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When I first began my writing journey, I didn't venture far from the fantasy genre. But as I grew more comfortable in the craft, I started exploring and experimenting with other genres in order to find my voice. Over the years, I've written something in just about every genre. There is, however, one genre that I've always avoided: children’s. I have a tremendous amount of respect for those who write for a younger reading audience. It'd be easy to dismiss the genre as too simplistic, but writing for children requires clarity, restraint, and a deep understanding of emotional nuance. I think the children's genre is one of the most deceptively difficult genres to master. That being said, the children’s genre doesn’t really align with my creative aesthetic. The themes I’m drawn to explore—grief, moral ambiguity, power structures and systems of oppression, corruption, betrayal, the messiness of love and loss—skew more heavily toward an adult audience. My narrative voice and muse sit comfortably in liminal spaces that others may find uncomfortable. I’m interested in discomfort, in peeling back torn flesh to examine the wound, in asking questions that don’t always have gentle answers, and taking on subject matters that make others flinch and turn away. Children’s literature often demands a kind of tonal containment that would be too creatively restricting. Writing in this genre would be a challenge and an unenjoyable endeavor. I've reached a maturity and level within the craft that I'm beyond writing things I don't enjoy. TL;DR— Restricting my voice to fit the guardrails of children’s storytelling would feel less like an exercise in the craft and more like self-censorship. ____________ 269 words   |
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