I’ve been trying to write young characters in an adult genre. Ive found myself repeatedly running into a problem:
The characters sound way too wise for their age, and/or talk in such a way that is not natural to how contemporary people speak (I blame reading mostly classics of previous eras)
When searching for books/movies/shows that feature examples of young wise characters, I run into these issues
* setting of book isn’t contemporary, so studying a child talking like in the 1800s doesn’t help me for modern speaking
* the character is way too wise for their age, in the sense that their voice sounds too much like an adult
* the media the character is from is targeting a younger audience (children, YA) and the expectation of dialogue differs too much from what I’m targeting
Does anyone have book suggestions for dialogue heavy adult fiction that features a young person who has wise traits while still obviously being a child? I emphasize dialogue heavy because the biggest struggle I have right now is writing dialogue.
Ive watched plays, read contemporary short story collections, watched movies well regarded for their dialogue, and still am having a bit of a hiccup in researching this specific kind of character
Any advice welcome.
by ArkhamInsane