"You have to write whichever book it is that wants
to be written. And then, if it's going to be too difficult for
grown-ups, you write it for children."
I believe any form of art is a species of exploration and transgression. (I never saw a NO TRESPASSING sign that wasn't a summons to my rebellious blood. Such signs, dutifully posted on trees and fence railings, might as well cry COME RIGHT IN!) To write is to invade another's space, if only to memorialize it; to write is to invite angry censure from those who don't write, or who don't write in quite the way you do, for whom you may seem a threat. Art by its nature is a transgressive act, and artists must accept being punished for it. The more original and unsettling their art, the more devastating the punishment.
Rule one of reading other people's stories is that whenever you say, "well, that's not convincing" the author tells you that's the bit that wasn't made up. This is because real life is under no obligation to be convincing.