The central character in Birth Offering is fourteen year old Ryan Perry and the narrative takes place the summer before he enters high school. I think this is a good age to capture the best (and worst) of kids for any kind of fiction, not just horror. Young adolescents are striving for independence, yet can be childlike in many of their interactions. Their cognitive skills are advancing by leaps and bounds, so they have the startling capacity – both to themselves and the adults around them – for understanding the complexity of social interactions, empathy, and cause-effect relationships between any number of different events over time. The maturation of these skills can prove difficult, as they often become trapped into worrying about what others are saying or thinking about them. Emotions can be seen and understood as more subtle and complicated, and some kids (mostly boys) have a hard time communicating their feelings.
When authors write about kids of this age, one of the problems they encounter is trying to write about their characters in an age-appropriate manner. This is extremely hard, and quite frequently even the best of them make their kids sound too mature or too sophisticated for their ages.
I tried to address this with Ryan. I wanted Ryan to sound believable. I wanted his point of view to be sullen and whiney at times. I wanted him to be hurt or angry with his mother over the simplest things. I also wanted him to be an active protagonist. That required him to make good use of his newly developed cognitive and intellectual skills. Regarding social skills, Ryan was meant to be socially astute but uncomfortable with his abilities to engage with others, especially girls. He also needed to be brave and strong – and this may be where he is portrayed too advanced beyond his years.
How successful was I in this endeavor? I’ll have to wait and see. I’m hoping readers will tell me.
Birth Offering will be released September 1 from Damnation Books.
When authors write about kids of this age, one of the problems they encounter is trying to write about their characters in an age-appropriate manner. This is extremely hard, and quite frequently even the best of them make their kids sound too mature or too sophisticated for their ages.
I tried to address this with Ryan. I wanted Ryan to sound believable. I wanted his point of view to be sullen and whiney at times. I wanted him to be hurt or angry with his mother over the simplest things. I also wanted him to be an active protagonist. That required him to make good use of his newly developed cognitive and intellectual skills. Regarding social skills, Ryan was meant to be socially astute but uncomfortable with his abilities to engage with others, especially girls. He also needed to be brave and strong – and this may be where he is portrayed too advanced beyond his years.
How successful was I in this endeavor? I’ll have to wait and see. I’m hoping readers will tell me.
Birth Offering will be released September 1 from Damnation Books.
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