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BeccaPrice · 10-06-2013, 08:50 PM

So I'm working on another fairy tale collection, Fables and Fireflies. In D&D, the stories ranged from the very simple to the more complex and sophisticated, but they were all aimed pretty much at the same age range - the simplest would work for maybe a 5yo, and the more complex were aimed at 8 or 9yos, although I know a 10yo boy who liked them.

F&F currently has 5 stories - 6, if I include The Snarls, which is a stand-alone freebie. There are two other stories planned, but not yet written.

Heart of Rock - 3800 words more or less, a story in 3 chapters, aimed at 7-10yo
Bridge of 7 Stones - about 3500 words, a story about losing teeth and growing up - probably aimed at 6-8yos
Pussy Willow, about 1280 words, very simple, maybe ages 5-7
Best Baby - 1075 words, about adoption
The Snarls - 1070 words, about hair combing, for a very young child.
The Sirens' Song - 796 words, this is my salmon story, about death, and although it's short and simple, it's probably for 8-10yos because of the topic.

The two that aren't written yet: Stone Eyes, a version of the Tam Lin story, maybe working out to 1500-2000 words, probably aimed at the older range.

The Firefly Fairy - probably around 1000 words, maybe ages 5-7.

So you see, the age ranges and the length ranges are all over the place.

This is making coming up with a blurb very difficult. There's no one part of it that I can quote, like I did for the D&D blurb, to show off the writing style, because stylistically these are all over the place as well. Some are modern, and some have the feel of classical fairy tales, and The Sirens' Song could be an Aesop fable - it's the only one where the moral is actually called out specifically. They're not all bedtime stories - some could be used as such, but others are either too long or the topic isn't appropriate for a bedtime story.

I'm not even sure what order to put these in - I'd start at the simplest and go to the most complex, but that would probably make my sample be 2 full stories, and would give a false impression of the rest of the contents. I'm tempted to start with Heart of Rock, because that would give a good sample at Amazon, and then go into the stories from simple to complex, and end with Bridge of 7 Stones...

Can anyone help me make sense of this hodgepodge and help me come up with a unifying blurb? I don't even know where to start.

10-06-2013, 08:50 PM	#1
BeccaPrice Wizard Posts: 2,146 Karma: 11174187 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Sony 350, K3-3G, K4SO, KPW	A collection that just won't jell So I'm working on another fairy tale collection, Fables and Fireflies. In D&D, the stories ranged from the very simple to the more complex and sophisticated, but they were all aimed pretty much at the same age range - the simplest would work for maybe a 5yo, and the more complex were aimed at 8 or 9yos, although I know a 10yo boy who liked them. F&F currently has 5 stories - 6, if I include The Snarls, which is a stand-alone freebie. There are two other stories planned, but not yet written. Heart of Rock - 3800 words more or less, a story in 3 chapters, aimed at 7-10yo Bridge of 7 Stones - about 3500 words, a story about losing teeth and growing up - probably aimed at 6-8yos Pussy Willow, about 1280 words, very simple, maybe ages 5-7 Best Baby - 1075 words, about adoption The Snarls - 1070 words, about hair combing, for a very young child. The Sirens' Song - 796 words, this is my salmon story, about death, and although it's short and simple, it's probably for 8-10yos because of the topic. The two that aren't written yet: Stone Eyes, a version of the Tam Lin story, maybe working out to 1500-2000 words, probably aimed at the older range. The Firefly Fairy - probably around 1000 words, maybe ages 5-7. So you see, the age ranges and the length ranges are all over the place. This is making coming up with a blurb very difficult. There's no one part of it that I can quote, like I did for the D&D blurb, to show off the writing style, because stylistically these are all over the place as well. Some are modern, and some have the feel of classical fairy tales, and The Sirens' Song could be an Aesop fable - it's the only one where the moral is actually called out specifically. They're not all bedtime stories - some could be used as such, but others are either too long or the topic isn't appropriate for a bedtime story. I'm not even sure what order to put these in - I'd start at the simplest and go to the most complex, but that would probably make my sample be 2 full stories, and would give a false impression of the rest of the contents. I'm tempted to start with Heart of Rock, because that would give a good sample at Amazon, and then go into the stories from simple to complex, and end with Bridge of 7 Stones... Can anyone help me make sense of this hodgepodge and help me come up with a unifying blurb? I don't even know where to start.