I've just finished the second draft of a children's story. Over the last year, I've been writing more and more stories, loosely fantasy, for the most part, that are aimed at the "middle reader" age group, that is from about 9-12 years old. There's something about this age group that is very appealling, to me as a writer. There is a lack of cynicism in the readership that allows the writer to be open about themes and issues and emotions. The writer doesn't have to, slightly shame-facedly, hide what a story is about in literary sleights-of-hand. That's not to say that the stories are less subtle or are heavy-handed in what they do, merely that I can wear my heart on my sleave. I can be more honest, and honesty is at the heart of good writing. So, I've been writing children's stories.

There's a problem though. I'm not the kind of writer who writes short. This particular story is 6,400 words. I'm aiming it for the current Usbourne Fantasy Stories anthology. So far, I've had two stories rejected by them, the second of which was a very near miss, with the comment, "If this was an anthology of myths and legends, this would be in there." In other words, I think I have a reasonable chance there. The editor likes my writing. But if he doesn't take this one, the story is almost unmarketable. Cicada would be a possible market if I rejigged it to make the characters older, but there are no other children's markets that take stories longer than 2,500 words, as far as I know.

I now have three children's short stories of 5,000 words or longer, and have very few places to send them. When all else fails, I will probably send them around the adult fantasy markets. But I am starting to wonder if there is much point in me writing these stories.