Or Was C.S. Lewis right?
Was C.S. Lewis Wrong?
I'm going to be honest here, I used to disagree with C.S. Lewis' statement. A lot. As a teen, there's nothing that irks me more than adults complaining about YA books. Saying they're bored of seeing teens experiencing love for the first time. Or arguing that the protagonist is too "unrealistic" because they act immature.
In these instances, the problem to me was always clear. These books aren't meant for adults, they're meant for teens. So, when adults complain about the book not being interesting to them, it's not because the novel is inherently a bad book. It's simply because they're not the target audience. And authors of young adult or middle grade novels shouldn't focus on catering to people who aren't their target audience, right?
Rereading Middle Grade
Well, that's what I thought until I started reading a lot of middle grade novels in order to better revise my middle grade book. During this time, I definitely came across a few gems (Nevermoor: The Trials Of Morrigan Crow, and Keeper of The Lost Cities to name a few) but I got really bored by most.
At first I didn't know what to make of it, I figured that I simply didn't like middle grade anymore because I'd grown out of it and as such should read books for older audiences. But I still wanted to read middle grade in order to better write middle grade books. So what now? Keep reading and even draw inspiration from books that I don't really like? Stop writing middle grade altogether?
In the end, I decided to go back to my middle grade roots. To reread one of my favorite books as a kid, The Lightning Thief, in the hopes that maybe I would rediscover what first drew me to reading and writing this genre. And what I found out when reading shocked me.
Writing For Adults Is A Better Idea?
I loved it. Not only was it easily the best middle grade novel I've read this year but also one of the best books I've read this year. Despite not reading the book for years and basically forgetting all of the characters, I still found myself caring about all of them, genuinely laughing at numerous points, and being excited to read the entire time.
Essentially, my favorite book as a kid continued to entertain me even as a teen and probably will as an adult too. I even found this pattern to be true when looking back on the other middle grade novels I'd read. The ones which tended to be very popular (best sellers, award winners, or just having genuinely high sales/ratings) weren't the novels which bored me but the ones which I found enjoyable despite my age. In other words, C.S. Lewis was right. It seems like children's novels do better when not just written for kids.
Treating All Readers As Adults
So, is that it? Do I completely agree with C.S. Lewis? Well, I definitely have a new found appreciation for his statement and for the most part I do agree. Children's and even teen novels are simply better stories when they're entertaining to not just kids but adults as well. However, I think this concept doesn't stem from children's books being written for adults. It just happens to occur when others implement another idea into their writing. Treating young readers with the same respect as adult readers.
In other words, I would still never advise for a middle grade or YA writer to write for adults. And as a middle grade writer myself, I'll continue to place more emphasis on making my novel appealing to kids. If it appeals to teens and adults, great, but they're not my core audience.
But writing for a younger audience doesn't mean you should assume that audience is less capable of handling a well-developed story. Looking back on it, the middle grade books I found boring were often the stories that didn't contain a lot of meaning or complexity. I could easily see that because the author was writing for kids, they chose to include fluffy cute animals and overly friendly characters instead of a good story. And this is the sort of storytelling I could sense as a kid. There's a reason the Lightning Thief was my favorite book (plus a New York Times bestseller) and not a cutesy but simple book. Because kids, teens, or whoever you're writing for deserve a good story regardless of their age.