Kids On Bikes, Chapter 2

I was recently watching a vlog featuring a prominent middle grade writer and an renown literary agent where they were talking about the state of middle grade writing. For those of you that don't know, middle grade is literature for readers primarily between the ages of 8-13 that is more sophisticated than children's chapter books but not as thematically advanced as young adult. In the vlog, the agent implied that using a pre-cell phone setting was kind of cheating for these types of books. I didn't like that. It ignores the inherent fun in these stories. But this was also the agent that basically said all books need to be "message" or "issue" books. But that's a discussion for another time, though if you follow me on Twitter or have read my previous posts, you already know how I feel about that.

The setting of these stories is clearly defined and perhaps the most important aspect of the trope. It HAS to be set before cell phones. They change the entire story. Every kid has a phone and they drive so much of their lives. I mean I can tell you within six feet where my 11 year old is at any time. Kind of hard to have adventures like we did when we were his age. I sometimes wish my kids would have these adventures. I can't help like they're missing out on something that I had and they don't. It's not a cop out to set stories in this time period. it just doesn't fit said agent's view of the publishing landscape as they see it. (Okay, okay, I'm getting off my soapbox.)

More trope codifiers. 

I think it's a fascinating trope to play with. The adventure aspect of it is appealing to kids while that nostalgic parts grab their parents. I mean who amongst us hasn't sat on our bed blaring Van Halen out of our boomboxes while reading some R.A. Salvatore? (An actual scene in my book!) That nostalgia was hitting hard while I was writing the book. It made it fun to write, which in turn makes it fun to read. But that nostalgia might come at a price. 

Nostalgia is something I want to write about at length, but this is not the post for it. There's a great quote from one of the aforementioned R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books that I want to use as the basis of my discussion. But that's for a later date. The problem with heavy nostalgia in a project like this is that it might alienate readers, especially younger readers that might not get the references. I think that's why my 90s set ski club rom com never caught on, even though I feel like it's really well written. It makes me wonder who am I actually writing these books for. I've noticed that a lot of "kids on bikes" books are written for adults, I would imagine for exactly this reason. But, for some reason, in other mediums that doesn't seem to be a concern. STRANGER THINGS is wildly popular across multiple age groups because for all the nostalgia, it's a show about kids having adventures, which is what kids want to read. Not books about issues...wait, wait, I'm not getting back on that soapbox. For now.