I had a small revelation yesterday. I’d managed to think up a plot (all by myself!) that I think is complicated enough to support a children’s book. I could hear the narrator’s voice (or possibly one of two narrators, a pair of sisters) and I knew a lot of what would happen. There was one problem that kept me from attempting any actual writing: I couldn’t get away from the feeling that the story would be boring if I did write it out. It involves more history that many people care about, and succeeding in the book’s challenge would benefit the girls’ city more than themselves, but I didn’t think those were the problems. I cared about history at the age I’d be writing for and read quite a few stories set in the glory days of my city. Further, some of the most exciting stories I know feature quests that don’t directly benefit the books’ subjects. They might meet peril during the quests, but abstaining from them entirely wouldn’t bring direct harm, and possibly not any harm at all they’d notice in their lifetimes. (I’m thinking of the Dark is Rising books here – “boring” is centrainly not an issue in them.)
I think I’ve figured out the problem, though not a solution. I’ve been reading Sarah Monette’s book Melusine, and liking it enough that I’ll probably include the sequel on my next Amazon purchase. Monette writes a lot like Elizabeth bear (not surprising, since they’re friends and writing partners) in that her characters start out broken and wounded, with scar tissue (literally, in some cases) that are enough to let them get by in daily life. In the course of the book (yes, I peek ahead) they’re broken further, and then by the end they have – not healed, exactly, but at least healed to a deeper level, with scars that are forever part of them but stronger than the original tissue. Or sometimes, the character changes the world enough to make better able to deal with him/her, rather than the other way around.
Though I enjoy both Bear and Monette’s writing, I’m happy also with characters who are considerably less beaten up by their previous lives. Further, if I were to write a character, I think I’m not battlescarred enough myself (either by events or just by a mismatch with the world I live in) to make one who starts out broken believable. However, no matter how whole they start out (and children’s book characters are often whole and innocent to start with – again, TDiR is a good example) they still need to go through hardship and to grow from it in the course of a book. I think that’s why my story was boring: the characters had some adventures, but there was no danger, no potential of loss to them, and no growth in the story.
This is all hypothetical. I made up the plot to see if I could, and I don’t actually plan to write a book any time soon. But it still feels like a useful thing to have figured out.
Clearly if I ever do write this up I need to figure out how to be much crueler to my characters.
Stress and fear can be part of a child’s growth, even without danger. As far as history is concerned, I learned more history as a kid from biographies (which might have been doctored, of course) and from historical fiction.
Go for it. Once you get things down “on paper” (screen) things tend to take off on their own anyway. Not having a firm final composition when you start can’t be an excuse not to begin. Let it be born, and see where IT takes YOU!