@musicalfrog
However, it is quite dated and a bit slow in comparison to plots of more recent novels where the inciting incident usually occurs within the first few chapters.
I don't understand why being slow should be a criticism. The fast pace of life these days is bringing a lot of people to their knees. Reading a book should be an escape, and an opportunity to slow down and relax.
We're reading the Famous Five and some chapters are devoted to simple walks and what they had for tea. It's sublime! The detail that a lot of stories miss out is why I love these books so much!
Current trends mean publishers are less likely to take on a book that has a slow start. Quick pace is what they want due to modern day children’s shortened attention span and need for instant results. Simply, we are much less patient than we used to be.
I think if a debut author tried to traditionally publish something with similar pace to HP today, it would be rejected by publishing houses and literary agents. I’m not saying this is a good thing, but the children’s literary market is fiercely competitive now and quick pace is a pre requisite to being published.
The flip side of that is that fewer children are being exposed to ‘slower’ books in book shops which means they maintain the expectation that all books need to get to the inciting incident quickly.
Lots of teachers nowadays are very critical of books like Famous Five as modern day children find the characters not relatable and the story/structure/pace boring.
Classic stories still have their place definitely like The Hobbit and Enid Blyton stories, but it’s very unlikely we’ll see a trend for that type of writing again in the near future within the children’s literary market.