Lately, I've been working on a short novel. The best part about it is I know exactly who my ideal reader is, because I read to them every night.
The characters in this story, which I believe will be the beginning of a series, are third graders, just like my girls. We're talking about a book that'll probably have no more than 10,000 words. This is not a middle grade novel.
It's not ready for prime time at all; I haven't even finished the first draft, and I know I've created some tangents I'll need to lop off before I'm done. But that's part of the editing and revision process; I'm writing right now.
But I'm curious about what other writers out there have learned during this process.
How have you determined whether you're writing with the right language? I tend to write too old (probably related to my writing for a business audience for the past twenty-plus years).
Do you test with children?
Do you share with other parents?
How do you find these things out for yourself?
If you have thoughts or suggestions, feel free to comment here. Or send an email to me at matt@elephantsbookshelfpress.com.
And if anyone's interested, I'm putting together an early readers' team for these books. I'm very much at the early stage of this, but I'll definitely give you free copies of the book when it's ready.
