Writing young MG/YA characters – what is a child?
I suppose there are two schools of thought regarding how to represent children as characters in a novel.
- Create them as the stereotypical 12 year old. This includes the eye-rolling, annoying, and prone to bouts of extreme immaturity.
- Create them as role models of what a 12 year old is like when they are mostly behaving themselves. In other words, they might be described by my southern neighbor as “Brought up right!”
What is a 12 year old supposed to be like? Would you believe that today’s view of children is waaaay different than it used to be.
Why did Charles Dickens have lots of scenes which showed the hard-working waifs of London slaving away at what might seem obscene ages?
<< Author standing on soap box for a moment, and lecturing on history >>
A fact of life prior to the 20th century was that the church (Catholic) considered children to be “within the age of reason” and therefore full adults by the age of 7. It wasn’t uncommon by the age of 5 for children to begin their apprenticeships, and in the extreme cases, work days that would make most of us cringe if they were applied to our adult lives.
Do you know how public education came about as a norm in society?
It wasn’t until 1918 that all the states within the US had some form of compulsory education. Much of this stemmed from some labor laws that were enacted in the early 20th century. These laws prevented children under 16 from full-time work (with some farming exceptions).
Crime became a huge issue – mostly attributed to bored children that had nothing else useful to do, now that they weren’t allowed to work.
Thus came mandatory education and the evolution of the society we are more familiar with….
Does this mean that a 10 year old is incapable of acting in a mature manner? Of course not. Look to our history for proof of that. Do we want our children to read stories that completely mimic their environments where many parents do not take their jobs seriously, and have children that are largely being raised by the school system. To me, that seems to affirm the “correctness” of that behavior.
Sorry – I can’t do that. Of course, 10, 12, 14 year olds will have moments of incredible stupidity and immaturity. However, that shouldn’t be the norm. An author would do a disservice by not representing those moments of brilliant stupidity that our children have within them. These are moments where much learning does happen. However, for my protagonists, I do prefer to put a larger dose of well-behaved (some call it mature) into their makeup.
Some might say that is not “realistic” or representative of today’s youth. Be damned with reality then – I suppose that is why I write in a Fantasy genre and trend toward a society that breeds a bit more maturity into the main characters. I personally think that portraying a younger person as a role model of what we might hope they are like is a laudable goal.
Let’s be frank – Anyone from our past would think our children are all behaving like infants, and hopefully people will appreciate the characterization I attempt in my novels. I don’t care for the “norm” and instead prefer a bit more of an “ideal”.
I would be curious to hear what others think.