Children are fascinating and can be resourceful and capable if we let them.
They can also be underestimated and overprotected.
Frankly, in the great big world with all its perceived bogeymen and dangers, overprotection is often a caregivers’ knee-jerk reaction.
Have you ever watched kids though, as if they were exhibits?
If you’re going to write Middle Grade books, you really need to observe kids (and not just your own because you may have a blind spot that favors your angels).
I’m talking about moving past your first impressions of kids, which is that they’re often sullen, bored, attached to a device.
Get past that stereotype.
How do kids behave in their preferred environment or an environment of their choosing?
Better still, in an environment where they’re struggling a little bit.
The environment and the situation 100% change a child’s behavior.
At home.
On vacation or at school.
With friends.
At the zoo/park/aquarium/circus.
Children are enigmas, exhibiting different behaviors in different situations.
You really can’t count on their reactions.
When a kid is upset, their personality is upset, too.
If they’re normally bouncy and positive when life is great, when things aren’t going well, their personality changes.
And this is where they can get really interesting.
Do they easily find their well of strength?
Or do they roll over and wait to be saved?
Are they excited?
Nervous?
Thoughtful?
Clumsy?
I want to write about and read about characters who find the strength to solve their problems.
In life, I want to be around those kinds of kids, too.
Don’t give me a whiner.
Don’t give me a kid who complains.
Show me a kid who stands up for their beliefs and who dances and celebrates themselves in the middle of their trials.
The other day, I was walking past a park partially surrounded by a wall.
A kid pulled himself up onto that wall and raised his hands and did a little dance.
I don’t know what he was celebrating, but it reminded me of those days of “I’m the king of the castle!” **
There’s something so very hopeful about a kid who feels that way in the moment.
For the characters in my novels, maybe things will work out the way they want.
Maybe they won’t.
But the main character is going to jump up on that wall and have their “I’m the king of the castle” moment. It’s fun.
It’s silly.
It makes a statement.
That’s what happens in Middle Grade novels.
How wonderful not to be stuck in a quagmire of complaints and instead jump on a wall and dance, while roaring “I’m the king!” **
We should all be so lucky.
Have yourselves a great week.
~ Gail
(Tick tock)
** Or queen.
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