Genre Switching and Other Thoughts

 

Genre Switching and Other Thoughts

 

What’s it like to write a novel for adults after having written three middle grade novels? I’ve been asked that frequently since my first novel for adults, Off to Join the Circus (Apprentice House, 7/18/23), was published a couple of weeks ago.

 

Well, actually I’ve attempted to write fiction for adults for several decades now—it’s just that this is the only one to make it to publication! I still have hopes for the others—we shall see.

 

One thing I’ve noticed is that whatever age group I’m writing for, I tend to use the same type of perspective—a close third person that puts you in the head of the character. For whatever reason, that feels comfortable.

 

But this novel for adults marks the first time I’ve written a book told from multiple perspectives. And that was a lot of fun! It creates many opportunities for humor—a character does something for reasons they (and the reader) understand, but another character assumes the first character’s motivation comes from something completely different.

 

My seven characters cover three generations of the fictional Pinsky family—from the 75-year-old grandfather to the almost-13-year-old bar mitzvah boy and his 15-year-old brother. The characters in my middle grade novels are in fifth grade, so about 10 or 11 years old, and writing these slightly older kids was quite familiar. 

 

One difference was that my new novel, which is set in the present day, required very little research, whereas my middle grade novels, a series called The President and Me, involves modern-day kids who travel back in time to meet the early presidents. For those books, I needed to do copious amounts of research on the 18th and 19th centuries, the presidents, their families, the enslaved people who lived in their homes, and much more.

 

Just to conclude, I love book groups, so if you’d like me to come and visit your book group and talk about Off to Join the Circus, just let me know! Thanks!

 

--Deborah Kalb