If you’re a kidlit author who wants to write middle grade, you need to know what it is before you can put pen to paper. Why? Because knowing the guidelines of middle grade will not only help you plot and write your book, but it will also boost your chances of being published. So, what is middle grade anyway? Let’s start with what it’s not!
Middle-grade fiction sits snugly between chapter books and young adult literature. Why all these different categories of kidlit? Children and teens are small humans, not small adults. As they’re still growing, they need different categories of literature to meet them where they are at in the stages of their cognitive development.
What’s a chapter book?
- Chapter books are aimed at beginner readers, roughly between the ages of 6 and 9.
- They’re often published in series, and are usually illustrated, not with the same type of colour illustrations as picture books, but certainly more than you’d find in the few middle-grade books that have illustrations.
- Chapter books are usually under 100 pages, and about 20,000 words long.
- Plots in chapter books are simple–there are no sub plots–and content includes friendship, inclusion, school, bullying, being yourself, and achieving goals.
Think Ramona Quimby by Beverly Cleary or Pippa Potter, President’s Daughter by Elizabeth James.
What’s young adult?
- Young adult or YA, which is what this category is often called, are books aimed at readers between 13 and 17.
- Word count is between 50,000 and 75,000, although fantasy is often longer.
- Profanity, graphic violence, romance and sexuality are all acceptable, although not required.
- They’re often told in first-person as protagonists in YA are discovering how they fit into the world beyond their friends and family, and spend a lot of time analyzing the meaning of events and life.
Think The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins or Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds.
What about middle grade?
Now, let’s take a look at the star of our show: the middle-grade novel….
- Middle-grade readers span the ages of 8 to 12.
- Word count is between 30,000 and 50,000, although fantasy can run longer to allow for more complex world-building, just like in YA.
- However, in terms of content, there is no profanity, graphic violence, or sexuality in middle grade, unless it’s a reference to a crush.
- Protagonists are typically between 10 and 13 as this category of readers likes to read about kids they’d look up to in real life.
- These stories are often, but not always, told in the third person as this creates a safe distance from which readers can experience the events of the story.
- The content of middle grade focuses on how protagonists fit into the world in terms of friends and family, and characters tend to react to events and life rather than analyze them.
Think the first three books in the Harry Potter series, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate or The Explorer by Katherine Rundell.
Why are these guidelines important?
As a developmental editor and writing coach of kidlit, I often see manuscripts that are suffering from an identity crisis. I might get an email from an author describing their manuscript in this way:
I’ve written a 90,000-word contemporary middle-grade novel about a 13-year-old teen who falls in love and has his first sexual experience.
Or, I could get one like this:
Here’s a 20,000-word young adult novel about a 12-year-old who goes to her first sleepover and learns how to make friends.
If you’re thinking that both are not quite hitting the mark in terms of manuscript length and content, you’d be right! One is too long and mature, and the other is too short and young for the audience these writers are targeting. Unfortunately, by not understanding what makes a book a true middle-grade novel, these writers are sabotaging their chances for success, regardless of how well written their stories may be.
Exceptions, exceptions!
Like any kid will tell you, rules are meant to be broken.. Yes, word counts and content can sometimes stray from the guidelines, but with good reason. Let’s say your middle-grade novel has an edgy story line that is straddling the gap between middle grade and YA. It might work if you have a specific and valid reason for doing so that serves the story.
As long as deviating from the guidelines isn’t gratuitous, if your book still fits your audience’s point of view, and tells a story that is meaningful to your intended reader, then you can give it a shot.
A rule of thumb
The bottom line is that we must never forget our audience and what they are expecting or need because they’re the reason we’re writing a middle-grade novel in the first place! A good rule of thumb would be to think of a child you know between the ages of 8 and 12, and to ask yourself if you could imagine them reading the book you’re writing. Is it age appropriate and does it deal with the type of thing that kids in this age range are actually interested in and experiencing in their own lives?
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