Writing children well

Yeah, I saw Reader's post about the seven year old who wanted to go look for Mummy after she watched mummy get eaten Kids aren't that stupid.

Lots of Romance books have the kids as troublemakers or innocent saints. It doesn't fit any kid I know . That's when they aren't just little adults in child suits. How to write child characters well? Do you know authors who are good at this?

 

Will you shoot me if I say J.K. Rowling...

Actually, Enid Blyton always seemed to have a handle on kids, although the books have not aged that well. Hence the reason we now have the up to date versions like "5 go on a team building exercise".

 

I initially thought of J.K. Rowling, but the kids would have cast spells to make themselves the most beautiful, the most intelligent, the most athletic, anything to get a leg up. But, maybe J.K. Rowling mentioned that there was an anti-charm cast about Hogwarts preventing such spells and I've just forgotten about it. It's been years since I read through those books.

They aren't indie writers and they aren't British, but I've always thought that Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary had a good handle on characterizing kids true to form. I can't think of an author who does a good job writing about children in books meant for adults. Maybe J.K. Rowling is all there is?

 

That's a really good point. I never thought about how the students in Harry Potter never really utilize the spells in the ways a normal teenager would. (Other than all the pranks, that is.) I think she mentioned that some "study enhancers" and lucky potions were illegal but, I mean, I still don't know if that would stop a lot of young people.

I don't know if J.M. Barrie counts, since Peter Pan, is more for children, I guess. I still read it all the time though.

 

Good for children of all ages... (from 1 to 100 or more)

 

That's what I think as well. It's for children and it lets adults get in touch with their inner child. I don't think I'll ever get too old for it.

 

It's rarely done well and I think a lot of writers fall into the "little adults" trap.

Besides most of the stories I wind up reading involve teenagers more than children and they don't tend to fare much better, although its a little easier to replace them with an immature adult and get roughly the same effect. It always bothers me when you have someone who is supposed to be 13 acting like a 17 yr old for no real reasdon.

 

I've read books like that before. I feel like that borderline teenage/preteen age brings up a lot of issues for authors. I guess it's harder to narrow down a target audience in that range, so they make them act older or put them in more mature situations. I also think it's because of the YA trope that the protagonist is "different" from their peers and this is typically done by making their strengths (like crazy intelligence) what make them an outcast or whatever rather than some flaws. I think that's what it boils down to - they aren't always flawed enough and seem too settled as a person when most people are fluctuating all the time around that age.

 

Hmm, I'm trying to remember any books I read where the lead is smart, well-liked, polite, kind, popular with their peers, well-adjusted and not a Mary Sue/Gary Stu.

I'm having some difficulty

 

Yeah, I'm totally having a hard time coming up with one too. I can't even think of one that is missing one or two of the attributes on your list. I guess it's a YA thing because a lot of people feel like they don't fit in, so tapping into that can reach the widest audience.

 

I'm having trouble coming up with an answer to this as well. What's nice and somewhat different with Rowling is that the children age quite a bit over the series. The changes they go through are quite age-appropriate and true to the story.

Otherwise, I can think of many times where the children are little adults, or just babies so they can be ignored when they aren't acting as a plot device.