The Darkest and Most Intelligent Age of Its Genre. And Not Short, Either.
I got a rejection letter from an agent today. This is not a particularly uncommon occurrence; what is uncommon is that the agent was good enough to tell me two major reasons why she rejected my story:
1. At 84,000 words, it was about twice the acceptable length for middle grade fantasy
2. The subject matter seemed too dark for middle grade fantasy and should probably be made into YA.
As an aficionado of middle grade fantasy, this struck me as extremely odd. In fact, middle grade has often seemed to me the darkest of the age groups for fantasy; YA is far fluffier. As for both darkness and length, let me say that first, in a paperback, 84,000 words might be about 250 pages. Now let me list some of the chart toppers for middle grade fantasy:
Harry Potter - longer and darker
Skulduggery Pleasant - longer and darker
The Chronicles of Narnia - shorter but dealing with very heavy issues
The Artemis Fowl books -- boring
The Percy Jackson books -- boring
A Wrinkle in Time - shorter, equally dark
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci - similar length or longer, lighter with some dark moments
Dealing with Dragons - similar length, no darker
Coraline - shorter, darker
The Graveyard Book - similar length and darkness
Ella Enchanted - similar length, no darker
The Amulet of Samarkand - longer, equally dark
Not all of these are longer than my book; not all of them are darker. But I can’t help notice that darkness is a very prevalent and very enjoyable theme for middle grade fantasy, and that 84,000 words, far from being twice too long, is exactly the average length. There are also plenty of fluffy books out there, but the really good ones are almost all at least as long and dark as mine.
YA, on the other hand, now specializes in paranormal romance. To turn my book into YA would demand an overhaul of absolutely all the characters and many of the relationships.
Frankly, I think of middle grade as the most open age group. You can have issues as dark as you like. You can have violence if you want it, romance if you want it, action if you want it - but unlike, say, teen or adult books, none of these things are required. Middle grade children can read and enjoy dark things and - yes - don’t need to be treated like simpering morons.
Thank you, agent, for telling me why you rejected my query. I really do appreciate the time and energy you took and the feedback. But in this case, you’re wrong.
1. At 84,000 words, it was about twice the acceptable length for middle grade fantasy
2. The subject matter seemed too dark for middle grade fantasy and should probably be made into YA.
As an aficionado of middle grade fantasy, this struck me as extremely odd. In fact, middle grade has often seemed to me the darkest of the age groups for fantasy; YA is far fluffier. As for both darkness and length, let me say that first, in a paperback, 84,000 words might be about 250 pages. Now let me list some of the chart toppers for middle grade fantasy:
Harry Potter - longer and darker
Skulduggery Pleasant - longer and darker
The Chronicles of Narnia - shorter but dealing with very heavy issues
The Artemis Fowl books -- boring
The Percy Jackson books -- boring
A Wrinkle in Time - shorter, equally dark
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci - similar length or longer, lighter with some dark moments
Dealing with Dragons - similar length, no darker
Coraline - shorter, darker
The Graveyard Book - similar length and darkness
Ella Enchanted - similar length, no darker
The Amulet of Samarkand - longer, equally dark
Not all of these are longer than my book; not all of them are darker. But I can’t help notice that darkness is a very prevalent and very enjoyable theme for middle grade fantasy, and that 84,000 words, far from being twice too long, is exactly the average length. There are also plenty of fluffy books out there, but the really good ones are almost all at least as long and dark as mine.
YA, on the other hand, now specializes in paranormal romance. To turn my book into YA would demand an overhaul of absolutely all the characters and many of the relationships.
Frankly, I think of middle grade as the most open age group. You can have issues as dark as you like. You can have violence if you want it, romance if you want it, action if you want it - but unlike, say, teen or adult books, none of these things are required. Middle grade children can read and enjoy dark things and - yes - don’t need to be treated like simpering morons.
Thank you, agent, for telling me why you rejected my query. I really do appreciate the time and energy you took and the feedback. But in this case, you’re wrong.