would allow Quidditch to be played considering the liability.
I have always felt, and this goes back to when I was playing make believe when I was little, that there wasn't much point in an adventure if it wasn't a matter of life and death. People have to be hurt. Some must fall to the weyside. There must be tragedy in order for triumph to be that much sweeter.
Where you can find problems is the gore factor. I described Senseless as having no face in a very matter of fact way. So it is perfectly fine to read as a child. The man simply didn't have a face. Had I talked about let's say puss filled ears, and eyesockets seeping with blood . . . suddenly we get a much older age range.
Most importantly, aside from the fact that kids I think don't mind a good scare, they also don't read things in the same way as adults. The train sequence is really creepy for adults because it has a nightmare quality, a sense of being trapped in a loop, and the idea of having your soul sucked out is kind of unpleasant. But a kid would read it much more straightforward. They don't question the reality of the situation, but merely go, "Okay, cool, it's a train caught in a time loop" "okay cool, soul sucking machine". I'm not saying kids can't understand the levels, but many aren't looking at certain sections in the same, I suppose, philosophical way, as an adult does.
And you want to write something that has something that appeals in many different ways, to many different people. Or at least I want to.
Little Jane - One question I had was how did Senseless get like that? . . . Also... how did he hold a sword if his hands were made of wood? Are any of the secondary characters coming back in the second book? Is the octopus teaching drama at Mr. Underwood's new pirate ship school and the fridge teaching cooking? Hee, I'd love to see Jack teaching shop class!
To be honest, I have no idea how Sensless got like that. It's totally up to your imagination! Go for it!
In my mind he held the sword in his hands like normal hands. Somehow he had really cool prosthetic hands, a bit like those robot hands in Terminator or something, that could bend at the joints and grab things and stuff. Eh, it's fantasy.
I don't want to give too much away with the second book. But I can say that several characters in Act III (ie the going to sea section) make appearances. Some even have larger roles to play. What they are . . . you'll just have to wait to find out . ..
I am as always thrilled to read all your opinions on my book, as ever thank you so much for the support! Now to answer questions:
Dolores - did you get any requests from your agent or editor to tone it down a bit? Or, as you were writing it, did you second guess yourself about the danger level?
I actually didn't. I had to cut the number of words (I am very long winded), but no one seemed to comment on the violence or darkness at all. And I didn't really think too much about it as I was writing it either. The thing is, most MG books are very dark. You read Peter Pan and there is this random description of Hook killing someone by slicing them open with his hook. A Series of Unfortunate Events is based upon the idea that horrible things happen to these kids. And I'm sorry but there is no way in heck any school on the planet would allow Quidditch to be played considering the liability.
I have always felt, and this goes back to when I was playing make believe when I was little, that there wasn't much point in an adventure if it wasn't a matter of life and death. People have to be hurt. Some must fall to the weyside. There must be tragedy in order for triumph to be that much sweeter.
Where you can find problems is the gore factor. I described Senseless as having no face in a very matter of fact way. So it is perfectly fine to read as a child. The man simply didn't have a face. Had I talked about let's say puss filled ears, and eyesockets seeping with blood . . . suddenly we get a much older age range.
Most importantly, aside from the fact that kids I think don't mind a good scare, they also don't read things in the same way as adults. The train sequence is really creepy for adults because it has a nightmare quality, a sense of being trapped in a loop, and the idea of having your soul sucked out is kind of unpleasant. But a kid would read it much more straightforward. They don't question the reality of the situation, but merely go, "Okay, cool, it's a train caught in a time loop" "okay cool, soul sucking machine". I'm not saying kids can't understand the levels, but many aren't looking at certain sections in the same, I suppose, philosophical way, as an adult does.
And you want to write something that has something that appeals in many different ways, to many different people. Or at least I want to.
Little Jane - One question I had was how did Senseless get like that? . . . Also... how did he hold a sword if his hands were made of wood? Are any of the secondary characters coming back in the second book? Is the octopus teaching drama at Mr. Underwood's new pirate ship school and the fridge teaching cooking? Hee, I'd love to see Jack teaching shop class!
To be honest, I have no idea how Sensless got like that. It's totally up to your imagination! Go for it!
In my mind he held the sword in his hands like normal hands. Somehow he had really cool prosthetic hands, a bit like those robot hands in Terminator or something, that could bend at the joints and grab things and stuff. Eh, it's fantasy.
I don't want to give too much away with the second book. But I can say that several characters in Act III (ie the going to sea section) make appearances. Some even have larger roles to play. What they are . . . you'll just have to wait to find out . ..
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