Too long for Middle Grade

Frances from What the Fran posted yesterday about editing and prose, and how they enjoy long, flowing, possibly convoluted sentences to get lost in. It reminded me of my own preferences with writing and reading. I love that longer style too, with long lines weaving around meaning like a snake around a branch before reaching the final punctuation. Shorter sentences feel choppy to me. Incomplete. Like there's something missing. Which is why I can't write for a Middle Grade audience. I have a MG project, tucked away somewhere in my hard drive. It's a side story from a larger urban fantasy1 project, and I had originally brainstormed the project to write for my mother a few years ago, as a surprise. She loves the world of the project, which is tied to libraries and imagination and has been in my head since I was roughly 16. The MG project looks at one of the younger side characters, an apprentice of sorts to the main character in later books, and gives him an age-appropriate companion and…