Kicking, screaming, and spinning tantrums are totally
appropriate in a picture book—though surprisingly sparse in children’s
literature for how prevalent the are in the life of most children (Is that
because parents are the ones how buy the books?), but we don’t expect to see a
teenager spinning on the floor throwing a fit because the ‘Rents won’t extend
curfew. This hyperbolic example will illustrate the necessity of really
knowing your audience when you write across the ages/genres of children’s and
young adult literature.
For instance, when does a child learn “conservation” and how
does that affect the readers ability to know when a repeated image of a child
learning to dance (Hoffman and Binch’s
Amazing
Grace) or walk (Meyer and Frazee’s
Everywhere
Babies) is really just one kid and not a whole group of them? And when
do children start to understand abstractions that would allow them to
comprehend that two people can have different opinions and still both be right?
How does this new emerging skill affect the psychology of a middle grade novel?
The answers to these questions illustrate the essential need for understanding
the psychological and cognitive development of children and adolescents.
Too bad they don’t have a
Child Psychology for Dummies—oh wait, they do
(
Child
Psychology for Dummies).
Seriously though, you can learn so
much about the psychology of kids from raising them, working with them,
visiting schools, and various other essential interactions with your target
audience and these relationships are key to our own happiness and the
development of a natural and organic understanding of what it means to be a kid
or a teen in our society today. And is really important that you consider
the “today” component because writers for young readers are often writing to
rescue or relate to their own childhood self when our childhood is world’s away
from the experiences of today’s child. The current six year olds were born in a
world that can’t recognize a landline phone, has probably never used a point
and shoot camera, and can’t remember a world when there weren’t 40,000
television channels targeted to children that are usually watched on a game
system or tablet.
We need to know the kids of today
by getting to relating to real world kids in their own environment. Personal
connections are a must. But you can also pick up a lot by watching their shows,
reading their magazines, studying fellow authors, Youtubing videos until far
too late at night when you should be doing the laundry, sleeping, or revising
your own writing!
I’m all for the
organic—understanding of young people, dialogue and imagery in writing, and
food, but there is something to be said for academic/book knowledge or that’s
just the geek in my talking and quite frankly it never shuts up, so listen
here, if you want to know more about child psychology—don’t take my word for
it. Learn a thing or two from a specialist in the field, realizing that
three specialists will have at least six different opinions so read up on what
folks have to say.
Here are a few suggestions:
To be truthful, I probably only
picked this because the author said “geeked out”
A veritable panoply of books to
choose from. Which I of course chose so I could say
“panoply.”
And most importantly, read the work
of writers who
get kids—what they like, what they want, what they need.
Don’t just read the most popular books for teens because those books most often
address the wish fulfillment , adrenaline rush, romantic angst driven elements
of teen life. You also need to study the writing that addresses the deeper
social issues of teen life. I’m even a bigger fan of YA
World
Literature because, perhaps it’s just me, but it seems that too much of the
YA literature in the US focuses on me, myself, and my friends versus what the
next generation could do to make the world a better place. Internationally,
adolescent literature focuses less on how a teen can become an individual and
more on how a teen can learn to contribute to society. But that’s my
“taking care of the world” bias coming out again. I just want to take
care of everybody.
Speaking of everybody, which is
much easier than speaking to everybody, but as a writer you’re trying to do
both—portray the world as it really is, address as wide an audience as
possible, and provide an authentic , accurate, and compelling look at the
diversity in our society today, not just in the US, but globally.
Never go for diversity for
diversity’s sake. Do it because you’re writing realism and the reality is
our world is very diverse and that diversity should be reflected in our writing
from books for babies to novels for teens. For instance, Everywhere Babies
is an adorable celebration of infants and their families and it shows an
enormous range of diversity, but I wonder, where are the parents with tattoos?
The folks who live out in the country? The immigrants who wear the clothes they
grew up with? No book can show the whole world, each book can only be a window
into part of the world, but it helps to know not only the “universals” of youth
development, but to also learn how class, religion, ethnicity, gender
orientation, and other cultural elements influence a child’s development.
Here’s a place to get your started:
who would probably be open to
suggestions on expanding these resources
We are, after all, a society of artists—writers,
illustrators, readers, and critics, who are engaging our world one word, one
line, one book at a time. I’m hoping this blog gives you some ideas on how you
can genuinely writer for any age you care to target in a way that’s diverse,
compelling, and if you’ve practiced your literary alchemy well—best selling.
Good luck! And remember, let your characters act their age!
Alexandria LaFaye, is an author of a baker’s dozen of books
for young readers from
Walking Home to Rosie Lee (Cinco Puntos, 2011),
the picture book about the reunification of African American families at the
end of the Civil War to the young adult novel-in-verse,
Pretty Omens
that’s a retelling of the myth of Cassandra in a coal mining community in
Virginia in 1911. She’s also an associate professor of creative writing for
Greenville College and the
Hollins
University summer MFA in writing for children and adolescents. You
can catch up with her on social media at
www.alafaye.com
@artlafaye
Or be old fashioned and e-mail her a@alafaye
AUTOGRAPHED BOOK ALERT:
I'm offering an autographed copy of WALKING HOME TO ROSIE LEE a book that's no longer available in hardcover to one of the folks who joins the discussion about this blog.
Share your thoughts with grace and kindness and you're name will be entered to win the book. I look forward to discussing this topic with you!
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