Middle-grade epic fantasy: What's appropriate? What's not?
Where do you draw the line when it comes to scenes of violence?
Book 1 of Dark Circles, my upcoming middle-grade epic fantasy series, will debut in May.
Do You Believe in Magic? is ready to roll, but my cover and back page are holding things up longer than expected. As with many things in life, I’m in hurry-up-and-wait mode.
The Death Wizard Chronicles, my already-published six-book epic fantasy series, is much different than Dark Circles. The DW Chronicles is for 18 and above, and it contains Game of Thrones-caliber violence and sex. Dark Circles, meanwhile, is for 13 and above. In fact, the four main characters are all 13 years old.
As you might imagine, the transition from adult content to middle-grade content presented a bit of a challenge for me.
The easy part was eliminating the sexual elements. There is a love story, but it’s a hug-and-kiss-on-the cheek love story. There are also no curse words, not even a single damn.
The more difficult part was where to draw the line on violence. The DW Chronicles, like many adult-oriented epic fantasies, contains graphic descriptions of violent battles that are scattered throughout the series. There’s no denying that they’re not appropriate for most 13-year-olds. (Obviously, some mature earlier than others.)
Here’s how I chose to draw the line:
There is violence, but the descriptions are not graphic—sort of the violence version of a couple closing the bedroom door and the next thing you know it’s morning and they’re having coffee.
A few minor characters die, but I don’t dwell on it. The story moves quickly past the deaths and on to other matters.
Some of the monsters are undeniably scary, but it felt to me that most 13-year-olds are accustomed to that. I mean, even Harry Potter got pretty scary as the series progressed.
I could go into more detail, but I think those three points sum things up well enough.
Am I on the right track? Does what I’ve described sound okay for 13-year-olds to read? Or is it possible that I’ve crossed the line?
Your approach sounds very reasonable and balanced. The gist of things usually suffices. If most people say they don’t want Tolkien- or Jordan-esque landscape descriptions, I reckon they can get by with their imaginations in other aspects, too. I try to write PG-13, and I try to draw the violence line at enough detail for drama without being gross. (Language-wise, I use a lot of fictional curses or convey the gist, as a world-building opportunity.)
I feel like the level of description vs the imagination of a thing are pretty powerful. For some kids, words are very impactful yet what we see visually, including commercials, is off the chain. I had to back off scary stuff as a teen; my imagination was getting the bsst of me!