forum How to write child characters?
tune

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@Fraust

It all depends on the child. What are the parents like? Are they the type that curse around their children? If so, is the child impressionable/will they follow their parents' example? Age as well, and whether they go to public or private school. A lot of kids are exposed to swearing at school. And I'd say it also depends on upbringing for the death thing. If a ten year old hasn't been taught the concept of death, they'll still think they're sleeping. However, a five year old who has experience with death may actually understand it. There's a bunch of variables. Maybe tell me what your character's like and I'll try to give a brief summary of what's plausible?

@Fraust

So he would probably understand cursing and has a basic understanding of death. He would likely think that the person is sleeping at first, considering he doesn't know how to check for a pulse/breathing or anything, but he would (after a minute or two of course) realize that said person has died.

@WriteOutofTime

I don't know if you still have this issue, but I've got a few hopefully helpful tips for you. First of all, don't underestimate the intelligence and perception of children. They will pick up on everything. Will they have a skewed and confusing view of certain issues? Sure, but they'll definitely have an opinion on it. A six year old might hear the word "damn" and just accept it as another word, but if someone reacts to it, like "no, not around the child" they will definitely understand that it's bad or not allowed. Now, as for the death question, it depends on how well their parents have explained it/ whether or not they've had someone close to them pass away. But as far as I can tell, with my experiences with kids around the ages of 4-8, they definitely have a loose understanding of death. They may be confused at first, but they'd figure it out eventually. That can actually be a way to add pathos to the scene: the kid doesn't get it at first, and shakes the body and screams at them to get back up, until they realize the horrible truth. Entirely up to you. Hope I helped :D

@HighPockets group

Depending on how the kid was raised they might have a different opinion. I know some kids who flip out over hearing 'crap', and I know kids who swear like sailors. One kid that swears a lot has had pretty bad experiences with death, and one kid that I'm fairly certain won't even swear as an adult has as well. Of course these kids are older than the age group (10-11), but I don't know a lot of little little kids.

@Riorlyne pets

To add to what others have said, many younger children have some experience with death, perhaps not through a family member dying, but often through a pet or another animal dying. If they've grown up around animals (e.g., on a farm) they're likely to have heard/experienced lost sheep, lost newborns of all species, dead birds that the cat drags in, etc. It also depends how the adults around them have approached the subject. Some kids get told that grandma has gone 'on holiday', some learn about their parents' beliefs about the afterlife, etc.

@yeetus

My grandmother died when I was about 7-8. I understood she died and not "just sleeping" pretty well. And my dad cursed a lot when I was young, and my mum does say "Not in front of the kid" so I know they are kind of bad. All of that was not in English, so I know the extent of cursing in English but not really in my old language so you can ask me what's the equivalent of the f word in that language and I wouldn't have known

Hope this helps

@HighPockets group

I'm Catholic, so when I lost a family member, my mom bought a copy of "Heaven Is For Real Jr." since I was only like ten. I already understood death since we would talk about how we should do good things to get to Heaven when we die. My parents don't curse a ton, but I notice it now more because my sister and I are older. They use most of the lower-level swears, occasionally stuff like sh!t, but usually replace the f word with eff.

@yeetus

just don't write child characters. ever.

I would think that most of the time, children are necessary in a story

@Riorlyne pets

"just don't write child characters. ever."
So, what, is everyone born an adult?

I actually read a trilogy where one of the big worldbuilding concepts was reincarnation, and so when someone died and was reborn as a baby within the community, they still had all their accumulated memories from past lives and the knowledge of the skills they had learned, just not the same physical coordination and strength. So you've got 2-year-olds who can barely hold a pencil properly but who've written countless symphonies in past lives and can remember all of them.

That aspect of the book was really, really weird.

@mckapo

"just don't write child characters. ever."
So, what, is everyone born an adult?

I actually read a trilogy where one of the big worldbuilding concepts was reincarnation, and so when someone died and was reborn as a baby within the community, they still had all their accumulated memories from past lives and the knowledge of the skills they had learned, just not the same physical coordination and strength. So you've got 2-year-olds who can barely hold a pencil properly but who've written countless symphonies in past lives and can remember all of them.

That aspect of the book was really, really weird.

wow, what trilogy was that? I would like to read it, sounds interesting

@Riorlyne pets

wow, what trilogy was that? I would like to read it, sounds interesting

It's the Newsoul Trilogy by Jodi Meadows. My cousin gave me the first book for my birthday a few years ago. The books are (I think) Incarnate, Asunder, and Infinite.