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Children/cubs in stories.
5 years ago
Please read my Terms of Service before we do business. Recently I’ve reached what I feel is a potential stumbling block. And I think this journal will be of particular interest to those of you who are parents.
I've just made my contribution to this year's Skunktember featuring Sharp, Mikhail and their two cubs Peggy and Andrew, but it had to be substantially changed before it could go online due to having initially made Peggy's dialogue much more complex than was normal for her age at the time the story is set. If anything, this experience serves to highlight the fact that, due to my style of writing and my own life experiences, I’m really not used to portraying children or cubs in my work. ^^;
That’s something else I’ve noticed in a number of Western animated series too. These series have their child characters speaking much more eloquently than their ages would suggest, particularly if those characters are the protagonists or otherwise a main character. While this may be done for the sake of the audience being able to better understand what’s happening through the child’s point of view, it would seem as though this is a common thing to end up doing.
I find that I do not see minors very often in Furry art or stories. Indeed, only one commissioner I've done business with has had me include a minor in a leading role. No two children will ever be exactly the same (and neither in turn are how their early years go), but when it comes to portraying them, I feel like this is one of my main weaknesses in my writing, for the simple reason that I am not a parent myself and do not have any nieces or nephews.
Additionally, I’ve tried for years to forget the events of my own childhood. I don't like to talk about what happened in the years before I joined the Furry community. Furthermore, I have not interacted with any children since walking out of my convenience store job last October. I remember that they would occasionally ask me how much certain things cost or whether we had items they wanted, but it tended to be their parents doing the talking when they were present.
As a result, I have no recent memories of such interactions to fall back on when I take on stories where minors have speaking roles. Having spent my time since the pandemic started hiding from the outside world and trying but failing to find another job means that I have not had face to face interactions with anyone other than family members and brief ones with shop assistants for a very long time.
Prior to making this vignette, I had kept the dialogue of Peggy, Andrew, or Charlotte's daughter Nicola to a minimum to try and disguise my own weakness with this aspect. But those of you who are parents will definitely not be short on experience with your children, given you’ve watched them growing up and learning about the world around them. It’s here that I’ll give you the floor.
When a childless content maker tries to include children/cubs in their work when they normally wouldn’t do so, what would you recommend as concerns these characters’ manners of speaking and the sort of thing that would typically be expected at their ages? Where accounts of personal experience are not available, what's the best way to research this? Do you believe it is a wise idea to avoid giving them a great amount of dialogue when they are not a main character? Your answers will prove crucial.
BKT
I've just made my contribution to this year's Skunktember featuring Sharp, Mikhail and their two cubs Peggy and Andrew, but it had to be substantially changed before it could go online due to having initially made Peggy's dialogue much more complex than was normal for her age at the time the story is set. If anything, this experience serves to highlight the fact that, due to my style of writing and my own life experiences, I’m really not used to portraying children or cubs in my work. ^^;
That’s something else I’ve noticed in a number of Western animated series too. These series have their child characters speaking much more eloquently than their ages would suggest, particularly if those characters are the protagonists or otherwise a main character. While this may be done for the sake of the audience being able to better understand what’s happening through the child’s point of view, it would seem as though this is a common thing to end up doing.
I find that I do not see minors very often in Furry art or stories. Indeed, only one commissioner I've done business with has had me include a minor in a leading role. No two children will ever be exactly the same (and neither in turn are how their early years go), but when it comes to portraying them, I feel like this is one of my main weaknesses in my writing, for the simple reason that I am not a parent myself and do not have any nieces or nephews.
Additionally, I’ve tried for years to forget the events of my own childhood. I don't like to talk about what happened in the years before I joined the Furry community. Furthermore, I have not interacted with any children since walking out of my convenience store job last October. I remember that they would occasionally ask me how much certain things cost or whether we had items they wanted, but it tended to be their parents doing the talking when they were present.
As a result, I have no recent memories of such interactions to fall back on when I take on stories where minors have speaking roles. Having spent my time since the pandemic started hiding from the outside world and trying but failing to find another job means that I have not had face to face interactions with anyone other than family members and brief ones with shop assistants for a very long time.
Prior to making this vignette, I had kept the dialogue of Peggy, Andrew, or Charlotte's daughter Nicola to a minimum to try and disguise my own weakness with this aspect. But those of you who are parents will definitely not be short on experience with your children, given you’ve watched them growing up and learning about the world around them. It’s here that I’ll give you the floor.
When a childless content maker tries to include children/cubs in their work when they normally wouldn’t do so, what would you recommend as concerns these characters’ manners of speaking and the sort of thing that would typically be expected at their ages? Where accounts of personal experience are not available, what's the best way to research this? Do you believe it is a wise idea to avoid giving them a great amount of dialogue when they are not a main character? Your answers will prove crucial.
BKT
As for the use of the word cub, I'd always feared that might be the case, and a couple of the virtual conventions I've tuned into mentioned this potential problem.
PS: Please forgive the lateness of my reply.