The 10 Commandments of Middle Grade Fiction...
... according to author Kristine Franklin. You've all read Franklin, right? Her book The Grape Thief got a bit of attention a year or two ago and earned her a bit more cache. Well now she's come up with what she calls the 10 Commandments of Middle Grade Fiction. Here they are:
One: Keep it Simple
Two: Crisis Right Away
Three: Strong Point of View
Four: Not too many characters
Five: Do not rewrite while you are working on the first draft
Six: Character, Character, Character!
Seven: Action, Action, Action!
Eight: Everything Must Propel the Story to Its Climax
Nine: The Hero Must Solve the Problem
Ten: Wrap it Up One Chapter After the Climax
As you can imagine, the good folk of Child_Lit are livid and enthralled in turn. It really does make for an odd sense of what constitutes good Middle Grade Fiction. I quote it here in response to a request I received the other day to review more of this kind of writing. If these are the requirements for making such fiction good, however, I'm not sure I'll want to!
posted by fusenumber8 @ 5:51 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Now I have re-join Child_Lit just to find out what they're saying about this. Oh, my poor mailbox.
I once had a job that allowed me to keep up with the postings every day. Now I can no longer indulge in such delights. I get the digest form which is fine and all, but I often have to contest with other children's librarians saying things like, "Did you see the snarky post on Curious George this morning?". I feel so left behind.... alas, alack, alack, alas.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home