Although recommended ages for readers and main characters differ from publisher to publisher, here are a few guidelines you should keep in mind: If your interest in writing children’s books, the rule of thumb is that children like to read books with a main character their age or slightly older. I also receive memoirs of an adult looking back at childhood, which is also not what children enjoy reading. For an annual contest I sponsor, some of the submissions I receive are poems or short stories with children as the main character, but with adult feelings and observations. Members often submit manuscripts that either aren’t children’s books or their main character is the wrong age. I belong to the Society for Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, or SCBWI, and I host two critique groups: a picture book group and a middle-grade/young adult group. But I would add: you have to know the rules and your audience before you can break the rules. He writes poetry, picture books, middle reader’s books, young adult novels, and adult novels.One of my favorite writing rules is: There are no rules. When not storytelling, his interests include genetics, linguistics, and Rosicrucian studies. He hosts a monthly SCBWI Social in Louisville.

He belongs to SCBWI (Society for Children’s Writers & Illustrators), International Thriller Writers, and Green River Writers. He has donned many hats: federal meat inspector, salesman, truck driver, teacher, and caregiver.Ī widower, he lives in Louisville, Kentucky near Tom Sawyer State Park where he hikes whenever the weatherman lets him. He has done graduate work with MSU, University of Louisville, and Spalding University in veterinary medicine and education. He went to school in Michigan, receiving a BS from Michigan State University. (she was unfairly accused of losing her clothes, but that is another story) On his European side, his great…great grandmother was Lady Godiva, making him a distant cousin to William Shakespeare. His great-great grandfather, Bill Pennington, left his Cherokee village during the Trail of Tears and moved with his family to Charlestown, probably fording the Ohio River near the fort. Though he is not legally Native American, he has Cherokee and Shawnee ancestors. He still loves mules, but the city won’t let him keep them. He lived near Charlestown, Indiana on a mule-powered farm, on the site of a 1790 fort built to prevent Shawnees from crossing the Ohio River. Charles Suddeth was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Neanderthal Protocol by Charles Suddeth