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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: pcpoet on January 09, 2015, 09:25:28 PM
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I am writing a fantasy book that is aimed at 8-12 year olds in it I have one of my characters an adult say that she sees nothing wrong with indulging a child's belief in witches and in fairies that as far as she is concerned that indulging this belief is no different then a parent leaving money under the pillow from the tooth fairy or at Christmas time helping a child with a letter to Santa.
my concern is whether my saying this is like going up to a child and saying there is no Santa ba humbug.....
I personally love indulging children's belief in Santa clause and I am sure I am not ruining it for most over the age of eight but I no that I might have younger readers who will be reading it to who Santa is very real.
my question is should I leave it out. it is not important to the book but it does help to give personality to one of my characters.
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I guess it depends on how heavily it is hinted on. Would a kid get from the sentence that Santa isn't real, or would it be something that is obvious in hindsight, once the kid knows Santa isn't real. It also depends on how unique it is, can't your replace with it with a similar remark that conveys the same?
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I'd go at it obliquely if at all. this article mentions that over 50% of kids still believe in Santa at seven. that means half of your potential readers a year under your age target would be like :'(.
http://m.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/when-do-kids-stop-believing-in-santa/383958/
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this is the section of my book that I am concerned about. I really like what I have written but at the same time as far as I am concerned belief Santa and the tooth fairy is the magic of childhood so I don't no if I am going to keep it or not
“you will never guess what use to be where we live”. The children then repeated the story of the mean witch and the broken hearted fairy that had lost it fellow fairy to the witch. Mrs. Sudbury laughed and said that story was told to her by her grandma when she was a kid.
“Is it true” asked Laura with wonder in her eyes? Mrs. Sudbury just Smiled and said “I don’t know if it is true but it might be “. As far as Mrs. Angela Sudbury was concerned there was way too much serious stuff in these kid’s life with there being a war going on. If the children wanted to believe in fairies and evil witches let them have their fantasy. Life was already hard enough without a little bit of pretend and she did not see how this was different from saying yes there is a Santa clause or putting a pence under the pillow from the tooth fairy when a tooth was lost.
the kid reading the story will find out that for the characters in the book the story about the witch and the fairy are true.
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Well yes, that's rather obviously saying that the adult does not think that Santa exists, and even more, actively tries to get children to believe otherwise. But then again, if it later is confirmed that the witch and faerie do indeed exist, the child might also apply that to the case of Santa, but that is not a given, and until that time, the child might be rather distraught with it all. You might want to muddle it a bit more.
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the first chapter tells the story of the witch and the Fairy
this part is in the second chapter
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Is it essential that you use a real holiday figure? Can you invent a child's story character and use it in place of real world characters?
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the piece is urban fantasy the real world is the setting and the time period that I am writing is 1940. the setting is England. it is really important that the story resembles the historic time period and place I am writing about. if I have it to different culturally to the children reading it I believe I will lose something. I think the only choice is between keeping it as written or removing it.
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If it's England then wouldn't it be "Father Christmas"? I'm sure that my history of Santa Claus in different countries isn't all that great, but if you're aiming for some historical accuracy it might be important to know. I'm pretty sure that "Santa Claus," as a name and much of his characteristics and manners, was an American invention during the Victorian time period. It probably influenced 1940s England, but I think it might have still been fairly resent.
All of this is of course too much information for an audience of 8-12, but it might be important as an author to know, especially if you want him to wear red or green, for example. And if you have if the fairies in your book know the "real" Father Christmas and you are just saying that Santa was made up, then it has a different feel than if you are saying that the magic of Christmas is an invention of Coco Cola in a successful marketing attempt to increase winter sales of a cold beverage (or Macy's, which I personally like even more, but wasn't until 1947).
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I'd say go obliquely. You can't name them directly, or it'll stick in their minds.
As far as Mrs. Angela Sudbury was concerned there was way too much
serious stuff in these kid’s life with there being a war going on. If the
children wanted to believe in fairies and evil witches let them have their
fantasy. Life was already hard enough without a little bit of pretend and
she did not see how this was any different from tales of overly generous
jolly elves, or sprites with a penchant for milk teeth.
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thanks for the father Christmas correction I would of caught it eventually but if I chose to use this cultural reference again it might of created more problems in my writing
.
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I think I have a fix so I can keep the father Christmas reference (Santa Clause} later on in the book I will make reference to him being real by one of the non human authority figures. I might even be able to use his lore to advance the story. I don't have the idea fleshed out but its got me excited.
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You know, there's no reason the adult that says Father Christmas isn't real has to be right - in your book. You could even have fun with it. Maybe something like this thrown in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_34th_Street
If the whole story isn't about Santa, then certainly you won't want to devote too much time to it, but you could come up with a way to make the adult wrong :)
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I'd just keep writing with it as is. Leave a note by it, and then come back later to edit, remove or whatever. Don't let it slow you down.
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...As far as Mrs. Angela Sudbury was concerned there was way too much serious stuff in these kid’s life with there being a war going on. If the children wanted to believe in fairies and evil witches let them have their fantasy. Life was already hard enough without a little bit of pretend and she did not see how this was different from saying yes there is a Santa clause or putting a pence under the pillow from the tooth fairy when a tooth was lost.
Be cautious. This is from the point of view of the adult, but you are writing for children. You probably need to be in the child's mind trying to puzzle this out. Writing for children is difficult. You need to find that young voice and stick to it through thick and thin. Your instinct to cut was a good one, I think. Let the children explore and discover. No child reader wants to hear what an adult has to say. As to your other quotes. Those work for me... Good luck! And your protag needs to be about two years older than your target group. Don't write down to them, but write who they are in your voice.
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I don't think you need that part of the line at all. You can just stop with: "Life was already hard enough without a little bit of pretend." The rest of the line feels redundant to me, and as it risks shattering a child's preconceptions, unless that is the point of your story, I wouldn't go there. Frankly, it's unnecessary based upon your setup from what I can tell. Now, if there's a later point to your story where you are going to prove the adult the fool for not believing, that's something you need to consider. But from your original post, I'm not seeing evidence of that setup/knock down.
One other thing I'll mention. POV. Exactly why are we getting to know the adult's inner thoughts here? Not that you can't do that, you can do anything that works. But be careful you aren't unintentionally head hopping here. (I don't have near enough text to see if you are or aren't or if this is simply a stylistic effect.) Is she one of your POV characters? Unless it's important for characterization that we know what Mrs. Sudbury is thinking, you can even cut out every bit after “I don’t know if it is true, but it might be." And you'd have much the same effect from the children's POV. (They aren't privy to her thoughts.)
Good luck.