NOLA STARs

I’m struggling with my WIP (and who isn’t?), trying to keep my story child speaking age-appropriate childrenese. The child, Willie, lives in the 1930's, the product of a poor farming family, none of whom are educated beyond the eighth grade. Their language is rather plain. To make things worse(for me), the story is told from Willie’s POV, and he grows older with the progression of the novel.

In the excitement of creating, however, I persist in givng him higher levels of thinking and speaking than is appropriate. Willie says or thinks something really neat, then my critique partners (thank goodness for them!) tell me the words are too sophisticated for his age. When I change those words to more appropriate ones, the statement or thought becomes bland and doesn’t express the mood intended. Frustrating! There’s also the fact that a child’s understanding level is more mature than his speaking level, so his thoughts can be a little broader. Yeeks!

Like so many other mistakes I make, I seem partially blind to my own, but see similar bloopers in others’ writing. The literary version of seeing the splinter in another person’s eye while carrying a beam in mine?

On my desk is a 1992 edition of, Children’s Writers’ Word Book, by Alijadra Mogilner, published by Writer’s Digest Books (ISBN 0-89879-511-7). The words listed for kindergarten, first, and second grade level are okay for Willie at his youngest. He’s actually pretty smart, but he’s settled for, "I’m dumb, so why try?" therefore, I don’t borrow from higher grade levels for his speech style.

I’ve ordered from Amazon a second-hand, more recent edition of CWWB, and am anxious to see its vocabulary listings. I know that in today’s world, children’s speaking vocabulary can be quite extensive. However, those extensions may include street talk, or the misspelled texting version of speech (which may be annihilating spelling skills!). Thank goodness my story child lives too early in history for me to have to learn either one!

I’m curious to see if the vocabulary lists have advanced noticeably since the 1992 edition. I’ll let you know.

HAPPY SATURDAY, EVERYONE!

SARAH’S BLOG - SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2009