I've been struggling for some time to finally polish off my novel for children 'The Gnarly Man' (for around 10-12 yr age group roughly). I originally did it in third person, past tense but after comments from young readers have changed it to present tense. Now that I'm doing a final (hopefully) edit I'm still wondering what's best & whether to go back to my original plan. Please could some of you have a read and see what you think?
I wondered if you'd be interested in this blog post which is also about present or past tense in children's books:
http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/present%20tense
Hi
I'm interested to hear of the preference for present tense coming from 10-12 year olds. If it's more than a couple of blood relatives, that might be something to put in a cover letter to agent/ publisher (if that's something you're planning to do). Showing that you've researched your target readers and are willing to make editorial changes would put you in a good light, I imagine.
I have read your excerpt and enjoyed it. I didn't have anything more to add than the two comments already posted.
Thank you for sharing it.
Hi there Susan - I've just had a look and have left some comments :-)