Interesting dilemma in a recent plot consultation — the protagonist (a 12 year-old in a middle grade fantasy novel) kills the evil queen, her mother, at the Climax.
Now, before you react, let me explain. Turns out in the Resolution the woman she kills is not actually her mother. Whew! Still, the reveal comes too late to justify the killing as the story is written now.
This age-group, heck, any age group, for the protagonist to do such a deed, the mother must be evil incarnate — which the queen is though not necessarily shown enough throughout the story as it’s written now — and even then, I believe it is a tough sell for middle-grads readers, or at least their gatekeeper — parents, teacher, etc.
Not even Luke Skywalker is able in the end to kill his own father — Darth Vader — in the Star Wars films.
The archetype of the Mother needs to stay pure. The woman she has become can be hated — yes? — but…
The Climax is the crowning glory of the story. The reader has been reading for pages and pages. This is the scene they will likely remember. To have such controversy at that moment can work in adult fiction, but in middle grade fiction…
My first thought was NO WAY. My second was, Whoa! My third was, hmm…maybe at the FIRST threshold…My fourth–hmm, if the reveal came just BEFORE the killing…?
Honestly, I don't think it would fly in MG fiction. Not to say it shouldn't be written, but I can't see it being picked up. That said, you never know what will work with brilliance and become something totally believable and right. How's all that for equivocating? 🙂
that is pretty evil.
even as a suspense romance writer for women, i've written about bad mothers, but in the end, either, they kill themselves or overcome with grief try to make better what they have destroyed.
for a middle school book that teaches absolutely no lesson and readers of that age should be learning lessons not vanquishing mother type figures.
I agree with your whole point.
I think that if its handled with the proper weight, it shouldn't be forbidden. I was a reader of middle grade myself a few years ago, and I really liked the daring in the field. I have a few questions, which hopefully won't come across as hostile: Why is it better for the protagonist to kill an evil queen who isn't related? I mean, thinking the antagonist is her mother should make it harder, but why does "the archetype of the Mother [need] to stay pure?" And isn't that archetype, which, after all, middle schoolers have probably already realized is unrealistic, damaged just by presenting the queen as evil and the daughter as her enemy? Thanks for your time.