Just wanted to add to this discussion. I had Michelle Rubin edit and give me an overall critique of my MG Horror manuscript. I even got the honor of having an hour phone call with her a few weeks after I'd read everything to ask her questions regarding her comments/edits. I had been perplexed about her telling me to remove some of the scary stuff from the novel and asked her about it. My question was formed like, "Michelle, I noticed you suggest removing some of the killings in my manuscript and the way my MC died because it is perhaps too brutal. Yet, Neil Gaiman's THE GRAVEYARD BOOK has Nobody's family killed via a stabbing by someone." Her response, "Well, Neil Gaiman is Neil Gaiman. He can write virtually what he wants. Right? You are trying to get your first novel published, I'd make the deaths different, perhaps accidental." Then, our discussion went on about possibilities and why with my MC being 10, I needed to get more of the violence out of the story. (Please note, I never had gore and only briefly told how someone died. She still thought it was too violent. ex: someone died falling onto a stair spindle.) So, though we see more violent deaths in MG horror, I now take a closer look at who the author is and how long they've been published. Editors let them get away with more when they are established. And if anyone doesn't know who Michelle Rubin is, she's currently the managing editor at CornerstonesUS, amd worked as a literary agent for 25 years at Writers House (Yep, the agency that represents Neil Gaiman). Thus, I'm sure she is on to something. LoL Hope this helps.