[NetBehaviour] The Cake Maker of Transylvania - out now

Edward Picot julian.lesaux at gmail.com
Mon Oct 7 20:03:33 CEST 2019


Michael,

I'm sure you're right about this. I still haven't got a very clear cut 
answer, though. In terms of reading age I should think eight and up - 
but it's a love story, so probably more interesting to those aged ten 
and up.

But actually it's got some quite adult stuff in it, so I'm still not 
sure... I comfort myself with the thought that a lot of the most 
successful books for children have a lot of material in them that adults 
can get their teeth into as well. But I don't expect a commercial 
publisher would see it that way.

Edward

On 06/10/2019 15:52, Michael Szpakowski wrote:
> <creating something for my own amusement first, and wondering whether 
> there might be an audience for it afterwards. Usually there isn't, but 
> I still prefer it as a working method.
> >
> Indeed - and under most circumstances I agree 100% -indeed it seems to 
> me the only honest way to make things *in general*. I'd only differ 
> when it comes to work intended for non adults in the sense that there 
> are clearly *some* ( and one wouldn't want to overplay this) 
> /developmental /issues at stake -just think of the rapidity of change 
> in childhood and adolescence compared to even twenties onward. So, to 
> give an extreme example, *some* adults will struggle with Ulysses (and 
> a personal hands up - three times a third of the way in, full of  the 
> joy of it, and three times grinding to a halt especially if something 
> shiny elsewhere catches my eye)  but, I'm willing to bet ,*no* five 
> year old has read it.  I'd emphasise that these are linguistic, 
> stylistic and structural, not content related, considerations.
> So it actually seems to me a perfectly legitimate and helpful 
> consideration to specify a broad age range for which a piece of work 
> intended for children is aimed and indeed once during the writing, 
> once that range starts to become clear to then have it at least a 
> little bit in mind.
> My mantra with work with children in terms of language, structure has 
> always been 'just beyond what the top expectation for the age range 
> would be'.
> None of this remotely a criticism of the book which, as I said, I loved.
> Purely pragmatically too I suspect you might shift more copies if you 
> were able to suggest who might really get the most out of it, and it 
> deserves to find its audience.
> Michael
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thursday, October 3, 2019, 5:36:34 PM GMT+1, Edward Picot via 
> NetBehaviour <netbehaviour at lists.netbehaviour.org> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks, Michael!
>
> Target age range - er, I'm never really sure about that kind of thing. 
> Eight and up? Ten and up? Early teens with goth tendencies? The truth 
> is that Mollie and I came up with it to amuse ourselves. I'm always 
> falling into that trap - creating something for my own amusement 
> first, and wondering whether there might be an audience for it 
> afterwards. Usually there isn't, but I still prefer it as a working 
> method.
>
> An audience of 62 year old artists in their gardens in the early 
> October sun will do me just fine.
>
> Edward
>
>
> On 02/10/2019 14:59, Michael Szpakowski wrote:
> I just read it - it’s very good :) Elegantly and satisfyingly plotted 
> and without a trace of condescension to its potential audience. Dances 
> once the edge of darkness but has a warm, and this seems an 
> appropriate word, heart. The illustrations are lovely too. I’d be 
> interested to know what you see as the target age range Edward ( apart 
> from 62 year old artists  sitting reading it in their gardens in the 
> early October sun)
>
>
> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone <https://yho.com/footer0>
>
> On Sunday, September 29, 2019, 7:53 pm, Edward Picot via NetBehaviour 
> <netbehaviour at lists.netbehaviour.org> 
> <mailto:netbehaviour at lists.netbehaviour.org> wrote:
>
>     It's not in any bookstores, Alan. But if I manage to get along to
>     your
>     presentation at the ICA, which I'm hoping to do, I can bring a
>     copy with me.
>
>     On 29/09/2019 19:40, Alan Sondheim wrote:
>     >
>     >
>     > Looking forward as well! - Is it possible to get one somewhere when
>     > we're in London?
>     >
>     > Thanks, Alan
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