Write Like a Kid

When your critique partners tell you (more than once) your middle grade fiction sounds too adult, how do you fix it?

That depends on what kind of problem it is. If it’s the content that’s too adult, I talk about that in another post.

What I want to talk about today is the voice. How do we, adult authors-in-progress, write with a kid’s voice?

We’ve lived a few miles since we were middle grade readers. So it’s impossible to actually write as though we’re kids. Or is it?

Getting the voice right takes time, patience, practice, and a lot of editing. I haven’t fully cracked this code in my own writing, believe me, but I’ve read enough great middle grade voices to know it can be done.

Here’s what I’ve noticed about some of my favorite middle grade voices:

1) They are borne from a well-developed character or characters.

Imagine any of your favorite middle grade stories told by, well, anybody else. For example, could the opening paragraphs of RJ Palacio’s Wonder be as revealing and compelling if it were written from Auggie’s mother’s point of view? For example:

My name is August, by the way. I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse. –Wonder, by RJ Palacio.

Understanding how your characters view themselves, how they think, behave, dream, relate to the world around them, is so important. When you know who they are, you can decide the best words to use to reveal them on the page.

2) They don’t explain the jokes.

Humor is subjective, for sure, but as in real life, if you have to explain the joke, you’re probably telling it wrong. Doreen Cronin employs a delightfully dry humor to acquaint us with the main characters in her early middle grade book The Trouble With Chickens: A J.J. Tully Story, and in the process establishes a fabulously strong voice.

Her name was Millicent. I called her Moosh, just because it was easier to say and it seemed to annoy her. She had two little puffy chicks with her. She called them Little Boo and Peep. I called them Dirt and Sugar, for no particular reason.

If Doreen had added a few sentences that explained why calling the chickens by the wrong name was funny, would it have been as funny? More importantly, would we have learned as much about the character of our narrator, J.J. Tully?

3) They don’t underestimate the reader.

Middle grade readers are dependent upon adults for their well-being, so they seek stories in which the protagonist child is self-sufficient enough to solve their own problems with minimal adult help. In Sharon Draper’s middle grade story Out of My Mind, not only is the protagonist a child, she has cerebral palsy, confined to a wheelchair, and is unable to speak. Through use of voice, Draper skillfully crafts a complete, complex character whose coming of age tale is both triumphant and heartbreaking.

Everybody uses words to express themselves. Except me. And I bet most people don’t realize the real power of words. But I do. Thoughts need words. Words need a voice. I love the smell of my mother’s hair after she washes it. I love the feel of the scratchy stubble on my father’s face before he shaves. But I’ve never been able to tell them.

Draper’s unflinching look at the inner life and challenges of a differently-abled child doesn’t talk down to the reader in any way. She starts from a place that assumes readers are capable of empathy and connection.

These are just a few things I’ve learned from reading and writing middle grade, and I know I have miles to go. What are some techniques you’ve noticed in other middle grade authors’ work? Let me know in the comments.

Kell McKinney earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and an M.S. in documentary studies from the University of North Texas. She’s a part-time copywriter, double-time mom and wife, and spends every free minute writing and/or hunting for her car keys. Connect with her on Twitter @Kell_McK or kellmckinney.com.