Writing Kid Characters
A kid character should be relatable to kids. A lot of picture books that I read are written more from the point of view of an adult. The writer has not fully transitioned into being a kid, sort of talking like a kid, using expressions that a kid might, existing in the world like a kid. Successful picture book writers step into the shoes of a kid, how a kid feels, how a kid thinks about the world.
I will deepen the discussion over on Good Story Learning, my membership website. So you can join me over there to see this full video.
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transcript for writing kid characters
My name is Mary Kole. This is Good Story Company, and I am talking today about writing kid characters, so mostly for the picture book audience here. So, I will cover a few things, and then will deepen the discussion over on Good Story Learning, my membership website. So you can join me over there to see this full video.
For now, the number one thing that you have to know about writing a kid character is that they should be relatable to kids. This seems like a very dumb thing to say, but a lot of picture books that I read are written more from the point of view of an adult or for an adult point of view. The writer has not fully transitioned into being a kid, sort of talking like a kid, using expressions that a kid might, existing in the world like a kid does. Kids are not 100% straightforward thinkers. Sometimes they don't think about the consequences before they act, all of these things.
A lot of adults get into this pattern of writing kids like idealized kids that an adult wishes a kid was rather than how a kid really is. And the most successful picture book writers, writers who wanna write kid characters, they are able to really step into the shoes of a kid, how a kid feels, how a kid thinks about the world, how a kid thinks about problems in their lives, what they think are problems in their lives.
Mo Willems does an amazing job. He's just a benchmark writer for this. He's able to step into a number of different age groups with all of his various series and really sort of inhabit the mindset of a child. And that is sort of number one par for the course. If you're writing picture book, if you're writing early reader, if you're writing chapter book and anything about that, even, if you're able to tap into your inner preschooler, if you have preschoolers in your life, or you remember what it was like to have preschoolers, if you're a teacher, you really need to channel that young perspective for your main character. This extends to voice. This extends to the kind of problems that you write about. This extends to how the character comes across on the page.
Ideally, we would also like to know a few things about the character. It can be as simple as liking when things are fancy. That's “Fancy Nancy” for you. But, there's a lot more to “Fancy Nancy” than just that. And one of the pitfalls that I see a lot of people making when they're trying to write a young character, it's just giving them one or two things. And those things follow them through the rest of the story, and those things are really kind of everything about the character, and they end up coming across as one dimensional.
Because you need to think about who the character is on an essential identity level, who they are, what makes them tick, what they want, how they treat others, how they think about themselves, how they think about the world. These are the more important considerations, much more than my favorite color is purple. You know, how the character exists in relation to other characters and in relation to themselves, those are questions that I don't see picture book writers asking about their characters hardly at all.
And it shows in their one-dimensional manuscripts, because a child is so much more than a collection of favorite items, or favorite games, or favorite ice cream flavors. They are a complete entity, and it's the writers that treat them as such. That's not to say we need a long laundry list at the opening of your picture book about everything to do with the character, everything you thought of your entire kind of character worksheet that you've worked in there, but who the character is, and getting them across on the page are really important components to what the story will then be.
What is the thing that the character is struggling with, this goes toward the heart of your story. The thing that they will likely have to overcome as part of the story in order to grow and change as a character. And so if it's an issue of courage, if it's an issue of speaking their mind, if it's an issue of becoming kinder to the people around them, if it's an issue of teaching their sibling something where they can then have a better family dynamic, that all goes back to who the kid is if they are shy, if they, you know, don't treat everybody equally and they have a lesson to learn, or if they do treat everybody equally and so they want others to treat people equally.
This kind of dictates the kind of story that you're gonna end up putting your character in because, especially in picture book, who your character is really tells me the kind of story that they would want to participate in. For example, if they are shy and they need to learn how to open themselves up a little bit, that is sort of the mechanism of the story that they're gonna come around to. And that will be a sort of the arc of their story is them opening themselves up, maybe unsuccessfully at first, but then ultimately they are going to expose themselves, be vulnerable to somebody else, make a friend, do something brave, that's the kind of story that that character needs to participate in for the story to feel overly resonant and very, very cohesive to your readers.
Because, with a picture book, you don't have a lot of space to fully develop a character so the things that you let us know about the character are all really important because you have 500, 600 words in which to do it. I'm gonna talk a little bit more about this over at Good Story Learning. You can find that at goodstorycompany.com on the membership page. I hope you enjoyed this talk about kid characters and how to write them. My name is Mary Kole with Good Story Company. Here's still a good story.
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