hi .. It was a Little bit difficulte for me to decide the personality Of My main charecter During writting My Book .. he is Just six years But he is smart . is it Ligical ?! should I keep writting the remaining chapters Using that ?! .
If you haven't known enough six year old children to model from, and have no opportunities to observe six year olds, you will have a challenging task before you. It may not be the best story for you to tackle. You can be sure that most of your readers will be parents (or their children, if it is written as a children's book), so if your six year old doesn't ring true, they will not respond well if your characterization is not spot on.
true! you will also have to work on your spelling and grammar, if you hope to have a book published for english-speaking readers...
Yes I agree you need to know of children this age to properly describe how they interact with the world and make presumptions about the way they perceive it.
Agree with all of the above. It is extremely difficult to have a child protagonist if you are not writing a children's book. Primarily this is because the emotions and details you need to convey to the reader are beyond what a six year old could articulate. One way to deal with this is to have the adult version of the child recounting what had happened back when he was six. But I have no idea what type of story you have in mind, so I don't know if this is a viable option for you.
Read "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. The main character starts as a six-year-old and is highly intelligent. Also a fun series that gives you a peek into the mind of a child via the child's POV is "Junie B. Jones" (it is a children's book series, so it'll only take about 10 min. per book, but it's good for a laugh, or read it out loud to a kid in your life). As a mother of 4 (mostly) young children and a former educator, let me give you some advice - six-year-old's are very authentic people, though not especially logical. If something scares them, logic won't cure it. If they love something, logic won't change that. The two most important things in a six-year-old's life? They want to be loved and they want acceptance (not unlike most adults, actually). They don't usually think of themselves as being "children" or having "childish" thoughts - their thoughts and feelings are just as valid and impactful as any adult, in their minds. They often do not understand why adults treat them as "little children". Many of the little ones I know (and I happen to know a LOT) believe the only reason they can't go out into the world and do all the amazing, wonderful things adults do is because they're told that it's against the rules - not that they "can't".
Also, I totally disagree that you can't have a six-year-old protagonist for an adult novel - adults frequently underestimate the depth of emotional complexity within kids. Children are very complex. The fact they think in greatly different ways than adults opens up a unique writing opportunity to express events/emotions in unfamiliar and new ways. Children are often just small people with limited life experiences to color their reactions. They are every bit as coherent as adults, if illogical and easily emotional (again, not unlike some adults I know).
From their own perspective, children are quite logical and rational; they just don't have the experiences and knowledge to know better. I find the cartoon Recess to be a great window into the mind of a child at play, but you're going to have to be consistent about it. For example, here's a scene: Sarah, a young lady, is heading out of town for a job, and she's entrusting her little seven-year old sister Sally to help out around the house, to be the 'big sister' to the newborn baby boy that their mother's just given birth to. Sally starts crying and raving that she can't be the big sister. Why? Because she's still smaller than Sarah. Ergo, she can't be the 'big' sister. You have to place yourself into an entirely different frame of understanding. I suggest reading the following articles in this link about raising children and what to expect from their development; they'll provide some rubric about what to expect. http://childparenting.about.com/od/physicalemotionalgrowth/tp/Child-Development-Your-Six-Year-Old-Child.htm Because remember, you must account for physical growth, cognitive growth, emotional growth, AND social growth. A hefty challenge. Hope you're up to it!
I've written many young protagonists mixed in with my adult protagonists. No, I don't know many kids those ages. I've been told my kids act too adult, but I've also been told that they are fine. (Ironically enough, the people who don't believe they are children tend to be those without kids (some have worked with them) and most of the ones that have liked them are parents of young kids. Go figure.) I've found that there really isn't much that can be applied to all children. You might have to be a little more careful with things like language sometimes. But I think people treat children like some alien species we know absolutely nothing about. Treat them like characters who happen to be children. Age is just one factor among many. How do we write adult characters? How would an adult person react to situation C? Really? At the end of the day, characters are characters. All of them will come with logistical things you should keep in mind, be they adult or children. But I tend to see these types of conversations descending into broad generalizations of children that likely don't apply to most anyway. Heck, real children might not be "believable" at all. This is an issue I probably feel a little more strongly about than others since I've experienced this topic a lot in reviews. The most important thing you need to remember is that these children are characters too. Treat them as such.
hey guys ! thanks for all of you .. this Is a blink from My book .. You will undesrtand What I meant By a six years special Boy / Long ago, it was a little boy with non limited and infinity dreams .. he was so Cute as every little child BUT he had something different From the others , something Nobody can contain But Only the honest good heart full of faith , he Loved * the Justice * ; Children In his age actually were not smart enough to make difference betwin whats good to do and whats not .. with his pure passion Of being the justice maker , he kept trying to find answers for a lot and a Lot Of misterious and unknown questions !! ............................................................................................. . . in this story we will take You to Alberts Life , to find out together how great was albert ..... enjoy the story and alberts exciting adventures !! how You Feel it ?! interesting or Boring .or not realistic or whatever ... Just Give me Your Opinion Cause I really need it to make modification in the next two chapters Which I already wrote !! !
If it’s a copy-paste excerpt from your book, you need to work on capitalization. Is the justice something or are you just saying he loved justice? Will he become a little detective or a superhero-in-his-mind type? Or maybe he just sees authoritative adults being wicked and that slowly warps his moral code. Or maybe he just doles out little kid justice. ‘Susie alweady had two cookies! That wast one’s mine.’ ‘No it isn’t!’ Susie said through a mouth covered in crumbs. ‘Slience!’ Albert bellowed, his tone brokering no argument from anyone in the sandbox. ‘The cookie shall be cut in half!’ 'Nooo!' Katy wailed, she loved that cookie more than anything. 'Just let Susie have it...' You’ve only described the character, not what zany antics he’ll get into.
Kids are able to see through BS surprisingly well. They mimic adult language and use it with enthusiasm. Think of them as teenagers with more optimism and confidence.
well .. lets say the details come later . For example the first chapter lets you know More about albert.s personality and his black painful past .. and the second will talk about the current accidents ..etc ..the Dialogues has a psichological dimension... the Justice he wanna achieve is too simple and complicated in the same time .. he is not a superhero or something like that But he will make it in his own way !! in the aid Of his Friend *Eric*!!
i'm afraid you will have to upgrade your basic english writing skills significantly, before this will be good enough to be published, aboud... you may be an excellent writer in your own tongue, but this is so flawed in so many ways, it will make no sense to english-speaking readers... there are too many major and minor mistakes for me to deal with in a post, but if you want to send me this excerpt, i'll be glad to point them all out and show you how to 'fix' them... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
thAnk U Thanks !! I ll be so greatful !! .. Please fix them up for me. . this is My G- mail adress .. ninounnn@gmail.com
It's very logical. Indeed, my favourite novel is Ray Bradbury's 'Dandelion Wine'. It's a masterpeice about a small boy and his adventures.
