December 31, 2014 3:33 PM EST
Thank you for the input. I thought of taking out the death of the child (note that in the chapter, it's not overplayed) but then it seemed too "unreal". Like you say, in life things happen. Bad things. It sucks when it does.
If the book is to create a living, breathing monster for folks, that monster, in reality, wouldn't say "hey this is a human child so it's off limits". Though, if a publisher says to remove it in order to publish the book, I guess I would have to find a way but it feels like it would then diminish the realism and the reader would not be taking a trip in this world but instead just viewing it. Those sort of stories are ok but are not what I'm after. I'm after the real world effect, the impact a reader gets when reading - of traveling to this other world that we create for them and immersing themselves there for the time we share it with them.
Honestly, when the reader puts down the book, I want them feeling Curakan looking over their shoulder. Otherwise, I've not created, I've just told a good story. Do you get what I mean?