Things that get frustrating really quickly is watching a 10 year old act like it was born yesterday. Child characters can be very fun to write and create but unfortunately in literary work they aren’t so well-delivered. So here are some tips and tricks for writing child characters.
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Children are not stupid, literally they know how to form complete and more complex sentences at the literal age of 5. By the time your child is 4 strangers can literally understand them pronouncing any word in their native language.
- But don’t jump into the Einstein child trope too quickly, children definitely have their own limits. They might be good at a few things and horrible for others.
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Despite not being stupid they have to act like children. Kids like to blow things out of proportion and are immature especially under the age of 10.
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Don’t make them all cutesy and adorable, please. Children are diverse and thye have their own ticks and personalities. They can definitely be cute but please don’t make that their defining trait as a child.
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Write them as unique individuals, they are people after all, just less developed! While keeping that in mind, give them their own personal personality which will and can definitely grow throughout the RP and their own backstory and experiences!
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Different stages of child development give to different things, to see this more in depth take a look at this article!
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Children are heavily influenced by the adults in their lives and the people around them, think of the people sorrunding your child character and how they act! Children will mimic them a little, from words they say to actions they do.
- They idolize people as well, older siblings, people heaily involved in their lives or people they see a lot. Give them an idol, someone they heavily look up to, it can add interest and depth to your character and how they grew to idolize this person.
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THROW OUT THE BABY TALK!! I don’t want to see this anymore, if you write this I’m slapping your post to the oblivion. (kidding
not really) Like I said, kids form complex sentences and become more fluent in their language from 4 1/2 - 5 years old, by 5 years old they can talk and are more detailed. They might trip up on verb tenses but they got it. But the age of 8 they’re basically little adults in their native language. They can speak complexly and thanks to school they know things like metaphor and you know English class stuff.
I don’t want to see 9 year olds baby talking. - While language may differ among nuerodivergent child characters, research into it and into alternatives on that. Baby talk should not be your first move.
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Children wear clothing weird, they’re still developing a style. I found a piece of writing where I thought purple tights and a zebra shirt was cute
I was in 3rd grade. But the point is, they’re still discovering their own style and what they like – and that will open to some wild combinations in their clothes (unless they’re being dressed by their parents or an adult) -
They have goals too!! They have ambitions (might be smaller but still there and they have them). They might want to be an astronaut! Maybe they want to go to Disney Land or have the idea of making cookies because they have cookies every day, maybe they want to play soccer
whatever, make sure it makes sense for their age and make sure they have it. It might be tiny but those are the goals you start setting at an early age that grow into larger goals. -
They like to ask questions! They like to talk! They’re discovering the world and even if they’re shy they have questions and they are going to get the ansewer to those questions!
Hope this helps and will try to keep it updated @RPers in case anyone wants to make a child character.
