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Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Aging Characters

Mr. Bramage brought up an interesting point about the main character for WISB--James. James, it seems, no longer feels like a child, and I began to think about this. It's true, James is no longer a child in any sense of the word. Children are essentially 'innocent'. They generally know what death is, but at the same time have no concept of it. Perhaps they have seen a loved one die, or heard about it, but in the mind of a child--at least from my childhood--the idea of 'death' doesn't really sink in.Understanding life and death is, in my opinion, something that comes with age.
So in a way, James has to grow up. He has to accept 'adulthood' sooner because his innocence has been torn away from him. This is all part of the character's journey. All character's face a struggle; this is simply his struggle. I like to think, however, that James still remains a child at heart. Much of his reactions, at least from my viewpoint, seem on that childish level--and I don't mean that in a derogatory way. But his emotions are on a more child-like level, and his reactions within his mind and with himself I like to think are still at that level. It also is interesting to think that James is 12--as of right now--which is an age of great changes anyway.
But, I suppose that all depends on how you look at things. This is all from my point of view as a child. I can't say that all children react the same. That would be a tremendously unfounded assertion.

So has anyone else had a character that quickly changed due to some sort of stress? Leave a comment, tell me about it!

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2 comments:

  1. BlondeSwtP10:01 AM

    I am still a kid @ heart and definitely grew up too fast :P so I can understand where James is at.

    From a writer's stand point, I am not sure how I would proceed since officially I am not a great story teller, but after reading your post for some reason Harry Potter came into my mind. He's had different journey's but same basic character movement with growing up.

    Best of luck & I have faith it will all come together :)

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  2. Anonymous5:26 PM

    I think growing up stories are some of the best. Everyone can relate to them at some point, because we all grow, and continue growing for the rest of our lives.

    The Books of Essence are pretty much a classic story of growing up, only as many fantasy stories do, takes it a bit further and sets it in the middle of great peril. :D Fun fun. I only really noticed that Nikara was growing up when I began the second book. She's in a similar situation at the beginning of that, as she was at the beginning of the first one ... only this time she has the skills to deal with it and I have to approach it differently. It's pretty interesting to write!

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