Writer's Support Room - Satisfying Editors

Jan Fields, ICL web editor, has published in many and varied children’s and family magazines including Boys’ Quest, Highlights For Children, Shining Star, Crayola Kids, Ladybug, Single-Parent Family and Charisma-Life.  Though she began her career writing for adults exclusively, she was soon lured into the challenging world of children's writing. Jan has taught adult and children’s writing for over twenty years. In addition to this busy schedule, Jan is the editor of Kid Magazine Writer e-magazine. She is a member of the SCBWI and a repeat speaker at local SCBWI conferences. Her articles about writing have been published both in print and online markets such as Keystrokes, Byline, Children’s Writer, and Children’s Book Insider. She also wrote a middle grade fantasy novel for the Creative Girls Club line by DRG Publishing. In her spare time, she sleeps.

"Cutting to the Core"

by Jan Fields

The word "genre" (as it pertains to anything children's writers need to know) refers to a loose way to classify stories based on certain elements. An understanding of genre can help when we prepare cover letters, query letters and synopses. Understanding genre can also help when we look for an appropriate publisher because we will know what a publisher means by its guidelines.

Now some genre can be broken down into "sub-genre" and that's interesting to think about but not as necessary to know. You don't need to be able to explain the difference between "magical realism" and "urban fantasy" when you prepare to market your fantasy novel (or story), for example - you just need to know that it's fantasy. An editor (and eventually a publicity department) will help narrow down past the initial category. So let's look at some popular genre:

FANTASY

A story in the fantasy genre will contain elements that do not exist in the real world or in real history. So fantasy might not mean "magic," but it does mean "not in the real world." So if you wrote a story that showed what life might be like today if the US had stayed a colonial possession - that would be fantasy even without magic. [Technically, such a story is called "speculative fiction" but again, we're dealing with subtle genre distinctions and no editor would mind you calling something fantasy as long as it contains elements that aren't and can not be found in the real world.] Fantasy can be light and silly with flower fairies chatting up bumble bees. Or fantasy can be serious and complex with villages dealing with vicious dragons.

Any story where animals talk is fantasy. This is important because writers can easily be confused when they see a publisher likes "animal stories" or "nature stories" so they send "Sammy the Sassy Squirrel" only to get a form rejection because the publisher doesn't publish fantasy. If your story has fantasy elements, you must have a publisher who is willing to publish fantasy. Everything else will be eclipsed by the fantasy elements if you're dealing with a publisher who only publishes realistic fiction.

NATURE STORIES

An important thing to keep in mind when a publisher lists what they publish is that the element they highlight usually must play a large, vital part in the story. A story that follows a bee through her day (without anthropomorphizing the bee) is certainly a nature story. A story where a child discovers more and more unusual things during a walk through the woods is certainly a nature story. A story where a child talks a neighbor out of cutting down a tree that is home to a family of newborn squirrels is certainly a nature story. But just being outdoors doesn't make a story a nature story.

A story about being lost in the woods after running away from a bully is not a nature story - though it may be an adventure story. A story about a girl whose mom takes her on a surprise picnic instead of hauling her to the sitter is not a nature story - it's a family relationship story. Nature cannot just be the setting for the story, it must be essential to the plot itself. And nature stories usually help us to grow in our understanding of nature.

ADVENTURE STORIES

An adventure story is one where the plot involves the overcoming of fast-arising, serious complications while moving quickly to the story goal. In an adventure story, the challenges are going to come at the main character suddenly and there are going to be surprises that must be dealt with fast. Adventure stories about almost always driven by quick thinking and physical action.

An adventure story may take place outside but all stories that take place outside are not automatically adventures. A story of a little boy who wanders around the yard looking at bugs is not an adventure unless the process puts in him in situations where he must think and act fast in response to unexpected challenges. The key to an adventure story is that feeling of breathlessness as the character deals with one challenge after another. That's the element an editor will want to see if you call your story "an adventure story."

HUMOR

If a story is a humor story, the primary thing it must be is funny for the age group. It should also have a plot that makes some kind of logical sense and the characters must have reasonable motivation to do what they do - but above all, it must be funny to the age group. The "to the age group" part is important. Many things that are funny to us, as adults, are not funny to kids. And things that are funny to twelve year olds may not be funny to six year olds.

My daughter read a Chet Gecko book when she was in second grade. The book was not too hard for her but she didn't think it was funny -- even though the books seem very funny to me. Why wasn't it funny to her? The humor plays on the conventions of the Noir genre, the whole hard-boiled detective fiction genre. She had not experience with those conventions so (to her) the character just said weird things and acted oddly. She had trouble understanding the story because she had not context for getting the humor. Now Chet Gecko books do really well (especially with boys) so clearly many kids do understand those conventions, but that is a requirement for "getting" the humor of the piece.

If your story turns a genre sideways to play it for laughs (like the Bailey School Kids books do with the horror genre) then the humor will depend upon the reader knowing how that kind of story normally works. Kids don't need to be told that having a vampire for a teacher would be scary. And most kids old enough to read the books know quite a bit about vampires. So the story can play with the whole concept of vampires and have a great time. This is because vampire stories are a bit more ubiquitous in our culture than Noir - so works for a broader range of young readers.

Humor is often about totally understanding what would be expected in a situation and then giving the reader something totally different - and making it "work" in the logic of the story (which can be very different from the logic of the world). What kinds of situations would kids totally know the normal conventions of? Visits to elderly relative. Classroom experience. Riding on the bus. New kid at school. Holidays. Going to see the principal. Trip to the library. Because these are part of every child's life - they can be ripe for humor simply by creating a plot where these events are twisted to become totally unexpected, and therefore funny. What if Grandma took up extreme sports? What if school took place in a tree? What if the school bus broke down at Christmas and a strange guy pulled up and hooked eight reindeer to the front to pull it? What if the new kid at school was really really old? How many what if twists can you imagine? Can you see the potential humor in them?

So as you think about what classification your story falls into, the key is to think about what drives the story. Is it more funny than anything else? (It's probably humor.) Is it characterized by quick thinking and catastrophic challenges? (It's probably adventure.) Does it have elements that cannot happen in the real world? (It's probably fantasy.) Does it focus on day to day life in relatively normal ways? (It's probably "realistic fiction" or "contemporary fiction.") Does it focus on elements of nature or how the natural world works or how we should protect it? (It's probably a nature story.)

What's at your story's core?

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