Act Your Age

Recently, when I was showing off my recent novel attempt (mentioned in the post below), I got a comment that my eight-year old character sounded too mature for his age. This made me think about some of my own characters and how they have the tendency to act older than they really are. It was a reminder to myself that writers need to be careful when they create characters of a certain age and that they need to keep them realistic.

This character Greg is eight years old. He comes from an impoverished family (think Charles Dickins- era poor) and does have some education, though it would not be a lot because of the area of the city he lives in. He is a good artist for his age, though he still uses crayons and is no Da Vinci by any stretch of the imagination. Thinking about his situation made me think of how he would actually talk. Because of his situation and lack of good education, he would likely not have a wide vocabulary, which eight-year olds generally don't anyway. He wouldn't use big words, and he would probably have bad grammar. He wouldn't be very aware of the grave danger that he's in, but he does have some knowledge of what is right and wrong. This is shown in him drawing a disturbing picture and him freaking out because he doesn't know why he drew it. It will be tricky to make sure Greg is accurate for his age, and I'm thinking of using my seven-year old cousin as a model for age-appropriate behavior.

While I was thinking of how to write Greg more accurately, it made me think of how many other written characters today don't act their ages. I know of one fantasy where a seventeen-year old pair of twins act more like thirteen-year olds (i.e. the whole love-triangle and relationship jealousy, their recklessness, and their general naive behavior), and their peers act the same way too, despite the fact that these young characters are in situations that would require them to be more mature for their age. In Paolini's "Eldest," the elf queen Islanzadi is over a hundred years old, but she acts very foolishly and immaturely, which she herself admits at one point. I've never read the "Twilight" series, but from the movies I've gleaned some information that the Cullen vampires don't act their age; Edward acts like a love-sick teenager even though he's well over a hundred years old, and the other coven members don't give any indication that they have lived for a long time.

Now, there are exceptions to the general rule. Most three-year olds don't have a large vocabulary, but I know of two sisters (not twins) who started talking at a very young age and both of them talk in largely complete sentences that are more advanced for the norm, even though they're both under the age of five. But then I know of a five-year old who doesn't talk very well because her growth has been stunted due to a genetic disorder. There can be exceptions to where a five-year old may talk much better than others his or her own age or act more mature, but you have to offer an explanation for it, whether it be that this child grew up without TV or was well-disciplined from a young age. Another exception, sadly, is college students; most of them whom I've met still act like highschoolers and aren't very mature, though there are a few exceptions.

So, when you start writing down how your character's behavior, keep his or her age in mind. Make sure that they act their age, unless there are very special circumstances like some of the examples given above. This will keep your story realistic and will help define your characters better.