F is for Fear: What Children's Writers Need to Know

Whether you write scary stories or you just want to create a strong emotional experience for your reader, your character is likely to be afraid or anxious at some point in your story. What do children’s writers need to know about fear?

Fears are different at different ages. The things that terrify a 5-year-old (e.g., loud noises, imaginary creatures) may be different than what scares an 8 to- 12-year old. Some common fears for middle grader readers include:

- nightmares or scary dreams

- violent weather, like tornados or hurricanes

- death

- war and terrorism

- speaking in front of a group

- someone breaking into the house

- being late for school or class

- divorce

Not all fears have the same intensity. Fearful reactions are linked to personality and past experiences. One kid might be only a little anxious about starting a new school while another might be really scared. Think about what past experiences your character might have had to create or develop the fear.

Fears can be unique. Even though some fears are common to many, some children have a specific, unusual fear that continues through childhood. For example, someone I know was afraid of automatic flush toilets for most of his childhood, after losing a coin in one as a young child.

Because everyone has experienced fear or anxiety at some point, including a character’s fears in your writing can help you connect with readers. Fear may also be a way to provide a flaw or problem your character needs to overcome, or to increase the tension in your story.   

Some tips for including fear:

Show fear through actions. Behaviour is a big giveaway to fear, but beware of too much emphasis on physical reactions (there are only so many times a character can feel their heart pounding). In the real world, we often gauge our reactions through how other people react. If your secondary or minor characters act afraid, that can add to the reader’s fear for the main character.

Choose details carefully. Over-describing a scene might actually take away from the scariness of an experience because nothing is left for the reader to imagine. A little fearfulness can go a long way.

Add surprises and twists. Scary things sometimes burst out at us (like in a haunted house) or come at a moment when they aren’t expected.

Suspense. A slow build up of tension can create a feeling of “on the edge of your seat” or shared fear with the character. If you know the character is afraid of something, but not when he will encounter it, that can create suspense in a story.

Be clear on your purpose. Although parents often look for books to help children cope with fears, it’s an entirely different thing to create a story with fearful events for the purpose of entertainment. Readers of middle grade books may be looking for the thrill of reading something scary. Or maybe just to relate to a character because they share the same emotional experiences.

Have you read any good books where the writer has used fear effectively as an element in the story? Or, do you have any tips to share on using fear?

Links:

*As usual, if you know of any good links on this topic that would be helpful to writers, let me know in the comments and I’ll add them to this list of resources.

Teresa Frohock has some tips on Writing Creepy for Kids Without Scarring Them for Life

Sara Todd gives us some strategies for writing horror for kids.

Over at Paranormal Point of View, Lisa Gail Green gives us some ideas for how to create fear in the minds of readers.

At the Bookshelf Muse, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have a comprehensive list of ways to describe fear in their Emotion Thesaurus.

For a list of some scary middle grade books, check out Stacy Whitman’s Grimoire – Scary Middle Grade Books.

And, for some background info on real kids:

At Kids Health, kids talk about feeling scared.

At Anxiety Care, there’s lots of info on kids fears and phobias.

Scholastic.com tells us some of the biggest fears for kids starting middle school.

If you’re struggling with the issue of whether to include something scary in your novel, Jennifer Neilsen of From the Mixed Up Files writes about whether scary stories are okay for children.

F is for Friendships in Middle Grade Novels

Between the ages of 9 and 14, kids are starting to explore relationships with people outside their families. They're thinking about how to be a good friend, who is not a real friend, and which friends they want to hang with. Someone might be your best friend for one day, and then not the next.  

How can you use friends to develop your middle grade story?

Create conflict. Tension between friends increases conflict. For example, in Leslie Margolis’ novel, Girl's Best Friend, dog-walker Maggie Brooklyn gets stuck working with her ex-best friend to solve a mystery. Talk about conflict! Other ways to create tension? Being too busy for friends, wanting friends when you don't have them, jealousy of a good friend...there are so many. Brainstorm for your own unique friend-related conflict.

Sidekick or support. Friends don’t always mean conflict. They can help solve a mystery or provide support on an adventure (think about Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books). Supporting friends make the main character seem more well-rounded, emotional or empathetic. They can also add humor or depth as part of a subplot. What if the sidekick always messes up? Or bails out the main character?

Provide information. A friend's different point of view can be a way for the author to add things that can't be shown through the main character. Conversations between a character and a good friend are one way to add in some backstory without creating an info dump. Something a friend has noticed might be an important clue. Just be sure not to rely on the friend too much or too often; the main character should take centre stage.

More tips on using friends in your story:

Beware of cliches. In books where the main character is a boy, one of the good friends is often a girl, to the point where it’s almost becoming a formula. I think this is much less common in real life than in the world of books, because authors want the book to appeal to girls as well as boys. Watch out for stereotypes like the Hermione effect (smart girl sidekick).  

Friends aren’t always people. Middle graders have strong feelings for pets, other living creatures and even inanimate objects, so you can be create in the friendships you choose to include in your novel. For example, Bobbie Pyron’s A Dog’s Way Home focuses on the relationship between a girl and her dog. In Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve, the main character has a unique relationship with a plant.

Friends change with the situation. In real life, kid’s friendships may be related to the activities they do. They may have one group of friends at school, but a different group of friends on their soccer team or at dance class.

Be realistic. According to at least one reader I talked to, it’s annoying when a character in a book has only one friend. In real life, kids interact with many different peers in different ways. Capturing the flavour of that complexity in your story, even in a simple way, might add to the story believability.

Do you have any tips or suggestions for using friendships to strengthen a story? Have you read any good books where a friendship was essential to the story?

Links

*As usual, if you have any links to other posts or resources on this subject, I'd be happy to add them to the list for our reference.

At Plot to Punctuation, there’s a great post on using a sidekick character in your writing. 

For more material and insights on friendships between girls, a blog by psychologist Irene Levine, author of Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup with Your Best Friend, explores friendships between women of all ages, including teens and preteens. A couple of nteresting articles:

Preteen worries: My family, my friends and me

Friendship by the book: An interview with Alexa Young, author of Frenemies

At Fuel Your Writing, freelancer Kolina gives some tips on how to use your own friends to improve your novels.

F is for Firsts

Although it may seem like “firsts” are prime subjects for picture or chapter books (think losing a first tooth or going to school for the first time), there is plenty of scope for “first time” experiences in middle grade books too.

Do you remember your first dive into a swimming pool? The first time you walked to school alone with a friend? The first time you stayed home alone? Likely, those experiences happened during your middle grade years. Writing about a "first experience" and how your character feels about it offers a great opportunity for character development. Here are a few ideas I came up with:

- first sleep-over
- first time staying at sleep away camp
- first trip to ________________(fill-in-the-blank!)
- first ride on a roller coaster
- first day of middle school
- first time wearing braces
- first pet you are completely responsible for
- first time baking or cooking independently
- first time staying home alone
- first crush
- first time playing laser tag

Some of these "firsts" are easy to think up, because as adults, we recognize or remember the significance of the experiences in our own lives. But there are a couple of things to remember when digging into the past:

1. Firsts that are significant to middle graders may not always be something we adults think of as being significant. For example, my 11-year-old came home all excited the other day because she'd learned a new rule for drawing portraits. Even though I know she likes to draw, I never would've seen that coming.

2. Times have changed. What may have been significant to you as a middle grader may need to be updated. Money is a good example of this. When I was a kid, it was a big deal to see a $5 or $10 dollar bill. Now it might be a $20 or a $50.

3. What makes a "first" significant is the emotions that go along with the experience. And that's what makes a "first" good material for your writing.

4. Adding a "first experience" may be a chance to showcase a character's unusual or interesting hobby. For example, the first time your character finds a whole sand dollar to add to his seashell collection.


Links:

Cheryl Reif writes about the joys of firsts.

At her blog Writing Like Crazy, Maribeth Graham discusses how to add a unique element to your story through using your own experiences in your writing.

While these next two are more oriented towards YA, it might be useful to check them out to see what might be too mature for an MG novel (beyond the obvious sex, drugs or alcohol):

Over at Magical Words, Carrie Ryan writes about teen firsts and their emotional impact, and why she's made a conscious decision to write YA.

From a parenting perspective, here are some thoughts on firsts for tweens and teens.

Have you ever used a "first experience" in your writing? How did it strengthen your story?