Questions About Writing Children...

[awesomeautumn]

In the VN I'm writing, there are scenes in the beginning where the main character is young. And it skips around in time, from seven, to eleven, to twelve, etc. But I've never really been around kids that much, so I don't have a good idea of how the main character should act and I always feel like I'm making the main character still act like a teenager in those scenes.

Does anyone have tips on keeping children in character?

[Applegate]

You've been a kid once. Try to remember what that was like and write accordingly.

Otherwise, try and talk to kids now and get a feel for how they think. It's really the only reliable way: telling you what a kid is LIKE isn't as accurate as feeling for yourself what they're like. More often than not, though, kids are impudent when they're young and grow slightly less so over time, with some cases never stopping to be impudent.

[AgniTami]

well, sometimes children use their name instead of "me" to add more cute points. Example: "Uuu... Yuzu is very tired".
lol. then again it sounds lame

and... children love laughing/ giggling. ... It depends of their character though...

and... they don't use "difficult words" like: require, deterioration, exclamation, alter, and so on. Keep it simple I guess ... well... this one is also depending on their character OTL

if you want to make an adult type of children, these tips won't help, sorry

[Tetiel]

I'm happy to answer any questions. I've had experience working with children of all ages for oh... eight years or so, plus I studied Child Psychology before I changed majors. One thing you need to consider is no child is exactly like the other, just like a normal character. Children are often stereotyped to act the same, but in certain situations, even sisters will act drastically different. It all depends on who the character is. Believe it or not, some children DO act like teenagers, if not fully grown adults depending on what they've been through in their lives and what their priorities are.

You're dealing with older children so I don't think you need to worry about giant lapses in vocabulary especially depending on their history. I've said things with large words in front of children and they do pick up on it. I've even heard a 3 year old use the term "ominous" correctly since I had said it in front of her. Needless to say, her parents were very confused lol. Kids are like little sponges so they really will pick up anything. You just need to give them the proper environment.

I think one thing that'll really help out is Erikson's psychosocial theory. Your character would be in the industry vs inferiority time of their life:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosoci ... 3_years.29
Once you've aged them up to 12, you may also want to consider adding some Identity vs Role Confusion as some children do enter puberty at that age or younger.

Piaget also talks about children of this age being in their "Concrete" development. Basically this means that they are thinking logically and making rational decisions. Some children are capable of doing this at even a younger age. What they are usually NOT able to do until they've reached puberty is do deductive reasoning well. That's usually saved for when the brain is close to being fully developed.

Once again, to all of these, there are exceptions. Some kids blow these rules out of the water, and some really struggle. Everything depends on where they are developmentally. If you want, I'd be happy to read over the parts where you think you're having trouble aging your characters properly. Just send me a PM.

[awesomeautumn]

@Applegate
I feel dumb for not thinking of that, haha! I definitely have some memories I can put to use.

@AgniTami
Luckily, the main character isn't a adult child (at ALL xD).

@Tetiel
Thank you thank you thank you! Especially for pointing out that children's behavior varies. And I have no idea why I didn't think about looking into the psychology of children, so this link is incredibly helpful

[Sapphi]

I always feel like I'm making the main character still act like a teenager in those scenes.

Children are not typically existentially angsty. They are usually more worried about more physical/emotional threats ("If I fail this test, the teacher will yell at me!") than the more adult ("If I fail this test, I'll have failed as a person") type of worry. And they aren't stupid; they're aware that lots of concepts and ideas they don't know about exist - it's just a comfortable awareness, like "I'll learn about it someday" or "I'll do that when I grow up" but "For now, I don't have to worry about it." And since time seems to pass slower the younger you are, childhood feels like eternity, so while a child might worry about the vast problems of the world, they probably aren't going to lose sleep over it because they know they aren't expected to fix or deal with them any time soon.

Of course, I'm speaking from my own observation; probably it's a much different child who grew up in a war-torn country or even a different time period.

I second the suggestion on reading up on your child psychology

[awesomeautumn]

Children are not typically existentially angsty. They are usually more worried about more physical/emotional threats ("If I fail this test, the teacher will yell at me!") than the more adult ("If I fail this test, I'll have failed as a person") type of worry.

Haha, I just thought of a child saying that. All dramatic.
Thanks for your input. The part about children not losing sleep over things will come in handy for writing the main character's dramatic childhood xD