: Re: Seeking advice for maintaining child like authenticity without being too immature for the audience I am writing a novel which I imagine will have an adult or older readership (or at least teen)

@Heady158

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Many children's books deal with difficult topics. For example, 'Two Weeks with the Queen' is about someone coping with a sibling dying (it is very sad and very funny). 'Bad Alice', a novel I have just been using with twelve years olds, is about the effects of sexual assault. A recent children's book award winner was about someone trapped in a totalitarian state and featured scenes such as one where a teacher very graphically beats a student to death. You may be surprised what young people read and enjoy.

Having read many books written from the perspective of a young person, I would suggest trying to see the world through a young person's eyes and trying to think like they do. Of course this is difficult, and you can't just rely on how you thought and felt at that time, but it about understanding what they could know and what they are interested in.

The other thing you need to consider is the language that they use. You don't want to burden your text with too much slang, but it has to sound authentic. For example, when reading through I play I had written, a colleague said that teens just don't use the passive form of the request I had inserted (I can't quite remember what it was). When I thought about I realised it was true. It had to change.

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