When I read, I fully invest in the story. I enter the world of the characters and live the story with them. I did the same as a child whether reading it or listening to my mother read bedtime stories. I remember reaching the moment in Peter Pan when Tinkerbell has drunk the poison meant for Peter and was dying. I cried, not so much because I liked Tinkerbell because I didn’t, but because she was Peter’s friend and he would miss her, and even though she was mean to Wendy, I didn’t want her to die. So when Peter asked everyone who believed in fairies to clap their hands, I clapped as loud and hard as I could, because I knew if Tinkerbell heard she would be saved.

Fast forward a year or two. I would listen to Peter Pan on an album we had and would always clap at the important moment. Not quite so loud and hard as I did in the beginning, but I clapped because I believed. But then things subtly changed. I’d listen to the record or read the story and would think, “But not everyone is reading or listening to the story at the same time as me, so how do I know whether Tinkerbell is dying?” Would my lone claps save her? I clapped. Not because I believed it would save her, but because I didn’t know it wouldn’t. Notice, it wasn’t my belief in fairies that had waned, but my belief that clapping could save a fairy in a far distant land.

Before, I had believed without question. Now, logic played a part and altered my beliefs based on concepts I better understood, like not everyone reading the same story at the same time. And slowly, I stopped clapping … and felt sad because it was no longer in my power to help Tinkerbell live or die. I first believed I had the ability to sway Tinkerbell’s fate because Peter, the hero of the story, had told me so. Later I believed because I had proven it to be true … I had clapped and she lived. Later still, my belief slipped because I had greater knowledge and that knowledge cast doubts on the beliefs I had previously held.

I find the same to be true with all beliefs. We might first believe something because we hear it from an authority figure. Someone we like/revere/trust. As we grow/mature in our knowledge surrounding the belief, there might be some subtle shifts in what we believe and how strongly we believe it. Sometimes we reach a point where we discard a belief previously held. And sometimes the hole, where we once held the belief, is filled with sorrow or even anger.

Back to the kids in the Homeless Myths series. They believe many things adults would say were wrong. But they hold on to their beliefs because they need them. The beliefs help explain the world they live in. A world so chaotic it otherwise does not make sense. And who is to say they are wrong? Because we cannot prove them right doesn’t mean they are wrong.

Yes, I have given up the belief that clapping because I believe in fairies can save one from dying, but who is to say I don’t believe it fairies?

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By Oxyman – Own work, CC BY 2.5, Link

Recently, I was discussing the arc for the Middle Grade (MG) series I am currently researching with an author friend who asked, “Are you sure this isn’t YA (Young Adult)?” My response was an immediate and unequivocal, “Yes.” The question was valid as what we had been discussing could potentially be morphing into the YA realm. But I am firm in my gut feeling that the series is MG and not YA. But why is that?

I could make an argument based on the ages of my characters. There is a core group of kids, the oldest of whom is twelve. Firmly in the realm of Middle Grade. Except that isn’t the only thing that drives the difference in the age categories. My friend’s argument was that the situations felt more YA than MG. And she does have a point. However, one of the best-selling MG series of all time is Harry Potter and the situations in that series are life and death. Plus, my personal opinion of the series is that while it starts as MG, it ends as YA. Is that solely based on Harry’s age and the fact that he is a year older in each book?

Not entirely. For me, the series morphs into YA with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Now does it do that because Harry is fourteen in that book? Which would support the age-based category theory. I say no. The book starts for me as MG and ends as YA and the defining moment for the change is the loss of innocence … the loss of trust … the loss of belief. Harry returns to Hogwarts happy because he feels like he is home again, he has a family — in his godfather Sirius Black, who remains on the run from the dementors — he has his friends, and he and all the other students are under the protection of the castle, the teachers, and Albus Dumbledore. Voldemort cannot win against such things.

Except immediately, he is once again thrown into a situation not of his own making, only this time, he loses a friend (if only temporarily) in the process. The upset between Ron and Harry is strictly MG material. But later in the book, through the machinations of someone he thought he could trust, Harry is taken out of Hogwarts, beyond the protection of Albus Dumbledore, and must fight Voldemort completely on his own. In a mockery of his earlier noble act which gained him points, Harry’s noble act of sharing the win with Cedric cost Cedric his life. It his through his blood that Voldemort fully returns. In the graveyard, Harry loses his innocence having been responsible for taking another to his death, he loses his belief that good can triumph over evil, and he loses trust in the authority figures he expected to be able to protect him.

This is where for me the difference between MG and YA lies. Harry stops seeing everything in terms of black and white or good versus evil where good will prevail, but sees things from a more jaded perspective through shades of gray. He stops seeing things through the innocent eyes of a child. My challenge is to portray my kids, who frankly have seen the seamier side of life, to still see the world they live in through innocent eyes.

It’s a good thing I’m always up for a challenge.

By Rstoplabe14 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

The post What Makes a Book Middle Grade? appeared first on Be the Cat.

1. Feed the hungry
2. Shelter the homeless
3. Visit those in prison
4. Clothe the naked
5. Visit the sick
6. Bury the dead

And Father Oliver added an item because of Pepper’s actions in hurting a person of Japanese descent…

7. Befriend Hashimoto

I’m not going to get all spoilery, but the movie got me to thinking about faith and having the faith that can move a mountain … which requires the banishment of all doubt. Having the faith of a mustard seed, or that of a small boy who BELIEVES. How many of us are walking around not doing things because we lack the belief in ourselves to do it? How many of us give up after trying a few times because obviously it was not meant to be?

I am a writer, and the publishing industry is full of NO through all levels. If you’re just starting out and querying, you’re going to hear the word “no”; when you’re on submission to publishers, you’re going to hear the word “no”; when your book is being sent out to garner the coveted starred review, you’re going to hear the word “no”; and ultimately, at some point from the reading public, you’re going to hear the word “no” because not every book is for every person. How many “no”s before your faith is shaken? How many times can you be rejected before you give up? How do you keep your belief intact?

Before Pepper’s father went off to war, the movie did a brilliant job of taking the viewer into the imagination of an eight-year-old boy, where he and his father acted out adventures in the old west, on the high seas, and more, and when the situation became dire, his father would shout, “Do you believe you can do this, partner?”

The question made me smile. While the writing itself is a solitary endeavor for the most part, it takes many, many people to help polish up the work, and those who have someone in their corner egging them on are blessed. We need that someone. And now that my best friend and I are in the midst of starting a business in this industry, the question becomes even more pertinent. Together we have to move that mountain to make sure everything aligns to get the business off the ground. And we’re doing it … one step at a time. Before we took the leap, she asked me the all important question, “Do you believe we can do this?”

I have been well-trained in my response. Despite the odds, despite the obstacles, despite the height of the mountain we have to scale, my answer is always the same …

I believe we can. And I truly do. Giving up is not an option.

What do you believe in?

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