If you wrote an adventure/ fantasy book for adults, full of swearing and brass actions would you rewrite and adjust it if you were told you would make more money if you made the story more catered for children.

I read an article a few months ago where an author rewrote his whole novel when told it would be better suited for children if the language and a few scenes were toned down.

No. I'd say I'm not a children's writer, and I'm never impressed by money anyway.

Heh, children's books are where the money is at the moment. Ask JK Rowling.

Now, if you're being told "re-write it to appeal to children and you'll make more money", what is really being said is "I want to make more money from this, so the only way I'm going to publish it is if it's re-written as a kid's book. As an aside, you will also make more money from this".

Personally, I could never corrupt my own writing to fit in with someone else's ideals. Then it stops being my work, and some hybrid piece of fake crap that I would never be satisfied with.

Yep.

Moral high ground...................hum....my beloved work............could I change it?.................well.........................hum....................or.....................millions of pounds.............................millions of pounds, hum. I might not stand high on the moral hill but I can get a good view from the money mountain

I think some of the reponses to this have missed the point.

situation :- you write a piece of work which in itself is excellent

you send it off


the agent or publisher recognises the quality of the work but sees something extra in it and by you the writer making a few changes the agent or publisher whom you are paying for their expertise identifies a much bigger market. ( the truth being there may be no market for the work as it was originally written)

So do you accept your paid experts view or stick your head in the sand?

On the basis that the agent and /or publisher are the experts in their part of the eqaution. marketing and market identification and promotion ( and I reiterate you are paying them for that expertise) my view is you accept their view with good grace and great thanks and cry all the way to the bank.

Have you prostituted your self?

not in my view

Is their suggestion any different from say, telling you to rewrite part of it because it is too long or whatever.

If you aren't prepared to change a piece of work then pay for it to be published yourself and market it yourself.

I personally think that there is a difference between editing something because it's excessively waffly or potentially offensive and re-tuning something to appeal to a specific audience.

In the situation, I would happily cut down any uneccessarilly verbose chapters and revise any offensive material. But would I wouldn't do so to the extent that I no longer saw the writing as a piece of my own work.

If told I should "re-interpret" a piece of work to become a children's book, I would say, if you want me to write a kid's book, I'll go off and try to write one now, see you in three months".

It comes back to the point made by James Graham in his article. Check out the "we'll give you cheaper windows if you stick a sign outside your house saying we did them.

It's on the same level. Financially beter off, but can you live with it? Some can, others couldn't. I'm among the latter.

Has anyone seen the ad at the cinema at the moment featuring Carrie Fisher?

She's trying to sell her idea to a group of men behind a desk, it's a 19th Century piece, about a couple who can only communicate through letters. They argue that they should bring it up to date, maybe communicate via text instead.

The moral being - don't let a mobile phone ruin your movie.

But would I let anyone ruin a story I wrote? Totally rework my ideas, to fit them into something suitable for a child? Well, I wouldn't be happy to do it, but then there's the money. I can't exactly turn down opportunities to earn money, even if it does mean tearing apart something I've done.

Perhaps by selling out now, it could give you the opportunity to be yourself later on. Then again, maybe you would have just sold your soul...?

So basically.... I'm undecided. )

I agree with Insane about it, and it would be really rude of someone to suggest it, it's them seeing the way they could make money. Would you say to a painter, 'Oh! Goodness, that would be a good painting, I could sell that for you if only you would just...' They'd get the turps slop pot thrown at them.