Middle Grade Protagonist

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Nicholas Sabo
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Middle Grade Protagonist

Post by Nicholas Sabo » May 30th, 2012, 5:34 pm

In your opinion, is it necessary for the protagonist of a middle grade novel to be a kid?

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Re: Middle Grade Protagonist

Post by Mark.W.Carson » May 30th, 2012, 5:54 pm

It is not IMPERATIVE, but it should be. Alternately, an alien, a robot, or an animal of the approximate cognitive ability and actions as a kid.

Otherwise, you lose the base. Can it be done? Maybe. If you have to ask that question, you probably can't do it.

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polymath
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Re: Middle Grade Protagonist

Post by polymath » May 30th, 2012, 6:30 pm

Young readers read up in age. An older child up to maybe ninth grade experiencing middle grade wants and problems preventing satisfaction of the wants, dramatic complications, can be appropriate. Settings as much as age range define middle grade literature.

Middle grade is a transition age of initiation when children are entering young adulthood and experiencing first semi-independent forays and discovering gray shades of right and wrong between black and white guardian imposed values and first fledgling self-identity formation challenges. Where they discover these identity facets are oftentimes away from guardianship but close to available supervision, like in grade school, boarding schools, orphanages, back yards, school field trips, etc.

Farther away but possible to return to sanctuary if necessary is a challenge but demonstrative of setting-emphasis middle grade literature, where the foray is the inciting crisis and the return to sanctuary is part of the outcome satisfaction. One facet that is critical is the protagonists's transformation should be one of personal moral or psychological growth, like maturing from the dramatic action's influence.
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Mira
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Re: Middle Grade Protagonist

Post by Mira » June 4th, 2012, 6:19 pm

In my opinion, I think so, I think it should be a kid.

I agree with Mark - if it's not human, it should have the same (or possibly alittle younger) cognitive ability as a kid. Kids identify with the protagonist, and they'll have a hard time identifying with someone much older or younger than they are.

Could be wrong, but that's my opinion, fwiw.

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Re: Middle Grade Protagonist

Post by Sommer Leigh » June 5th, 2012, 9:10 am

You should talk with Tricia (TL Conway). She's around here or you can find her at her blog: http://tlconwaywriteshere.blogspot.com/ . She writes middle grade and probably has a better sense of the industry in this matter than I do, but as a YA writer I think the age constraints are pretty set, though there is some wiggle room in YA so I'm assuming there's a little bit of wiggle room in middle grade, but I'm not sure. If there is wiggle room, it's not a lot of wiggle room. It's a very specific time period in a kid's life. The things that happen when you're that age don't happen at any other time in your life.

I guess I would ask what exactly are you wanting to do? Do you want a younger or older protag? A non-human protag? If you want to write a kid who is not middle grade age for a middle grade book, I'd ask the question why.
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Re: Middle Grade Protagonist

Post by trixie » June 5th, 2012, 10:55 am

My initial answer to your question, Nicholas, is yes. A MG story should have an age-appropriate character. That's just my opinion.

HOWEVER... there are exceptions to every rule. Rules are meant to be broken, on and on. Do what you see as a best fit for your story. I realize writers are a secretive and superstitious bunch, but are you willing to share a bit more context about the idea you have? Is your protagonist much older (adult/grandparent) or just a few years (teen, but not a YA book)?

In terms of older protags in MG stories, I automatically think of characters that are, for lack of a better term, classic. Peter Pan or Mickey Mouse. Yes, these characters might be on the younger end of MG, but they are portrayed as a bit older or wiser than their traditional MG counterparts, perhaps because they've been around so long. In a more modern context, however, I don't know if this would work as well. Imagine if the Percy Jackson bunch, or the early Harry Potter gang, or Diary of a Whimpy kid crew were all teen agers? It simply doesn't translate.

Much of the charm of MG is that it allows readers to re-live (if the reader is older) or experience at the same time (if the reader is the target group) that period of life where you start to branch out on your own, find for yourself the difference between right and wrong, and think about beliefs, all while having a secure place to go at the end. MG books introduce MG characters to the big, scary world, then bring them back to the safety of their familiar. If your MC is older, this effect isn't as, well, effective.

Big Pixar-type movies such as Toy Story or Ice Age are examples of older main characters in MG stories. The MCs in both movies (Woody and Manny, respectively) are adult males who are depicted as heros to the MG audience. Based on the success of both movie franchises, I would say that yes, there is precedent for writing a MC protag who is not a kid.

I think authors can make a MG protag older (would be difficult to make the character younger without looking like Muppet Babies or Stewie from Family Guy), but in my opinion, there needs to be a reason why, like being responsible enough to lead friends to safety (Ice Age) or developing a character arc dealing with growing up and unlikely friendships (Toy Story). If there is no identifiable reason, I'm not sure how the story would relate to the target audience.

One last thought: if your target audience are adults/parents under the guise of an MG book, I would proceed with caution. It takes a lot to pull that off well and even then, I wonder if it would be a tough sell. Unless, of course, the book is a novelty like the recently-released "Go the F*ck to sleep". That is clearly intended for adults, but presented in a children's book.

I'm not sure if I'm even on point anymore (story of my life). But if you'd like to talk more about it, please comment here or feel free to PM me if you want. I'm happy to talk MG all day long!

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Re: Middle Grade Protagonist

Post by writersink » July 1st, 2012, 2:41 pm

Sorry for coming so late to the party on this one.

I think YES, but that is my personal opinion. Generally I tend to find children relate to people their own age. An eight year old is going to relate to an eight year old character's problems in a way they won't relate to an eighteen year old. However, children tend to read up, but teenagers or so tend not to read down. So you're more likely to see an eight year old reading about a twelve year old than the other way around.

There are exceptions to every rule, of course, as Trixie put it so well.

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