Contains Mild Peril

Crowvus Publishing
Even though it is still a full year to my book launch, I'm going crazy on research!

On one of my blog travels (fitted in between Holiday Gardening Club at school, and my driving lesson - stay off the roads and pavements!) I came across a guest post by Glen C. Strathy, a middle grade author. The article can be found here.

Middle grade is the age bracket for my book, Taking Wing, and Glen C Strathy makes a super point about thinking about the gatekeepers for this genre. The gatekeepers are teachers, librarians and parents who will buy the book if they think it's suitable for children.

The author then goes on to say that "obviously, that means no graphic sex, profanity, horror, or violence."

Reading this, my heart begins to beat faster. Ok, there are no gory details in my book, but there is violence and a great deal of peril (that word that the BBFC love putting on DVD covers!)


Glen C Strathy does say that fighting monsters is fine, but I have no 'monsters' as such in my story. The first chapter (more like a prologue) begins with a fight which does not end happily for one participant. This is needed to bring on the feud which lasts for the series of books, and also give the reader a glimpse of the character's bad ways!


Is this acceptable? Is a bad guy fighting and using violence fine in a book? I think so. Middle grade readers, sadly, are not oblivious to fighting. They often fight in the playground. The amount of times I've had to tell off my pupils for their bad playground behaviour is astonishing. If I can dissuade them from fighting by showing that it is the bad guys in stories fight, I'd be happy.


So what is acceptable violence in a middle grade novel? What constitutes mild peril? And where is the line drawn between that and unacceptable violence in a book?


If you can answer any of these questions, and help me out in my endless quest to finish redrafting my book, then please comment or contact me on Twitter or through email: clemencycrow@gmail.com

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