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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37576
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In my personal experience, the advice you have been given is correct.

I had your exact problem and was told by two editors that my story was too dark/complex for children and my protagonists too young to appeal to an adult audience. I was told I had pitched it mid-market and would struggle to sell it. I ended up rewriting the entire novel, ageing my protagonists to suit a YA-Adult audience. The alternative was to dumb it down to suit children and I didn't want to dumb down my story.

However, since your protagonist is actually an adult (and I would be tempted to make her even older than 16 to give that adult appeal) recounting what happened to her when she was 11, I think you will be okay to pitch at an adult audience.

Unless I've read your question wrong and this is an eleven-year-old recounting what happened to her when she was six, in which case I would say your excerpt doesn't read like the voice of an eleven-year-old (sorry).

I would also say that it's advisable to know your audience before you start writing, i.e. instead of wondering what age your intended audience should be, given what you've written. You should be asking what you should write given your intended audience. If you understand your reader, you can target what you write directly at them. For example, in my current novel, I know my audience to be middle-aged women. So I create scenes, circumstances and conflict for my protagonist that will (hopefully) elicit tension and empathy from middle-aged women who are likely to be facing similar life problems and difficulties as my middle-aged protagonist.

Without knowing who your audience is, how can you create scenes that will appeal to them?

I didn't understand that when I wrote my first book (hence pitching it mid-market), missed my target audience by a mile and had to rewrite. I would save you that pain if I could!!

GOOD LUCK!

Original score: 3