@LouigiVerona, on YouTube, asked me the following, when commenting on my last video: https://youtu.be/XaRwoKwxdr0

“A question: you are frequently saying that a story for one’s child is not necessarily a story that would work for other children. Could you talk more about it? I’m not planning to write anything like that, but I’m just curious what a writer should pay attention to and what, in your experience, actually works?”

I thought the easiest thing would be to make a video off the top of my head to start trying to explain this for you and for myself. There is a lot more to it and I will come back to this subject – especially if the video makes you want to ask more questions – please do so in the comments box below.

Having made and edited the video the following thoughts occurred to me:

Simply put, a story written for a particular child assumes the reader knows so much about that family or the child’ situation – the the pet names – the culture – the in-jokes.

There is often a lot that is written in a family story which actually excludes the reader.

To write a story that is universal, it must accessible for all children, or at least the target audience.

If you want to sell a lot of books, you want to make the story inclusive for as many children as possible.

The themes should be those of all children’s lives, not those of one particular child on one particular day in one particular culture.

It is good to share cultures and allow others in to understand, but that means finding the universality in the story.