Someone suggested to me this topic, so bear with me while I piece together my own views on it.

Children are hard.

That single statement hardly covers it but it all boils down to that. Children are hard to write, and that is because many of us have grown beyond the mindset that comes with childhood. They are not simply small adults. Which is something many people write them as.

It gets even harder if you have children that have undergone trauma. They can go many ways, just as adults can, but you cant predict exactly which way they will go, unlike adults who typically are affected in a limited number of ways.

Perspectives matter even more with children. I could not write Sophia in first, it would just not work. I don’t have the right insight for it. And that, I feel is something that is important. Insight, experience.

As with all things with writing, and life, there are many ways to do it right or wrong. I like to believe I did okay with Sophia, but I can see how in places I fell short.

Children in fiction are hard done by, as few authors are willing to devote the time and energy. In fact, only two spring to mind: Robin Hobb, her Farseer books are amazing and you should stop now and read them, and Brent Week’s Way of Shadows.

There are others, I’m sure but these are two in my mind.